Refresh and Renew

In my quest for wellness, I decided to take my favorite girl, Isabelle, for a long overdue vacation to Miraval Resort in Austin, Texas over the holiday break. One area where we are in total alignment is spa-ING and relaxation and so we were all in to spend some time together and refresh for 2024. Nothing helps you more than when you are in a self-contained area promoting healthy eating, exercise, learning and of course endless time getting decadent services such as sound-bowl massage or hot oil treatments – slather me up and bring it on – woo hoo!! Miraval really encourages guests to unplug and set an intention for the time spent on the property. Isabelle claimed relaxation as her goal, while I wanted to manifest 2024 and my next steps in this wellness journey.

The weather was sunny and maybe 60 degrees, I decided this would be a perfect time to write the blog in front of the serenity pool … sounds so peaceful right? Of course, as I began to get into the zone, there was a lady talking way too loud for a very long time – I mean come on??? 🤨 I contemplated giving a dirty look or yelling something her way … then realized that would be very anti chill so I put in my ear buds and continued on…. Anyways, back to our planned week, we were able to arrange a schedule ahead of time and I wanted to mix it up with a bunch of unique experiences that we would not have typically done at home. We found ourselves running from class to class (ok… maybe walking to each session including a pit stop to the café to get a funky tea, turmeric shot or yummy date/coconut ball snack – a real pick me up). ⚡️Throughout the week, Isabelle and I went to Pilates, yoga, ran hills and drills, cardio drumming, belly dancing, samba, crystal meditation, stretch and seminars around living a balanced life, spirituality, tarot cards and yada yada yada. The days would cap off with treatments like facials, massages, reflexology, ayurveda wraps, hot tub, and saunas… pure heaven ( a girl could get used to this type of life really quick😊)

As fun as all these classes were, the most meaningful experience included Isabelle and I taking a nighttime reconnection hike with Sunshine from the Karankawa Kadla Clan. Her people are indigenous to this land and she weaved the strong relationship between all living beings within nature. They believe that trees, plants, rocks, birds and even the moon are people. We all have connections to the land and that there is no death as we conventionally think of it, but transitions. A tree goes through different stages as do people and then our bodies return to earth and serve a purpose for the greater good– such as providing nutrients to other life forms. The earth is sacred and there is an ecosystem that sends support and sustenance to these beings to ensure the collective thrives. We are all energy and connect through touch and words which includes nature. It was fascinating as she shared that everything has an intention such as coral rocks serving as a water filtration system or how when her people feel a little sick, they will bury their feet in the earth and that the ecosystem will send healing through the network of moss, fauna, roots, and limbs. Her clan believes if you take something from nature, you must give something in return. They donate their hair as it is helpful for animals and birds to make nests. Generally, the theme was greater community and balance – everything is linked. It was a beautiful revelation on how important our understanding and respect for the earth should be and integrating it into our daily lives to sustain wellness.

We took a spiritual class where the emphasis was once again that we are energy and part of a bigger whole. The sun is our collective spirit, each soul is a ray of light (a small unique portion or thumbprint in the universe). The teacher spoke about evolving from our small self – which is “ego” that directs us to micro and tactical thinking (such as daily activities and issues) to… expanding to the higher self and consciousness or bigger picture focus. The cliff note version of this message is … What really brings us joy and contentment lean more towards elevated attention on humanity and the universe and not that irresistible Gucci purse or polarizing politics. So true – I must say!!! 🪐

Walking away from this retreat brought me clarity on my 2024 path of wellness and the themes I needed to pursue which came through loud and clear. I would say if I was to put it into a word… it would be TRANSITION (not the death one as Sunshine described as that ends my mission and this blog… ha-ha) rather a continued pursuit of awakening and growth. Although I have transformed my shell (body), it is time to follow the path of expansion of my soul (the inside) and how I contribute to the broader realm and frequency to find healing, comfort, and learning… What a great “aha” to realize amidst a bonding moment with Isabelle in a beautiful place. 2024 is looking good already…. 🥳

