My family and I have lived all over the Midwest but we really enjoy calling Lincoln, Nebraska our home. My husband, Justin, of 12 years and our 3 kids Payton (7), Paisley (4) and Parker (1) are my entire world. Since I work full-time time for a large pet food manufacturer, any time I can get with them is my greatest hobby. We live for time outdoors and doing whatever the kids enjoy, and trying to sneak in a little bit of golf or travel a few times a year as well.
I gained A LOT of weight with my “mom” status. Starting with our first son and in between the others, I could never lose much of what I had added. My job was mostly sedentary, sleep felt non-existent, and eating out for 2-3 meals a day was not unusual.
When our oldest son Payton was diagnosed with Cerebral Palsy, our life quickly revolved to be around things like therapy, specialist appointments, finding equipment, and weight gain for him. Care-giving is a very exhausting lifestyle and most days its hard to take care of yourself. I was struggling physically with lifting and transferring him, especially come my 3rd pregnancy. The back pain was awful and I knew I wasn’t going to be able to lift him as he grew much bigger if I was carrying around 50 extra lbs on me.
I desperately wanted to lose the weight but could barely make any progress stick. If we had a good week where things fell into place with eating better and exercising, it seemed like it was only luck when the next weeks were filled with illness, or appointments, or stress at work.
When it comes to our life, we try not to use the word “can’t.” We want to believe all things are possible even if they don’t look like the norm for most people. But I was very frustrated that I couldn’t find the mental strength with weight loss to say “I can”. I was completely lacking confidence in myself to ever make it happen.
Knowing my confidence was far too low to try saying no to certain food groups, free food, or eating out….I really believed the gym might be my only hope. At times I had a personal trainer and would also work out at lunch some days. I believed if I burned enough, what I ate wouldn’t matter. And I attempted using Myfitnesspal to give me an idea of how long I might need to work out for, even if that meant for hours.
When I first heard about Copper State FIT, through a friend who was seeing amazing results, I was very intrigued. And it lived up to all the hype!
It wasn’t a complicated, time-demanding program. It fit my life in more ways than I knew were possible. It was exactly what I needed. I learned that it wasn’t about having mental toughness. All I really needed was to spend a little bit of time on a plan. And I got that time when I learned more about tracking and accuracy and didn’t need to spend hours in a gym or on a treadmill.
The beauty was in being able to have pizza if I planned to have pizza, knowing how it could fit into my day. And as my coach Dana taught me…. “Some of the things, not All of the things”. I can have 2 slices of pizza, but I don’t need 3 slices and 2 cheese sticks.
To be honest my whole journey with CSF has been a complete shock. For so long I never thought I could do it. And then it was just happening and I kept losing and losing. I still look back in a bit of disbelief that it really was 100x easier than I realized. I wish I had found CSF 6 years ago!!!
The biggest win is not being in as much pain. Of course its great to buy new clothes and see yourself without all the extra weight. But the fact that I can carry my son, who is now 10 pounds heavier, and not ache while doing so is such a blessing.
And Wahoooooo!!! Those 50 pounds are gone! And, despite the madness of 2020, those 50 pounds have stayed off! Size 18 jeans to size 12 again! 12 inches off my waist and 8 inches off my hips! But seriously, I wish I could measure my happiness because it’s the most improved part of it all.
Can I also brag about my husband too? He joined eating healthier with me and was a meal prep champion! He also lost 50 pounds, has less back pain too and looks great!!!
If it weren’t for CSF I think I’d still be stuck in the “cant camp”. I really don’t believe there is a program like CSF out there that could fit our crazy lifestyle and teach me the simple ways to make it work.
When I encounter people curious about the program, I tell them “but you can eat carbs!” So many people feel they have to give up a food group to lose weight. It’s one fad or another.
They often assume I also ran marathons or cross-fitted my weight off but the reality is I cancelled my ridiculous workout expectations (and gym membership) long ago. Unless you enjoy those things, which I still do at times, it was not the driver for results in my situation. Ain’t no full time working mom of 3 got time for that!
