fitbodyfitbudget

Road to Recovery

August 3, 2022August 3, 2022fitbodyfitbudget

It’s been almost a year since I’ve written here, and it feels like so much yet so little time has passed. I’ve been through quite the health journey over the last year.

In May of 2021 my gallbladder became infected, resulting in emergent surgery to remove it, which had complications and was a rough road. Since then, I’ve been periodically battling illnesses, including depression and anxiety. I gained quite a bit of weight, and just felt like it was one thing after another with me.

In early June of this year (2022), Jon mentioned to me that he’d noticed me getting progressively sicker. It had started to get to the point where I was unable to function normally. He brought up that he thought maybe my gallbladder removal had something to do with it, and I agreed that this was a good possibility.

I quickly decided to change my diet to a more “liver healthy” diet to see if it improved how I was feeling. I gave up alcohol, red meat, dairy, and I focused on eating low fat and low sugar. Despite these changes, I continued to get worse. I consulted with some people I know who I trust to discuss nutrition, and I also eliminated nuts because they can be hard to digest. I was eating a lot of salads, raw vegetables, beans, lentils, and other high fiber foods.

What I didn’t know was that it had nothing to do with my liver, and those things were actually why I was getting worse. The changes I’d made to my diet had warded off a very ugly disease that was brewing, but the high fiber foods were making it worse.

After making the changes in early June, I quickly noticed my ability to eat food drastically went down. I was only able to eat very small meals, basically only a few bites at a time. Since I’m fairly well-versed in nutrition it didn’t take me long to realize I was not getting in enough calories to sustain myself, but I had lost my appetite and wasn’t able to eat much at all. By the end of June I was eating roughly 700 calories per day. I had lost 25 lbs in less than a month. I made a doctor’s appointment for the afternoon of July 6th.

On the 4th of July I felt ok throughout most of the day, and was able to graze on some food, but I got sick that evening. The following day I was unable to eat anything. On the morning of July 6 I was able to eat a bowl of oatmeal, but as the morning went on I felt more and more nauseous. By lunchtime I had become violently ill. Hours had passed and it continuously got worse. I called Cameron, Jon, and even my mom for help with the little strength I had. Luckily I had done that, because by the time they all made it to me I had started to become unconscious. I remember almost none of the next few events.

From what I’ve been told, I was going in and out of consciousness and responsiveness despite continuing to get sick. The decision was made to take me to the hospital instead of the doctor (obviously), but I couldn’t stay conscious or stop getting sick enough to get out of bed. Jon & my mom made the decision to call 911, the paramedics came and got me safely out of my house, and I got my first ever personal escort to the hospital in an ambulance (yay me – not). I only remember one minute sitting on my bed with my head in a trash can saying I needed to go to the hospital, and the next being in an ambulance with a paramedic who was repeating that his name was Max and we were headed to the hospital.

In the ER they ran a variety of tests, including blood work and a CT scan. My CT was normal, but my blood work showed severe dehydration and low sodium. Meanwhile, my nausea was not under control, and they admitted me with a predicted 2-3 day stay while they tried to get to the bottom of what was making me so sick.

Despite the IV fluids, my hydration and sodium numbers weren’t making much improvement. The initial suspicion that I still had gallstones or another bile leak (from my gallbladder removal) were proven false by 2 procedures. My nausea was barely managed by medication, so the decision was made to do a gastric-emptying study, which tests how well your intestines function as your stomach ingests food. It was a horrid experience and I felt SO sick, but I made it through the test for a determination. I had failed the study, and was diagnosed with Gastroparesis. Finally we had at least 1 answer.

I was put on a new medication call Reglan, which made me nervous because it is a black box drug and is only supposed to be taken short-term, but it did seem to help me with my nausea and digestion. I was also sent in a dietician to go over my new diet, which has been so hard for me to work with. I’ll probably have to write a separate post just on the new diet. The biggest thing I learned is that I cannot eat raw veggies or high fiber foods.

Despite some improvement, however, my sodium levels were not rising, and eventually they became critically low. This is called SIADH/Hyponatremia. My body was retaining the IV fluids and releasing the salt instead of the other way around. The decision was made to discontinue my IV fluids as well as a medication I was on that could be causing the issue, and to try a very risky medication to get my sodium levels back up. It worked, and I lost 6 lbs of water weight in less than 12 hours. I have now lost over 30 lbs in less than 8 weeks.

By that point I had spent 10 days in the hospital trying to figure everything out. Most of that time I was disoriented, confused, unsteady on my feet, and exhausted. They continued to run my blood work for another 2 days, and decided that I had improved enough to go home if I felt I was ready. They gave me the option to stay 1 more day if I felt I wasn’t steady enough yet, but I have a good support system at home and I wanted to be home and in my own bed.

