I’m back after a very long hiatus from writing. I suppose you’re wondering where I have been and what I plan to do. Well, I spent all these months focusing on my health and, to be honest, I had gotten into a rut both with my writing and my health. I lost interest in my normal topic, believe it or not. Things are just not the same anymore and what once was a passion of mine, no longer holds the same interest these days. My content turned into updates on Sam and Amy. For awhile it was fine but given the circumstances we were forced into, I shifted my content from home décor to living in a tent and God’s provision. I felt desperate to keep it running but I had to eventually be honest with myself that it was no longer fun, so I decided to go completely dark.
Over time, I began to really miss writing but I didn’t know what to write about, so I just put it on the back burner. Since June 2020, life had been very stressful for us and that meant our health suffered tremendously. Over the last year, I did a lot of stress eating, boredom eating, and sometimes just not caring what I put into my body. I really fell off the rails bad. I made multiple attempts of getting myself back into a fitness routine and diligently counted my calories. I did everything I could to do everything right but I kept gaining weight. It was extremely frustrating. At this point, I was getting close to gaining 30 pounds since June of 2020. It was clear that nothing was working. I felt so depressed one day because I literally felt like I was in a prison and I cannot get out, no matter how hard I tried. Change needed to happen or it’s only a matter of time before I’m right back to where I started, which was 207 pounds.
This is not my first rodeo when it comes to losing weight. In 2013, I reached the highest weight I had ever been. I remember feeling so depressed that I crossed the 200 threshold and it didn’t seem to be stopping. I tried everything I could at the time. I joined Weight Watchers and I literally thought, “What have I got to lose?” I did not have high expectations. To my surprise, I lost 5 pounds the first week and the weight continued to melt off. I was on it for two years and lost 60 pounds. When I met Sam, that went out the window because all we did when we dated was eat out all the time. The summer we were engaged, however, we went on the Hallelujah Diet, which is 80% raw fruits and veggies 20% cooked, and we both almost reached our goal weight. We felt fantastic!
Fast forward to now, I gained about 10 pounds since our wedding but pretty much had been maintaining that weight. Until now. In December 2020, I was shocked to discover my winter jacket that fit me like a glove the year before was a struggle to put on this year! I had to hold my breath to zip it up! “What happened?” I found myself asking. I stepped on the scale and, to my dismay, I gained 20 pounds. Holy cow! I tried everything I could, fasting, intermittent fasting, counting calories, working out more, drinking more water, making more salads. I slowly kept gaining weight. Then, Sam and I decided to rejoin Weight Watchers. We both know it worked for me before and it worked for a lot of other people.
So as I write this, my weight is 181. This is our second week so when we started I was 185. We both already feel a world of difference. By now you can assume that my new content is about weight loss. With the world being that it is now, I feel it more necessary to focus on health and wellness rather than on home décor, home projects, and shopping at Hobby Lobby. If that is what you are still into, please know, I respect that, but you will no longer find that here. I want to take you on this journey to a better lifestyle with recipes, transformation updates, things we’ve discovered as we navigate this journey and I want to be an inspiration to you. I’m excited for this new chapter.
Living with the Leals 