What a difference a year makes! I can’t believe that it has been a year since I started Trim Healthy mama! For 6 months before I started my Sister Diana had been hounding me (yes Diana you hounded me!) She even gave me the used car salesman speech “Melissa what can I do to help you get into this life style change?” For 6 month I made excuse after excuse, about why I couldn’t do this… I was too busy, too broke, too whatever to change. The bottom line is I wasn’t ready to take a leap and try again to lose weight. After 15 years of trying, and failing I had truly in my heart of hearts given up all hope that I would ever get bellow a size 24. That is until I finally sat down, and READ the book. I remember sitting in my parent’s living room with tears streaming down my face as I read this book that for the first time in my adult life gave me a hope of health, and weight loss.

The day before I started this journey my sister and I had taken a road trip to Austin and spent 90% of the time talking about this lifestyle, about how I could do it. We laughed and planned together for 4 hours down to Austin and 4 hours back. The next day I jumped 100% whole heartedly and never looked back, I attended my first North Texas Meeting of Trim Healthy Mama’s, and met some amazing ladies, who have supported me every step of this last year. I have to say a quick thank you to Teri, Cynthia, and Teresa. You ladies have encouraged and cheered me on this past year and I am so thankful for you! In my first week I ate! I actually was able to eat and eat well – all the while LOSING weight! I remember my mom actually calling my sister and asking her “Diana is Melissa supposed to be eating this much?” Diana Laughed and replied “Yes mom, she is supposed to eat and be satisfied!”

I lost 30 Pounds that first month and a half, and then another 30 by summer time, and then another 20 by my birthday! And by years end I had lost an accumulative 80 POUNDS! I started the year at a size 24 in clothes and ended in a 14/16! This wasn’t an easy year for me, there were times when I was frustrated, and would look at the scale and wonder why it wasn’t moving, I would feel sorry for myself and then remember where I started! I would look in the mirror or at a picture at times and think to myself “who is that person” I remember walking by a glass window and seeing my reflection and stopping and looking at myself. For the first time in my life I wasn’t ashamed of my reflection. I started the year pre-diabetic, hypertensive, and morbidly obese- I ended the year with perfect blood glucose levels, perfect blood pressure, and obese not MORBIDLY obese. I can run, and play with my son! I can clean my house and not be exhausted. I can stand for 8 hour shift at work and then come home and still stand and be a mom! I have so much energy it is amazing. After battling with thyroid cancer at the end of the year I made a decision: if I never lost another pound, I would still stay a trim healthy mama for life. Why? Because the HEALTH I have gained in this LIFESTYLE change is far more priceless and more valuable to me than ever losing another pound. I was able to undergo MAJOR surgery, and recover in a week, why? Because my body was healthy! This wouldn’t have been possible without Trim Healthy Mama. I am still recovering from surgery and cancer treatments right now and my energy levels are not where they were, I am positive that without my Trim Healthy Life, I would be leaps and bounds behind where I am right now. This isn’t a lose weight quick scheme, or an overnight change. This is a LIFESTYLE change. It takes time to learn this way of life, to cut out old bad habits and create new healthy ones. It took me a good couple of months before this life style became second nature. Not I can truly say Trim Healthy Mama for Life!

Here are my 10 favorite tips for success:

1) Read the book! I thought that this was way more complicated and difficult than it actually is, once I read the book it was exactly what it claims to be: “A common sense guide” to a healthy life! Pinterest, Bloggers & the Facebook groups are a great SUPPLEMENT to the TRIM HEALTHY MAMA book, but just like any supplement they will only get you so far! You have to go to the source if you want to TRULY be successful in this lifestyle.

2) Start making small changes as you read the book, cut out sugar & white flour, buy more fresh veggies, and start labeling your foods

3) Give recipes from the book a second try if you don’t like them the first time or a first try if you are like me and think to yourself “really cottage cheese?” I promise your taste buds change!

4) Take a before Picture and Measurements! The weeks that the scale wasn’t moving, looking at pictures of the day I started really helped me to see the change. Looking at my measurements also really helped encourage me also!

5) Pick a mini goal to achieve, when you achieve that pick a new one. I buy a super cute outfit in my next goal size, and hang it up in my room so that when I look at it every day I say to myself, I can’t wait to be able to wear that outfit! When you try it on and it fits, that feeling is priceless!