When I was finally allowed to go outside at the hospital and see my kids.

It has now been roughly 8 weeks since I started to get sick, 4 weeks (to the day) since I went into the hospital, and about 12 days since I’ve been home. The first week, especially the first few days, at home were really rough. I don’t know why, but it was almost like leaving the hospital felt like someone should’ve waved a magic wand to make me better, and it just wasn’t the case. I remained unsteady and easily exhausted.

This past weekend I attended my aunt & uncle’s 50th wedding anniversary celebration roughly 5 hours from home. I was nervous to go, but they are such an important part of my life, and I hadn’t seen them since 2019 thanks to COVID and other factors. So I decided to do my absolute best to make it there. I did, and it was just what the doctor ordered. I had a wonderful weekend where I started to feel like an actual human again! I couldn’t have asked for a better weekend.

Jon & I at my aunt & uncle’s 50th wedding anniversary celebration! I was feeling pretty well!

I was feeling so well that on Monday night we decided to go out for a date night and have a belated celebration for Jon’s birthday (10 days late), and I ate outside of my diet. I should not have done that, and I spent yesterday (Tuesday) feeling terrible the whole day. It’s now Wednesday, and I still don’t feel quite right. I still have very little appetite, and I obviously have to stick to the Gastroparesis diet or I will get sick. It’s been a tough battle physically, mentally, and emotionally, but I do feel like this past weekend gave me some hope that I am on the road to recovery and things will continue to improve over time.

I have continued doctor’s appointments coming up, so we will see what decisions are made from here on out, and I just keep hanging on to hope that it’ll all go uphill from here. If I’ve learned one thing from this it’s to not sweat the small stuff, and to take things one day (or even one hour) at a time.

I can’t thank our “village” enough for stepping up to help us during this time. Our families jumped in to help out with the kids, family & friends sent us prayers and well wishes, and they’ve also provided us with meals and gift cards, which we are still continuing to use to help support us during this time. The hardest part about keeping the family running at home has been the meals, so I cannot tell you how much I truly appreciate the support!

Flowers sent/brought to me in the hospital. I had the prettiest hospital room there is because of this! The kids also made me cards, which I displayed.

More updates to come, as my estimated recovery is 10-12 weeks in a best case scenario. Thanks again for all of your support and well wishes!

Starting Over

September 15, 2021fitbodyfitbudget

There have been a few times in my life where I’ve needed to start over; both physically and financially. In my early 20s I went through a financial crisis that lead me to Dave Ramsey, and Financial Peace University. It was around that same time that I was also going through a lot physically and realized I needed to make a change.

Through each job change (including being unexpectedly let go twice) and each pregnancy/child born I have had to reset and go back to basics. In 2019 I got divorced, which is a whole different kind of starting over. The last few years have felt like a physical, emotional, and financial roller coaster. The last 2 years have been some of the hardest of my life. I’m the unhealthiest that I have ever been physically, and though I am definitely not at my unhealthiest financially I have let my budget get lower on the priority list too many times.

At the end of last year I started over. I dug my heels into the sand and again decided I was ready to take control of my physical and financial health again. I lost almost 20 lbs, started an extra side hustle during the holidays, started contributing to a Roth IRA from the side hustle, and was feeling like I was getting back on track. Cue life happening.

I know that I can’t use “life” as an excuse, and I’m not making excuses, but following a series of life events I have found myself back at the starting line again. I’ve gained back the 20 lbs and let my nutrition and fitness routine fall to the wayside. I have also seen a new shift in my primary business as the COVID-19 Delta variant spreads, and gotten far too comfortable with spending money on eating out while I should’ve been stock-piling cash.

Starting over is hard. First, it’s hard to even admit that you need to start over. The thought that I lost those 20 lbs and have to lose them all over again is so defeating. I’m angry with myself for letting my health fall lower again on my list of priorities, when I’ve always known that it should be at the very top along with my fiancé and children. Second, all of those habits that I had worked to create no longer feel like habits, and the temptations of eating out or watching Netflix instead of working out are fierce.

So now I’m faced with starting over. It’s time to reset my focus on my health and finances, and bring those healthy habits back into my life. There is absolutely zero shame in starting over or admitting that you need to start over. The famous self-help author, Napoleon Hill, said “Most great people have attained their greatest success just one step beyond their greatest failure.” When you feel like you’ve failed, the first step towards success is to get up and start over. There’s no way around that.

