Losing weight can be hard, and sticking to it is most often the hardest part. Some may face other significant obstacles, as I did with my thyroid (autoimmune system) that threw off my hormones making losing weight after having babies even more difficult.
I have been there. After having our second son my hormones went haywire and the 60 pounds of baby weight would NOT BUDGE! After two years of doctors and specialist visits, all I was left with was big medical bills from all the testing and blood work and a, “I am sorry but this is just something you are going to have to live with and manage, everything with your blood work looks “normal”.”
Trust me friend beside the 50-60 extra pounds I had a laundry list of other things that were far from “normal”. So, I decided I would start out on my own journey. Unwilling to accept this as my fate, I started researching how to heal my body naturally and lose that 50+ pounds for good.
Here I am sharing 5 secrets I learned that not only got that 50+ pounds off (and we are going 7 years+ now staying off) but I healed my autoimmune system too!
I will be sharing
- how I dropped 50 pounds and have kept it off effortlessly
- how your hormones are affecting your weight and how to reset them
- food psychology and how to create a healthy mindset around food
- how to control food cravings and excessive hunger (so food no longer controls you)
- how to enjoy eating while still dropping those extra pounds
- how to create a wellness lifestyle and meal plan so this is not another “fad diet”
If you have been struggling to lose weight, and NOTHING you seem to do works. Or you fall off the wagon because life gets busy and distracting and you never seem to reach your weight goals, then you are in the right place, my friend! All of that is about to change for you.
How I Lost 50+ Pounds and Kept It Off 7+ years and Counting
I was one of “those girls” until around the age of 24 when I got pregnant with our first son. Yeah. Those girls that can eat anything they want never worked out, and somehow stay a size 2-4. Even after having my first son and a condition, only 1 in 100 women get (that really threw my hormones into a tailspin) I was only 10-15 pounds heavier and staying at that weight.
Granted at that time I was VERY upset about that 10-15 pounds not coming off, but honestly, I wasn’t really trying either.
Then when I was pregnant with our second son I blew up like a balloon. No joke I was asked multiple times if we were having twins (insert pissed off the face as I tried to politely say “nope just one” grrrr). Having the same condition, which I do not even know how to spell nor pronounce, this time it was 50+ pounds post-baby weight that was NOT BUDGING.
Despite, being obviously out of panic mode, I was really trying. And I was trying everything.
After doctors told me “sorry this is how it is”. Even on medication for two years the laundry list of issues and symptoms I had, including the extra weight not coming off was just the same.
Fed up I started out on my own doing TONS research on nutrition, how to heal my hormones naturally, etc. I knew if there was at least one person who had done it soo could I.
That’s when I found the key to reset my hormones which in turn would fix the weight issues too was going to the “factory settings”.
Our bodies are like cars in a way. I had so many check engine lights coming on starting around 14-15 years old. It was not until 5-6 years ago thought that I was able to start connecting those dots.
Once I realized where to start looking, aka I found the factory settings, I found the key to both healing my hormones AND getting the 50+ pounds off. And it worked! 7+ years later I am free of both the autoimmune disorder and 50+ pounds for good!
I feel so good! So healthy! So energized! I could not keep it to myself. Hundreds of thousands if not millions of women struggle after having babies, or heck no a day’s teenage girls age 12 are battling the weight loss issues every single day.
I know not everyone will become fascinated and obsessed with researching as I did which gave me 7-8 years of reading amazing books, listening to countless hours of interviews and podcasts, and learning how my body worked so I could figure out how to “fix it”.
That is actually what prompted me to start this blog. To share this journey with you so that I could save you SO MUCH time and effort and just get you to where you want to be faster!
I will be like using a GPS for you vs an old paper map like I was navigating for years to find my way.
Secrete #1 How hormones are affecting your weight and how to reset them naturally.
One of the most important “factory settings” is in our endocrine system. Literally referred to as our hormone factory, when this factory setting is off queue the dominos affect one falls and knocks down hundreds more.
There are two key areas of focus when it comes to healing our hormones naturally or holistically
- Food
- Toxins
Now, these are not the only two but focus on these two areas and you will see changes immediately in your body!
I deep dive hormones here on the blog I will link some great articles on healing your hormones below to hop to next.
But for now, let’s focus on Food.
Dr. Mark Hyman said it best, “food is either medicine or poison it is either healing and nourishing you or slowly killing you”.
YIKES! But you know what? He is right.
This is coming from a medical doctor who had to heal his own autoimmune system as well after getting the same “diagnose and adios” treatment I did.
Except Dr. Hyman is a surgeon himself, he found the top endocrinologist in the US, and flew to California, to get the “sorry this is something you will have to live with and manage, here’s your prescription Mark”.
Let us skip all the things I tried that did not work for me or my body and jump right into what DID work!
Clean Keto!
Surely you have heard of Keto, and thankfully if you say what the heck and try keto for yourself you can find SO many keto recipes and even clean keto foods at your grocery (sadly that was not the case for me 7-8 years ago).
So What is Clean Keto?
