Latest / SAY GRACE | Weight Loss + Health for Overwhelmed Women- Stress, Busy, Consistency, Realistic, Motivation, Starting Over, No Restrictions / Finally quitting fad diets with PFN+ member, Ann Lauren (part 1)

Transcript

Finally quitting fad diets with PFN+ member, Ann Lauren (part 1) · SAY GRACE | Weight Loss + Health for Overwhelmed Women- Stress, Busy, Consistency, Realistic, Motivation, Starting Over, No Restrictions

• 0:00
  Music.
• 0:39
  On this two-part episode, I sit down with longtime PFN member Ann Lauren Wyatt.
• 0:45
  Ann Lauren has been on and off with PFN for years, claiming she could never
• 0:50
  stay consistent, but just recently got serious about weight loss paired with
• 0:54
  a lifestyle change after joining PFN+.
• 0:57
  She's down 34 pounds so far and isn't stopping there.
• 1:02
  Tune in as we talk about her past weight loss struggles, fertility treatments,
• 1:06
  and how they made an impact, plus her journey to motherhood.
• 1:11
  Welcome, Anne-Lauren, to the Say Grace podcast. We're so glad to have you with us today. Hey.
• 1:18
  All right. So tell the people a little bit about you.
• 1:22
  I feel like over our time together, we've really gotten to know each other pretty
• 1:26
  dang good, but I would love for you to tell the people.
• 1:31
  Give us a rundown of who you are, your family life, your daily routine, all the things?
• 1:37
  Yes. So I moved around a little bit when I was younger and kind of set that
• 1:43
  trend after college too.
• 1:45
  So I went to Ole Miss and then moved to Jackson. I lived there for a couple
• 1:50
  of years and then moved to Birmingham.
• 1:52
  And I was there for maybe like three and a half, four years,
• 1:55
  and then wound up in Charleston, South Carolina about 11 years ago. And I'm still here.
• 2:01
  It's actually the longest place I've ever lived.
• 2:06
  Where did you grow up? Kind of a loaded question.
• 2:13
  Everyone always asks me and I'm like, I don't really know. Like I was,
• 2:17
  I was in Atlanta the longest.
• 2:18
  So I was in Atlanta when I was in sixth grade through high school. I was born in Memphis.
• 2:24
  We moved to Greenwood, Mississippi when I was in, when I was three and I was there through like.
• 2:31
  Kindergarten no no
• 2:34
  no second grade then third fourth and fifth we lived in jackson
• 2:37
  okay and so we moved around a little bit okay
• 2:40
  okay yeah okay sorry my mom's side
• 2:43
  of the family and my mom is from greenwood so that's kind
• 2:46
  of like my ties back to there okay and
• 2:51
  i met my husband here in charleston okay
• 2:54
  we met like in 2021
• 2:57
  got married october 22 so
• 3:00
  we're coming up on our three-year anniversary and then
• 3:04
  we have an eight-month-old named harper and then
• 3:07
  we've got two crazy dogs we have
• 3:10
  a britney spaniel and a hound our britney spaniel's four
• 3:13
  and our hound we had adopted her like last
• 3:17
  year and she's about eight years old now she's
• 3:21
  just so sweet so I kind of got a later
• 3:24
  start in life on all this though like I just turned.
• 3:27
  38 like with an eight-month-old so that's okay
• 3:30
  but I don't feel 38 like somehow I still feel 20
• 3:33
  yeah I'm the same I'm like are we
• 3:36
  are we sure we're 38 like yeah I'm the
• 3:39
  same we're the same age yeah and then
• 3:42
  I am so like new mom but also like new
• 3:45
  like stay-at-home mom so just kind of getting used
• 3:48
  to that lifestyle style so daily routine
• 3:52
  harper actually has been sleeping through
• 3:55
  the night at about since two and a half months that is
• 3:58
  incredible i don't know how it got so lucky we're
• 4:01
  scared to have another one because i don't think it would be the same yes it
• 4:07
  would yes listen and i'll knock on wood but like glory glory was sleeping through
• 4:13
  the night at four weeks old and now but it yeah but it was after Sarah Mason
• 4:18
  did not sleep through the night for like 18 months. It was insane.
• 4:21
  But so I was very intentional about it with Glory.
• 4:24
  Like I'm like, okay, this one is gonna sleep, you know? And so I think you would
• 4:27
  be intentional about it, you know? Yeah, that's so true.
• 4:33
  So like he'll wake up around seven. Okay.
• 4:38
  So some days I get up earlier than that. Some days I wake up and it just depends
• 4:43
  on how tired I am because I just am so exhausted at the end of the day. So I,
• 4:50
  what do we so like this morning wake up
• 4:54
  he gets a bottle plays for a little bit then now we're eating food so he had
• 4:59
  like little banana pieces and like when i say a little banana pieces i mean
• 5:04
  little banana yeah i am so scared you're that mom like a piece of food,
• 5:14
  he's gonna choke so bad and i did not think i would be that way.