I’ve started by trying to drink more water (I love Sprite, so this is a good place to start for me). I also took a job working the front desk a couple of mornings per week at a local yoga studio. My shift ends just as a daily class begins, so I will have the opportunity to take the class following my shift. I have committed to training for another 5k. I’ve done countless 5ks in my life, so it is frustrating to start training and realize how far I’ve let myself get behind where I have been in the past, but I’m just going to take it one day at a time using my tried and true Jeff Galloway 5k training plan.

My business, though still feeling the effects of COVID-19, is having it’s best year yet, and between that and my gig at the yoga studio I am looking forward to contributing more to savings in advance of the holidays and 2022. I am really hoping to spend these last 90 days of 2021 with a fresh start, and gearing up for an AMAZING 2022!

What do you hope to accomplish in these last 90 days of 2021? Are you gearing up for 2022? There is no better time to start than today.

My PPP Loan has been fully forgiven!

May 27, 2021fitbodyfitbudget

I recently received news that the PPP (Payroll Protection Program) loan that we received early in the pandemic has been fully forgiven, and I can’t tell you what a relief that is and how grateful I am!

As the owner of a travel agency, when our sales fell off the map at the start of the pandemic I knew we were in trouble. Our agents were working harder than ever to assist clients, and all with little to no promise of payment for their efforts. That didn’t sit well with me at all, and I wanted to make sure they were paid, but we were unsure if we would have the funds to cover it. I heard about the Payroll Protection Program and started doing some research to see if it would work for us.

I knew I was taking a risk that it may not be forgiven and I would be on the hook for the money, but it had a low interest rate, and I was willing to take that risk to make sure that our agents were paid for their hard work. I made sure I followed all of the requirements of the loan including documentation of the use of the funds, and submitted our application for forgiveness a few months ago. When I received the determination that it had been fully forgiven, I was ecstatic and beyond grateful.

It is such a relief for my business, which was hard hit by the pandemic, as well as for my family that our PPP loan has been forgiven. As we begin to see some recovery from the pandemic, we don’t have to worry about the weight of that debt holding us back. We do still have a small SBA EIDL (Economic Injury Disaster Loan) that will require payment, but it has a very low interest rate, and again I am so grateful for these programs that saw our small business through when we otherwise would have probably folded.

I wanted to share this because being transparent in this health & financial journey is important to me. I want to show the struggles along with the triumphs, and the experience of the last 14 months has included plenty of both!

The Slump

May 2, 2021May 4, 2021fitbodyfitbudget

Ah, the dreaded slump. It always seems to creep in for me as I know it does for many others. You work really hard for a while, and then a couple of bad days roll along and you just can’t seem to pull yourself out of it.

A few weeks ago we went on a road trip to Marceline, Missouri. If you don’t know already, I’m a mega-Disney fanatic. Like, think of the biggest Disney fan you know, add an extra pair of mouse ears and some pixie dust, and that’s where I’m at. Marceline, Missouri is the place that Walt Disney always considered his hometown. In fact, he famously stated “More things of importance happened to me in Marceline than have happened to me since or are likely to in the future.” The Walt Disney Hometown Museum is there, as well as the Disney Family Farm and a couple of other notable places that inspired Walt throughout his lifetime.

The Walt Disney Hometown Museum – Located on the same spot where Walt Disney arrived to Marceline with his family in 1906

One of the things about Marceline that makes it special is that it is a very small, rural town. We stayed at a very small motel (one of 2 in the whole town) and you could walk from one end of Main Street USA to the other in a few short minutes. It poured down rain, but we did manage to find a small gym on Main Street and purchased a day pass so that we could get a workout in. BUT – There were only a couple of places to eat: Ma Vic’s Corner Cafe (open only for breakfast and lunch), a small bar with only fried food options, a Mexican restaurant, a gas station, and a Dollar General. My nutrition suffered IMMENSELY.

I ate horribly, and with an 8.5 hour drive each way, I also ate pretty poorly on the drive to and from Marceline as well. It only took the 3 days we were traveling for it to take a huge toll on me. The sodium made me bloated and my extremities began to swell. I also felt horrible.

It was so bad that I just couldn’t get out of the slump. The last few weeks I’ve felt sluggish, and completely unmotivated to workout or even to cook healthy meals. We’ve eaten take out more times than I can count, and I’ve only worked out a couple of times. Last weekend I biked 5 miles and then ran 5 miles with Jon, and I was sore and in pain afterwards, when just a few short weeks ago I ran a 15k (9.3 miles) and felt great. That was also discouraging, and for the last week I haven’t worked out at all.

