A Life (and Lifestyle) Worth Living...

          I have not done an update on my weight loss journey in well over a year… Sorry!

When I left off, I had lost the majority of my baby weight by exercising and eating clean. (See my “Weight Loss Journey” posts if you haven’t read them already.) Since then, I started teaching 2 classes a week at the local gym I’m a member of.  It’s a lot of fun and a great way to hold me accountable to working out at least twice every week. Since I have been consistent with working out, I have not gained a significant amount of weight back. However, I fell back into my bad eating habits pretty quickly… I still ate clean periodically, but not like I had been or should have been.

Within the last couple months, I have really been focusing and taking charge of my health overall…not JUST my weight. I have made some major changes for the better and lost another 6-7 pounds in the process so I am currently only 8-9 pounds away from the weight I was when I was in college and when I got married! I have shared some information on Facebook and since so many people were interested in what I was doing, I thought I would just write a blog post on it.

Disclaimer: In a way, this will be a little commercial! However, I am not getting paid to say any of this and have not been encouraged to “talk anyone into” this lifestyle.

 I have started seeing a Maximized Living Doctor, which is a Chiropractor that focuses on overall health. If you Google "Maximized Living" you will see  comments on how it’s a scam, but I can tell you from experience that it is NOT! I attended FREE events my local Maximized Living office hosted for over a year before I even became a patient of theirs and the information they shared with me helped so much! They didn’t care that I wasn’t paying them, they still wanted me (and all of you) to know how to truly be healthy. They are Christian-based and they honestly just want to help America get rid of diseases, cancer, and sickness that we seem to be plagued with.

The picture below was taken BEFORE I started the Maximized Living lifestyle. Note - I am not a fan of "selfies" but I had taken this one in the dressing room and texted it to Dan to see if he liked the shirt. It was the only full body "before" photo I had...

What is Maximized Living? There are 5 main areas that they focus on:

1) Your mind – the way you think

 2) Your nerve-supply – getting adjusted so the signals from your brain can get to your organs properly (the way God intends our bodies to function)

 3) Quality Nutrition – eating REAL food (God’s food) vs Man’s food

 4) Exercising – self explanatory

 5) Minimizing Toxins – soaps, cleaning products, medications, laundry detergents, lotions, etc.

It can be a bit overwhelming to tackle all these things at once so I just took little steps (and still am) to get to where I want to be. After losing my Dad to cancer a little over 3 years ago, it was a wake-up call to me that I only have one life to live and I should live each day to the fullest and take care of myself so I don’t end up in the same unhealthy condition that my genes carry. It is so much more than just carrying around extra weight!

The main thing that people are curious about though…is my weight loss. They want to know how to do it themselves. So…I will talk about that a little.

First of all, I want to recommend 2 books that have helped me tremendously…and they even have recipes in the back! The first is called “Cruise Ship or Nursing Home” by Dr Ben Lerner, Dr Greg Loman, Dr Charles Majors, Dr Chris Pellow, and Dr Eric Shuemake. It describes how to have a Maximized Life. The second book is called “Maximized Living Nutrition Plans” by Dr B.J. Hardick, Kimberly Roberto, and Dr Ben Lerner. This book explains how to get real nutrition so your body can live to its fullest potential, how to protect your body from diseases, how to lose weight, and even gives 2 nutrition plans to follow. I have read both of these books cover-to- cover and highly recommend them. (The majority of the recipes I pictured below came out of these books.)

About a month ago, I stopped eating grains, sugar, and fruit (with the exception of berries and Granny Smith apples.) Yes, I know it sounds extreme!!! People are shocked to hear this and numerous people have actually asked, “Well, what do you eat then?”  Here’s an easy answer…REAL FOOD! Nothing altered or made by man.

Here are some examples of meals and snacks I have had:

Breakfast –
2 scrambled eggs (from free-range chickens), unsweetened almond milk (with drops of liquid Stevia) and 2 vitamins.

Apple Flaxseed Muffins

Lunch –
 Salad (spinach, bell peppers, chicken (free-range), shredded raw cheese and a home-made dressing of EV olive oil, balsamic vinegar, salt, and pepper), strawberries (sweetened with Stevia) and Coconut Water (which I ended up not liking…I’ll just stick with my regular water.)

 

Homemade Avocado salad dressing

 

 Chicken Stir-Fry and Green Beans (this was leftover from dinner the night before)

 

Bell Peppers with Hummus (no soybean or canola oils) and Celery with Almond Butter

 Dinner –

 Chicken Asparagus Marsala with mashed cauliflower

 Caribbean Chicken with green beans and steamed broccoli

 All Natural Chili with shredded raw cheese
 (the chili was made with grass-fed beef and fresh vegetables)

A juiced mixture of Granny Smith Apples, celery, kale, spinach, strawberries, and a lemon

My sugar cravings are gone, I have lost weight, and I am now taking HALF the amount of insulin I was before this! (I’ve been a Type 1 Diabetic for 20 years so this is HUGE!) There are a lot of really good things you can make with real food! It does take some time to plan and prepare everything, but it’s so worth it!!! It just makes you FEEL better inside and out!!!

 Exercise is very important also and I have started doing an at-home Crossfit program 3 times a week on top of teaching my 2 classes a week. This is a new way to exercise for me and is very intense but I am loving it…and at times very sore from it! Ever tried a Burpee???

If you are interested in getting healthy from the inside-out, let me know and I’d be happy to give you some tips that are working for me. I also highly recommend going to see a Maximized Living Doctor!!! They coach you through the whole way. If you’re around the St. Louis area, there are now 2 office close by. Check out www.maximizedliving.com to find out more. There are recipes, upcoming FREE events, and doctors in your area to go visit.

I hope this information encouraged you! YOU are the only one that can take charge of your health! Better to start NOW then when it's too late...