• 5:19
  I love it I
• 5:25
  love it man but then he takes
• 5:28
  a nap and then he wakes up we do bottle eat
• 5:32
  lunch play take a nap and then he's got his afternoon and then got like your
• 5:39
  bedtime bath time routine and my husband comes home like around like 5 30 so
• 5:45
  he's here for all of that and then And then either I rarely take a shower in the morning.
• 5:51
  So then I'll take a shower after he like goes to bed and put my pajamas on and
• 5:57
  then we'll make dinner and watch something on TV.
• 5:59
  And then I'll go get in bed and maybe watch 10 minutes of something before I fall asleep.
• 6:05
  Okay. So I'm curious, I guess, I mean, I've realized this, but I don't know
• 6:10
  now that we're talking about it. I'm curious, like, has it been an adjustment?
• 6:14
  Because you were in the working world for a really long time, right? Yes.
• 6:18
  It's been like a big adjustment. Like emotionally and mentally probably. Yeah.
• 6:24
  Yeah. Like just feeling like I'm just not contributing anything.
• 6:29
  But like we talk about that and it's not like I do everything around the house.
• 6:34
  So it's like it balances itself out now, you know. But yes, like,
• 6:40
  because I worked for like the longest, the longest time.
• 6:46
  Yeah. So I don't know. Do you know this about me? That like that's kind of how
• 6:50
  this business got started is I became a stay at home mom after I had Sarah Mason.
• 6:55
  So I worked, you know, for a nonprofit. I worked my way up in the nonprofit.
• 7:00
  So like I felt like really valuable and like validated in the working world,
• 7:08
  you know, And then Sarah Mason got her allergy and we just, Jess and I,
• 7:14
  there were just so many signs that it was, that I needed to leave.
• 7:17
  I needed to leave my job. And so I became a stay-at-home mom.
• 7:19
  And, you know, I, we still kept our, like we had an in-home sitter we would take her to.
• 7:24
  So she was so good to us. She let me just drop her off at one, one day a week.
• 7:28
  So I could go like meet random clients in coffee shops, but for the most part,
• 7:33
  you know, but that was really for my senior, right?
• 7:35
  Like I was making like a hundred bucks or whatever, you know?
• 7:38
  And so that would be my target money.
• 7:41
  But like, it was a huge, it did not feel like a job at that point. You know, it felt like.
• 7:48
  Yeah. Yeah. I was a stay at home mom. You know what I mean? Yeah.
• 7:52
  And so it was a huge adjustment for me, like mentally.
• 7:56
  And for that reason alone, like it felt like, OK, I'm not contributing.
• 8:01
  And then also when I would like look around in the day, you know,
• 8:06
  I would think back on how productive I felt in the work day when I was working.
• 8:12
  And then when I would like look around at home, I'm like, well, I cleaned the dishes.
• 8:17
  I fed Sarah Mason. You know, like it feels like it's not as productive.
• 8:23
  But I will tell you, like, I have a group of moms.
• 8:27
  Like I go to a mom's Bible study on Tuesday mornings.
• 8:30
  And I so wish I had these women around me back then.
• 8:34
  Because like they just pour into you
• 8:37
  that like the work you're doing at home with your baby
• 8:40
  right now is the most important work like
• 8:42
  the world may not tell you that right because like women are working
• 8:46
  and all the things but like what you're doing
• 8:49
  with harper every day is the most important work you
• 8:52
  know and so it's it's about reshaping
• 8:55
  your your mind because i imagine that
• 8:58
  i imagine that you've been in the working world for so long it this
• 9:02
  is a huge adjustment you know yes yeah
• 9:05
  I forgot I think I remember hearing you like talking about yeah
• 9:08
  that it is a it is an adjustment
• 9:11
  but then Chip tells me that too he's like no you being with Harper is like it
• 9:16
  it is like it's important like for you know it is really good like that and
• 9:23
  I'm so blessed that we're able to right like do this and that I can stay home
• 9:27
  with him and I remember Jess used to say like.
• 9:30
  He felt so good knowing that
• 9:34
  like our baby was at home with me and you know just
• 9:37
  like that you know so that made me yeah yeah
• 9:40
  it felt it was still like oh my gosh I'm not contributing and
• 9:43
  oh my gosh yes and then it's like your to-do list at work is
• 9:46
  like it feels like it used to feel like I could check
• 9:48
  so many things off that box like I would
• 9:51
  have a paper full of things and the end of the day
• 9:54
  it would all be done and then this it's like laundry still
• 9:57
  there like I can't even
• 10:00
  get one thing yes I will
• 10:06
  say though the older he gets you will you will get a better routine you know
• 10:12
  that like it was like there I taught I tell my sisters this like I've taught
• 10:15
  like the first year it feels like a big old blur because like you really are
• 10:19
  on their timeline like he's still taking two naps a day, he may drop a nap anytime,
• 10:24
  you know, like you're still on their timeline.