Thankfully, my weight hasn’t gone up much – only a couple of pounds. Last night I sat down and started thinking about what I need to do to get out of this slump. A seemingly endless slump is what got me to this point, and I can’t let it get the best of me.

Most of the time you hear people say that you should set the bar higher, but in this case I actually think I need to set the bar lower for myself. What I’ve been doing has continuously felt inadequate. If I run 5 miles, I feel like I should be able to run 10. I also compare my fitness level to others a lot, which is a terrible habit that I’m continuously working to break. Jon’s fitness level far exceeds mine, and I beat myself up every time I can’t keep up with him. It leaves me feeling defeated, and then I struggle to see the point in trying.

This week I’m choosing to turn another corner. Although I’m sure my habits will creep back up on me again, I’m determined to identify when they do, and then do whatever I can to avoid falling back into a slump. I am setting myself some small, and attainable goals for this week (no soda, hit my water goal every day, and 20-30 minutes of activity at least 4x), and am going to build on those rather than pushing myself to train for and run a half marathon over the course of a few weeks. This is what is attainable for ME right now, and I am not going to compare my goals to anyone else’s.

I’m grateful for this outlet where I can pour out my thoughts, and share with the experience and support of others. What are some of the most effective ways that you have found for getting out of the dreaded slump? I’d love to hear your tips!

Healthy Habits During an All-Inclusive Vacation

March 27, 2021fitbodyfitbudget

I should preface this by saying that my recent visit to Jamaica was not really a “vacation.” I’m still calling it that because I was visiting a place that most people would only visit while on vacation, but because I am possibly the luckiest woman alive, it is my job to visit beautiful destinations and show them off; to learn about them and share my experience so that you can make the most of your own visit.

I recently stayed 5 nights at Sandals Negril in Jamaica. I traveled alone and met with a group of travel advisors who were all there for the same reason I was, to learn and network. So I can’t say that I was there to enjoy a lot of R&R with someone I love like most of you would be, but I was still exposed to the same temptations, ate the same food that any other guest would eat, and had the same number of options for staying active.

I definitely took advantage of the unlimited bar, but for the most part I tried to stick with lighter drinks. I even used Google to look up some of the lowest calorie (and “cleanest”) drinks you can order. We won’t count the night we had “off” from work where my new friends & I went to a silent DJ party, had a BLAST, and maybe one too many shots of tequila. 🤣 Other than a few splurges, I often chose Red Stripe Light, wine, and champagne (with a splash of some juice). Those all fall somewhere around 100-150 calories vs. the common drinks like daquiris and pina coladas, which can pack upwards of 500 calories. A good choice for a cocktail if you’re really looking for a beachy mixed drink is a mojito! 🍸

There were also plenty of opportunities to indulge in some delicious food. I allowed myself a 2 cheat meals: the first being at Cucina Romana, the Italian restaurant, for a carb load before my 5.5 mile run, and I had to try one of the famous Jamaican beef patties. Otherwise I made the following types of food choices (note that I almost always was served potatoes with my order and opted not to eat them):

Breakfast – Corn Flakes/Raisin Bran with 1% milk, Vegetarian Omelet, Eggs Benedict removing the hollandaise

Lunch – Veggie Wrap, Thin Crust Brick Oven Cheese Pizza, Jerk Chicken

Dinner – Swordfish w/vegetables, Sea Trout w/vegetables

And I also splurged on my last night and had the best Creme Brulee I’ve ever had in my life. I didn’t eat the whole thing, but I intended to only eat a couple of bites and ate more than half. 😆

There are plenty of ways to stay active at these resorts including the water sports, and many offer fun group fitness classes. During my visit I ran 2 miles barefoot on the beach, did some weightlifting in the gym, and ran my long 5.5 mile run around the resort. It’s an absolutely beautiful resort, so I had PLENTY of scenery to enjoy on those runs.

All this to say that, you can definitely stay on track with your goals even if you’re in a place where you are “eating out” for literally every meal, there are temptations around every corner, and lounging by the beach/pool might sound a lot better than lacing up for a run. I had a healthy balance of both indulgence and moderation, and I did not gain any weight during my trip. 😊

No Longer “Obese”

March 20, 2021fitbodyfitbudget

Of all of the metrics that I track, BMI is probably the one I want to pay the least attention to. It’s merits have been debated amongst health experts for eons, and I personally know several people who fall within the “obese” limits of BMI, but their percentage of body fat is less than 20%.

BMI is a simple calculation. It’s is your weight (in kg) divided by your height (in m) squared. That’s it. It doesn’t take any other factors into account like your lifestyle or body type. This is why most body builders who have a lot of lean muscle are “obese” by the standards of BMI. BMI doesn’t measure health, it measures your weight compared to your height and spits out a number that shows where you fall on a scale of average underweight to morbidly obese people.