6) Make a list of things you want to be able to do, things that have NOTHING to do with a scale, or measurements! Here are a couple of mine: I want to walk to the park without using my inhaler, I want to wear a skirt without my thighs chaffing, I want to come home from a 12 hour shift and not have my back & knees hurt, I want to come home from work and have enough energy to play with my son.

7) Be kind to yourself! This is a learning process; it isn’t an overnight change for everyone. You didn’t form unhealthy habits in a day, or gain excess weight overnight… It is going to take time to break those habits! So be kind to yourself!

8) Plan what you are going to eat until it becomes second nature! I plan my Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner and two snacks a day. It makes it easier because I don’t have to think when I am hungry- I just look at my menu! You can down load my blank menu plan here. Or here is a link to 3 weeks of completed menus to get your started.

9) Find a friend to do it with you & hold you accountable in the beginning! I couldn’t have done this without my sister there cheering me on and answering my four billion questions.

10) See one, Do one, Teach one… You’ve read the testimonies– you have learned to live this lifestyle—now teach someone else how to do it! Give someone a book, and help them to learn to be a Trim Healthy Mama or Man!

Two weeks ago I went for a routine exam with my endocrinologist. I have been doing this about once a year for the past 5 years. It has become routine to me. I go in, talk about all the things that I should change and how my weight is seriously affecting my health and the longevity of my life. At the end of each of these visits the doctor sends me for a sonogram of my thyroid, and usually for a biopsy of the 3 nodules that I have been living there for several years.

                This visit was different. Having lost 83 pounds to date my doctor was extremely impressed! He raved about what a great life change I had made, how wonderful it was that I am no longer pre-diabetic. In his words “You have literally just added 5 years to your life.” When I asked if he felt I needed to have the thyroid removed, or what we would do for treatment he replied simply, “you have treated it, with your weight loss. You are not having any symptoms of thyroid disease and your numbers look better than they have in years. Just keep up with the weight loss and I don’t think we will need to do anything. Just to be on the safe side I want you to go for your sonogram today and we will revisit after.” I scheduled the test for later that day. Being a medical professional can sometimes not be to your own benefit. Especially when you can talk a sono-tech into letting you see the screen while they work. As she scanned my Thyroid I knew something was different. There were two new black nodules showing on the screen and the largest of them was dark, dense and had grown nearly 1.5 inches since my last sonogram. <insert the ominous music here>

                A week later I received the phone call from my Doctors nurse. As she read the doctors findings back to me I felt my heart drop into my stomach and I couldn’t breathe. “Your thyroid and the nodules have enlarged at an alarming rate. The largest nodule as well as the two new nodules appears to be malignant, and we want you to go for a full body scan as soon as possible.” I felt my entire world falling apart. I was reeling, and spinning. I almost felt like I was drowning. I have felt this way nearly every minute since this phone call.

                I have spent the last year of my life at the peak of health, I have lost the weight I was told I would never lose, I have had more energy, had two horrible diagnosis wiped off my problem list and have conquered some major demons in my life! I have pushed and pulled and worked so hard to gain my health. Only to hear the C word, to have someone tell me I have Cancer. Just one little word with a huge scary meaning that made me feel as if all of my progress, all of my hard work was for nothing. Frankly I was mad. I haven’t given in to comfort eating or stress eating for 10 months! I have been dedicated to my health and well-being… and yet CANCER! With the anger came an overwhelming sense that I was being ridiculous. As I began to tell those closest to me about this diagnosis, I began to hear all of the concern and love they have for me. They have given so much support , and so much hope. I can hear them with my ears, and process it with my mind, and part of me could believe it yet I still felt myself falling, drowning, falling further and further from the health I felt I had just a week earlier. Hadn’t my doctor just told me that I had added years to my life… But CANCER?! What about my son? What will happen to him how will this news affect my sweet innocent child? How do I explain this to him?