• 10:26
  And so once they get to about a year, it's like they're, I don't know,
• 10:31
  a little more structure comes about and then you can,
• 10:35
  kind of, I don't know, even still on their timeline, but like,
• 10:38
  I don't know, it does start to feel like, okay, maybe I can check some things off my to-do list.
• 10:44
  Okay. I didn't mean to go off on that. I have such a heart for that because
• 10:49
  it was, it was some tough times.
• 10:55
  But you are blessed that Chip, you know, is super supportive and just like,
• 10:59
  Like, you know, agrees that you need to be, you need to be there.
• 11:03
  So does Harper go with you to the grocery store? Like, obviously he does. Yes.
• 11:07
  It's rare that he doesn't. So I have made my, like, a meal plan on Thursdays now.
• 11:14
  And I go to the grocery store on Friday. So I take him with me.
• 11:19
  And he will go to multiple grocery stores with you? I'm impressed.
• 11:22
  I don't think he likes it.
• 11:25
  We'll go to, like, two. But if I need to get like bottled water or something
• 11:29
  like that, I'll run out on a Saturday morning and just go get the big stuff then.
• 11:35
  Or do like an Instacart pickup order and they'll just bring it to my car.
• 11:39
  Yeah, I think that's something we talked about like recently is you just started
• 11:43
  getting back out and going to the grocery store instead of ordering groceries.
• 11:47
  And that's been kind of, I think, helpful in your weight loss journey,
• 11:51
  too, to just like get out and see the food and, you know, see the ideas and all the things.
• 11:58
  Yes. No, it really has been. Okay.
• 12:01
  So let's talk about weight loss struggles, any kind of pregnancy,
• 12:07
  weight gain, anything you want to kind of talk about of your past, you know,
• 12:12
  attempts at weight loss, successes, anything like that. Yes. Okay.
• 12:18
  So I like started like dieting, like probably around like my freshman year of college.
• 12:24
  And I think I tried so many things that like.
• 12:31
  Some worked, but, like, at the end of the day, like, I'm going to say it doesn't
• 12:35
  work because it doesn't stay off.
• 12:37
  Like, if you have a goal and you just want to, like, meet that goal and then
• 12:41
  go back, sure, like, that works.
• 12:43
  But, and I think that was my mindset. Like, I had a goal in mind.
• 12:46
  I don't think I ever knew what my goal was because my goal was lose weight.
• 12:51
  So, like, when my goal was lose weight, there's always going to be more weight
• 12:55
  to lose. I remember you saying that to me that like, it just felt like your
• 13:01
  goal was always to lose weight, you know? Yeah.
• 13:04
  Yeah. Yeah. So I never even remember, even when I was at a really good place,
• 13:09
  like when I had first started PFN, I still had a lose weight,
• 13:15
  lose more weight, lose more like mindset.
• 13:18
  Right. I guess because of all like the diets. Like I remember,
• 13:21
  I feel like I tried everything, but.
• 13:24
  We're from the same era. Yeah, yeah. The sun fast.
• 13:29
  The food diet. Yes. Yes.
• 13:33
  Oh, my God. I remember walking down the baby food aisle and,
• 13:38
  like, I was committed to that, baby. Oh, my God.
• 13:42
  Lasted two days. I don't even know if it was two days. It was probably two packages of baby food.
• 13:47
  So much wasted baby food across the country during that time.
• 13:53
  God, that is hilarious. Do you remember the three-day diet?
• 14:01
  Yes, we talked about this, right? I did that multiple times.
• 14:06
  Okay, remind me what all it entailed. I don't like fully remember,
• 14:12
  but it was like there were three days and it set out your breakfast, lunch and dinner.
• 14:17
  And you could not eat. Like maybe there was a snack in there.
• 14:21
  You couldn't eat any more than that. But I remember breakfast was like one day
• 14:25
  like a grapefruit and like a piece of toast. Yes.
• 14:30
  And then dinner one day was like, it was like a hot dog and an apple.
• 14:38
  Like I remember I think I told you this but I went to the grocery store one
• 14:42
  this was after college like because I was like oh I just need to lose a little
• 14:44
  bit of weight let me do this.
• 14:47
  And I bought that was the last time I ever did it I bought I don't even think
• 14:50
  I did the full thing I bought the food and I was checking out at the grocery
• 14:54
  store and the guy checking me out was like do you need me to cook for you now
• 15:00
  I'm just grabbing a few things I didn't have,
• 15:03
  A grapefruit and a hot dog. Yeah.
• 15:08
  Oh, my gosh. But I did, like, so I did the whole no carb thing. Okay.
• 15:16
  Bread is my favorite food. Yeah. Yeah. I honestly don't know how I lasted as
• 15:22
  long as I did on that. I think I had more motivation when I was younger.
• 15:26
  Like, more of a willpower to stick to something a little bit longer.