Nonetheless, I am not a body builder, and I still take note of my BMI. Though it is a simple calculation and does not measure health, it can be a quick and easy tool to identify that you may have a weight issue that can lead to weight-associated health problems. For almost the last 3 years I have fallen within the “obese” range on BMI.

This week I am officially no longer “obese” by BMI standards. I am still at the top of the “overweight” range, and have about 28 lbs. to go before I fall within “normal” range, and another 38 lbs. before my goal weight, but I am excited about the fact that when I look at that BMI chart it no longer says “obese” anymore! It’ll be a while before I leave the “overweight” range, so I won’t be paying much attention to BMI for a while. I will instead be focusing on my weight, percentage of body fat, and fitness level to measure my progress.

And of course all of those non-scale victories that I have to look forward to!

Eating More to Lose Weight- It’s not a Fad Diet, it’s Science

March 13, 2021fitbodyfitbudget

This isn’t my first rodeo. Back in 2012 I began to focus on weight loss and eventually lost nearly 40 pounds. I was in the best shape I had been in throughout my adult life. My 2nd son was born in 2013, and I managed to stay healthy during my pregnancy, lose the pregnancy weight fairly quickly, and then lose some more. When I was pregnant with my daughter in 2015 I gained about 30 pounds, which isn’t a lot by most standards especially since I was very healthy pre-pregnancy.

The problem was that after I had my daughter the weight didn’t come off like it had after I had my son in 2013. I had set a goal to run a half marathon before she turned 1, and then a marathon before she turned 2. I accomplished both of those goals (yes, I celebrate those wins!), but the weight still didn’t come off. In June of 2017 I had a partial hysterectomy, which caused a slight shift in my hormones, and therefore changes in my metabolism.

After the marathon in January 2018, I had lost all motivation to stay healthy. Training for the marathon took a lot out of me, and as proud as I was of that accomplishment, I wanted nothing to do with running or cross-training, and I had already started to allow myself to eat more because well… when you’re training for a marathon and burning 1 million calories you get pretty hungry.

I have become increasingly uncomfortable over the last 4 years. It’s not just about how I look in the mirror, but how I feel throughout my day-to-day activities. I feel myself getting tired with simple things like carrying laundry up and down the stairs, bending over to tie my shoes, and putting on a pair of my “fat pants” that were getting tight. Though the worst thing was that my mental health was slipping, and quickly. I made a few attempts to implement some changes over the last year or so, but it didn’t stick until now. I’m not sure exactly what happened, but a switch flipped (perhaps the “fresh start” of a new year), and now I feel myself finally committed and motivated to change.

Having done this before, I figured I knew exactly what to do. I started with simple changes, but I compounded them each week. I gave up soda and fried foods, reduced my alcohol and red meat intake, and I increased my physical activity. Then, I started tracking all that I was eating through MyFitnessPal and trying to stick within a 1200-1400 calorie goal. Jon and I finally set up the gym we were planning to put together in our basement, and between working out almost daily and eating 1200-1400 calories I expected a significant calorie deficit, because in simple terms calorie deficit = weight loss.

The problem was that the weight was barely coming off. Jon was rapidly losing weight, but I wasn’t. Some weeks I would be down a pound or 2, but others I either didn’t lose at all or I lost very little. It was frustrating, and I felt like something was off. I had posted about it a few times on my Facebook page, and someone suggested speaking with a nutritionist. This was something I hadn’t thought of before because, like I said, this isn’t my first rodeo… But I felt like something was just not right, and I thought it couldn’t hurt to sit down with an expert and hear what they had to say.

The doctor who I normally use for gynecology specializes in multiple areas of women’s health and wellness (and also men’s health and wellness when it comes to that department). I had seen their services listed when I visited them in the past, read some great reviews, and I decided to give them a call to set up a consultation.

The 1-hour consultation was $110, but if you decide to work with them on a program they apply that $110 towards the price of the program you choose. Which I think is fair enough considering the amount of education/knowledge and experience they have to offer even within the 1 hour consultation.

During the 1-hour consultation my coach listened to my goals, questions, and concerns. She asked me questions about my lifestyle, including my relationship with food and activity level. Then, she made a suggestion for me for a program. She covered all of the programs that they offer, but made a specific suggestion based on my goals and lifestyle. Luckily, I don’t have much of a problem with overeating, so I wasn’t a great candidate for an appetite suppressant (like Contrave). I also am not interested in quick, dramatic weight loss that often can be achieved with the HCG diet, and since I am a runner, the Ketogenic diet was also not a good fit for me.

