A year ago, I had it advertised in my church announcements with my before and after picture shown, and we met once a month since then as a support group. I also just had another “relaunch” day a few weeks ago for newer ladies in our church who haven’t heard about it.
I had food samplings of items you can buy in store or it takes a few minutes to whip together so it would be super enticing to ladies who live super busy lives! We had the Pepperidge farm sprouted grain bread with Laughing cow cheese spread and deli meat sandwiches, sparkling flavored water already sweetened with stevia in a pitcher, THM lemonade, coffee with the Stevia-flavored drops from Amazon and half and half to add to the coffee, homemade Mac and cheese made out of lentil pasta, a jar of Alfredo sauce, and shredded cheddar cheese with a little bit of garlic salt (which is an on-plan Crossover). We bought Lily’s chocolate bars and chocolate chips and had sampling’s of those. We also drizzled Lilly’s chocolate (melted) over strawberries. My goal was to be able to have foods there that were accessible from our local Walmart because we live in a smaller town with no health food stores. I wanted ladies to know that they could get all the stuff from Walmart and it is simple grab and go stuff!
I told ladies to invite anybody they know in the community to come with them, and I had a slideshow presentation of my testimony with pictures of my whole journey. After that I showed them a video I found off of YouTube from Trim Healthy Mama that was their TV special that talked about how they started Trim Healthy Mama and it has testimonies of other ladies within the video.
Once the video was over I showed them The Starter Book and I told them if they were wanting to follow along with us at our next meeting where we would go over the actual plan together from the Starter book, then they can order it off of the Trim Healthy Mama website.
Next month at our meeting we will do exactly that… go over the plan according to the 47 pages within The Starter Book.
Our consecutive meetings each month will consist of us trying a recipe with each other, discussing new foods that we can find in our local Walmart that are on plan, and also come up with meal plans for everybody. We will be there as a support system and only there to encourage and uplift… we will not shame in anyway and not make ladies weigh in. We are there together to support each other and know that we are all on the same journey in our health. Basically we hold each other‘s hand through this time!!
To finally be at the day where I am sharing my Trim Healthy Mama (THM) weight loss testimony is so hard to believe, because I never thought this day would come! *Note: I am not selling any product or business to you. This is just my testimony of my personal health journey.
The majority of my life I have been slender and I ate pretty healthy. Back in 2010 right after I got married, I gained about 15 pounds in those first three months of marriage. I had just started a new job at a cornea specialist doctor’s office where food was constantly made available in the kitchen to us by other doctors and pharmaceutical reps. I started working there around Christmas time which meant that sweets and treats were showing up in the staff kitchen every hour! I have never really had to say no to sweets before because I wasn’t around them as much, but in this case, I was not fully aware how often I was consuming high sugar foods. Plus it did not help that we wore scrubs as our daily uniform, which are very forgiving around the waist.
At one point I felt so desperate to lose the weight and I needed the accountability, so I joined a program that has a very strict way of eating and you are required to go into their offices three times a week and be weighed and show them your food log. I thought this would help me make wiser decisions knowing that someone would be checking me weekly, but it ended up throwing me into a deeper state of depression. I started feeling sorry for myself on all the things I wasn’t allowed to eat, and so I ended up failing miserably almost every single day and I became a clinical binge eater. On a daily basis, I would find myself giving in to my cravings and I would either go hide in the work bathroom and stuff my face with 8 ice cream sandwiches at one time (& consuming up to 20 by the end of the work day), or at church small groups I found myself in the kitchen when no one else was in there inhaling 20 Subway cookies. This became a deep time of depression for me. One full year on this eating program and over $1,000 spent on it, I was 60 pounds heavier than I have ever been in my life– and more depressed then when I started the program. At this point I was ready to give up!
Almost 4 years of being miserably unhealthy and overweight, hope presented itself. One day while sitting at my desk at work, a coworker friend of mine came by and was telling me about a healthy lifestyle of eating that she had started doing based off of a book she read. Her and her husband were dropping weight and feeling super healthy! I was very curious about it and she was so sweet to actually give me her only 
I immediately started implementing Trim Healthy Mama (THM) and dropped 10 pounds that first week! Right after that week, we found out we were pregnant with our first child Harmony Dawn. I started developing food aversions to almost everything except peanut butter crackers and cheese. Because of this, I stopped eating the THM way just trying to make it through that first trimester. Looking back, I realize now that the best thing I could’ve done was continued to eat the THM way during my pregnancy, but since it was still so new to me, it was easy for me to give up and use my pregnancy as an excuse to eat whatever I wanted again. I figured that once I had Harmony, I would go back to eating the Trim Healthy way.