                I have not handled this news very well, in fact I have pretty much been an absolute wreck. I wish I could say like many have that I have been unafraid, that I have known every minute that all would be well and that this was no big deal. Well I can’t say that… I haven’t been able to get to that point yet. There is part of me that believes that to my core, I know that it WILL be ok. I know that I have a huge support network, and loving family and friends that will see me through this. Above all else I know I have a beautiful savior who took 30 lashes so that I would be healed from this… But guess what? My flesh has been winning this fight so far. I have even reached out for the old comfort I used to feel in food, my former idol my comfort. I have eaten so poorly in the last 4 days, Mexican food, funnel cake, Oreos, hoping to find the comfort I used to feel when I ate this type of food… Only to find myself so sick I could barely walk. I haven’t really been honest with anyone so far. When they ask how I am doing I shrug and say “I’m doing OK” when really I have been doing the opposite of OK… I text messaged my sister this morning, not having been honest with anyone about how bad I have been feeling. I was honest with her, she lovingly reminded me that God gave me this plan, Trim Healthy Mama. He sent this to me to experience food freedom and health. She reminded me that I can’t allow this circumstance to steal of that away from me, I can’t be a victim.

                I have debated on writing this post, being so transparent to those who don’t know me and especially to those who do. I have gone back and forth, because I don’t like to show the vulnerable, weak side of me to anyone. Showing this side of me makes me look weak, and well no one wants to look like that. Right? WRONG! I need to admit that I can’t handle this on my own; I can’t just suck it up and keep going. I need to dig in to my support system, and allow those who love me to be there. Most of all I need to open myself up to my Lord. He has a plan for my life, a plan of hope and a future. (Jeremiah 29:11) so today I build my house on the solid rock for my foundation. I chose to believe in Romans 8:28 All things work together for the GOOD of those who believe.

While my life is about more than the way I eat, the Trim Healthy lifestyle has become a huge part of my life. It has given me so much, and helped me to overcome so much. Now more than ever I believe that in order to conquer this battle to win the fight with thyroid cancer I need to be even more dedicated to the Trim Healthy Lifestyle. There is healing in the recipes, and there is healthy in this way of eating. I will conquer this epic battle. I will survive.

Today I would like to tell you a little bit more about my story, my testimony to God’s unwavering faithfulness. I have had a good life for the most part, I have followed the Lord since I was 5 years old, holding true to His promises and while I have had some times that I have stepped out from under His covering, I know that He has always been faithful to bring me back to Him.

I have struggled with my weight and my self-esteem my entire life. I remember going to school and always feeling left out, feeling like the odd man out. I remember going shopping at the mall with my friends and going into the only store I could find clothes that fit me which everyone at school referred to as “The Fat Girl Store”. I remember how much it hurt to always look like I was 10 years older than I was because I was wearing clothing that my mom wore. These scars ran deep in my life. Being rejected, and made fun of by others even my own friends. I can remember all the way back to sixth grade being called a school bus because we had to wear these awful yellow t-shirts for gym class… to this day I won’t wear the color yellow.

I had lost all hope of ever being truly attractive and of worth when I was 18 and my doctor told me “Melissa you just need to accept that you will always be overweight. Between your PCOS and Thryoid issues you will never be able to lose the weight you need to. So just accept it and be comfortable with who you are.” My doctor didn’t know that he had just shattered my world with that statement. So I set out to prove him wrong… I tried every diet out there; Weight Watchers, Jenny Craig, Adkins, South Beach, Master Cleanse, and so many more I can’t even remember them! I would have some measure of success on each one usually about 25-30 pounds, and then the plateau would kick in and I would give up and gain what I had lost plus 4-5 pounds. So at 27 years old nearly ten years after that earth shattering day in the doctor’s office I gave up. I decided to accept myself as “the fat girl” I decided that I would just love who I was and anyone who had a problem with it could take a flying leap! (Can you sense the anger.) At this time I had just lost 3 babies to miscarriage(due to my health issues and weight), my marriage, my Job, my best friend, and my house, Most of all I had lost my hope for the future. I was in a very dark place and was ready to give up on everything when God brought my son into my life, He needed a mommy and lots of love, and I needed him to teach me how to be whole again. We cried together and laughed together, and grew together. My son saved my life in every way possible. Our adoption was finalized 9 months to the day after I brought him home to my parents’ house and told them that he was going to be my son. (You can only imagine their shock most people bring home puppies I bring home a baby! But that is another story)

Let’s fast forward two years, I was a now a mom with a renewed joy in life. God has already begun a work of restoration in my life and I was serving the Him faithfully once again. At this time decided that it was time to begin another new chapter in my life and return to my education! I began nursing school in the fall of 2012 and my life would literally never be the same! I can’t even begin to give you a list of all the wonderful things becoming a nurse has brought into my life, I met one of my best friends in nursing school and we became like sisters. She has truly been one of my biggest cheerleaders in life sincere day I met  her.

