Learning How to Feed Myself

When I lived at home with my parents, I had the luxury of having a brilliant cook who was incredibly knowledgeable about food science – my mother. She taught me as best she could, and yet when I moved away to school at 16, I knew I was not making the wisest choices in the dining hall. Despite my food choices, I did make some attempt to keep up exercise at school, and maybe that’s why weight gain didn’t find me there. Unfortunately, leaving high school and going to college and beyond was not so kind. I became accustomed to the grease-filled, processed, artificial junk that so many people in America now eat on a daily basis. And I gained weight. Not surprising, right? One of my favorite parts of the Mamavation Campaign is the meal plan and nutritional support from Alysa – she has realigned my ideas about food, jumpstarted my weight loss, and given me a foundation on which to change my family’s health.

So first – the meal plan. We are eating with an insulin resistant diet, which is typically used by diabetics to help regulate blood sugar. The way it works is this – Alysa gives us our exchanges after we give her information about our lifestyle and activities (for instance, I’m still nursing, so she gave me a little extra). We have a list of exchanges for each meal – my breakfast is 1 fruit, 1 fat-free milk, 1 starch, and 2 fat. Then she gave us examples of what we could eat. For instance, my breakfast could be translated into: 1 small banana, 1 glass (8 oz) fat-free milk, 1/2 c oatmeal, and 1 TBSP nut butter. With her examples, I’m eating fresh fruits and veggies for every meal (except breakfast, that was just fruit as you saw), lean meats, and healthy fats. It’s been awesome. The first week I felt like I was eating constantly. I had a little bit of trouble starting in the second week. I started feeling really nauseous and gassy, sick to my stomach, with pimples and my baby even started breaking out in rashes. So I talked to Alysa (and Leah and Mark) about it, and I was allowed to switch to non-fat, non-dairy milk or yogurt. A week off the stuff and OMG I feel so much better (and baby is almost rash free)! So that’s the basics of my meal plan. You can find an example of the exchange lists on this link from Mayo Clinic that Alysa gave us if you’d like to check it out for yourself.

Throughout the past weeks, I kept hearing Leah say one thing – 85% of the weight loss that we will be seeing is due to the food that we’re putting in our mouths. It was like a light bulb for me. Given Alysa’s examples and support, I began selecting foods that were fresh – carrots and almonds or grapefruit and avocado for snacks, a fresh salad for lunch and dinner – it’s awesome. I’m not looking for low-fat or low-carb or “diet” foods – instead, I’m using Nature’s foods to provide the fuel that my body needs. Although I’ve been tempted a couple of times, there is enough room in our meal plan for different options that I’m not finding it difficult to stay on it. My ideas about good foods and bad foods are changing. I’m finding that I don’t even miss the processed sugars or flours at all – and I was a hardcore addict. I’m back to eating the way my mom tried to teach me!

My weight loss is amazing to me. You know what we say in hazing, that our way wasn’t working, so we want to do be in the campaign to do it Leah’s way? I’m so not even kidding about that. Her way is AMAZING. I have tried for YEARS to lose the weight I’ve been shedding. I weigh less now than I did before my first baby was born. I’m the amazing shrinking woman right now, and we’re nowhere near done. It is so awesome. Alysa’s meal plan is a huge contributor to that because before I started the campaign, food was always my weakness. I was always baking something, over eating, eating my emotions, all of it. Now I feel full and satiated with incredibly healthy foods and I’m not looking for my next food high. I have totally found it in the awesome healthy foods that Alysa has recommended!

Now that my family has seen my progress and seen me eating this way, they’re totally trying to jump on board too. That was a reaction I really did not expect. My husband keeps asking when he gets to start! He doesn’t realize it, but he’s already eating the same way, just without as much focus on portions as I have done – I need to know my portions to report to you guys, so I measure everything I put in my mouth. He doesn’t, so he still has a little freedom. My 4 year old son has been eating a salad every night for dinner! It’s crazy the changes they’re totally ready for – and all because of the Mamavation Campaign. I LOVE it! And I couldn’t have possibly done it without Mamavation!

I know what you’re really waiting for… my official weigh in for week 3 of Campaign 15. Right? Well, wait no more! Here it is…

HOLY CRAP!!!

You may notice that this picture is not entirely straight – I was completely shocked to see this number. I figured I may have lost a pound, but I was prepared to see no loss. WOW. I weighed in at 219 pounds – that’s a total loss of 20 pounds since my application!!!

I can’t to see what next week brings! As always, much love to all my Mamavation Sistas, especially Rebecca and Jeanae who are going through this crazy ride with me and keeping me in trouble the whole time!