The Issue
I knew it was going to be an issue in 2017.
After 2020, it became a weightier issue.
The Backstory
As a kid, I was always skinny. I could eat whatever I wanted whenever I wanted. This included the homemade cakes and cookies my grandmother made almost daily. My mom would say I looked like Olive Oil from the Popeye cartoon because I was thin yet I had long feet. (I wear a size 7.5 shoe which is pretty normal considering that’s always the sold out size at any good shoe sale.)
I knew little of exercise. It was a different time (read: no Internet) and I lived in a very small town in south Alabama (read: no cable television). I spent tons of time outside and rode my bike, but no one ever talked to me about developing cardio or lifting weights.
College was probably the first time I remember being concerned about weighing more. Specifically, in my junior year I think I gained three pounds. This sounds ridiculous to me now so many years later. But I had heard the horrific tales of the Freshman 15 and, not being a fan of scary things, I vowed to stay far away from that.
About four years after moving to Nashville, I weighed the most I ever had. Looking back on it, I’m not sure what led to that gain of about 15 pounds. Knowing I wasn’t much of a cook and I didn’t drink at the time, I’m going to chalk it up to a lot of fast food. My roommate was following the Weight Watchers plan and I joined her in that, losing the weight I had gained. I never weighed anywhere close to that number again until I was pregnant with my son…
Until this year.
While I didn’t recognize it for what it was then, in 2017 I was mildly depressed. Though I continued to try and eat healthily, I would have multiple happy hours with friends each week and drink socially on the weekend. I had recently turned 40 and my body was beginning to metabolize food and alcohol very differently.
I had about five-ish pounds to lose until 2020 and the COVID pandemic. That’s when I discovered my anxieties. For the first three to four months of the pandemic, I was drinking three glasses of wine per night most nights to go to sleep. And of course when you drink you want to snack.
At the beginning of 2021, unhappy with my weight, I decided to diet again. Unlike when I followed the Weight Watchers (now WW) plan, I did exercise. I had begun to work out regularly in 2009, so exercise would supplement new, healthy eating habits.
Here we are now in the middle of 2022, and I’m still trying to lose the 8ish pounds I needed to lose in 2021. I have lost only to regain. I have committed, only to eat and drink on the weekends, erasing all of the hard work I had done Sunday through Thursday.
I did not like how most of my clothes fit. I did my best to avoid any event that involved a swimsuit. I would not look at myself unclothed. I couldn’t look myself in the eye and acknowledge my body in the mirror.
All of these things are still true today.
The Start of Something New
Then things changed in October of 2021. One of the unglamorous things about turning 40 is the AARP seeks you out. They began to send me a monthly email newsletter. Only ever scanning the article titles, one grabbed my attention. It was five women in fitness you should follow on social media if you’re over 40. That’s how I found Kendra.
Kendra Jarratt is my coach and she’s a badass. She is serious about nutrition and fitness, and about not taking life too seriously. She’s full of knowledge, funny, and truly wants to see everyone reach their goals.
Kendra is an Elite Athlete with 1st Phorm (Andy Frisella, creator of 75 Hard, is their CEO). She lives in Maine but coaches hundreds of women (it may be thousands) through the 1st Phorm app and her private Facebook Group, Team Strong Life (TSL). 1st Phorm runs several 8-week challenges throughout the year, and I’ve now completed three. Though I still haven’t reached my goal weight, I have learned much about the importance of macros and lifting weights.
This summer Kendra offered TSL a special opportunity for those who are truly ready to level up – Summer Sizzle. While all of the coaching Kendra does through TSL is free, this is a 10-week paid program with more in-depth coaching, weekly calls, accountability, and commitments that carry the consequence of burpees if not met.
After thinking it through a couple of days (it wasn’t so much the money as the burpees), I committed and signed up for Summer Sizzle.
I’m Committing to a 90ish Day Fat Loss Journey
You may be thinking, “Fat loss, you say? Didn’t you just say you were trying to reach a goal weight?”
One of the things Kendra has taught me is I shouldn’t focus on a goal weight. A goal weight is a false indicator because muscle weighs more than fat. I am instead focusing on losing body fat because in losing body fat I will lose weight. It’s really the layer of fat I have in the midsection of my body that I want to get rid of. If I only lose five pounds because I gain three pounds of muscle but I feel confident in my clothes, I’ve reached my goal.
The Details
Now that we’ve got all the backstory and the how we got here out of the way, let’s talk about my goals and the plan.
My Why?
With any goal or dream, you have to know your why. Your why is what keeps you committed and motivated when your want to is weak. It may sound vain, but my biggest why is I want to feel good in my clothes. I want to feel good in my body. I want to feel confident – clothed and bare.
I also want to be a good steward of this body God has given me. We only get one body and I plan to do my part to keep it healthy.
And, I want to be a healthy example for those around me. I want others to know exercise can be fun and food can be both good for you and good tasting.
My Plan
Nutrition: I’ll follow the macros Kendra sets for me, focusing on hitting my calorie and protein goals daily. I will also be consuming 100 oz of water each day.
Exercise: If you know me, you know I love all things Peloton. But the next 10 weeks I’ll be doing a mix of Peloton workouts (mostly strength training) along with Kendra’s summer strength and walking/running program.
Mind & Emotions: I’m going to journal my journey daily (see what I did there 😁), sharing two posts a week here. I will likely share more on my Instagram account @julieldavis5.
Beginning Stats
Full honesty, I had planned to share my starting pictures here, but I’m just not emotionally ready to do that. But I will share my weight. Here we go….
As of today, June 26, 2022, I weigh 136.2 lbs. I know my at-home scale isn’t super reliable for body fat and muscle mass percentages, but they are 26.6 and 32.5 respectively. For TSL, the only body measurements I track are waist, hips, and thigh, and the likelihood that I am measuring them correctly isn’t great. Nevertheless, they are as follows:
Waist – 29 in.
Hips – 36.5 in.
Thighs – 19.25 in.
Let’s Wrap This Up & What to Expect
Now that I’ve done the scary part in sharing my current physical stats, we can wrap this post up. Technically Summer Sizzle started this past Wednesday, but we didn’t do our first assessment until today. Kendra will make recommendations and adjustments to those tomorrow, so tomorrow willmarks the first full week. I will share my macro breakdown after Kendra reviews my assessment.
Why am I sharing this journey online? For one of the same reasons I joined the Summer Sizzle program – accountability. No one will keep you accountable like the internet.😂 I’ll post my daily tracker in my Instagram stories each day, as well as a weekly recap to share my progress and some other things along the way, like my workouts, and what supplements I take, etc.
If you’ve made it this far, thanks for reading and no that future posts won’t be nearly as long! I’d love your support and encouragement on my Instagram, @julieldavis5. If you’d like to know more about Kendra or Team Strong Life, click on any of the links above, visit kendrajarratt.com or look up Kendra Jarratt on Instagram or TikTok (she’s excellent on TikTok!).
Full disclosure and trigger warning: The posts about my 90ish Day Journey will focus on fat and weight loss, as well as body image. If you struggle with any eating or exercise disorders, these may not be posts you want to follow. Also, I am not a nutritionist or trainer. The program I am following is created for me and under the guidance of my coach. Finally, I know I am nowhere close to obese or even overweight by medical standards. But I am 5’4″ on a very good day, so the addition of 5 to 10 pounds on my frame makes a huge difference, not just in how my clothes fit, but in how I feel about my body. These posts are about my journey to my healthiest body and self.