I went ahead and chose the program she recommended for me. It is a 6 month program that focuses solely on healthy eating habits and activity. I was actually averaging about 1123 calories per day, and with a 1 hour workout each day that was leaving my calorie deficit for someone of my weight and height at a well over 1000 calorie deficit. Long story short, this is NOT good for your metabolism.

When you do not consume enough calories, you may lose weight quickly in the short term, but over time your metabolism will adjust (or be completely decimated, if we’re honest). Our bodies are very intuitive and designed to sustain our lives through feast and famine as our ancestors frequently found themselves experiencing. Especially when you add in activity and you’re not eating enough calories, the body will go into “starvation” mode, the metabolism slows, and weight loss will eventually stall or you may even notice you start to gain body fat again as your body works to preserve it’s energy stores. I already knew this, but I still was thinking that the magic number of 1200-1400 calories would prevent that from happening.

I learned from my consultation that this is absolutely NOT the case. For a woman of my age, height, and activity-level I should be eating quite a bit more calories than what I have been. Eating more of the RIGHT calories will start to rev up my metabolism, and I should actually start to see more progress with weight loss as I slowly increase my calorie intake and keep my activity level the same.

The plan is to do this over the course of about the first 90 days. In the first 7 days (after my travel) I will do a liver detox (I purchased this in addition to my program). This is something that I really feel like my body needs. During detox I will be following a specific diet that equates to about 1,000 calories of clean (i.e. organic), nutritious foods as well as a protein shake, a fiber supplement (greens), and a supplement for metabolism support. This should release many of the toxins in my system and allow us to determine how my body responds to a slight calorie reduction before we start adding in some calories. After that I will receive a new template every 2 weeks to build myself up to eating somewhere between 1600-2000 calories depending on how my body responds. If, all of the sudden, I just started eating 1800 calories after eating an average of 1123 calories for weeks, I would likely gain weight, which is the opposite of the goal. Repairing my metabolism will take time, and I understand and appreciate that. I want to do what is going to be BEST for my body in the long run even if it means I don’t drop the weight super quickly like I might with the HCG or Ketogenic diet.

After roughly 90 days we should have a general idea of where my metabolic rate functions most efficiently. Once we find that “sweet spot” we will work on finding the right balance between a calorie deficit from exercise and a diet that supports optimal metabolic function.

I know you’re wondering about cost, so here is how it broke down for me. Keep in mind that this could vary significantly depending on the rates of your coach/nutritionist as well as the type of program you choose.

Initial 1-hour Consultation = $110

7 Day Detox Program Including Protein, Fiber/Greens, and Metabolism Support Supplements = $108 (Optional)

6 Month Healthy Habits Program including bi-weekly consultations w/my coach = $500

The Initial 1-hour Consultation and the 7 Day Detox basically offset each other’s costs, so the remaining balance I paid for my 6 Month Healthy Habits Program + 7 day detox was $498 after the application of the consultation fee towards the balance. Although the cost must be paid in full, it breaks down to about $50 per bi-weekly consultation session. That’s not a bad price to have an expert in the field guiding you every step of the way.

As soon as I return from my travels I will share my experience with the detox and first week of calorie reduction, and then keep you updated on my progress with the plan! I hope that this is as helpful to others as it is for me. I appreciate everyone’s support and words of encouragement on my posts!

Welcome to the Circus

March 2, 2021March 2, 2021fitbodyfitbudget

Hi! I’m Lauren – a 32 year-old mom and small business owner living with a blended family of 6. You could also add “Ring Leader” to my job titles, because having 4 kids (15, 8, 4, 3) + 3 dogs + 1 lizard + a bunch of fish in my house means our lives can feel like a circus. And a ticket to this circus can get pretty expensive.

There was a time when I had a “Fitstagram” account, which I created after I had lost about 40 pounds in my mid-20s. I thought about restarting that, but I feel like that was a lifetime ago. My life looks nothing like it did 7 years ago. I’m serious – almost NOTHING is the same. I was married, had 2 young kids, and was working on climbing the corporate ladder. Now I’m divorced, self-employed, and living with a blended family of 4 kids all the way from teens to toddlers. And I’m not already fit like I was when I started my last platform… this time I am starting with 50 pounds to lose.

My health & fitness journey began in 2012. My mom, who was morbidly obese when she started her journey, was seeing a personal trainer and wanted me to come along. Ever the “yes-woman,” I agreed. I soaked up a TON of information – from the trainer, books, and online resources. I taught myself how to eat a much healthier diet and picked up running as a hobby. I lost about 40 pounds between 2012 and 2015 including the birth of my 2nd son in 2013. (Oh, and my mom lost 125 pounds and became the poster-child success story. She’s now a personal trainer and yoga instructor. Amazing, right?)

