Is it a SET BACK or a SET FORWARD?

If you have purchased and read my book, you'll know I've encountered many a hiccup in my journey (as we all have) and we have yet ANOTHER ONE. I'm actually kind of excited for it and I find that odd, but I'm going to roll with it because the alternative isn't great.

Some of you may know and some may not, but after writing the majority of my book, I encountered a bit of a medical hiccup that has been extremely frustrating. Before surgery, even though it is not required that I lose more weight, I wanted to just get about 15 more pounds off before and I knew EXACTLY what to do AND I DID IT AND MORE. I've been so proud of myself this year because I have consistently gone to the gym 5 (sometimes 6) days a week, I upped my cardio to 2 hours a week (sometimes more) and I spend about 2 hours a week in the sauna. My eating has been on point, probably the best it's been as far as fitting into my macros. I had a work schedule change as well that has been extremely beneficial to me in being able to stay on track and not feel exhausted.

All the stars were set to align at the

beginning of 2023 but my body said NO.

I've had some symptoms that have bogged me down and created a wall to my being able to lose weight. It's been uncomfortable, frustrating, deflating, and just downright annoying. I'm grateful that I've put all this work in and HAVEN'T suffered the symptom of weight gain, but to put all this work in for 5 months and have nothing to show for it is equally as upsetting. Before you say "We all hit plateaus" and "This happens sometimes" I just want you to know I understand that but I've had discussions with professionals who agree something isn't right here. I've had bloodwork, I've tried some medications to treat my symptoms, I've upped my calories, lowered my calories, played with my macros, managed how often I eat, when I eat, what I eat, when I need to quit eating for the day, etc. While I'm beyond grateful that I have the flexibility in my life now to be able to handle this, it's still exhausting. I will be having more testing done at some point to narrow things down, but that involves a specialist, and with surgery around the corner, we've decided to pause, as my symptoms, while annoying and uncomfortable, are not severe.

Here we are though, there's nothing I can do about it right? Just give up, continue and deal with it? Nope. I started digging, reading, listening, watching, educating. Learning about my symptoms and what I can do to help them without a change in medication at this time. Lo and behold, I found a whole world out there of people dealing with the same symptoms (please note: sarcasm here, that I was astonished) and the same frustrations and I finally found a little glimmer of hope. While there may be the lingering "what exactly is it" hovering over it, everyone says the same thing, treat the symptoms with a complete flip of the diet.

I know it may sound crazy but I KNOW there are some of you crazy people out there too and that makes me feel better. Starting Monday, I will be going Gluten, Dairy, and Soy Free as well as eliminating added sugars in my diet.

I've started by clearing out my pantry, refrigerator, and freezer of any items I can no longer have and will spend the weekend eating my little gluten and dairy heart out as I try to pummel through some of the groceries I just bought. The good news is, I still have the following items on my pantry shelf: Sugar Free Syrup, Split Peas, Tuna, No Sugar Added Applesauce and Sugar, Soy and Gluten Free Chamoy Sauce LOL.

Here's the GREAT news - I'm learning that while there will be quite a few significant changes for me, I already changed the habits a long time ago and eat a lot of lean protein and fresh fruits/veggies on the regular! Flip a couple of snacks, tweak my mindset and I'm feeling very positive about it. I'll sing a song to my 45-calorie white bread, carb smart tortillas, packed with protein fair life, cheese, and fat-free cool whip but other than that, the rest was honestly quite easy. My macros will also change JUST a tad to lower my carbs by 10% and up my fats by 10% (healthy fats focused) just to give me a little wiggle room but I'm ready to roll.

So Monday, I hit the road for a weeklong road trip around Texas with my friend/coworker to visit our out markets down south and while I thought, that's NOT a great time, it's kind of the PERFECT time. I always meal prep for myself when I go on work trips so I can maintain my healthy eating while out of town and it's BEYOND helpful.

The good news is, I only have what I bring, so that will make staying on track in this new venture, quite easy. Not to mention my friend/coworker is beyond supportive, so it will be nice to have her around that first week. If I get a little crabby, she'll just make me laugh and it will be ok.

So that's it. A bit longer of a blog than usual, but I just wanted to share. There are two main reasons I wanted to share:

1) Anyone who actually reads these and knows my journey and is on their imperfect journey too, hopefully, it makes you feel better that it just never goes as planned and that's ok and you pout about it for a few minutes and then get back on that horse.

2) Anyone who has already gone through this and IS Gluten, Dairy, Soy, and Sugar Free or has done it before PLEASE put any tips/tricks/advice/recipes/brands/favorite snacks that you like in the comments! I'd love to hear as I continue to gather information and learn more about this lifestyle.