Finding my TRIM

Are you familiar with Trim Healthy Mama (aka THM)?  It has become such an integral part of my life, I feel the need to mention it because I have recipes to share.  It is a revolutionary way of eating that has changed my life - please click through the link to learn more about the plan, (or check out the Trim Healthy Mama  facebook page) but in short - it is low carb, low glycemic, gluten free....I know that doesn't sound appealing (because I almost cried when I learned all I would  be choosing to give up) but my body feels so much better without all of that sugar and gluten clouding my memory, my mind, my joints, etc - and the weight loss - YOU GUYS - the pounds just FALL OFF!!

  I began THM last year and lost 30 pounds in 3 months - and honestly, I really lost more but because I would give in to cravings for off plan yummies, I kept losing and regaining the same weight over and over!  I know I actually lost closer to 45 - 50 pounds but I kept cheating :( In spite of that, 30 pounds in 3 months is pretty awesome!! (*Keep in mind I have alot to lose as my starting weight was over 300 pounds, someone who is already fairly healthy may lose much slower*).

  I stayed on (and off with cheats haha) plan from April to July, and then...Disney.  Walt Disney World to be more specific.  Happened.  We received a small inheritance from my sweet grandmother passing and even though we may have been "wiser" to put it towards home repairs, purchasing a new vehicle, college savings, etc - we felt very strongly that this may infact be our only opportunity to take our large family to "The Most Magical Place on Earth." And we did.  (And it was AMAZING.  And I want to go again.  And I wish I could live there...).

  I decided early on that under no circumstances was I going to Disney on a diet.  So I did not.  And you know what?  I did not gain a pound during our two week (cause of driving from Texas y'all) vacay!  I blame all the walking and sweating and walking and sweating and sweating on my lack of weight gain, because I ate completely off plan and came home the same weight I had left!  BUT the problem was that once I got home...I did not want "diet" food anymore, my taste buds loved sugar again...and so I struggled to get fully back on plan from August to October, on a day or two off a day or two on a meal off a meal, until finally in October I decided to push pause on THM...until January.  Life was busy, I was working and there were too many temptations and I just did not always have time to prep food for work as well as the kids' and hubby's lunches and still manage to make my own breakfast and lunch...so I lasted maybe 3 weeks in January and decided to push pause again.

Fast forward to now.  I jumped back on plan (with joy!) in June - my body was SOOOOO ready to abandon the unhealthy yucky foods and eating habits I had ran back to.  I was dismayed (but not surprised) to finally pull out the dusty scale and see that my body had betrayed me - the last 10 months of failed attempts to get back on plan, and then finally caving and just going back to regular life - had not been kind.  I re-gained the 30 I had lost PLUS was an additional 4 pounds higher than my original starting weight.  I felt gross, unhealthy, and had such a negative body image.  I have been back on plan 2 weeks and am already feeling SO much better, my joints are not achy like they had been, my rings are sliding around on my fingers all day long, and I have already lost 8 pounds!

I wanted to share about THM because it works!  This is my testimony,  I am not being paid or compensated in any way for endorsing it - but coming from a mommy who had basically given up on ever losing weight, I can tell you that THIS is the weight loss answer - THIS is the health solution you have been searching for!  I hope you will join me on this journey (if you are not already on it) - we can do it mommas!

Jesus in the small things...

I am a mommy of five.  I am a wife, a homemaker.  I am a baker and cake/cookie decorator and own and operate a small home business.  I am a part-time pre-school teacher, I love to coupon, I love to sing (and music in general)...I love Jesus.

Sometimes my  life becomes overwhelmed with all. the. things.  All the things that I am.  All the things that I do.  All the things that I have.  All the things that I don't.  All the things that I am not.  All the things that I don't do (but maybe should)...I have thought about blogging several times over the years, and I have been told several times that I need to blog about our crazy chaos, our beautiful mess...I tried to blog once.  It was more about baking than family, but regardless I simply could not keep up with it...yeah it's been 3 years since I posted on my sweet little blog - juliessweetshack...so I know I must be crazy to attempt it again, but somehow I feel like I have stuff that needs to be said.  If not for you, than for me.

  An outlet is depserately needed to plug in all of these mommy-isms and hopefully they will compute into something...something that makes sense?  So I feel that this blog.  THIS little blog may be a little about all the things.  All the things that I love, all the things that I don't love...just life.  But more importantly, seeing Jesus in the small things.  Finding Him amidst the chaos...inspite of the chaos.

 Realizing that there may be something wrong with the floor, but thank God that we have a house and a roof over our heads.  Our AC may be on the fritz, but thank God we have one at all.  My son may very well be sleeping underneath a wall of boogers (yeah.  I just discovered this tonight.  its' pretty gross...) but thank God he has a nose to pick???  I'm still working on the details you see, as He leads me and teaches me...and I have still so much to learn, and feel so inadequate...but I thank God that He doesn't call the equipped, He equips the called...because this momma is in over her head for sure!

 And so, like a crazy person, I am laying it all on the line - putting myself out there...because I definitely DO NOT have it all together.  And I'm guessing I'm not alone...So, neighbor, welcome to the crazy!  Welcome to life with 5 children underfoot.  I love them!  But they are making me crazy lol,..welcome boogers, and tears, and bath nights and "please stop eating your toenails," and welcome to "allowing your picky kids to have a sandwich for dinner tonight beause you just can't take another argument about why they need to eat their vegetables," and welcome to my life, it is not perfect, but I am striving to find Jesus in the small things, because I know that we were created with purpose and destiny, so no matter how crazy my life may feel - I know that it is significant, and so is yours <3