The Farm Weight Loss program



Updated on 10/16

At the end of January 2013, I had really gotten quite out of control. 

I had always been a relatively thin gal, even after my first son was born in 2001, I was thinner after than before. But after a too many devastating losses from 2007-2009, then two pregnancies (6 months between the end of one and the start the next) where I gained 60 plus lbs with each, only lossing a bit after each, I'd fell off the bandwagon hard.

But that wasn't who I was. . . I'm not saying that weight defines a person, but I didn't recognize "me," anymore.

I'm 5'8'' and was about 180lbs in the left photo. I know many people struggle with greater issues with weight, but it boils down to WHAT YOU KNOW is healthy for you. That was not a healthy or happy place for me. I didn't appreciate carrying that extra weight to the barn on the mountain behind my house twice a day, needing to be on small rescue horses nearing the end of rehab to evaluate at that size or knowing with an enlarged Aortic root valve on the verge of needing replaced and insane blood pressure, that I wasn't adding years to my life.

People talk about self esteem and weight, but honestly, for me (and those who knows me best, know this). . .I have that. I have it from within. It has never been based on weight. At 220lbs expecting the 3rd son, I had the same self confidence I have at 140lbs now. Heck, I had self esteem at age 10 with a permed mullet when I was the least popular kid in the school. This isn't about what looks better - it is about what actually IS BETTER FOR ME and knowing I had lost all self control was the upsetting part, and knowing it reflected a sadness within was difficult, as well.

And it took some time to find it within myself to change, and somehow be happy and care about what this meant to a heart that wasn't perfect and blood pressure that was out of control. I love food. I had learned to love it even more over that period of time because it was comforting, fact is. I even found a way to liked the overfull feeling where you need to have someone to cart you around in a wheel barrow after.

I knew I had to break that cycle.

I gave up bread.

Ekkk.

All bread that comes with a meal, table bread and sandwiches. Gone. I can't control bread - one piece leads to 12 to 24 and then I needed rolled around in a cart for 2 hours after in a bread coma.

I eat all the whole fat dairy I want. Tons, really. I cook in butter and olive or coconut oil. I use TONS of cream in my coffee. I drink NO SWEET BEVERAGES EVER. I drink coffee, unsweet tea or Water. I avoid refined sugar most of the time - I will have a desert sometimes, like a pie or creme brulee (because I still love food). I TRY to avoid a lot of heavily processed food. I eat as much real, whole food as I want. Tons of nuts, dairy and VERY occasionally, some fish. I have been a 18 plus year vegetarian . . .I added fish back to my diet in 2013 now and again. I do pasta sometimes, lots of soups and if I could be a meat eater, I'd adding real meats, as desired, would be factored in.

I Avoid ALL DIET AND unnaturally low fat foods or drinks as much as I can. Seriously, never touch diet soda (or soda)

Use WHOLE fats and whole foods.

Break the cycle where you want to eat until you pass out . . .haha. I've been there. Loved it.

The key is real food and really thinking of wheat as something to seriously limit and refined sugars as something to avoid, especially in drink form.

This is hardly novel. It is compromised of normal, real changes you can make. . . no gimmicks. Your gimmicks do not work. . .or if they do, not to the betterment of your body, and they usually fail in year.

They DO not work for long or in the right manner. You need REAL food in your body - no strange pseudo-science concoctions.

You do not need them, and the gimmick processes you go through set you up for failure as you're subjecting your body to something that isn't natural. Give your mind and body some credit. The body wants to thrive, and to do that, it has get the right foods - weird shakes, patches, package diet foods. ..FAIL. You may lose some weight, but you've not done it in the right way and it will end up coming back. If not, heaven knows what is happening inside your body.

I've truly needed to lose weight once in my life. This was it. 2 1/2 years later, I can tell you it wasn't hard. It was simply finding my way to the right way to eat.

Why is this on a farm page? I think it connects very clearly. . .whole, real food. . .that is the way, and homesteaders certainly will feel better going about our labor if feel better. Lord knows, I do.

That extra 40lbs made the trips up the mountain to the barn a heck of a lot harder!

By the way, this is 100% diet change related - I changed NOT ONE thing in terms of being more active and never work out more than dealing with the farm and horses. . .which, to be fair, can be a lot, but it is the same amount of activity in the before and the after.

So this is a photo collage from back in Oct 12, Oct 13, Oct 14 and Oct 15 and Oct 16th only a few days apart. Minus 40lbs. . . I've maintained the loss roughly the same without any issue since reaching the weight I was aiming for in July 2013. . . I'll admit I've added a bit too much "bread" the last 6 months, so the October '16 shot is a tad heavier than the others, but I'm trying to get back on the wagon. HAHA!

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