It was 4 Years Ago that I Began this Weight Loss Journey for My Health

It was in August of 2015 that I started my weight loss journey to improve my health.  I had made the decision to try one more time.   Because basically I felt like if I didn’t do something, I may not be around for another 5 years.

Over the years, I had tried everything and failed.  When I was at this weight I had totally given up on myself.  I wasn’t even trying to attempt to eat healthy.

This was me, at a family dinner the night before I started this journey.

I’m not going to get into the full details of how abusive I was to myself, or how my self esteem was completely non-existent.

I’m not even going to go into detail on how and what I did to start my Low Carb/ Keto journey, besides saying that all I did was kept my net carbs under 20 grams, and kept my healthy fat about 70%.

You can read all of that by searching this blog for Healthy Weight Loss or by going to some of the highlight posts here:

I Was Surprised This Week PLUS Something I’m Not Quite Ready to Share Yet
Sharing My Healthy Weight Loss Journey
100 Pounds: Wanna Know My Secret?
Time to Finish What I Started
A Journey to Becoming My Better HALF
My 3 Year Ketoversary

Looking back, I had to change my inside beliefs and attitudes just as much, or more than I was going to have to change my outer appearance.

I am still working on both my inner and outer self, and that journey will likely never be over.

Now, after this 4 year journey and keeping off a minimum of 130 of my 155 pound original weight loss, life is very different…… I AM VERY DIFFERENT.

I am STILL on this Journey

I believe there are 3 main reasons for this, and I am working through them daily:

The FIRST reason is when I started my weigh loss journey, I was completely afraid to take even on teenie-tiny taste of ANYTHING that wasn’t allowed on my low carb /keto way of eating.

I went through an entire Christmas season and did not even eat one jelly bean or piece of my famous Grandma’ Old Fashioned Fudge.  It didn’t even actually bother me.  I was determined by that point to continue my journey.  I as NOT going to let myself fail.

I didn’t allow myself to “cheat” until I had lost a full 150 pounds.  At that point I thought, I’ve come this far, one celebration dinner shouldn’t hurt me.  I got this!  I know what I’m doing!

That was a BIG mistake, and I’ll tell you why.   Because it became easier and easier for me to tell myself that I can lose the extra couple of cheat pounds (from Christmas, or vacation or whatever).

But each and every time I did that, it was HARDER to lose the extra weight, it was HARDER to get back into ketosis AND  HARDER to stay on plan.  To the point where 4 years later I am still struggling daily.

The SECOND reason is that I am getting older (I will be 50 in January).  My body has changed a lot and my hormones are no longer working in my favor.

If you are post menopausal as I am, I think you’ll completely agree, things don’t happen as easily as they did when we were a few years younger. It’s like my body and brain have disconnected at times lol.

The THIRD reason is my mindset.  I am a caregiver to many, and I often struggle with putting myself first.  I also struggle with self talk and limiting beliefs.  How I treat myself has always been a struggle for me ever since I can remember.  But that’s a different post for a different day.

My Weight Loss Struggle and What I am Implementing to Help

I am still struggling to take better care of myself, and to lose the last 25 pounds that I want to lose.

I do KNOW that I have to celebrate how far I’ve come.  I do KNOW that I will never ever get back to where I was.

I am so very grateful every single day.  Especially when I can do things like have my kids sit on my knee without them sliding off, or when I can go play at the park with my kids without being winded.  I can even do stairs now without any difficulty.

One of my favorite things along my journey was being able to get down on the floor with my grandson to play with him, and watch him learn and grow.  He has been my biggest motivations to keep going.

Those kind of things would have NEVER happened before.

I am grateful that I lost the diagnosis of being Diabetic, and having high blood pressure.  My doctor is VERY thrilled with how far I have come, and he considers my journey a HUGE success.

Although I am eating keto and am generally in a state of ketosis, the last 25 pounds to come off is being VERY stubborn.

Because of this, I am looking to implement something in addition to my Low Carb / Keto way of eating.

I’m going to try this because as I hinted at earlier, menopause it a bitch and my body is getting cranky.

I have been in full menopause for almost 2 years now, and that’s the same length of time that I have been struggling with this last 25 pounds.

Last night, I was doing some online research.  I stumbled on to this website, and the video really got my attention.  I feel like it was talking directly to me.

It’s called The Venus Factor, and it has to do with the female fat burning hormone called Leptin.

Although I know I am doing what I can to take care of my health, I would TOTALLY agree that my hormones are messed up due to menopause, and so it would make complete sense that the Leptin hormone in me is out of wack as well.

I have ordered the Venus Factor, and I will be sharing my results with you over the coming weeks and months.

I don’t know if you’re like me and feel like you’ve tried everything to lose the last little bit of weight.  I don’t know if you’re are at the same place in life as I am (menopausal) but I believe this video should be shared with all women who struggle to lose weight.

My Healthy Weight Loss Journey

So this morning as I finish writing this blog post for you, I am excited to begin year 5 of my healthy weight loss journey.

I love to share my successes and disappointments with you.

I truly hope that my journey does inspire you. 

I want to help you on your journey.  I would LOVE to create a strong community of women that inspire each other.  Please do get in touch if there is something that I can do to help you or a question that you’ve wanted to ask me.

That said, sharing my stories and struggles with you, helps to keep me inspired, motivated and accountable.  Let’s keep moving forward together!!

Talk soon,

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