Jumping In Feet First! [Challenge Entry]

Colleen was active in the challenge and though she did an even stricter plan at the advice of her chiropractor, she stuck to the Wellness Lifestyle, got exercise and focused on areas she felt she needed to work on. Her progress is certainly impressive and inspiring!

Enter Colleen…

I jumped into your challenge feet first setting my goals for weight loss, morning quiet times, exercise & a change of thinking!!! After experiencing the “carb flu” for days & wanting to quit… I pushed on & made it through party after party!

I loved your menu’s & had a blast planning them…I lost a lb in the first week and knew this was something I was on to but needed more accountability & clear “rules” of what to not eat & what to eat… cuz I always find a way to get my treats, and the next & the next to follow!

Our chiropractor was opening a clinic for ideal protein & after much prayer felt that was the route I must take since he offered me a “free trial” and had often given me resources on similar eating plans without grains & sugars. So on Aug 8th I began the most strict eating plan I ever attempted which includes less than 30 carbs each day, 4 cups of “approved” veggies & salad, plus proteins and good fats. I thought I could never do this, never would I want to, but through your encouragement, your posts, others posts on your site and the grace of the Lord I have exceeded my goals and have lost 11 lbs, 14+ inches, 12.4lbs of fat mass change and 8.8% body fat!!!

I have come to love turnip soup, cauliflower rice, zucchini marinara, and honestly do not miss pasta & rice. I do miss breads & an occasional dessert would be nice, yet I know I will have those yummy chocolate coconut balls on your website SOON!!

I have learned so much about self-control, about putting my journaling & God time before my computer & Facebook, and about what my body needs vs. what I want or think I have to have!

I learned that I held tight to my “treats” because they brought back happy memories of my childhood, which were few & far between and I thought if I let go of them, I’d let my mom’s memory fade away. We loved to eat yummy ice cream, root beer floats, and drinks together… but I have found that I have to let that go, realizing it wasn’t the food it was just the time with her & I know she would be proud of me for not walking in her footsteps of heart disease, drinking, smoking which led to her early death.

I have learned to drink hot tea or lemon water & say a prayer when a craving comes on, I have learned I CAN & DID go to parties (seemed to have more than usual this month), eat out, & enjoy life while sticking to my protocol. Not one sip of beer (not that I’m a big drinker but do enjoy one at a party), not one lick of frosting (one of my favorites is white frosting & I was faced with too many cakes to count this month), no fruit in the last 3.5 weeks (not even a bite of our home grown watermelon!!), and still smiling while enjoying my new found friends… VEGETABLES!!

My heart is overcome with joy knowing that I have listened to God first & four most and am praying that as I enter phases 2-4 in Ideal Protein and add in fruits & rooted vegi’s with a few more carbs that I will continue to not give in to my cravings but become a true wellness momma for years to come!!

Thank you for investing in the lives of those you don’t know and I pray my testimony will give hope to others struggling as I have for my entire life with weight & food!! 

A little background on where I’ve been….In January of this year I read the book “Made to Crave” where she explained her weight loss journey to include no sugar & running and my first thought was I could NEVER do that! Well, I don’t want to ever do that… I love my sweets & they love me and I could barely run to the mailbox without wanting to take a break!

Yet I felt God was clearly speaking to me that this is where I needed to go to be healthy for my kids… but I was terrified to fail so I put together my own plan based on many friends who said they lost 10lbs in weeks by doing the workout by Beachbody called “Insanity” so I kept tight hold of my sugary treats, counted my calories & was “balanced” plus increased my workouts from 3times a week for 30min to SIX times a week for 45-60 min.

I thought for sure the pounds would fall off… after 60 days of this “insanity” I lost 8 inches but just two lbs and was beyond disappointed. I was then introduced to some recipes on wellness momma & began reading more and more.

Watching more & more documentaries like food inc, fat-sick-nearly dead, etc. We made changes in our eating and switched from white & brown sugars to honey, aguava, & brown rice syrup and decreased our processed food consumption even more and began our “food not grass transformation” with my husband & turning our backyard into a garden!!

In March I still wasn’t at my goal weight & was consumed at finding something that would work without giving up grains & sugars!! I trained for a 5K and started running like a crazy person and again nothing to show for it but accomplishment of finishing the race! No pounds lost which was my real goal….

Then in June I read your article on working out and began the sprints & strength training and felt like I found the balance in working out… but still holding on to those last lbs from having four babies in 5 years! It was beginning to change me, I was obsessed with what I ate, when I worked out & seeing myself become angrier & just focused on the wrong things… 

This was the first year I was NOT pregnant or nursing in 7+ years, my heart wants more kids but I felt I must deal with my battle with food and self-control first to be a good example to my kids, especially my 2-yr old daughter.

I never want her to see her mom avoid a camera because she thinks she’s not skinny enough or pretty enough… I want her to know God made us perfectly & when we watch what we put in our mouths we will be healthy & confident!! After seven months of God’s soft whispers & clear direction, and my utter desperation (because my nieces wedding was now not months away BUT weeks & I HAD to meet my weight loss goals).

We watched Fat Head and were convinced that MORE different changes needed to made in our eating AGAIN, it’s just such a roller coaster in this society to know who to listen to, who to follow, who to trust with your health. I even went to the Dr. asking for them to do blood work to see if something was wrong with my thyroid & that was the reason I couldn’t loose weight… the results of course came back great, I was fine just a few pounds OVER WEIGHT, the words I have heard all my life and of course encouraged to just try weight watches AGAIN. I tried to explain the wellness momma way and was of course met with opposition that was not “healthy” yet it my heart I knew it was were God was leading me and so thrilled I listened this time.

-Colleen

Before and After…

side view…

Colleen’s full Wellness Journal can be read here.

She also transformed her backyard into an organic gardening paradise

with the help of her children who are her motivation for better health…

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