Feminine 101

In January 2024, I began a “health journey.” This is to share where I came from, what I’ve achieved, and how I got from point A to point B. Please note, I’m not a doctor, nutritionist, or any other sort of health professional. I’m just a woman who took her health in hand and made some changes. If you wish to start at the beginning of my story, you can click here.

In January of 2024, several things converged. It’s like all my issues reached critical mass and something had to happen. A growing list of tangible motivating factors was weighing down on me. I was listening to a Dave Ramsey podcast where he was talking about the futility of vague New Year’s Resolutions. He was referencing financial health because that’s his schtick, but in making a point he used losing weight as an example. 

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The reason vague resolutions are so often ineffective is that they do not address the real problem. And, what, pray tell, is that? We’re out of control. Lack of discipline is the heart of all kinds of problems: finances, relationships, fitness, lawns. Lawns? Yes, lawns. For instance, how do you keep them green and lush? You spray and pull the weeds regularly, you mow them weekly, and you water them daily. Skip doing any of these for the summer and watch your lawn fall apart. Finance, relationships, and fitness are no different. Being overweight and unhealthy is like having an overgrown lawn. We all know what needs to happen. We need to eat less and exercise more. So, why don’t we do it? Because we’re out of control and have no plan.

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Ramsey commented that saying you’re going to lose weight this year is far too vague to be useful. Instead, you need to set a measurable goal complete with a timeline. Example: I need to lose “x” amount of weight by “y” date. From there you can figure out how much you need to lose each day or week to meet that goal. Then you need to come up with a plan. This concrete, practical advice caught on in my mind as one more piece of the puzzle. 

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I was teetering on the precipice of change.

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What finally pushed me over the edge? You’ll laugh. But I’m going to tell you anyway. Mr. Right and I discovered the YouTube channel “Beard Meets Food” and started watching the weirdly enjoyable Brit embark on professional eating challenges. I could not tell you what challenge or video it was, but, in one of them, he comments that he’s “so hungry” because he hasn’t eaten anything but yogurt all week to prepare for this. Now he is not a big guy. Beard is trim and appears fit. But here he is packing away massive quantities for food for our entertainment. 

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Something just clicked. If he can stay trim doing what he’s doing, there has to be a way to make my dietary preferences function with a fitter, smaller me.

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And over the cliff I tumbled. 

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It started with research. I searched Pinterest for weight loss stories of people who had lost a lot of weight–”How I lost 50 Pounds,” “11 Steps That Helped Me Lose 70 Pounds,” “My Weight Loss Tips To Lose 40 Pounds”–and read every single word in search of inspiration and ideas. The lists, in particular, were useful for parsing information. I paid attention to what other people had done to drop a lot of weight and started cataloging the ones that I might be able to use.

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I did come in with certain expectations that needed to be addressed and there were definitely gut reactions that I noted and listened to. It is just a fact that certain things have to be true if this is ever going to work. So, before jumping in on some new dietary expedition, I encourage you to think long and hard about these.

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For example: I love to cook and bake–so much so that I have come to realize I mean something different than most people who say they love to cook–so any plan I undertake requires that I can still do those things.

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I am unwilling to go down the artificial sweetener/fat free rabbit hole because–yuck!

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Everything I do has to be something I can do forever. I’m not interested in losing 50 pounds so that I can gain it all back next year because my steps were unsustainable. This either has to be a lifestyle change or it’s a colossal waste of time. 

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I was NOT going to count calories. It’s super tedious and I remember how tiresome it became the last time. I don’t want to do that for the rest of my life.

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I have to have freebie foods–things I can eat without guilt or inhibition.

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It really did help knowing what I did not want to do and what was plainly never going to work. If you or I or anybody is going to make a lasting, effective change, we have to be realistic about what we can and cannot do. 

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I live in cattle country and grew up on a ranch. Being a vegetarian is so far outside the realm of my thinking, it would be silly to launch down that trail as the thing that’s going to transform my life. In retrospect, I think identifying practices that WON’T work is almost as important as identifying those that WILL.

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Also, it’s worth noting that no two people are alike so no two dietary approaches will be alike. Still, we can learn from each other and hopefully gain some much-needed encouragement.

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So…what did I do?

To continue this series, click here.