• 15:30
  And what's funny I thought,
• 15:34
  my body just didn't like bread because I
• 15:37
  was losing so much weight like yeah not water weight
• 15:40
  yeah yeah yeah I know now I'm like
• 15:43
  that was is not accurate and then I was like I went like three months without
• 15:48
  any I think that was the longest or you know honestly I don't even know if it
• 15:52
  was three months it felt like three months it wasn't three months three weeks
• 15:57
  yeah probably without bread.
• 16:01
  I went into the Ole Miss Student Union and I was with some friends. I remember this.
• 16:05
  I got like a, I was like, I'm done with this.
• 16:08
  And so we all know student union food is not like the best food in the world.
• 16:15
  So I go get a sandwich from there. And it was like a hot sandwich,
• 16:20
  maybe like a Philly cheesesteak or something.
• 16:22
  And I, cause that's what I would do. I would get sandwiches and I would take
• 16:25
  the meat off of it or just like order it without the bread or whatever right
• 16:28
  so i think that's i got like the philly cheese steak sandwich.
• 16:33
  And was like i took the meat off of it and i ate it and then the bread was sitting
• 16:38
  there and i was and we're still all supposed to talking and i ate the bread
• 16:41
  and i was like this is the best thing this is what food in heaven tastes like like.
• 16:48
  I was like, why did I do this? Some cold, soggy bread. Yeah.
• 16:52
  Yeah. It was. It is. I remember I was doing like.
• 16:56
  Oh, go ahead. I would like eat peanut butter, though, like during that time.
• 17:00
  I would eat spoonfuls of peanut butter. Yeah. That is not a weight loss food.
• 17:05
  No, no. But it doesn't have bread.
• 17:08
  It's crazy, though. Like, there are so many women, I feel like,
• 17:12
  that could tell that same story.
• 17:13
  And I think you and I have talked about this. But like you like even though
• 17:17
  we look back on that time and laugh, like it's also like, OK,
• 17:21
  what did I have then that I don't have now?
• 17:24
  Like why why could I exclude a food group that I love for so long?
• 17:31
  And now like I can't like, you know, because I know a lot of women struggle
• 17:35
  with like if I could just cut carbs or if I could just cut sugar,
• 17:39
  if I could just, you know.
• 17:40
  And so what we don't understand is like our brains from from the past experiences
• 17:47
  like that, like our brains will tell us like, no, that was bad.
• 17:52
  Because like, you know, after you ate the soggy filling cheesesteak bread,
• 17:56
  you know, like you're you're like thinking that's the best thing in the world. Right.
• 18:01
  And so you're like, oh, my God, this is so good. So then what is that telling
• 18:03
  your brain? Your brain saying, OK, that sucked. sucked.
• 18:08
  That sucked when I didn't eat bread, because look at how good this bread tastes right now.
• 18:13
  And so it kind of like, and then I'm sure the weeks after that,
• 18:16
  I am sure, sis, that you were like, enjoying every piece of bread you could
• 18:21
  get your hands on. Oh, I'm sure.
• 18:23
  And you know, and then like that was reinforcing that thought of like,
• 18:26
  it sucks to cut out bread.
• 18:29
  No amount of weight loss, you know, is worth that, you know?
• 18:32
  And so we, we kind of put that negative feedback loop into our brains.
• 18:37
  And so then that's the story written inside. Like that is what we tell ourselves is like.
• 18:43
  Cutting bread is the worst thing ever. Like bread is what food in heaven tastes like.
• 18:48
  So how on earth am I going to be able to do that? You know, how on earth am
• 18:52
  I going to be able to cut out carbs again?
• 18:55
  Of course, we don't know that. We don't know that that's the story written in
• 18:58
  our brain anymore. But then like right now, if you were to think about cutting
• 19:01
  carbs, you'd be like, oh my God, there is no way. Yeah.
• 19:05
  That was college. And we just said you're 38 years old and you still remember
• 19:09
  eating a soggy Philly cheese say, red.
• 19:13
  Give me how good it is. That is like a memory imprinted on that brain forever. Half my life ago.
• 19:19
  Right. You know? And so it's like, I don't know.
• 19:24
  It's so funny because like we want to disregard things in that way to where
• 19:28
  it's like, oh, that was, you know, that was college or whatever.
• 19:30
  But no, girl, that had an impact on you for you to still remember it, you know?
• 19:34
  And so that is one reason I just, especially people that have excluded in the
• 19:38
  past, like done heavy exclusion diets, it breaks my heart because they think
• 19:43
  I was once successful because I was once strong enough, right?
• 19:47
  And now I'm not strong enough. Now I can't do it, you know?
• 19:52
  And it's like, no, there's more to it than that. And also there's a different
• 19:55
  way that doesn't suck so bad, you know?
• 19:58
  Yeah. Doesn't feed that negative brain thought.
