"There's no magic pill." part 2: Praying for inspiration and taking that leap of faith

I wanted there to be a magic pill.  How could I POSSIBLY lose 110 lbs?  Wasn't there some kind of surgery that was approved for people 100 lbs. overweight or more?  Didn't I qualify for that?

But thinking back on my recovery from my hysterectomy 4 months earlier, a surgery was the last thing I wanted to go through.  As far as I understood, that surgery made your stomach smaller so you couldn't overeat.  There was no guarantee I would get all the nutrients I needed with my limited stomach capacity.  I didn't want to be that woman with the hanging skin because I had surgery to ensure rapid weight-loss.  But I also didn't want to be 110 lbs. overweight anymore.  I wasn't just overweight.  I was obese.

"You know how to do this," her words echoed in my mind.  Did I?

If I knew how to do this, why couldn't I just do it?  A close friend encouraged me to try the Atkins Diet.  I wasn't going to pay to join something, not even sure you have to for that, so I looked up what I could online.  Sure, I lost some weight following it.  But I was always constipated.  There were so many fruits and veggies on the list of things I should hardly ever eat, that my system was just not happy.

I fasted and prayed about how to get healthier.  I felt like if it was up to self-control, it wasn't going to happen.  But perhaps if my Heavenly Father wanted me to lose the weight, I could.  But I needed some divine intervention.  Or a nudge.  I'd take a nudge in the right direction.  Anything would be better than eating too much cheese and very little fruit.

Mid-December, a little over a week after fasting and praying about help to get healthier and lose weight and a month after my doctor's appointment, I got a Facebook message from Kelsie, an old friend from the Frozen North who's totally fit and a personal trainer and has more energy than my 5 year old twin boys.  Plus she was Pookie's primary teacher when he was 4.  He used to stroke her skirt because he loved the way the fabric felt.  Hey, it kept him quiet.  But I digress...

Kelsie was inviting me to join a "Shake it Off" Challenge.  It was a biggest loser type game with motivation, cash prizes, recipe ideas and workout tips.  

I could use healthy recipe ideas and workout tips.  The very idea of working out scared the daylights out of me-- I could injure myself!  But who could give me better tips than a personal trainer, right??

But this was just before Christmas.  And well, you know me, I'm a baker.  I was busy making cheeseballs for youth parties, and cheesecake with my number 1 girl, and cookies for the neighbors, and rolls for the ward Christmas dinner, and on and on and on.

Maybe I'll look at that invite again after Christmas.  I would make sure I had some goals for the New Year.

But the new year came.  All I knew was I wanted to lose weight and develop some healthier habits.

I was pretty depressed about my state of health.  I was snoring like a beast.  According to Danny, it would shake the bed.  Even when he rolled me onto my side, I still snored-- though not bed-shaking snoring.

January 5th, I took the kids for a walk.  It was the first Monday of the new year and I was going to start my new healthy habit.  I decided I would walk 3 days a week for at least 15 minutes.  We walked for 25 minutes.  It felt REALLY good to be doing what the doctor said to do.

I did it again on Wednesday, January 7th.  25 minutes was really good for me.  Go me!  The kids were loving the outdoors time.

I decided not to let the week get away from me and did it Thursday instead of waiting for the weekend to make me lose momentum.  But it was 20 minutes.  Not bad.  I was a day ahead of my goal and 5 minutes longer anyway.

For whatever reason, that evening I remembered that message from Kelsie from 3 weeks earlier.  So I contacted her about "my friend" to ask some questions.  I was excited about everything she was saying:

Whole foods
Non-GMO
organic
phytonutrients
vegan shakes

I thought Danny would never go for it.  It was going to be about $5 a day for the program she was telling me about.  I was thinking I'd need it for like 3 or 4 months to get a good jump-start on my weight-loss and solidify some healthy new habits.  That was going to add up to like $600 if I did 4 months straight.  Maybe I could just get the capsules and the occasional shake.

But Danny said, "Yes."  We were very worried about my health.  I didn't want to die before I was 40.  What did I have to lose?  They had a 30-day money back guarantee.  And after that, I could always send back what was unopened for a refund.  I figured I would know for sure by the 30 day mark if it was going to be worth doing 3 or 4 months.

So I signed up with Kelsie and joined her "Shake it Off" challenge too.  I was going to utilize this opportunity to learn everything I could about bettering my health and get recipes and workout tips.

To be continued...