About a year ago I tried to do this healthy lifestyle change because I had just moved to another state and didn’t want to go back into my bad habits. I wanted to be healthier for myself and my son, but at the same time I didn’t realize things wouldn’t work out the way I wanted them too.
These pictures show you my progress from end of July to October 1, 2018. Then the struggles really started…
I had just moved 2,000 miles away from where I was born and raised to have a better life. I wanted to feel better about myself, my living situation, and my job. While I was moving I made a promise to myself to change my lifestyle. I wanted to have a healthier better lifestyle not just for me but to lead as an example for my son as well. In the beginning it was going well until my life took some odd turns.
The first 3 months starting my lifestyle change were a breeze, I had already adjusted to my work schedule, my sons schedule, my house routine, so adding in some workouts was easy. I went cold turkey though, no added sugars, no carbs until the second month in but only healthy carbs at that and still no added sugars. Doing that alone was a hard challenge because I have a huge sweet tooth, I love chocolate, cookies, brownies, and all the unhealthy stuff. Plus I was working at a diner at the time and lets just say I wanted to eat that food all the time and sometimes I did eat it. In going cold turkey it made things harder and I was more tempted to break my good habits. I had no support besides myself, no one to keep me accountable. Just me and my mind that wanted all the bad stuff that I should not over indulge in.
By October I knew holidays were coming and my schedule became more crazy, not so much of a routine, which I thrive on routines, if there is no routine I go crazy and lose my marbles. I tried too keep up the good habits through October as best as I could but I was planning a trip back to my hometown for Thanksgiving and I was looking for a higher paying job even though I loved working at the diner. I loved my job but I had so much free time and not enough funds coming in. It was stressful and I am an emotional eater, so the more stress and emotional trouble I was having the more I wanted to eat my feelings away.
Come November, I was feeling down about being a single mother that had no free time and I missed my hometown more than ever. Before the move I had my son’s father that took him once a week sometimes for a whole week or just the weekend. That was my break, my time to have peace and go out with friends and do what I wanted. After moving, I had no friends, no me time by myself, nothing. Don’t get me wrong I love being a Mother and I love my son more than life itself, but doing that took a toll on my mental state. When I went back to my hometown for a week visit it just ripped my mental state in half. I missed it, my friends, hanging out with everyone, having me time. I wanted to stay even though I knew living there didn’t make me happy, it wasn’t where I needed to be but I missed who I had there for me. I had support there, I had accountability partners there. I realized I needed that support system.
In December, my eating habits went back to bad habits. My mental state was gone, I was down and didn’t want to do anything. I saw my life as this emptiness that I was walking through just because I had too. I wasn’t enjoying it anymore. I needed change fast and now. However, in order to change I had to get my mental state back up and running as best as I could.
New year, New me! Right? Wrong…. I decided to cleanse my life. I deleted all social media except snapchat, deleted all dating apps and profiles. I focused on myself, my mind, my son. I got a new job that I also put my energy into. Since it was a full time job things got more busy for me, but I still made time for myself. I finally settled into my new home in a new state. I got back into my love for books, buying books again to help build up my happiness. Spent time with my family and my son to build up my mental state and become happier.
Six months later… I’m happy, I’m back on social media, and I’m ready to change my life. I looked up my current coach, that I had followed a year ago, and told her I was ready. She was so excited to get me started, to get me going. She asked me , “Why do you want this for yourself?”
At the time, my WHY was because I wanted to change my lifestyle, I wanted to become a better healthier me. I wanted to live longer and see my son grow up and have kids of his own. I didn’t want my health to kill me before I could watch my son grow old with his kids. Plus I wanted to help others and show others the way to a happier healthier them as well. I wanted to be able to change others lives for the better so they didn’t have to struggle like I did. I wanted to be their support system, show them they have someone looking out for them always.
Lovely's World 