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No Longer ANEMIC! 2/28/22

After years and years of anemia and EXTREMELY LOW iron, these numbers don't lie! 557 days BRIGHT!

Here are my levels from 2018-2019. The last one, the 96, was after an iron infusion.

Love Language - Gift Giving 2/2/22

I've had a friend reach out to say that her significant other is always bringing stuff home to derail her progress.

Two thoughts...

1. They've been doing this for years, only in the past, you've welcomed this goodie or treat.

2. You just need to let them know what you would like NOW instead. Retrain that gift-giving spirit. Take a trip to the grocery store, find something you CAN eat, and say, "Oh honey, I just love this, can you get this for me?" Take a picture of it, send it to them and the next time they go to the store say, "I'm out of that thing I love, can you pick it up?"

If you don't want them to bring home their usual go-to items, help them to help you.

If you can't think of anything, herbs, spices, flowers, the most perfect apple they can find. That heavy whipping cream that is organic and no carrageenan that can only be found at a specific store that takes him 30 minutes to drive to...

Or that cheese you JUST LOVE!!! Specialty olives, pickles, meats, etc.

Help them help you, don't take away the way they show love to you.

Buy the book, read it.

Dinner's Ready 3/6/2021

It used to be I slaved over the stove, making a dinner I hoped everyone liked. Or I threw in a frozen something, hoping there was some sort of nutritional value. All of that has changed. Now, at dinner, I make a protein and a vegetable. If the people in my household don't like said protein or vegetable, they get their own. It's simple. No one gets offended, no food goes to waste. Everyone is happy.

This works because I have MANY protein options available: eggs, hard-boiled eggs, cheese, nuts, hummus, yogurt, cottage cheese, lunch meat (no sugar added), frozen meatballs, frozen sausages, pre-cooked chicken, frozen fish, etc. There is SOMETHING everyone will eat. If they don't like my protein, they look at the handy chart on my cabinet door and get the correct amount they need.

Veggies are the same way. Don't like what I made, grab a can or frozen bag of something. My older son's favorite thing to make is eggy hash, his own creation: 3 hard-boiled eggs (I keep a dozen in my fridge), 10 oz of frozen veggies, mixed together with mayo, salt and pepper. He has it whenever he's not happy with what my protein and veggies are.

For my youngest son, I have lots of meat & vegetable soups available.

This is working because my kids KNOW WHAT they are supposed to have and HOW MUCH they get. They are in charge of what they get. It's easy.

Did I mention we eat together? As a family? Everyone's plate looking different? And I never get mad about them not eating what I cooked.

I start off every Saturday with 7 proteins (NOT MEALS) in mind. I buy what I need for those proteins and do a quick check of what else I need, like we are out of eggs and yogurt. I make my proteins on the days I've planned and if there are leftovers, someone will eat them for lunch the next day.

Like can I be honest, I hate fish. ABSOLUTELY HATE FISH. But it's super easy to make, throw it in the oven, bake it. I'd never do it though because I thought, this sucks, what am I supposed to do? I hate fish. Now, I stick the fish in the oven and throw in a chicken and feta sausage. Win/Win.

It's time you rethought "Dinner". It's NOT family sitting around eating the food you cooked. Dinner is time together as a family, eating good food.

A Quiet Mind 2/11/2021

Bright Line Eating is not a diet. It is not a quick and easy way to lose weight. It is a program designed to quiet your mind from food addiction/obsession. One benefit is weight loss, however, if you focus on your weight and whether or not the number is moving up or down, you won't have a quiet mind.

So how do you get a quiet mind?

FOLLOW THE PLAN. Yup, that's it. Simply follow the plan. Do not try to make adjustments, justifications, cheats, or exceptions. That will create chatter in your brain. That will feed into the confusion your inner voice receives.
UNDERSTAND THE PROGRAM. If you've just heard about Bright Line Eating and you've read some things on the internet and you think you've got it, yet it isn't crystal clear, then you need to step back and understand what the program entails. Not knowing what to do will cause so much chatter in your brain. Instead of becoming automated it will become chaos. Read the book. Watch the blogs. Consider signing up for the 14-day program. To use a food analogy, it's kind of like a recipe. If you have all the ingredients sitting in front of you, it does you very little good unless you know how to combine them AND what the final output will be.
COMMIT. I have a quiet mind. It started when I committed to following this plan for 1 year. Not a week, 10 days, a month, but 1 year. No looking back, no deviating, I'm going to try this for 1 year.
REMOVE TEMPTATIONS. In the beginning, I gave away all the food that was not compliant. Was it a waste of money? Well, I guess that depends on how you look at it. Yes, I spent money on that food, but I was also donating it to people in need. Now, I don't buy anything that isn't compliant.
STOP OBSESSING. Stop hopping on the scale and wondering why it went up or how much it went down. This is a process to heal your brain and body. Trust the plan. We are all different. Don't replace your food addiction with a weight obsession. I weigh myself once a week. Sometimes it stays the same, like around that time of the month when I gain water weight, sometimes it goes down. BUT over the past 172 days, it has gone down. 183 to 148.
BE NICE TO YOURSELF. You are working on changing the way your brain thinks and reacts to food. It takes time. In the beginning, your body and brain may scream at you for trying something new. For taking away its comfort and protection. But, you know better. You want better. YOU DESERVE BETTER.

149 THEN and NOW 2/5/2021

In 2007 I had gastric bypass. My starting weight was around 250 pounds. At 5'2" that put my BMI at 48. I lost 125 pounds in a little over 9 months. I was a size 4-6. I looked like an emaciated being. My boobs were deflated balloons, you know the kind that got lost behind the couch, left to slowly deflate, all wrinkly and mushy. I looked great in clothing, but underneath, gross, flabby skin hung. I was finally thin, yet felt so very ugly and ashamed of what I had done to myself.

In 2008 I got pregnant. I gained a whopping 25 pounds, most of which was belly and boobs. Whoo-hoo, I became an A-cup. I hovered around 150 pounds for several years, afraid to look in the mirror, afraid to gain a pound. I felt like such a fraud. I felt so very ugly.

In 2019 I got sick. I started to work from home. Over the course of the next year, I rapidly gained weight and topped off at 183 pounds.

On August 23, 2020, I began Bright Line Eating. 167 days ago. 4,003.32 hours ago. I'm 149 pounds, my BMI is 27. I have curves. I have boobs. I am so very proud that I did this to myself. Every bite, every meal brought me to where I am now. I DID THIS!

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