I began to struggle with obesity as a teenager. Fast, fried, and frozen were the three main staples of mydiet. My parents were young and nutritional wholeness never factored into what we were eating, I formed a lot of unhealthy habits when I was young.
As an adult I knew that if I were to ever beat the obesity and lose the weight I was going to have to find something that allowed me to prepare meals quickly. I was used to the convenience of processed food. My life was so fast paced, I had little to no time to spend slaving over the stove in the kitchen.
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I was 211 lbs on my wedding day. I cried after I tried on dresses because nothing fit. I had to squeeze myself into a skin tight, fat sucking, body suit just to fit into the largest size they carried in the dress shop.
An experience that should have been joyous and exciting was mortifying and embarrassing. The month after we said “I do” I decided to get serious and lose the weight.
I was desperate to be skinny.
I tried diet pills, pre-made, pre-packaged weight loss food, slim fast, nutrisystem, starving, working out, nothing lasted, nothing worked.
I began to lose hope. I started to feel resigned, like maybe my body wassupposedto be big.
After I had my first baby I hit my record high, 260lbs.
For a girl as short as I am, 5’2 3/4, that’s A LOTof weight. I was on medication for an autoimmune disease that the doctors told me I’d be on for the rest of my life. I felt heavy, I was exhausted, I was depressed… I started to feel like I was losing myself.
Then everything changed.
My husband is a gadget guy. He loves things that are electronic and come with the “supposed to make your life easier” label. One day he came home with an Instant Potand a smile, sure that he was about to win husband of the year. I stared at that thing like it was my nemesis.
I don’t really know why I felt so intimidated by it but just gussying up the courage to take it out of the box took me weeks. I had small children and generally felt overwhelmed most of the time. The thought of trying to learn a whole new method of cooking gave me anxiety.
Before leaving for work one morning my husband asked me if he should just return it. If he hadn’t looked so sad about it I would have told himyes!!By that point it had sat in our living room for so long it had become apart of the furniture! I didn’t want to disappoint him though, soinstead I promised to try to use it that day for lunch.
I read the manual cover to cover. Still feeling generally confused about how I was supposed to use it I deiced to jump right in and make brown rice.
It was a smashing success! Not only was it crazy delicious but my kids ate the entire pot full and I had to make more!
I quickly discovered that all of my crockpot meals could be converted to pressure cooker recipes andinstead of hours, cooking them in the Instant Pottook minutes.
Easy?CHECK!
Convenient?CHECK!
In January 2017 I issued myself a personal challenge. I decided I wanted to make dinner every night for an entire year. I was confident that with the help of my Instant Pot I could achieve this!
I knew that in order to succeed I needed something that made cooking easy and convenient. I had to quit eating out completely because I knew I didn’t have the self control or the will power to say no. I was addicted to sugar and processed food.
There arenights I don’tstart cooking dinner till 6pm because I lose track of time or we don’t get home till late, nights that I used to pull out of a frozen pizza or have my husband grab dinner onhis way home from work. My Instant Pot has eliminated those nights. I can throw a few things in the pot and have dinner on the table in under a half hour.
For the last 9 months I have made dinner at home almost every single night and a crazy side effect has been extraordinary weight loss!
On January 3, 2017 I was 212 lbs.
On July 1, 2017 I weighed in at 139 lbs!
I have lost 73 lbs,a total loss of 121 lbs from my highest weight!
I am also 100% off meds and my autoimmune disease is in remission!
The Instant Pot has played an integral roll in my weight loss success, it has saved us bundles of money on eating out, saves me time in the kitchen, and it has eliminated the mad “what am I going to make for dinner??” scramble!
I am so grateful to have this handy kitchen gadget! This is the Instant Pot I own and recommend, click here!
To read more about what my diet is like or what I’ve been eating, start here.
For recipe ideas and inspiration go here.
To follow my journey while I work to lose 4 more lbs go here.