In July 2015 after I had Harmony, life got really busy as a new mom trying to figure out my new routine. I did keep the principles of Trim Healthy Mama in the back of my mind when I went grocery shopping and made our meals at home from their amazing 
Over the next 3 and a half years and another pregnancy and the birth of our son Colin, I did slowly lose 40 pounds of my weight by making the healthier choices at home (which I’m at most of the time since I am a stay-at-home mom) as well as nursing my 2 babies. The last 20 pounds though, I knew were not going to come off by themselves unless I decided to fully commit to the THM lifestyle! I knew I needed the motivation and encouragement to get started, because every time I thought about committing 100%, I would get sad and feel like I would miss out on all the foods that would be at restaurants or at events and parties. That is when I decided to go back and listen to every single 
As of April 2019, I have been 100% committed to the Trim Healthy Mama way! The pounds and inches started falling off of me as I was so happy and content in eating healthy, non blood-sugar spiking foods! I felt amazing every time I made the choice to eat the right foods at restaurants and parties, instead of giving into my old way of eating! It has been so freeing knowing that I can essentially go anywhere and find something that is on plan to eat! I eat off plan here & there, but I really try to keep it to deciding if that one cookie from a box is really worth my health. That helps me pick & choose special moments that I will eat off plan as opposed to on a regular basis. If I know there is going to be food that might be tempting somewhere that I am going, I usually plan ahead and bring something with me that I can enjoy while there. I have also found so many great 
I wish everyone in the world knew about THM and what it can do for their health and how much freedom it will bring into their lives! This plan is so easy to do in a frugal way— no need to over complicate it! We live on a one-income pastoral salary and I am not someone who likes to spend a lot of time in the kitchen. I promise anybody and everyone of any lifestyle can do this! If you are reading this testimony and desire this freedom for yourself, click on the links that I posted throughout the blog, as well as visit the 
I LOVE these cheesy, yummy omelettes so much and it’s easy and fast to whip up. Enjoying my cinnamon, creamy, stevia-sweetened coffee with it as well!! This is a Fat (“S”) meal and you burn fat while eating it as long as you don’t pair it with carbs! 🥳 Cheese, pepper/onion blend, all purpose seasoning, butter, eggs. For the coffee, I 
Another favorite coffee on plan that is similar to a Cold Brew, Cold Foam iced coffee that you would get at a coffee shop is this (thank you to my friend for sharing this recipe she told me about): Take some heavy whipping cream and add some of your favorite sweetening drops/sweetener to it (like you would for normal coffee). Mix up the cream until it’s almost whipped cream. It should look super frothy. Put that in the bottom of your glass then add your ice and coffee over it (I use cold coffee, so my ice doesn’t melt as much).
I ordered these on Amazon because I hear the THM sisters always talk about them on their podcast! It’s just as creamy as heavy whipping cream, but I put 3 tablespoons in and it’s only 3 grams of fat and no carbs instead of 15 grams of fat like heavy whip is. I can drink this everyday in my coffee without worrying about crossing over with my meals, praise Jesus!!! There are sooooo many different flavors but hazelnut is the one I have. They have variety packs and “seasonal” flavors too! It does have a coconut taste to them but I LOVE it. They also have oat milk if you wanted to avoid the coconut taste but have the same creaminess! I recommend!!
On those mornings where I don’t have time to make anything for breakfast because I’m running out the door, I love to grab one of these Oikos Triple Zero Greek Yogurts! 15 grams of protein and these are only $1 each with many different flavor options! I also will throw in some sugar-free chocolate chips into it for some extra yumminess!
One of my go-to lunches is a carb (“E”) meal with 1 piece of sprouted grain sandwich bread and Laughing Cow Light cheese spread on it, a little garlic salt sprinkled on the cheese spread, with turkey breast and lettuce. I love to have on the side a pickle or two with some baby tomatoes, and a small handful of on-plan chips (today being with baked organic blue corn chips and a little bit of salsa). If I still feel hungry afterwards, I sometimes will eat half an orange or apple.
For quick grab-and-go lunches, I will grab a Light Progresso (broth based) can of soup for a quick E meal while dipping one piece of sprouted grain toast in it!