The Secret Sauce

I really appreciate the nice response I received to my first blog post. I was nervous to expose myself and talk about this personal topic. Weird… since I have previously shared with the world my bout with cancer and my innermost feelings when my husband died. What can I say, I am strange! Well moving on, health and wellness should theoretically be easy to manage – just eat high quality whole food, move daily and be mindful in heart, body, and soul. However, there is so much information and opinions that contradict one another. When you think you are on the right track, a new study is published warning of imminent danger if you continue with your adjusted lifestyle. It can make you crazy, want to throw in the towel and hightail it to your local Krispy Kreme establishment STAT.

As I shared in the last blog, I started my weight loss journey on January 28, 2023. I had been thinking about doing it so many times and now I was finally ready. I needed to do something drastic to get things moving. I was in such denial and shame that I could not even get on the scale to know my starting point. It took me about 4 months before I could face the music. Now you may ask, how do you know how much you actually lost? The answer, I conservatively reversed engineered the average weight loss and time on the program.😊 Funny, I was never great at math in school but I have acquired statistician skills when it comes to probability of volume of pounds off my body.

So now I come to the title of this post, The Secret Sauce… what did I do to achieve my results? First of all, many people just assumed I was on Ozempic or a weight loss drug… which I was not. I recognize this is a great tool but I avoid taking unnecessary medicine. However, I do like their commercials and find the tune catchy, O..o… o … Ozempic, and get a lot of pleasure singing on repeat, especially to annoy friends and family. I actually followed the program called Optavia. It involves portion control food (fuelings) and one lean and green meal daily. I am not an enthusiastic fan of eating from a packet and generally am opposed to processed food. When I raised this concern with my doctor, she said that being obese is more dangerous than anything else. As I write these words, I am kind of embarrassed about my healthier than though stance when I clearly was not taking care of myself. Needless to say, although this approach is a bit controversial, the core science and supplemental tools provided to us are excellent.

The philosophy of Dr. Anderson, the creator of this eating regime, is that the typical western diet consists of foods that raise your blood glucose (sugar) which elevates insulin. As insulin rises, blood sugar falls below normal and sets off the brain to send messages to your body causing cravings. You reach for unhealthy options such as sweets, salty food and never feel full. You basically embark on a roller coaster of bad eating. There is a larger explanation of what else happens with your body. Let’s just say, I was on that scary ride of binge eating and had not gotten off in over a decade resulting in packing on the pounds.

The plan is structured for participants to eat smaller meals every three hours stabilizing blood sugar and insulin. And I must say there is something to this concept, it really works as I am eating less and feeling more satiated. I always thought I had a self-control problem which brought me a lot of embarrassment when in fact it had more to do with a chemical response from the food I chose to eat and how my body tried to stabilize.

Now in the spirit of being transparent, Optavia gets negative reviews because it promotes limited calories during the weight loss phase which is considered not sustainable long-term. Also, Optavia relies on coaches to sell and guide participants and lets just say some are better than others (my coach Sherri – also big sister in the sorority was awesome and adjusted to my needs). However, there are great resources included, helping you understand science, your body and making healthy habit changes. Most people never read these two very large books (I did). There is a lot of time and effort spent on aligning mindset for behavior modification. It is too bad, as there is really useful information and nicely organized material to help people through a long-term shift. Ok, enough of the preaching – people asked so I am telling them… By the way, I am not a coach or involved in earning any money to promote this program. I am only sharing my experiences and observations .

On the downside, the food packets were rough on my stomach (I will not go into great detail on this one), but I still have PTSD from vegetarian chili and the pancakes. To solve this problem, I transitioned to real food mimicking the fueling protocol from a nutritional standpoint as I still have about 10 pounds to go (which by the way are coming off slower now – like ounce by ounce). I eat 5 fueling equating to 120 calories each – consisting of higher protein, lower carbs/sugars. I then eat a big salad (low glycemic index) with protein for dinner and lots of water. Once I lose the rest – there is a transition plan to incorporate more calories and foods to stabilize – which I have not started yet – stay tune to a February launch. AND THAT FOLKS IS…. The Secret Sauce.

