My Journey (Before & After Pics)

Some things from our past are easier to remember than others. Having issues with food began for me early on around the age of 11. I remember for no apparent reason sneaking a salty snack in my parents basement. I remember the pediatrician constantly commenting at every annual visit that if I could just lose 10 pounds I would be at my ideal weight for my height. I am as an adult only 5'2 tall so that number was 110 pds! I have not seen that number since I was 11. I was never overweight as a kid but I wasn't skinny either. The problem was I thought I was chubby, you know the peer-pressure thing of wanting to look like friends who were twice my height and had fabulously long, lean legs.

So began the crazy fad diets at the age of 13, then the continued yo-yo diet cycle. At 18 I simply decided to let myself eat whatever I wanted, whenever I wanted it. Of course the comfort I found was in sugar-laden snack foods. My highest weight was 155 pds at the age of 22. At that point in my life I found Jesus as my savior and that's when I decided I was really ready to clean up my act. I started walking and stopped eating in between meals and lost weight and by 6 months I was what I felt was the right weight for my body, 124 pds.I didn't have to exercise like a maniac to maintain it and I was thrilled.

In 1997 I married my sweet hubby Jim and continued to maintain a healthy weight. Unfortunately, blame it on hormones, I was having the worst PMS symptoms. I was completely out of control with my emotions. I started researching causes and natural solutions to alleviate symptoms.I found a yeast free diet plan , not to lose any weight, but to see if this could help with my PMS craziness. All sugar, which yeast thrives on, was eliminated except if it was the 5th ingredient on labels. Within 2 months I felt better and my PMS symptoms were gone.  My skin looked fabulous and I actually even lost weight. Of course now that I had fixed the problem, that was when we decided to get pregnant. I tossed all my good habits out the door and gained 70 pounds! I had never seen 190 pds before when I delivered and boy was I frightened to see that number!  I knew getting rid of white refined sugar was incredibly helpful, but I could not stop eating it.  I chose Weight Watchers to take off the baby weight. It is a great program and it did help me lose weight, but after baby #2 came along it just was much harder to lose the weight.  I could not get away from the cravings for sugary foods.

In 2004, I heard about a Christian program called Prism. It eliminated typical binge foods and products which contain white refined sugar and white flour. It helped me detox my body , taught me how to read labels and gradually add back some things into my food plan.  In 6 months I got back to my right weight of 124 pds and started teaching the classes at my church. It was during this time I started creating recipes  without white flour or white refined sugar. I continued on this food plan but then had baby #3 and again went straight for those sugary foods. (You'd think I would have learned my lesson the last time, but clearly I was addicted to white refined sugar!)

 

My baby is now almost 6 and it took me almost a year to get back to what I believe to be my right weight by following that food plan.

Today  I no longer teach classes but I truly believe that program was such a blessing and can and does help many people who struggle with the sugar cravings. Today I keep a food journal to help keep me accountable. I do not weigh myself except for once a month and certainly can tell by how my clothes feel if I have been overeating. Since I am a Life Time Weight Watcher member I check in once a month at a meeting to keep me accountable. They are a group of fabulously encouraging people!

I eat 3 meals a day with one snack either in the afternoon or evening. I found I must pray daily to receive HIS strength to abstain from overeating. (I honestly could overeat on broccoli!)  I need to ask God each day for self-control and discipline. Staying away from the refined sugar has stopped my cravings, ravenous hunger and binges and yo-yo weight cycles. It may not be the life style for everyone but it works for me. God knows the desires of my heart and how I want to glorify Him in all that I do. For me, choosing to abstain from sugar is saying I choose all that God has for me. I want to be all He sees that I can be. I no longer turn to food for comfort, no longer live in a brain fog from sugar-laden foods. I feel fabulous and I am maintaining my weight which makes me joyful and grateful and I think  because of this joy I am a better wife and mother -My greatest calling of all!