Also one of my quick, favorite lunches is to shred up some lettuce on my plate, tear up some deli meat on top with cheese, some cheddar crisps (for more crunch), and cucumbers and baby tomatoes in my favorite dressing! Don’t forget about the easy, healthy benefits of eating huge salads!
With my Skillet Cabbage & Sausage meal, I like to buy all natural beef sausage with only 1 carb (which makes it an S- fat meal or you could use lean turkey sausage to make it a Fuel Pull meal) and slice it up and put with ½ cup of water in the skillet. I let it brown with some all purpose seasoning while I shred or chop up some cabbage (or you can skip the chopping stage by buying bags of coleslaw). I then put in the cabbage with the sausage and cover it while the cabbage wilts down. Stir occasionally. It’s done in 5 minutes! The fat from the sausage seasons the cabbage and it taste amazing sprinkling some Parmesan cheese on top!
Veggie Spaghetti or Lentil Spaghetti is my spaghetti-loving daughter’s favorite! Traditional spaghetti noodles is something that she used to love to eat until we introduced what we call veggie spaghetti and the lentil spaghetti noodles. Veggie spaghetti is the already spiraled/cut zucchini noodles that you can find in the frozen section at your grocery store. Simply steam and toss them with a jar of spaghetti sauce or pizza sauce (which is lower in carbs and sugar). When using pizza sauce I throw in some Italian seasoning with it and it taste just like traditional spaghetti sauce. I either will cook ground beef or lean ground turkey to put in the spaghetti depending on if I want it to be a fat meal or a carb, or fuel pull meal. That way my sides that I have with it can vary. For instance, if I want it to be a carb meal, I will use the ground turkey for my meat and then I will enjoy sprouted grain toast on the side that I put a tiny smear of butter (less than a teaspoon to keep it in carb mode) and garlic salt on it. If I keep it as a fat meal, I will smother it in grated cheese and use the beef as my meat. With Lentil spaghetti, it is made 100% from Lentils which would make it an “E” meal. So we stick to lean ground turkey meat for this one to stay in fat burning mode. If you cook them long enough (or even better, pre-soak them before cooking) they taste and look like regular pasta. Lentils is SOOOO great for your blood sugar and so high in protein, so they really stick to your ribs and make you feel more full!
Chicken Alfredo is a new one that we recently added to our go-to dinner meals! I literally cook some chicken up in my instant pot if I don’t have some already made and throw a jar of light Alfredo sauce into it for a fat meal. Then I will steam up a side of broccoli or a side of zucchini noodles and stir it in with the chicken Alfredo. I also love stirring in cauliflower rice as well. This makes a really yummy, filling Chicken Alfredo dish and it has become my whole family’s favorite!
Burritos/Soft Tacos are so simple!!! You just cook up some ground beef or turkey, or even chicken fajitas with seasonings, and then throw them into either Low-carb Mission tortillas, Joseph’s Lavash bread, or Joseph’s pita bread. Depending on whether you want it to be a fat or carb meal depends on what bread or tortilla you put it into and what meat you use. Also you can add all the fixings such as Greek yogurt (which taste like sour cream), shredded cheese (for fat meal), salsa, black beans and corn (if you’re doing a carb meal), lettuce, tomatoes, pico, etc. You can also just do a taco bowl with organic baked blue corn chips! It will stay in E-carb mode if you use lean ground turkey and leave off the fats. ***Side note: in this picture above, I show regular organic blue corn chips instead of baked, because at the time I did not notice they weren’t baked. Regular corn chips are fried in an oil that usually isn’t the best… even Sunflower oil. To stay on plan, we need to find either a baked corn chip (E–carb meal) or a fried corn chip in coconut or palm oil (which would be a Crossover–maintenance meal).
With my Crockpot Salsa Chicken, I put in my chicken breast with a whole jar of salsa on top of it. The last 30 minutes before serving dinner, I throw in a block of cream cheese and let it melt down if I want it to be a S– fat meal. If I want it to be an E- carb meal, I instead will throw in a can of black beans and sometimes some corn. You can also dip blue corn chips in it as an E meal. It’s also tastes super good over some cauliflower rice that I will quickly cook up before serving. You can find bags of cauliflower rice in your frozen section at the grocery store. A side salad is also great to add with it!
I’m a huge believer in positive & attachment parenting, and fostering a deep loving, connection & relationship between you and your child while still discipling and teaching them what is right. Here are all of my favorite parenting resources that I use and refer to often!!
I have grown up in church all my life.
matthewfivefive 