Taking My Life Back: Gains & Losses

I recently shared a post on Facebook about getting serious about my health journey again after experiencing extreme burnout, gaining weight during Covid-19, and beginning medications for diabetes and cholesterol, which are entirely preventable diseases. I shared that I had lost 20 pounds since January 1, 2021, and now just three weeks after working with a Health Coach, I am down 29 pounds.

 

As I spoke with my coach today, Donna asked me to tell her about my wins this week. To be honest, the weight loss was the last on the list! I came to the conclusion that I have gained so much more than I have lost, and none of it had to do with weight! You see, when I decided I wanted my life back, THAT was the goal, not the weight.  The weight loss is just the icing on the cake… I know, terrible analogy! But you get the point…

 

I was at such a place of burnout when I started working with Donna. My work/life balance was non-existent. I was burning that proverbial candle at both ends! Brad and I are like ships passing in the night with our work and school schedules. We make a point to stop several times a day for a hug break, and just to cheer each other on and let each other know we have each other’s backs, and then back to the grindstone! I was at a place where I saw no light at the end of the tunnel. I simply felt terrible body, soul, and spirit.

 

When I saw my friend Crystal taking charge of her health and making herself a priority, I watched from a distance for months. I always looked forward to her posts about her progress. I yearned for the kind of courage she openly shared on Facebook about her health journey. This kind of journey is so intensely personal! I, for one, am so grateful that she shared her journey publicly! I reached out in desperation and told her I wanted my life back too. She introduced me to Donna. That was a day that changed my life.

 

I remember telling Donna all the reasons why this was a terrible time for me to be adding ANYTHING to my hopelessly full plate. I was past hopeless and needed a lifeline. There were so many changes in our life recently, with Jesse moving back with his parents, the rigorous demands of a doctoral dissertation, and working with high-risk situations at the counseling center that are often life and death situations. I was spent. I was burned out. I was DONE. I told her that life was so out of control, with so many spinning plates in the balance, that if just ONE grain of salt were to fall on a plate that the whole thing would collapse on me. And yet, I felt compelled to do what seemed so illogical, considering all the spinning plates.

 

Have you ever seen the Disney movie SOUL? I highly recommend it! Watching that movie was quite a revelation and likely the reason I ever reached out to Crystal to begin with for help.  The movie's main theme is that it is possible to be so caught up in your passion that you forget to LIVE. That had my name all over it! Brad asked me to watch it with him. He had already seen it, and he recognized I was on a collision course that I was unaware of. He was right.

 

So back to Donna, when she asked me about my wins this week, I had to tell her that I was amazed at all the things I have discovered and regained in my life. I have always loved cooking, but there just hasn’t been a lot of time or energy to indulge in that hobby over the last several years. We have existed on quick foods like soups and sandwiches, and things that could be thrown in an instapot. 

 

In just three weeks of working with Donna, I am enjoying cooking again! In making my own health a priority, I have chosen to slow down and enjoy life. I have found amazing recipes that she has shared with me, and I am overjoyed to be cooking in my kitchen again! Even better, Brad and I are actually having dinner together several times a week, which was not happening before due to our schedules.  Now that I am cooking and preparing healthy meals, we both stop what we are doing and make time to eat together. Come to find out, Brad has been on his own health journey, and both of us choosing health has brought us together at the dinner table! That is a HUGE win!

 

So, to wrap it up, wins for this week, just three weeks into working with my coach:

Rediscovered cooking and tried out several new recipes, including:
Chipotle Chicken and Cauliflower Rice Bowls
Mini Bell Pepper Nachos
Curried Chicken Salad Wraps
Loaded Cauliflower Soup

Brad and I are also having dinner together again at the table and stopping what we are doing to meet over healthy meals! SCORE!!!!

I went from a size 2X to a 1X in just three weeks, and I love wearing clothes I haven’t been able to wear in years.

 

… and last but not least, I have lost 15 pounds in three weeks! I am well on my way to getting my life back! I have more energy than I have had in years, and all those spinning plates don’t seem so wildly out of control anymore! Once I made my health a priority, it seems everything else just fell into place!