In addition to my new eating lifestyle, I have continued to exercise which includes walking/jogging, Zumba (shout out to Cely) and long strolls around the subdivision carrying my 20 pound pug, Ella. In 2024, I am going to focus on lifting weights, building core strength and balance as these activities are important and I need to improve on them.

So here is the big wrap-up – I have lost over 75 pounds and did not use Ozempic, but fondly sing the tune. I feel better, not dominated with thoughts of food, mostly feeling satisfied, nervous not to fall off the wagon and have more pep in my step. I recognize wellness constitutes more than weight loss and I will explore all aspects but you asked and therefore I am sharing … how I did it. Not glamorous, a bit boring as it always goes back to calories in and out. One thing I can say, this program yielded results and I am all about that …. Wishing everyone a very happy and healthy holiday season. I am off to unplug with Isabelle and slide into the New Year – refreshed and relax. Peace to all!

Let The Journey Begin

In the past when I have blogged, it was always driven by a major event (generally bad) where I used the power of a keyboard to work through my struggles and simultaneously entertain. I can’t tell you how cathartic it was for me to get my feelings down on paper and then interject humor when I thought I was taking myself way too seriously. Well enough with that…. This time I want to go through the journey to wellness with you. I guess there are a few reasons to do this:

I don’t want to be a depressing widow who once had cancer (can’t get away with more than 2 sad blogs).😊
Learning about nutrition, wellness, health, and spirituality are not easy topics to navigate.
2024 is the year of accountability and I guess if I write about it – I can’t have any SAY-DO gaps.

So let me go back to 2023 and get you up to speed. Last January, something snapped and I realized I needed to get a handle on my weight. I was sick of being heavy, always hungry, and not conquering one of the biggest failures in life. I had reverted to stretchy clothes, for sure knew my bloodwork would be awful and ignored the scale. I always had a batch of chocolate chip cookies in the freezer (I make damn good treats 🍪) and I was out of control to say the least. Also,, if I am going to be honest too, one of my best friends had started a weight loss program a few weeks before and in real camaraderie or girl jealousy, I jumped on to the bandwagon. AKA …I did not want to be left behind…not an inspirational moment but the truth! 👀

Fast forward to this December, I have lost almost 75 pounds with another 10 to go. I feel great and wondered why I sabotaged myself these many years.🤔 However, with all the good, there are new bi -products and issues I am dealing with like hair thinning, accusations of being an almond mom (gotta love Isabelle), digestive stuff (not pleasant but probably a funny future post) and wondering why my fingers are still kind of beefy.🖐️

Well … all jokes aside, 2024 and beyond will be starting the hard part which is maintaining/achieving health and wellness. What got me here is not going to keep me here. I am exploring optimal eating habits (plant based), exercise, emotional, spiritual and community alignment. Things are confusing – nutrition alone is a sh-t show trying to understand what the heck to do. 💩👯

One other thing, I recognize there are significant events happening in this world that matter more than me keeping a few pounds off in a healthy way. I have hesitated to start the blog for a few months now due to the circumstances of humanity. However, it’s a Saturday night and had nothing better to do and thought how can I pick up our energy and frequency a bit? Why not, make one or two people laugh (probably the readership of my blog community) and explore the trite things in life especially when the state of affairs are heavy right now. I guess it is my way of justifying how shallow I am or to control the things I can control. 🥸

So, let’s head into the big wrap-up… I am looking forward to sharing my innermost thoughts with you over the course of the next year as I try to achieve optimal health and wellness 💪while not taking life too seriously. Also, I heard typing burns about 50 calories an hour.. but who is counting… (ME 😊)

And … still love my emojis – apologies ahead of time. 😬