It’s been over four years since my last blog post and so
much has happened.
Sadly, both Brent and I slowly gained a lot of our weight back these last five years… ☹ I’ve been dreading writing in my blog here
because I’ve been so disappointed with myself. Many many times I tried going
back on the Medifast plan that helped me lose that 145 lbs. originally, but I
could not stay on plan for more than a few weeks.
For a while, back in 2014 we got into juicing and did lose
some weight, but we couldn’t live off juicing and eventually we were back in
our same boat. I jumped on several other bandwagons including Plexus drink and
supplements and Pruvit Ketone drinks. I don’t want to even confess how much
money I threw at these programs (money we don’t have) and it just didn’t pay
off for us. I’m glad they are effective for some people, just not for our needs.
BIG SCARE & MIRACLE
Then last March something happened that changed
everything. Brent suffered from a
cerebral stroke (actually two). It came out of the blue. It originally seemed
like vertigo because he was losing his balance and tossing his cookies all that
morning. It wasn’t until he stopped being able to talk coherently that I
realized it was something more serious than vertigo. He ended up being rushed
into emergency surgery to stop the swelling of his brain.
After 3 weeks in the intensive
care and another 12+ weeks in the hospital and rehab, he was able to come home. That was just
over two months ago. He is still in recovery, and needs some assistance to walk,
but he’s come a long way and he is a living miracle! He is only 50. We just dodged a bullet. I am forever grateful that the Lord saved his life and he's still with me. :)
He did loose over 30 pounds while he was in the hospital, so
that was a perk.
Again… it is time to get our health under better control. We
both want to be around for grandkids when we eventually get some! I have a married child now so grandparenthood
is on the horizon! 😊
BELIEVING AGAIN
I had a good friend on Facebook post all these success
stories of people using Bright Line Eating. So I contacted her to learn more
about it. I felt so good about it as she shared it with me.
First off, I liked that someone wasn’t trying to get me in
their network business. Yes, I did TSFL
Medifast (now Optavia) for several years myself – being a “health coach” and
helping clients that bought from me. But I’ve never personally been motivated
by making money from something like this.
And I just don’t like being bombarded by programs where financial gain
is the main drive. (Yes, they say it’s to help people, but take the money out
of it and usually they don’t talk to you anymore).
I know every program is pretty much set up to make money,
but I don’t want to lose weight by having to spend hundreds of dollars each
month on products! That’s a huge reason why it’s so hard to maintain weight
after losing it on programs like Optavia and others… because eventually you
have to transition off the product and maintain a healthy eating lifestyle.
Then you mess up and must go back on the product. And really, do they mind
getting more of your money?
What I liked about Bright Line Eating is that you START OFF
making your own meals to help you lose weight. You are not locked into
products. And I have no “upline” person hounding me to get clients or sell
product. The success rate seems much greater than other programs I’ve tried and
researched like the Atkins diet, South Beach diet, Paleo diet, and yes, even Medifast/Optavia.
So I bought the book: Bright Line Eating and I read most of
the book in one night. I was sold. Here
is what I like about BLE (Bright Line Eating).
- · No Food Products to buy
- · No “Upline” to buy membership into
- · Program scientifically grounded – all detailed in her book
- · Huge online support system
- · Huge rate of people maintaining weight loss for years
- · Helps me better understand Will Power and Sugar/Flour addictions
- · Makes the most sense to me!
What is Bright Line Eating?:
In a nutshell, it is a program that teaches you a process
for breaking food addictions in your brain. “Bright Lines” represent firm
standards of eating:
- · No Sugar (or sugar substitutes).
- · No Flour.
- · Eat 3 Meals a day - No Snacking in-between.
- · Eat at a table, at a specified time, with measured portions.
Seem rigid? I certainly thought so when I first heard it.
But as I read her book, I saw how smart this program is and I started to
BELIEVE IT’S POSSIBLE once again that I can lose this weight and keep it off.
STARTING OVER WITH NEW FOUND HOPE
I got my digital food scale, researched recipes I want to
make, connected with some online support and TODAY Brent and I started this new path!
MY GOAL: 145 lbs HIS GOAL: 170 lbs
Okay, I'm laying it all out there! It's embarrassing to show these pictures but I'm being real. I hate that I got this big again... but I'm moving forward now.
Here are our FIRST BLE meals today:
Breakfast: (1 Protein, 1 Grain, 1 Fruit)
P= Peanut butter (2 T in Oatmeal)
G= Oatmeal (1 oz before adding water) cooked
F= Strawberries and Blueberries (6 oz)
Lunch: (1 Protein, 6 oz Vegetables, 1 Fruit, 1 Fat)
P= Turkey & Hummus
V= Sugar snap peas & Carrots (6 oz)
F= Pineapple & Banana (6 oz)
F= Laughing Cow Cheese Wedge
My Dinner: (1 Protein, 6 oz vegetables, 8 oz Salad, 1 Fat)
P= Rotisserie Chicken
V & S= Sauteed Squash, Asparagus, Pepper, Mushrooms, &
Onions (14 oz)
F= Olive oil (for the cooking)
P= All beef natural hot dogs (made sure that no kind of sugar was in the first 3 ingred)
V= Sauteed Squash, Asparagus, Pepper, Mushrooms, & Onions (10 oz)
S= Cucumbers (4 oz)
F= Olive oil (for the cooking)
So far, each meal felt very satisfying and we both felt full. Knowing that I've lost a significant amount of weight before by being committed to a plan helps me KNOW I can stick to this. I know what it takes to stick to a program, and now I feel like I've found one that will enable us to attain a healthy weight!
SHARE IN OUR JOURNEY
I welcome you to follow our journey. If you are on your
own journey, I’d love to follow and support you as well. If you have a BLE blog
please let me know in the comments and I’d love to follow it. I can use all the
ideas I can get for meals and staying focused.
Life is Good!
XOX ~Margene
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