In 2013 I was also really struggling financially. Being a young mom with a lack of household finance management experience had caught up to me. I was in a lot of debt, and I was starting to realize that all of my hard-earned income was being doled out to other people. I’ve always been a numbers person, and always kept a budget, so it was clear to me that something needed to change. I took Dave Ramsey’s Financial Peace University, and my whole philosophy of how to budget began to change. I do not follow DR’s advice to a tee, but to this day I still live by several things I learned through my time in FPU.

By 2015 I was in the best shape of my life both physically and financially. Then in 2016 all Hell began to break loose. My daughter was born in 2016, and though I had managed to stay fit during my pregnancy, the transition from 2 to 3 children proved to be quite the challenge. I didn’t lose the weight. In fact, I started to gain. In 2017 I was laid off from the corporate job I had been working at for nearly 8 years. I like to pretend that the jobs I had between being laid off in 2017 and becoming full-time self-employed in 2020 didn’t even happen. A lot of toxic environments lead to a lot of stress, and a lot of stress equates to total metabolism-sabotage. In 2019 I got divorced. Despite the fact that it was amicable, we are still friends, and we are very good at co-parenting, getting divorced is stressful even in the best of circumstances. And expensive.

Before I knew it I had gained 50 pounds since before I had my daughter. At this point I have had every opportunity to pull it together and get back on track, but it took getting past a lot of my excuses before I finally decided to make changes late in 2020.

I started small, and have started to see some progress. We have started to rebuild some of the savings we lost through divorce. We plan our meals more and eat out less. We also used equipment we already had to set up a gym in our home, eliminating the need for a gym membership.

I’ve lost about 10 pounds, but I have another 40 to go. For the first time I have invested in the help of a weight loss coach. As I am writing this I am on Day 1 of a new 6 month plan intended to optimize my metabolic efficiency and health. I’ll explain why I call this an “investment,” and the different phases of the plan in later blogs.

SO, my point is that this time it will be about the journey to get there and not just the results. I thrive on accountability and support (and admittedly sometimes a little bit of competition), so I have created this blog as a space for me to keep myself accountable and share my experience. I hope you’ll subscribe and follow along!

My “Why” – and WHY it’s not about my kids.

March 2, 2021March 8, 2021fitbodyfitbudget

I’m going to say it right out of the gate here – this post about my “why” is not going to be like a lot of the others I’ve read. It’s not going to be about how “I’m doing this for my children” or “my children are my whole world, and I want to be around to watch them get older.”

Defining your “why”: We all have a reason for working on certain projects or certain goals, or even just for doing daily activities/habits the way we do them. For some things the “why” may be more clear than others. When it comes to weight loss or financial goals, though, there are infinite, complex reasons that someone may have set those goals. Clearly defining your “why” can help you stay focused on your goal(s) and help you identify opportunities for improvement if you find yourself doing something that does not bring value to your process. To define your “why” you need to ask yourself questions, and answer them honestly.

So why do I want to get my health back on track, lose 50 pounds, and be a multi-millionaire by the time I retire? The first thing that came to mind was the statement I see from SO many other women; “for my children.” But I realized that I cringed when that went through my mind. That’s not my “why” – it’s someone else’s. I love my children dearly, but I’m not solely or even primarily doing this for them. Yes, I want to be healthy enough to live a long life and watch my children grow as long as I can, but that’s still not my primary reason for wanting to make changes.

I cringed when that thought first came to my mind because it’s what many parents, especially mothers, have been trained by society should always be our primary purpose for doing anything in life. If you say “my children are not my world” the collective society drops their jaw and gasps. How on Earth could a mother say that her children are NOT her whole world?

For me – it’s because they’re not. My children are a huge, important part of my world, but they are not my whole world. I would die for my kids, but I don’t live and breathe every second of my life to please them. It’s fairly common for mothers to lose their sense of identity after they have children, and I’ve definitely gone through periods of that in my life, but I absolutely have my own sense of identity now, and I honestly think my children will be better off for it. They will see me make myself a priority, and I hope that they do the same for themselves. I have spent half of my life – 16 years – as a mother of young children, and I’ve spent my entire life living in the same house as young children. My younger brother is 10 years younger than me, and then when I was 16 (and still a kid myself) my oldest son was born. Now I’m 32, and I live with 4 kids ranging in age from 3 – 15. I pushed hard to finish high school and undergrad “on time” for my oldest son. I wanted to make sure that there was no reason why I would be unable to provide for him the same way as any other parent who didn’t have children until they were older. And I’ve spent the last 8 years caring for my younger children as well.