• 20:01
  Okay. So keep going though. All right. College, soggy bread
• 20:04
  what what came after that okay so then I
• 20:07
  did after I wound up I
• 20:10
  needed to lose I had gained some weight like beginning of senior year of college
• 20:13
  so I needed to lose that before graduation or wanted to so I did the whole no
• 20:18
  carb thing again just uh I knew it worked and I didn't know anything else so
• 20:23
  then but I'm like you know in your head like that's not a lifestyle So then I'm like,
• 20:28
  okay, my mom had done Medifast.
• 20:31
  So I was like, oh, I want to do Medifast because she lost weight.
• 20:35
  And I was like, oh, and this is carbs. There's bread and it's food.
• 20:40
  Yeah. I was living in Birmingham at the time. I remember that. I was eating like.
• 20:47
  Those little bags of food that they give you. And when you're living alone,
• 20:51
  you know, it doesn't seem so bad because you're not seeing other people eat food, too.
• 20:59
  Regularly, yeah. Like, at the same
• 21:00
  time. Yeah. And I remember I did have roommates when I was doing this.
• 21:06
  But they were in school. You were fending for yourself. Yes,
• 21:09
  yeah. Don't want cooking dinners as a fam. Yeah.
• 21:12
  Correct. so our one morning and I
• 21:15
  thought I was hungry all the time on this diet I was hungry
• 21:18
  all the time but I was like my mom did it I can do
• 21:21
  this so I remember one morning they
• 21:23
  were going to make pancakes one of my roommates had her sister over they
• 21:27
  were making pancakes I was like I'm gonna make my manifest pancake oh my
• 21:30
  god can I tell you how
• 21:33
  small and thin that pancake was
• 21:36
  compared to oh my
• 21:39
  gosh fluffy pancakes and I was like bump
• 21:43
  this yes I'm not doing this yes
• 21:47
  so then like after that I was like
• 21:50
  okay I don't like dieting
• 21:54
  and I remember going to the doctor like I just
• 21:57
  moved to Charleston and he was like you're what's
• 22:02
  the like I got he told me my
• 22:04
  cholesterol numbers were high they weren't high they were like borderline
• 22:09
  like if you kind of keep like like he
• 22:12
  was like in 10 years you're not gonna like where you are
• 22:15
  like at 40 if you kind of keep up like eating
• 22:18
  how you are like because your numbers are gonna get high even.
• 22:21
  Though they weren't like high he was like they were edging up
• 22:24
  yeah yeah so he was like Mediterranean diet's great for that like just kind
• 22:30
  of look at that how they like send some other ideas or whatever so I cut back
• 22:35
  I don't even know if this is accurate but I just remember like cutting back
• 22:38
  on saturated fats like looking at the labels and like if it was over with.
• 22:44
  Three or like three and a half would try to
• 22:47
  stay away from it okay I don't know where that number came from yeah
• 22:50
  no that's yeah that's right I mean
• 22:53
  that's okay so and I
• 22:56
  lost like a bit of weight like doing
• 22:59
  that and and when he had said Mediterranean I was
• 23:02
  like this Mediterranean diet that's like a lifestyle I want
• 23:04
  a lifestyle diet and I
• 23:08
  tried it like but I'm like I like some of these foods but I don't want to like
• 23:13
  it was too confusing I was like this food pyramid this gotta eat this much of
• 23:18
  this and this much of this and this and this and this and I'm like but I can't
• 23:21
  have that and so it's like it's still restriction and then I remember going on to,
• 23:25
  whole 30 and that became big yeah and that is that is not that is for people who.
• 23:34
  Okay can I tell you something like I don't think I have ever admitted this like ever.
• 23:42
  But when Jess and I were married I was still working at the non-profit before
• 23:47
  I like I don't think I had a business yet like this may have been what like
• 23:51
  really stemmed my or like got me saying like I'm going to do weight loss differently
• 23:56
  but I mean I you know the Mediterranean by the way,
• 24:01
  in school, we were taught like was the best diet.
• 24:04
  You know what I mean? For heart and health, it really technically still is, right?
• 24:08
  But it was still a diet, right? So anyway, everybody around me was doing Whole30.
• 24:13
  So when I was at a nonprofit, I was still in the health and wellness field.
• 24:18
  It was more about like food security and like education in the schools.
• 24:23
  But so we were very much, oh gosh, so many breastfeeding initiatives were going
• 24:27
  on then. There was a lot of change made for like breastfeeding friendly where I was.
• 24:32
  And so anyways, it was a lot of health talk. Almost to where like if you weren't
• 24:37
  secure in how you ate, you could feel like judged, you know,
• 24:42
  from your surroundings, right? Because we were all health freaks, right?
• 24:45
  And everybody had an opinion on what was the right things to be eating.
• 24:48
  So anyway, everybody was doing Whole30.
• 24:51
  And I tried it. And Lauren, I did not last two days.
• 24:55
  Like I you know like
• 24:58
  and I'm just like thinking to myself okay wait I'm supposed to be the dietician
• 25:02
  and like I love whole foods and like I cannot even stick to this like what is
• 25:09
  wrong with the world you know like what like so I don't think I've ever told anybody that like I.