Simply put clean keto is dairy-free (with the exception of grass-fed butter or ghee) and little to no processed or refined foods.
The #1 reason most people “fall off the wagon” in hitting their weight loss goals is always having a clear plan…… aka an answer to the “what the heck should I eat” question?
I love this program developed by Rachel Roberts who literally took the guesswork and overwhelm out of eating. Especially when it comes to doing something new in our diets.
No learning curve.
No, not knowing what to eat when you eat out because you are keto now.
It is custom-made for you to fit your taste and your lifestyle.
Again, this is like getting a GPS to guide you to your destination vs an old paper road map and attempting to navigate the waters alone. Why not make it easier on yourself, at least in the beginning while you are adjusting.
Strick Clean Keto is not something you will do forever. But it is the easiest way to detox and reset your body to burn ketones vs glucous.
Said another way – burn fat instead of store it.
Depending on your body I would say 90 days to 9 or 10 months of strict clean keto is a great target in doing a hard factory reset both for your hormones and you will see MASSIVE weight loss to boot!
I transitioned to a “keto” morning routine and a more paleo-style dinner. I will go into more details about this in another post.
For now, just know this will detox your body from so many of the poisonous-type foods Dr. Hyman was referring to and allow your body time to heal. Not only will you feel amazing you will look amazing too.
And after several months you will notice food and cravings, that hangry feeling you use to get…. all of that is gone! You can watch someone eat a cake right in front of you and be totally fine.
7+ years gluten-free, dairy-free, and sugar-free my husband and I can attest to it.
Our 10-year-old and 14-year-old sons have been gluten-free, dairy-free, and sugar-free for well over one and a half years….. at birthday parties they see kids pigging out on pizza and cake and ice cream and they choose not to have it and are totally fine.
I give them the choice to eat whatever they want outside of the house, thankfully inside of the house, I buy the food so they get what I purchase and that doesn’t include the poison we call the SAD (Standard American Diet).
I should note here my now 14-year-old son lost over 20 pounds in about a month and grow like crazy after removing foods like gluten and sugar from his diet. He was a bit on the hefty or chubby side and very self-conscious about it. So when the weight fell off and he looked and felt amazing, well let’s say he is VERY aware of what foods do to our bodies. Though weight loss for him was not really my intention it was an AMAZING side effect of cleaning up his eating habits too.
Quick note if you live in a town that does not offer organic or healthier food selections at your grocery stores here is a great option to consider. Azure Standard is like a Costco meets Tractor Supply all in a monthly pickup.
Here is an example of all they offer. Click the link here or below to shop around. They have a great selection of bulk organic foods, nontoxic cleaning and personal hygiene products etc.
Secrete #2 food psychology and how to create a healthy mindset around food
Now we have a plan for our food understand why we choose the foods we do it is time to reset our mindset and relationship with food. We have all heard the saying “if you set your mind to it anything is possible” and this is the truth.
Our minds are POWERFUL tools, but unless we are aware of our ‘autopilot’ settings we will not be able to reset them.
I love telling people grab your toothbrush with the opposite hand (if you are right handed then use your left hand) and brush your teeth. Something so simple and on autopilot we literally never need to think about it all the sudden becomes a rather difficult task.
This is the perfect example of us needing to bring awareness to these “autopilot settings” in all areas of our life.
For today lets look at our food settings.
For the rest of today or the rest of this week every time you reach for food stop and think about what you are thinking about. Though we are not aware of the thoughts just like we are not aware of the easy and effortlessness of brushing our teeth or our commute to work daily our subconscious this programed to handle those simple repetitive tasks for us.
Anther simple repetitive task it handles -eating.
Today make it a practice to think about what you are thinking about when it comes to food.
Secret #3 how to control food cravings and excessive hunger (so food no longer controls you)
The amazing part about secret #3 is that in secret #1 we have perpousfuly chosen an eating style that will detox you from the foods that are causing the excessive hunger and cravings. The biggest culprits are
- Gluten (which makes up 90% of the refined carbs Americans eat)
- Sugar (check out my how to quite sugar for good post here for more on how the food industry uses sugar to control our eating choices, turn off the “I’m full” message to our brain because if you eat more they sell more)
- Dairy (which is used to fatten up baby cows fast so they as hunam babies can quickly transition to foods, consider that for a moment if dairy fattens up a baby cow from birth to 300+ pounds so that it can eat grass the rest of the way to 800+ pounds…. why in the WORLD would we eat it?!?! Note: my exception is grass-fed butter or ghee in short the parts that “fatten the cafs up fast” is removed)
Again my I suggest you do not have to take the slow ‘figure it all out myself’ route. Unlike with me years ago when that was the only option, you can jump start your journey with help. Rachel’s Custom Keto Meal Plan is the Google Ways to entering the Keto eating style with success that helps it to fit into your lifestyle.
Trust me friend you will either invest a lot of time figuring keto out or invest a little money to let someone else show you what to do (its basically hitting the easy button), and 100% what I would have done had it been an option for me back then.
She gives you a free week to try it out, so why not? Nothing to loose.
