Happy Wed! I am officially 3 weeks post op from my surgery and healing really well. I still get sore and am swollen by the end of the day but this has been much easier healing than the tummy tuck.
It is strange though how our mind plays tricks with us (body dysmorphia). Some moments I look in the mirror and think how small my arms look and other times I think they look the same as before. That's been a very tricky thing with weight loss overall. Someone recently asked me how I see myself, do I see myself before I lose weight or do I really see myself as I am now.
Too be honest it really depends on the day, and it's probably somewhere in between. It is really hard to see noticeable changes in ourselves day to day, and often times we can't really see how far we've come at all. We spend too much time criticizing the parts of ourself we still aren't happy with.
This is why I always talk about how important it is to take pictures! I was feeling swollen and very puffy yesterday , I make this collage of myself and went, 😳"Dang okay that is a big difference". And then I look back at pictures of myself from before I lost weight and it's just so crazy the difference. Yet why do I have a hard time accepting that sometimes?
My friend Ashley in the YouTube interview I did with her joked she had the opposite problem. Even at her heaviest she always thought she was smaller than she was, and then once she lost weight she liked back at pictures and said "Wait I was actually that heavy?"
What has they been like for you? Do you have a hard time seeing how far you've come when you look in the mirror? Do you see yourself for how you are now or are you only focus on what else you need to change?
Cheese is good! I ate a block of chipotle oven baked cheese with lunch yesterday and it was divine. I love it, but know that it halts any progress I'm making, and will even trigger eating in excess to where I'll gain weight. It's sad but I have accepted it. If I eat it in small quantities with a meal, it's ok, but I really have to work to keep it in check.
What's your favorite cheese? How do you incorporate it? Do you see negative results when eating it?
Happy Sunday! Sharing a video today from our week, one of the highlights. This was Wednesday evening church, normally they have a more casual prayer meeting where someone plays the guitar, but they were doing some construction in the fellowship hall so they had their prayer meeting in the sanctuary. No one was there to play the piano so my my Grandma did it, she's been playing the piano in church for probably 80 years.
For context, she's 88, she had a really bad fall 5 years ago now and hit her head and ended up with a lot setbacks, similar to having a stroke. She has a lot of dementia like symptoms also (I am sure related to her Type 2 diabetes), she really can't read music anymore, and she has trouble seeing well, and she needs to wear hearing aids to hear but hates wearing them, so on this night she didn't want to wear them. My 93 (almost 94) year old grandpa takes care of both of them on their farm. Anyway, on this night she sat down on the piano and led worship as people called ...
Happy Saturday! I hope you are all doing well. I know some people in the group have had some recent tough news for themselves or family members. It really puts the day to day issues we face into perspective, and reminds me to just focus on doing the best I can to be as healthy as possible. To those who are having a hard time, we are all here for you and sending you some prayers and support. 🙏🏼🙏🏼 Just focus today on doing the best you can and remember that food isn't going to bring you the comfort you are looking for.
Here is a little video of Penelopes performance from her piano recital l last night, she's been taking lessons for about a year and a half. 🎹🤍🖤
*Livestream Monday night at 4pm pst/7pm est
Happy Friday!! I finally got back to walking yesterday. Our entire week in WV I didn't get many steps in, we took some walks in the woods but not a lot of miles. Since I came back I've been so busy and tired, at least that's my excuse, but really it's just hard to get back into the routine after not doing it for over a week. That's the hard part for me about exercise, the more I do it the easier it is to keep doing it. But as soon as I have a few days in a row where I don't make time to exercise, I just lose all motivation for it. However yesterday I got back to it!! 💪🏼💪🏼 I walked about 6+ miles during the day while working and hit 15k steps. Today is going to be very busy but I plan to get started early in the day.
How are you planning to get some movement in today?
Happy Thursday! I am all thrown off this week on what day it is. 😂 It's been good to be home but busy getting back into our routine. Chris and the kids started getting things organized yesterday to kick off their school year. They always start by setting some goals for the year and mapping out a plan on how to accomplish them.
Normally I like to focus on short term goals and daily non-negotiables, but I thought it might be fun to set a longer term goal for the rest of this year.
What is one thing you want to accomplish still in 2025?
Day 7 – September 5, 2025
Happy Friday, everyone! I hope you’ve all had a good week. This is my accountability check-in.
I originally thought about posting daily, but since my meals are exactly the same each day, I’ve decided a weekly update makes more sense. I’ll still be checking in regularly by commenting on and encouraging others’ posts, but my own accountability posts will just be once a week.
Here’s what my daily meals look like right now:
11:00 AM (Breakfast): 1 Premier Protein shake (Chocolate Peanut Butter)
3:30 PM (Solid Meal): 3 air-fried chicken thighs (skin on), seasoned with a sugar-free/carb-free grilled chicken seasoning
6:00 PM (Dinner): Another Premier Protein shake
I’m also working intermittent fasting into my routine. Because of my job schedule, the best I can consistently manage is a 17-hour fast.
The good news: I’ve stayed 100% carnivore all week and I’m feeling good about it. I also had some lab work done, and the results came back encouraging. For context, ...
