Anyway, this box arrives, filled to the brim with shakes and superfoods, supplements, a blender bottle, and a tape measure. One look at that tape measure and fear rose up from my stomach to my throat. I did NOT want to know how many inches of fat were coating my midsection, but I had made a vow to lose this weight and if I had to fill out a tracking sheet with measurements and mood and sleep quality, plus take horribly embarrassing before pictures, then that was what I was going to do.
I feel like I’m getting too detailed here and so let me (finally) get to the point.
The point is, I changed. I didn’t just make a small change or work some baby steps that, yeah, might help a little, I changed everything.
- I completely eliminated processed and packaged food.
- I gave up caffeine. That was HARD. I was a six cups of coffee a day, plus a sugar free energy drink before a workout type of girl. Caffeine and me? We were close friends. The headaches from withdrawal had me seeing stars for a few days, but once I got past that, wow! So much better. I don’t need a coffee to get me from beyond exhausted to extremely tired anymore. I wake up with energy and I feel awesome.
- Alcohol went out for 30 days. My husband and I were going on date nights once or twice a week prior to Covid, and drinking at home 3 nights a week once we couldn’t go out anymore. I like my beer, wine, and martini’s, but I figured I didn’t need it for 30 days. And I didn’t. Now we only go on a date night once every three to four weeks. We save major calories from not drinking, plus the bad snacking that comes after intoxication, and we save a ton of money by not going out.
- I’m a pescatarian, and was vegetarian for about 20 years prior to adding fish back in 3 years ago. Part of the diet involved being plant-based only, so this wasn’t anything difficult for me.
Maybe this doesn’t sound like THAT many changes, but to me it was. I was not eating as badly as someone that does fast food all the time, I NEVER eat fast food, but I was eating more than I needed to and lots of it came out of a package and cooked in a microwave. And no matter how much I knew I wasn’t doing the right thing, I certainly wasn’t doing anything to stop it.
I stuck to this diet for those 30 days, to a T.
It was WORTH it.
I lost 18 pounds in that first month. And I decided to keep going. So I took one day off when I finished the first box, it happened that my birthday was the day after day 30 so I celebrated with a few cocktails and some healthy food. And then another box showed up after that.
Four months later, and I’ve lost 30 pounds. Which is great. I look much better. I’m not back to my fighting weight yet, I have 20-25 pounds to go (scale weight is so subjective, though. I’ll be happy to be slender and muscular again, no matter what weight that may be.)
But best of all is how I FEEL.
It’s incredible. I have almost NO symptoms of my IBD anymore. Can you believe that? A gastrointestinal autoimmune disease that caused me all the pain, and just by changing my diet I damn near cured it. Ok, I’m not cured, but it seems that way, and that’s good enough for me.
I’ll be continuing my journey here, and sharing it with you. Cheers!
Couch Tomato 