Secret #4 how to enjoy eating while still dropping those extra pounds
Looking back to starting Keto myself I laugh a little. I heard a Dr give a one hour talk about “the cure to cancer”. By this time I was about 9 months into searching myself for a cure to heal my thyroid and youtube picks up on your searches so all kinds of things regarding “self healing” were prepopulating.
I of course thought it was click bait, but it got me still (lol). I listened to how a Dr in the 1960’s won a Pulitzer Prize for Curing Cancer. Essentially the Dr found that if you are not eating foods that “feed” cancer cells to grow then you are starving them out.
What foods feed cancer cells to grow…… you guessed it inflammatory foods such as Gluten, Dairy, Soy, and the #1 biggest culprit SUGAR.
The doctors video concluded with the Ketoginic Diet will starve cancer cells thus reversing or at least stopping the growth and progression.
WOW! I thought! If it can cure cancer it for sure can cure my thyroid!
So without even knowing what Keto was I printed a “what you can eat on keto” printable and off I went lol.
Let me point out a small thing that was HUGE with my mindset/perspective that I did not do on purpose but without doubt has lead to my success in sticking with my wellness lifestyle.
I printed a what you CAN eat on Keto document vs a what you CAN’T eat on keto document…. it may not seem like a huge life aultering thing to not add the “t” to the back of a word.
Human nature, however, would disagree.
No one wants to feel deprived, or without. So focusing your perspective on what you CAN do not what you CAN’T do is really a big deal. My boys don’t say “oh I cannot have that cake” they say, “no thank you I do not WANT that cake”. Or “I choose not to have that cake”
A little switch up of wording that is a MASSIVE minset shift to success.
We all want what we cant have but when we come from a perspective of I can have it, of course you can BUT not if you want to live the health and wellness lifestyle you so desire.
To reach those goals (health, longevity, fitness, and so on) you must choose differently. If you continue to choose the same you will continue to get the same.
So find foods from the Custom Keto Meal Plan (that includes desserts) that you love and enjoy eating, she event gives restaurant guides, and discover you can still eat what you love AND stay on course to reach your ultimate goal of creating a wellness lifestyle.
Secret #5 how to create a wellness lifestyle and meal plan so this is not another “fad diet”
If you are still with me this far you have without a doubt noticed all 5 secrets to loosing weight and keeping it off for good are interconnected. They are also all pretty universal truths.
The first step to changing any area of life is taking an audit of your mindset around this topic. Here we focused on Food with the goal of loosing weight and keeping it off for good by creating a new mindset toward food.
Developing a wellness mindset. Once you master this skill with one topic, apply it to all areas of your life. Relationships. Money. Career. I is the same process that will yield you the same AMAZING results with applied with consistency.
Wellness Coaching Program
Jaosn and I get asked all the time if we offer coaching, one-on-one or couples coaching. Honestly, we had never considered it in the past. We are freely offering all that we have learned here on the blog, but so many people said they needed more.
We relized just like anything in life everyone has their “thing” and wellness and fitness is not everyones “thing”. We get finanical coahcing from our tax consulant, from our investment consolutants, and so on. Jason and I love and have been members of Mindvally’s paid membership and take courses daily to grow in every area of our own lives.
Offering coaching to you should ahve been a given with the level of coaching we ourselves recieve daily.
Do you need help & accountablity to get you going in the right direction?
We offer one on one coaching sessions or couples coaching sessions in 2 different ways.
- Once a week for a month session
- Once a week for a year sssions
Once a week for a month is a jump start to get you out of the gate. They say a new habbit takes 21 days to solidify anf start to become easier and more effortless (“normal”).
However, we are not talking about 1 habbit. We are talking about creating a lifestyle around wellness. That is why we offer and recommend the 12 month coaching sessions. We take our clients month by month through each core area and reset them slowly in ways that anyone can stick to for good.
It is not just 1 BIG change that will get you to your goals, it is a lot of little daily changes that will help you to arrive to the place where there does not need to be an “end date” because you are on on a “diet”. Your eating habbits are a lifestyle. Your daily fitness habbits are a lifestyle.
Our coaching program is a 12 month program.
Each month we focus on one area such as:
1) A Mindset/Perspective Reset
2) Using Food as Medicine
3) Sleep
4) Sex
5) Fitness
6) Stress
7) How to Create a Miracle Morning Routine
8) Clean Nontoxic Living
9) BioHacking (using modern science) for Longevity
10) It is the Small Daily Habits that add up to the Big Lifestyle Successes – Consistency is Key
11) Primal Living
12) Creating Your Own Wellness Blueprint for next year together
For more information on our coaching program click here
Conclusion
The biggest factor in loosing weight and keeping it off for good is creating a mindset for success. Even if you are not ready to go all in on your weight loss goals focusing on your mindset around food. Think about what you are thinking about every time you grab something to eat. This creates awareness around food. Once we are aware of what we are thinking and feeling about food we have the power to make changes.
Here are some amazing books on mindset and health that have been pivital in my journey. I hope they will help you in yours too.
XOXO,
K’Lee
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