Welcome to my weight-loss journey

(and maybe yours too!)

I'll begin with an amusing little anecdote. I have watched every video on meal prepping on youtube. I have tried it. I have failed at it. This was one of those failures. I just got a new job and the great news is, I only go twice a week! (Score!) The downside is, those are twelve hour days, most of which time I am sitting on my increasingly flabby behind. So, in a fit of weight-loss frustration, I googled meal preps, shopped and cooked like Martha Stewart on Adderall.

One of my concoctions was tomato soup (it seemed like a good idea at the time but in hid sight it was not very portable--more on that to come). Tuesday morning came. The kids were at preschool. I was showered and even wearing a new dress. I had mimes made...crap. How was I going to take tomato soup and reheat it sans microwave? Well, I can thank my mother for the solution. (Side note, my mother is one of those people who has never seen a QVC ad she didn't like) Anyhow, she had bought a little crock-pot lunch box. It looked like something you would use to transport donor organs but it plugged in and that was all I cared about.

Warm tomato soup was in my future!

So, I packed the organ-donor crock pot into my bag and headed to work. Then, in a fit of inspiration, I also stopped at Nectar Juice Bar (woman cannot live on tomato soup alone). I picked up a cold brew coffee with homemade cashew milk for later, and a green smoothie to sip on the way. Also, they had free paper bags to carry things. Awesome....or not (I bet you can see where this is going).

I drove to work and merrily strolled toward my office with a complimentary paper bag full of crock pot tomato soup, coffee in a glass bottle, and puke-green smoothie in a plastic cup. Then, terror struck. The cheap-ass bag broke.

As a kid I used to imagine the afterlife like the Sims. I figured that when we were alive we earned karma points, which we could then spend on our next life. (Note, this weird childhood notion has no bearing on my actual religious beliefs, lol). Basically, in 10-yr-old Kim's mind, the afterlife looked like a 90's computer game in which you "created" your next character. So, these karma points could be spent on things like intelligence, wealth, attractiveness, health and luck. (This led to some interesting philosophical and moral questions...and what any of this says about my psyche I'm not sure I want to know). Long story short, I clearly underestimated the importance the "luck" category...

...and that's what I thought of as tomato soup, coffee, and green smoothie rained down on me and my new dress. Now, I work at a university so you can imagine the looks on the faces of all the students around me. To make matters worse, our groundskeepers ride around campus on golf-carts. So, naturally, a golf cart rolled up beside me and I got the evil eye from a cart full of employees. One of them handed me a roll of paper towels, The cheap kind that don't have perforations. Yeah, it was a good day. and I thought, "Must be Tuesday."

The point of that rather drawn out story is this. Everyone knows that weight-loss can be a challenge. We all start out with good intentions and life gets in our way (so of us more often than others). None of us starts out as perfect as those flawless meal prep gurus on Instagram and Youtube. In fact, that style of eating may not work for everyone...and that's ok! We are all unique and so are our bodies. My intention for this blog series is to document my progress and mistakes. I hope you will hold me accountable. Maybe we can take this journey together! Find me on social media or comment below to share thoughts, ideas, critiques...I'm all ears.

Now, a bit about me...

I have an athletic build. Growing-up I was never rail thin, but I pretty much ate what I wanted and stayed at a stable weight (at the upper end of my BMI range for my 5’4’’ frame). I was a dancer, cheerleader, ran track, swam—and the list goes on. What I’m getting at here is that it was my activity level that kept me thin. (Here is a picture of high-school era me for reference)

Like I said...athletic.

Okay, fast forward to my first pregnancy. I gained a ton of weight! And, I mean a TON.

But I managed to lose it. It took a lot of work, but I was young and woot!

Here is me at my thinnest- about 130 lbs. (Please disregard the horrible outfit...believe it or not it was my work uniform! I think the look on my face says it all). I was thin but not defined if you know what I mean.

Long story short...I had two more kids after this picture was taken. Between number two and three, I never quite got back to normal but I came close. Here's what I mean....

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(3 months after baby #2- about 150 lbs.)

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(Pregnant with baby #3- about 170 lbs.)

This was a hard pregnancy for me. I have a strong family history of diabetes and sure enough...I tested positive for gestational diabetes in my third pregnancy. This is one of my biggest motivations for changing my life now.

and...

Here is me post baby #3.

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I have some "before" pictures and if I get brave, I may post them (trust me they are not pretty). So I am 5'4'' and I currently weigh about 174 (yikes!)

I got to the point where nothing I had tried was working. I ate healthy. I tried new exercises (Brazilian jiu it zu was on that list...and yes, it was as ridiculous as it sounds).

Enter this blog. I have to stick to my plan because I'm no longer alone.

So, that is me. I will update along the way with my weekly meal plans, exercise and progress.

Please introduce yourself and keep me updated on your journey!

Let's do this!

-Kim

Weight-loss Journey

K. Allyn Sheperd

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