I don’t know about you but for me and for several years, people would invite me to lunch or dinner or my husband and I would go on a dinner date and once the restaurant was picked I would salivate in my mind about what I was going to order and how delicious it was going to be. Looking forward to the next meal, snack, ice cream like it was my best friend. Looking for the comfort after a long day or an argument with my spouse, or even a good day and I deserve it. Now, is this a bad thing, maybe not but when it becomes an obsession yes. I have been on a health journey now for about 3 years now. I was misdiagnosed with hosimotos and my husband was diagnosed with type 2 diabetes and high cholesterol. So I start looking up all the things I can and can’t have, maybe even went a little extreme (for those who know me well, I hear you chuckling). But I was not going to let these diagnosis be our lives.
So, about 2 months after getting this wrong diagnosis, and getting it confirmed from my doctor I had already lost about 15 pounds and was feeling really good, so was my husband. Just by him eating the way I was he was able to get off of the medication the doctor had prescribed and I think he had lost about 30 pounds, MEN, not fair.
We decided this was a good idea and have done some things to tweak where we want to go and what we are doing, especially me.
As a woman in her mid-fifties, which I can’t believe I’m here because I feel 35, we have hormones to deal with, menopause, weight that comes along with menopause, skin changes just to name a few. I wanted to reach out to others who maybe where I am at or maybe heading in that direction to give you some hope. Someone told me once that I would just have to get used to the belly fat that came with menopause and I have to disagree.
I have to make one thing very clear, this isn’t about weight loss, this is about a lifestyle of loving myself into health and wholeness. I am not doing this alone, I have a lot of support and the coaching of a very good friend that are helping me on this journey. I am a believer in Jesus and he has given me this opportunity to do this because I am at the beginning of my “calling” and I will need the energy, stamina, rest, strength and mind to go to all the places he wants to take me, and I don’t want to miss a thing, when I have it within my power to take care of this temple for this journey!
So, if you would like to follow me along the way, join in, have questions, need prayer, all are welcome!
Just ME,
MaryEllen Swafford