It was during nursing school that my beautiful sister Diana began her Trim healthy journey. A friend of hers gave her the book Trim healthy Mama and she started following the plan. It was a true life style change. Not only was she losing weight and inches but she was gaining confidence, energy, and stamina like I had never seen in her. She kept telling me “Melissa you need to read this book! You just have to, it will change your life”. I wasn’t ready to change my life yet at this point , so I made excuse after excuse! I was too busy with school to read another book, it was going to be too confusing for me to grasp, too expensive, it wouldn’t work for me just as none of the other plans in my life hadn’t worked for me… It wasn’t until 6 months after hearing about Trim Healthy Mama that I finally did the unthinkable, I READ THE BOOK!! Within minutes of finishing the Drive Thru Sue chapter I realized that this woman and Farm Fresh Tess were my soul mates. They were me in a book. With in hours of pouring over the pages of the Satisfying & Energizing Chapters I was in tears because for the first time in my entire adult life, I FOUND HOPE FOR WEIGHT LOSS. I had given up on the remote idea of being healthy or being thinner, but I found my hope again in this plan. I found a community of women who were dedicated to encouraging each other! I cannot emphasize enough how vital reading the book is, i had looked at  the Pinterest recipes and  Facebook boards for months prior to reading the book. Everything seemed like a bunch of granola crunchy mumbo jumbo… UNTIL I sat down and read the book. Then it all clicked! It was a light bulb moment probably in my top 5 life changing moments.

My Trim Healthy Journey began on January 18, 2014 I went full force, there was no looking back for me! I began at a weight of 326 lbs and a size 24. My first week I lost 12 lbs! and then a month and a half later I reached 30 lbs. It was at this point that old fears began to creep in… I had mad it this far before… would I be able to keep going? Could I actually be successful at this weight loss and Trim healthy journey? The answer to that question is YES! Month after month week after week I kept going kept losing pounds, and if I wasn’t losing pounds I was losing inches. I was gaining energy like I had never had even when I was a child. My aches and pains we gone. I no longer required sleep aid medication to fall asleep! The list goes on and on with the many miles stones that have come along with starting Trim Healthy Mama.

As of my last weigh in I have lost 66 lbs, and 4 dress sizes and 1 ½ shoe sizes! I will never go back to where I began, because it would be going backward! This journey has changed my life in so many different ways, on the surface I don’t cringe when i walk by windows that will show my reflection anymore. I can run and play with my son! I can go shopping and not be confined to one shelf of clothing. I am in control of my food intake! I am no longer controlled by sugar and potato chips! When people ask me (and they do ask frequently) when are you going to start eating normal again? I simply smile at them and say “this is my normal!”

I have gone from Hopeless to full of hope! God has brought me full circle, He has changed my life in so many ways that I am sure I can’t even see yet! I have to say thank you to Serene & Pearl for this Heaven inspired plan, thank you for taking time away from your family and friends to minister to women like myself who have lost hope! God has used your plan to change so many people.

Trim Healthy Mama is a commitment, it is long term and it is a LIFESTYLE change. I would like to share a couple of pieces of advice that have helped me along the way:

1. Find a THM Buddy. Having someone to walk through this journey, bounce ideas off of, and cry and whine to on days that aren’t easy is priceless! I could not have made this change and been successful without my sister’s guiding hand and loving help.
2. Be prepared! Make a plan even just a loose idea of what meals and snacks you will have for the week if you don’t want to be detailed. IT WILL MAKE A DIFFERENCE!! You can find a printable menu plan here: Blank Menu Plan.
3. Be open to new ideas and new foods. Just because you didn’t like a recipe the first time you tried it doesn’t mean the next time you try it you won’t love it!
4. Buy multiple sets of measuring spoons and cups Jit really comes in handy when you have more than one set in your kitchen!
5. Become involved with the THM community. Get on the FB Boards and be an encourager! J never in all my years of weight loss have I found a more encouraging, loving, and honest group of women to lift me up on my bad days, or call me and encourage me when I feel like cheating & giving up.

Here are some before pictures: Top right: I was 17 years old Top Left I was 19 Bottom Right: I was 27 Bottom left I was 29

Next are the Pictures from the day I began THM:

These are during my journey  of the last 6 months! my favorite was being able to ride the carousel with my son at the zoo and not breaking it!