• 25:16
  Stick to it I could not do it you know I had I did in my mind back then I was
• 25:21
  just like well I don't have the willpower.
• 25:22
  I'm not strong enough or whatever. I didn't know all the things I know about
• 25:26
  the brain and the body and everything like I do now.
• 25:28
  But yeah, it's anyway, keep going. Whole30, how long? You lasted how long?
• 25:33
  So I lasted, my dogs are about to bark. My husband's coming home.
• 25:40
  So Whole30, I lasted about, I lasted 14 days the first time I did it.
• 25:46
  Okay. And then I did not, I had some friends doing it too. Like you said,
• 25:51
  like people were doing it. So I lasted 14 days.
• 25:54
  And then I, and this was back.
• 25:57
  You remember when it started, like they did not have Whole30 foods like at the
• 26:01
  grocery store. Like you were on your own. Yes.
• 26:05
  Yeah. It was literally like you had to make your stuff like if you wanted it.
• 26:11
  So I, the second time I did it, I, I do not like mayonnaise.
• 26:17
  Like never, for some reason when I was little, I wanted plain mayonnaise sandwiches.
• 26:22
  And I think that scarred me because now I like, I can put a little bit of mayonnaise
• 26:26
  and stuff like with your recipes. I can do it, but I cannot.
• 26:30
  That's about all I can, like, handle.
• 26:33
  Like, the look of it. That's not the worst. That's not the worst. Yeah.
• 26:36
  So, tuna. Yeah, that's so true. I was like, I'm going to make a tuna salad.
• 26:43
  Okay. But you can, like, make your own mayonnaise, right, with Whole30?
• 26:47
  Yes. So, I went to make my own mayonnaise, and I about, like...
• 26:52
  I threw up and I was like, I could not, this is, that was my breaking point.
• 26:56
  I was like, this is not for me. I was like, and I'm not losing weight.
• 27:00
  Cause I would think like, okay, so I'm cutting out bread or whatever.
• 27:04
  Cause at that time, like you couldn't even eat like potatoes in it. Right.
• 27:08
  And I think they added that to it now. But I was like, I was eating way more
• 27:14
  than like, I should have like been eating like, because it's like,
• 27:18
  oh, well you're not eating the bread. So you can eat as much as you want. Right.
• 27:22
  Right. But in reality, that's not really true.
• 27:25
  But that's when I found PFN was like shortly after that.
• 27:29
  Praise, praise. And what's so funny, so, because it's like if my friends were
• 27:34
  doing something, I would like want to do it too. Right.
• 27:38
  So I was in a good place, like, or hold on, hold on. Let me go back.
• 27:44
  So I went back and I was like, when did I start PFN? Because I did not remember.
• 27:48
  I was like, it had been 2019 or 2018.
• 27:52
  Because I went, I was at Disney in February of 2020.
• 27:55
  And I remember I was like at a really good place with my weight and I lost it with PFN.
• 28:01
  So I was like, when was that? So I pulled my email up and I found my first IAR.
• 28:07
  That is amazing. July of 2018.
• 28:11
  I hand wrote that myself, baby. We didn't have any kind of tech support back
• 28:15
  then. It was from my Gmail probably.
• 28:22
  But I found it, I found PFN, though, through, because I said,
• 28:27
  like, friends, like, whatever.
• 28:28
  So my best friend, Kayla. Yeah. She's doing it.
• 28:33
  And she had done a challenge in last week. And I was like, wait,
• 28:37
  I want to do it. Sign me up.
• 28:39
  And it's always more fun, I feel like, to, like, do, like, stuff.
• 28:43
  Go through it with someone else for sure an accountability partner
• 28:46
  is yeah you know it's after
• 28:49
  2020 like February 2020 like it
• 28:52
  was like Kayla and I went to Disney and then COVID you know we get back and
• 28:57
  I became so right next door to where I worked so I lived and worked like within
• 29:02
  a five minute like radius of everything so I right next door to where I work,
• 29:09
  they opened a spin studio.
• 29:12
  I'd never done spin classes, but I became obsessed with spin classes.
• 29:16
  And I think it was more of a mental, like that was a mental workout for me.
• 29:19
  Like I'd always kind of worked out a little bit in some regard, but I don't know why.
• 29:26
  It's like a challenge. Well, because like it's a challenge, like when they tell
• 29:29
  you to turn your dial up or whatever, you're like, crap, I got to do it.
• 29:33
  You know, which takes, makes your resistance harder, Or even though your legs
• 29:36
  are already burning, like it truly is a mental battle, you know?
• 29:41
  Yes. Yeah. Yeah. And, and I don't know if it was like COVID was just so hard
• 29:46
  and such a mental, like for a lot of people, you know, and I don't know.
• 29:51
  I loved it though. And then I got to a place like about a year afterwards,
• 29:57
  I was like, this isn't my workout anymore.
• 30:00
  Like I'd be in the class like 15 minutes in and I'd be like, is it over yet?
