My New Trim Healthy Adventure

It seems to be the big thing sweeping the internet. Have you heard of it? Trim Healthy Mama. I was doubtful when my friend shared it with me, but decided to look a little more in to it. I had to admit with all the glowing testimonies that I was seeing, it was hard not to want to give it a try. But I was just really grasping a hold of the whole Nourishing Traditions way of eating, so did I really want to switch things up already? 

But as I read, I found that eating the THM way was pretty closely related. I was reading things about fermenting foods, eating sourdough, and using stevia to sweeten things, things I was already starting to do....I wasn't so sure about eating things like fat free yogurt or no longer drinking whole milk, but I decided to dive in and give it a try, and bought the less expensive e-book version. 

Now to back up a little bit, I want to share a little bit about my weighty history. I was an average sized child, never had to deal with weight issues until I got into high school. I started high school weighing around 140. An average weight for someone my size and build. But after meeting my now husband, he quickly changed the way I ate. I would try to order just one soft taco, and he would tell me I needed to eat more and order me two. I joke with him that my weight is all his fault :) but truthfully I enjoyed eating more. Slowly, but surely, however, the weight started to pile on. By the time I was a senior in high school, I was up to almost 200 lbs. I got married in high school during my senior year, and like most brides tried to lose the weight for my wedding day, but I never seemed to succeed. 

Thus began my dieting ups and downs. With my first pregnancy, about a year after we were married, I found something unusual happen. Instead of further gaining weight, I lost weight to the point that I was 20-30 lbs lighter after having the baby than I was when I got pregnant. But soon after, the weight slowly crept back up again. And with each succeeding pregnancy, the same thing would happen. I would lose weight during pregnancy, and gain it all back afterwards. 

After my fourth baby, I started having health problems. I was always very tired. I was always eating and snacking, and I was quickly packing on the pounds with my weight topping out at around 240 lbs. I found out I had an enlarged thyroid, and went through some tests to find out why, but nothing turned up too serious. I did find out it would make weight loss nearly impossible, and settled into a depression over it all. 

This is me last year at my girl's birthday party. My son thought it was funny to drench me with water after the water game we had played :)

But then a wonderful thing happened, I got pregnant with baby number five last August/September. I was so happy! And the other great news, my thyroid was back to normal! And as in past pregnancies, I started to slowly lose weight during my pregnancy. By the end of my pregnancy I weighed in at 220 lbs. 

Here I am at 39 weeks pregnant with my fifth little one. 

It was then I was introduced to THM. I got the book a week or so after the baby was born, and started reading through it. I decided to play around with a few of the recipes, and give it a try...nothing serious, just as I had the time and energy. By the time I was 2 weeks postpartum, I was already at 200 lbs. I continued to try new recipes, and at 6 weeks postpartum, I weighed in at 190. That's 50 lbs less than what I weighed when I got pregnant ya'll! 

And here I am last week at the zoo with all my kiddos, 50 lbs lighter! 

So starting this last Sunday, I decided to fully devote myself to this new way of eating. I still am not sure what to think about all the fat free options, but I'm willing to give it a try. After all, I feel it's more important for me to get to a healthy weight, more than it is to worry so much about a few changes in the types of foods I'm eating. I'm still eating good, healthy whole foods, some are just with the extra fat removed. 

I struggled at first in how to eat this way and include my family, but I'm quickly finding my way through it, and feel the Lord is really blessing my efforts. I also found that having store bought pizza in my house is a recipe for disaster, and will fully admit, I had 2 cheats during this week during dinner time....lesson learned :) 

I'll be 33 in about 6 weeks, and my goal is to be at or around 170 lbs by then. I'm nursing a little one though and am not going to sacrifice my milk supply in an effort to drop the pounds too quickly, but it's nice to have a goal set, and I will be fully happy with whatever successes I have. 

What I'm hoping to do here is share with you as I go along each week my successes and my failures, as well as recipes that I've THM-ified to fit our family, along with some tips and helps that are working for me. I'm really looking forward to the changes that are in store! 

Blessings, 

Sara