I have always been a big girl. Food has often been my best friend and my worst enemy at the same time. My eating habits were tightly wound up in my emotions and I had very little self-control when it came to food. I have wanted to get healthy but I didn’t know how to do that. I would try different diets but it was never long before I would slip back into my old habits. I would try to be more active but as soon as my knees or back would start bothering me I would be back on the couch. Any sort of emotional trauma (big or small) would send me into a spiral of depression and failing on a new diet or workout routine would only make it worse. I made excuse after excuse but ultimately it came down to my heart. I was afraid of change and afraid to push myself.
I had always thought that despite my weight, I was relatively healthy with hypothyroidism being my only “disease,” which I would have had no matter my size due to the high number of my relatives who were being diagnosed. However, that idea was squashed when I was pregnant with the twins and was diagnosed with gestational diabetes and mild preeclampsia. While both are somewhat common in twin pregnancies, your chances of getting them are greatly increased by weight. I was able to control my gestational diabetes with diet and I went on bed rest for the last month of my pregnancy, delivering a little early due to my blood pressure.
After the babies were born I had a scary couple of days with severe headaches and extreme swelling and had to go back to the hospital for tests. I had postpartum high blood pressure and my doctor put me on medicine to control it. When my blood pressure was still high at 6 weeks postpartum, I was diagnosed with hypertension. That was it for me. I knew that something had to change but with twin newborns, a one and a half year old and a five year old, I was very overwhelmed and a change in diet and activity level was out of the question.
In the spring my dear friend, Tia, started posting on her Facebook about this amazing transformation from the 21 Day Fix by Beachbody. She had lost so much weight and she was feeling awesome! I was intrigued. I followed her stories and couldn’t wait to see her continue to blossom! Then one day I got a Facebook message from her inviting me to try the 21 Day Fix because it was a great program for busy moms with only 30 minutes a day AT HOME to work out and an easy to follow diet plan. I was very interested but ultimately decided that it wasn’t the right time. I was very overwhelmed with life, not sleeping, and I was worried that any change in routine would upset the delicate balance of all of our lives. I joined Tia’s challenge group to be inspired by her and others on a daily basis until I felt like I was ready. But the wheels were turning…
During that time a very dear friend passed away from a lifelong battle with an autoimmune disease. She faced more trials and tribulations than anyone I had ever known, yet she faced it all with a smile. Her life’s motto was “Choose Joy.” She inspired me so much that I named my little Grace Emily after her. No matter the circumstances of her life, she chose to look to the Lord for her strength and find joy in the trials that He placed before her, because she knew that He had a great plan for her life and that He would use her story to impact many people. I longed to find joy in all circumstances but I was still fighting to survive life with all these children! God placed many reminders in front of me of His blessings and to choose to be joyful. He reminded me time and time again to praise Him at all times. He was really working on my heart!
In September Tia announced that she would be holding a couple’s challenge and I got so excited! The moment I read it I KNEW that was my chance! I knew that Will and I could be stronger as a team than I would be as an individual so we signed up. I was ready. We purchased the 21 Day Fix program and I dove in fully! I spent a couple of weeks before the challenge practicing meals and teaching myself a little bit about nutrition. I searched for recipes and I tried out new foods.
Then it started and Will was amazing! He was faithful to do the workouts every single day, even when I was sick and couldn’t work out for a few days and even when I hurt my foot and missed another couple of days. He was right there, working out every single morning. His dedication inspired me so much! He was my hero through that entire 21 days! We often talked about how much food we were eating compared to what we thought we should be eating. The difference was that it was GOOD food. As in CLEAN, REAL food! There was a different 30 minute workout for each day of the week and they were very challenging but easy to follow. They got easier each week as our endurance grew. We had so much fun working out together and taking selfies after each workout session.
We started to notice that the weight was shedding off! We felt so much better and our stamina was increasing. We were getting stronger, we had more energy, and we were shrinking. By the end of that first round Will had lost 11 lbs and 7 inches and I had lost 13 lbs and 11 inches! We turned it into a friendly competition--whoever lost the highest percentage of body weight would get to choose an item off of our Amazon Wish List and purchase it, no questions asked. Will beat me by a small fraction but he won fair and square and he earned it! That little competition helped to keep us engaged the entire time.
I am still working the 21 Day Fix and going strong, despite a couple major setbacks involving diastasis recti (an abdominal injury caused by the twin pregnancy) and arthritis in my knees. I have had a few slips this round but always get back on track! The changes in my body have been incredible! I have so much more energy to complete my daily tasks as a wife, mother, and keeper of the home, my digestion has improved, and my complexion has become smoother. I can see my biceps and calved beginning to get more toned. One of the more surprising differences is that I am staying fuller for longer. I always thought that “dieting” meant you were hungry all the time but that just is not the case when you fuel your body with exactly what it needs. This isn't a diet! It's all about changing your outlook on food. It's about giving your body the nutrients it NEEDS, not the junk it craves. My body definitely feels different when I eat processed, fatty, salty, or very sweet foods and I don’t like it! I feel sluggish and weak. With all of these things going on, my proudest accomplishment thus far is being told by my doctor that I no longer have to take my blood pressure medicine after losing total of 25 lbs!
The changes I have noticed in myself aren’t just physical but spiritual, mental, and emotional as well. I am finding myself thinking more on my relationship with the Lord and how I have been destroying His beautiful creation with junk and laziness. I am seeing myself in a new way, through His eyes as a child of God and worthy of His love through the sacrifice of Jesus Christ. My mindset has shifted from having a “desire” to lose weight to a determination that I have never before seen in myself, and that has been the biggest driving force in keeping me going. My determination to be a wife and mother who is present, engaged, and enjoying life WITH my family instead of watching from the sidelines over-powers any excuses I try to make. I am happier and more confident in not just my looks, but what my body is capable of doing! My ability to use self-control has been getting better and I am finding it easier to say no to temptation.
I have learned over the last 10 weeks that just as we should choose to be joyful in all circumstances, we must also choose to be determined. Determination is a choice that we must make every single day, every single hour, and every single minute! One key factor in helping me to embrace this journey I am on was learning that this is not just about getting healthy, but about a lifestyle! I have learned the importance of meal planning (my worst days food-wise are ones in which I do not think ahead) and food preparation. I have learned how to incorporate more movement into my daily routine, how to eat a well balanced diet that is high in vegetables and protein, that things I thought were good for me actually weren’t, that it is so important to never look back at your failures but to always look forward, to give yourself a little grace, and so much more that I can’t possibly fit into this story!
And now I want to help other people find this determination in themselves. We are much more capable than we think we are! I want to tell you that you CAN push aside those fears and those excuses and get fit and healthy! I know that there are so many people out there like me who are afraid of change, who keep making excuses, who desire to change but just don’t know where to begin. I am still learning and I definitely don’t have all the answers but I do have some tools at my disposal and I would love to share those! I would love to learn with others who are determined to make this change in themselves as well. We can’t do it alone! One of the most important things that I have learned is that accountability is ESSENTIAL. There have been so many people who have inspired me along this path and if some of those people hadn’t taken the time to truly invest in me, I would not have made it this far. If you are interested, please contact me via email at igjohnson085@yahoo.com or through Facebook messaging. I would love to walk this journey with you!
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