• 30:05
  So I was like yeah I don't think that's it for me anymore and then
• 30:08
  that's when I met my husband was like beginning of 2021 so
• 30:12
  I kind of had like like stopped
• 30:15
  like tracking so that was the one thing when I started
• 30:18
  PSN I always tracked my food like that was the
• 30:21
  one thing I did I would just track in my fitness pal and
• 30:24
  I never focused like on anything else like
• 30:27
  if I worked out I added those calories back in but i
• 30:30
  wasn't like that was like so i
• 30:33
  have always had like tracking like that i've
• 30:36
  kind of like leaned back onto my fitness pal just kind of like
• 30:38
  in the in between but i never i didn't really stick to it again after i met
• 30:44
  my husband i was trying to go back to it but i remember with pfn like do you
• 30:49
  remember when you could just okay after like you would do the challenges,
• 30:55
  but you would only sign up for the challenges, right?
• 30:56
  And then you did like more of a membership.
• 31:00
  So it was like, you could sign up, but you could cancel whenever you wanted.
• 31:04
  I was like,
• 31:06
  Signing up, canceling. Signing up, canceling. Signing up, canceling.
• 31:09
  And then when you did like. I remember this. Yeah.
• 31:15
  Then you changed it to like, you only have signups for a certain amount of time.
• 31:20
  And then you can't get in. So I was like, well, okay, I'm signing back up and
• 31:24
  I'm not ever canceling again. Yeah.
• 31:27
  So once you started that, I signed back up and never canceled again.
• 31:31
  That's hilarious. Well, good. I'm glad it worked for us. It was funny.
• 31:34
  But the only reason I did that is because I was like, I know what to do.
• 31:42
  But I love that. I thought I did, but I didn't really, you know,
• 31:47
  which is why I kept signing back up.
• 31:49
  Okay. But a lot of people do that. You know, a lot of people,
• 31:52
  like, they see the weight loss.
• 31:54
  And, like, do you feel so good about yourself? And, like, you assume,
• 31:57
  like, I've got the program down.
• 31:59
  And you do, right? Like, you understand the concept. but
• 32:02
  like like okay yes there's like so
• 32:05
  many phases of of this program right and so for sure
• 32:08
  the first step is to understand the concept and then
• 32:11
  like do the work right but what so many people
• 32:14
  don't realize is that having that community and that accountability is like
• 32:19
  what will keep you going after you've got the concept down like there are so
• 32:24
  many people that have come through our program that have probably regained weight
• 32:27
  even though they know the concept right and like whether it's pride or whatever,
• 32:32
  they like won't come back because they're like, I know what to do.
• 32:35
  And I'm like, yeah, cool.
• 32:37
  But like, that's why so many people say it's the community and the accountability
• 32:40
  that is what keeps them, you know, we have people that have been maintaining
• 32:45
  for years that are in the program still just to be able to have that ability
• 32:49
  to check in or to, you know,
• 32:51
  have what they need on the app or whatever. And so.
• 32:54
  I do remember you hopping in and out, but a lot of people have done that and
• 33:01
  are literally to this day, still doing it.
• 33:04
  Like we have people like, and it just, so my husband, Jess helps in the systems.
• 33:10
  Like he helps with like making sure y'all's names are tagged.
• 33:14
  Right. So you get the right emails. And you know, we, we have all kinds of crazy
• 33:18
  systems in the backend to just keep up with everybody and make sure everybody's
• 33:21
  in the same place. And he's like, Godstance, these people, like,
• 33:25
  cause they'll, they'll come and they'll go and they'll come and they'll go.
• 33:27
  And so then their tags will be all messed up and he's so particular.
• 33:32
  And so anyway, it's still definitely a thing.
• 33:35
  And a lot of it is because of what you just described, you know,
• 33:38
  or that, or like life gets crazy, but you're not alone in that,
• 33:42
  you know, you're not alone in that.
• 33:47
  So um so then after um
• 33:51
  so i met chip like beginning of 21 and between
• 33:55
  that and like getting married at the end of 2022 like i
• 33:58
  guess probably soon after meeting him i had gained
• 34:01
  probably about like 15 pounds i mean
• 34:05
  that happens when you fall in love yeah you're drinking more
• 34:08
  going out to eat more and then
• 34:11
  like I wanted to lose some before my wedding but I
• 34:14
  was I liked where I was like for
• 34:16
  my wedding like I was totally fine as long as once
• 34:19
  we got engaged like I was like I just don't want to gain anything I didn't gain
• 34:23
  anything before that so then and you know I forgot about this but in after we
• 34:31
  got married I had breast surgery in March of 2023 because It was tendon surgery.
• 34:39
  So, and...
• 34:42
  After that, I was a lot more sedentary because I was still kind of doing some
• 34:47
  like some working out and like just like not being able to lift anything or
• 34:52
  do anything with a hand for a while made me a little more sedentary.
• 34:56
  Because I was like, why did I gain a lot more weight like after?