I’ve come to the conclusion that most people were designed to parent young children for only a few years. Of course there are those unicorn people who LOVE every moment of having tiny humans terrorizing their homes, and they have 8 of them over the span of 20 years, but most siblings are 2-3 years in age apart, and having 2-3 kids means that most parents are done raising children under the age of 3 within about 6-9 years. I have been doing it for SIXTEEN, and I would be doing myself a disservice if I didn’t admit that I am over it. Trying to state that “I’m doing this for my children” made me cringe because I’m just not. I’m glad that these things that I am working towards are going to be good for them too, but it’s not my primary purpose.

So what is my “why”? It’s because I am worth it. I want to be healthy because I feel better when I am physically active and my body is lean. I have more confidence, more drive, and definitely more overall optimism about my life (IOW – my mental health also improves). I want to focus on improving my finances because I feel more in control of my future when I have a clear picture of where I’m at and where I want to be, and where I want to be is to travel pretty much as often as I want without worrying about if I can afford it. I’ve been through both of these journeys before, but this time is different. The last time I was physically healthy I was doing it without a clear idea of why. It was always that “it’s for my children” statement or because I felt ashamed that I was overweight. And every time I’ve focused on improving my finances it’s been because I was in terrible shape financially. Being in terrible shape financially, and then having some financial security has allowed me to become complacent, and I haven’t been making my money work FOR me nearly like I want it to.

My “why” is probably different from yours. We all have different backgrounds and personalities, and even if your “why” TRULY is for your children that’s great. My point with this entire post is to gather my own thoughts, put my own “why” into writing, and to remind you that sometimes you have to push yourself to answer the question honestly.

Staying Committed While on Family Vacation

March 2, 2021March 20, 2021fitbodyfitbudget

I just returned from a 5-night stay in the Great Smoky Mountains with Jon and our 3 youngest children (ages 8, 4, & 3). I’ll put it this way, that was no minor undertaking full of whining, crying, temper tantrums, and arguments over to do or what movie/game to play next. The stress level was pretty high, but the kids did enjoy the water park and outdoor pool, and we got to make some great family memories.

We arrived to our resort in the late evening, so we ordered some Corky’s barbeque DoorDash that evening while I sat down and wrote out a meal plan. I had the smoked turkey with a little bit of barbeque sauce, green beans, and some coleslaw.

We had a full kitchen in our villa, so we planned out our meals, and placed a grocery order for delivery to the resort. Here are our planned meals that we prepared ourselves (for the adults at least):

Breakfasts: Egg & Cheese Wraps made with Whole Grain Mission Carb Balance Tortillas

Lunchs: Peanut Butter & Jelly Sandwiches, Chicken Sandwich, and leftovers from dinners

Dinners: Impossible Burgers with Long-Grain Wild Rice and Steamed Broccoli, Taco Tuesday

Snacks: Protein Shakes + Benefiber + Medium Apples, Fiber One Coffee Cake Bars

Of course when we ate out we tried to make healthier choices, but did splurge a few times.

Friday: Corky’s Barbeque Smoked Turkey, Green Beans, and Coleslaw

Saturday: Hatfield & McCoy’s Dinner Feud show (pictured bottom right)– Creamy vegetable soup, fried chicken, barbeque pulled pork, corn on the cob, mashed potatoes, cold slaw, and chocolate pudding. This meal was an absolute cheat meal, but we tried to keep our portions small.

Monday: The Park Grill – 7 oz. Filet Mignon & Garlic Mashed Potatoes + Seafood Chowder (another vacation cheat meal eaten in moderation) and FAR too much wine on my part (15 oz.)

Tuesday: Leftovers from The Park Grill at lunch

Wednesday: Breakfast at Flapjack’s Pancake Cabin – Jon & I split the big breakfast, and couldn’t even finish all of it!

We stayed active throughout our trip, even though the Fitness Center was closed. This meant we had to get creative and we used the mountains to help us get in some great workouts! We both got on the scale the day before my next travel plans began. I didn’t gain (or lose) any weight throughout the trip, and Jon only gained about .5 lb. I also noticed that the bathing suit I wear most often is now too big, and the one that was a little bit snug is fitting much better. So yay for #nonscalevictories !

I am committed to staying active over these next few days for my work trip to Jamaica. I will make it a priority be physically active every day and to make choices for healthier meals at the resort. I am looking forward to seeing how the scale will be effected when I get home, and I will share that experience with you as well!