My Trim Healthy Mama Journey

My first word was "eat."

My mother told me she never had to convince me to clean my plate.  Food was my favorite thing from birth.  It remains at or near the top of the list today.

Long story short... lifelong weight struggles.  I became a professional dieter.  Tried a lot of them.  Became a lifetime member of one of them.  But what went down always went back up, and usually higher than when I'd begun.  In high school, I enjoyed a 50-pound weight loss, but the pounds always seemed to have a way of creeping back.

When my kids were young, my husband was diagnosed with type-2 diabetes.  We made a change to our diet and got rid of the junk food, and his diabetes disappeared, but still the weight lingered on me.

After my fourth baby was born, I became convinced that it was time to do something about it.  (Ok, it was well after... baby was 15 at the time.)  So in January 2016, I ordered this giant book:

It was huge.  It was a doorstop.  It was the diet plan and a cookbook all in one.  I skipped the introductory parts and went straight to the diet plan explanation.  It told me I had to keep my carbs and fats separate.  "What?  I've had culinary training!  I'm not going to do that!"

The mammoth book was placed into a dark corner where it sat, collecting dust for two months.

In the meantime, a good friend had recently lost a bunch of weight.  I asked her how she did it, and she said she just asked God if He could help her lose weight in such a way that He would get the glory.  And she said the weight just came off.

What a brilliant idea, I thought.  So I prayed the same prayer.  "God, help me lose weight in a way that You get all the glory."

The very same week I uttered that prayer, a longtime friend of mine came for a visit from five hours away so that her daughter could look at a college near me.  It was a blast reconnecting with her.  

She arrived at my house with a little cooler filled with ingredients.  "Have you ever heard of Trim Healthy Mama?" she asked.  "I've lost 35 pounds on it, and kept the weight off."  

Ok, she had my attention.  She then proceeded to make a batch of Cottage Berry Whip (page 379 in the mammoth book).

I was floored at how delicious it was.  "I get to eat this??  It tastes just like strawberry ice cream!"  

Several days later, I took a trip to see another friend.  She too was doing Trim Healthy Mama.  Everything she cooked was marvelous.

I got the hint, and finally understood that this was the answer to my prayer.  Upon returning home, I fetched the giant book, dusted it off, and began to really study and learn it.  I laughed all the way through it.  The two founding sisters are really quite hilarious!

I adopted the plan into my life and have never looked back.  That was three dress sizes and 30 pounds ago.  And all glory goes to God for answering my prayer so quickly and so clearly.

The plan is healthy and balanced, which is important to me.  No macro-nutrients are left out.  I get to enjoy good fats, good carbs, and generous protein.

So why did I wait three years to write out my story?  Good question.  I really don't know.  I have occasionally shared my success with people privately, but lately I've been feeling like there are others out there who want to hear about it.  

Starting out

Thirty pounds lighter

Today, there are a lot more tools available than when I began this journey with the aforementioned behemoth volume.  There is a Trim Healthy Mama Facebook page, there are two awesome new cookbooks out, the diet plan has been published in a more readable format, and there are even podcasts!  And a devotional!

I am not sure what this blog is going to turn into, if anything.  Currently I have a vision to make it a place of inspiration, encouragement, and recipes!  And as the title says, I want to make it fun and keep it as frugal as possible.

And for God to get all the glory.

Update:  I have written a series of seven blog posts on the plan basics.  If you are interested, click here to get started!