• 34:59
  And I think that part of it.
• 35:00
  And probably mentally too, right? Like we always underestimate like things like
• 35:05
  that can really take a toll on us mentally and emotionally because you're just
• 35:09
  like, oh, well, I can't lift anything.
• 35:11
  I can't do anything. And so then it's kind of a funky headspace we can live in. Yeah.
• 35:15
  Because that recovery time, like, it's a harder, it's a hard recovery.
• 35:20
  Like, just because it's harder to, you really have to work back at,
• 35:24
  like, getting it to work again.
• 35:26
  Right. Like, it was just a hard recovery.
• 35:31
  But then, like, a few months after that, we started seeing our fertility specialist.
• 35:35
  Because we had, like, tried for a while. Well, my doctor was,
• 35:40
  like, six months and then let me know. And so that, like, we had a hard time,
• 35:44
  like, getting older, I was like, well, I don't want to waste any, like, more time.
• 35:48
  So we started seeing a fertility specialist.
• 35:52
  I was diagnosed with hypothyroidism, which was not an issue, like.
• 35:59
  Like six months prior so it's funny
• 36:02
  it just kind of like jumped up out of nowhere like it
• 36:05
  just kept rising but and then so
• 36:08
  like we went through a lot with that we did medicated cycles
• 36:11
  we did three IUIs none of
• 36:14
  that worked and then so we finally did that we
• 36:18
  immediately I mean finally but like immediately jumped into
• 36:20
  IVF and even just I mean
• 36:24
  anyone that's done it like knows like but IVF
• 36:27
  like from start to finish is like a from like
• 36:31
  they want to doing ibf to like finding out
• 36:33
  if you're pregnant takes two and a half months wow like
• 36:37
  aren't you like doing things constantly like
• 36:41
  isn't it yeah okay tell me a little bit like i'm so curious
• 36:44
  about this like what all is it involved so at
• 36:48
  ibf is like you go
• 36:51
  and and it's funny i've kind of forgotten about
• 36:54
  a lot of it even though one that long ago and my friend is
• 36:58
  going through it right now and so I was like oh my gosh I
• 37:00
  forgot about that like yeah so you
• 37:03
  go in you have to take these estrogen pills like twice
• 37:07
  a day for so many weeks they base it all around your period so you have to wait
• 37:11
  till you start your period then they put you on birth control at some point
• 37:15
  I'm probably getting some of this backwards but it's so they can control like
• 37:19
  something like how you I don't know when you ovulate or whatever.
• 37:24
  And I could be getting that confused with an IUI, but regardless.
• 37:27
  Then you pretty much go in for ultrasounds.
• 37:31
  Like, so pretty much after you start your period to those like for like about
• 37:37
  a week and a half, you go in for ultrasound.
• 37:40
  I went in, I remember doing blood work seven out of 10 days during that time period.
• 37:45
  You take like, I cannot handle needles, but I did So you do these shots that
• 37:52
  this is just before the egg retrieval.
• 37:55
  So you take all these injections, some in the morning.
• 37:58
  Like one in the evening until they and
• 38:02
  then they kind of like give you your protocol but it's like over that
• 38:05
  10 day period it just kind of builds up a little bit more
• 38:08
  but it's like you have so many bruises on your stomach like toward
• 38:11
  the end you're like i don't even know where to poke myself anymore
• 38:14
  like it all just hurts oh my gosh and
• 38:17
  i imagine your hormones are out of control yes and
• 38:21
  then you feel like like because they're trying to
• 38:23
  get as many eggs as possible like to
• 38:27
  be able to retrieve so your ovaries are like
• 38:30
  balloons so you are
• 38:33
  like really bloated yeah yeah
• 38:36
  I noticed I mean I just noticed people who've gone through IVF
• 38:39
  they like they literally gain weight and it's like they can't help
• 38:42
  it you know yeah and some people don't and I'm
• 38:45
  like that is amazing and really great
• 38:48
  and then you go in for your egg retrieval
• 38:51
  and then some doctors will do
• 38:54
  a fresh transfer which is like if you've got an embryo
• 38:57
  then they will do it immediately but my
• 39:01
  fertility clinic doesn't do that so.
• 39:04
  And we did genetic testing because we're older
• 39:07
  so that takes a couple weeks anyway he's actually.
• 39:11
  Just two weeks older than I am okay okay y'all are
• 39:14
  still young yeah and then
• 39:18
  we went in for the transfer and then with the transfer you
• 39:21
  have to do these big shots that like
• 39:24
  are intramuscular like in your in your
• 39:27
  like hip butt area and that's the
• 39:30
  hardest part but the drink
• 39:34
  spurs the easy part like that part I was so scared
• 39:36
  about it but it was so easy okay anyway
• 39:41
  but between like all of that like I'd gained
• 39:44
  another 15 pounds yeah and you know my doctor
• 39:47
  wasn't worried about the my weight so
• 39:50
  I wasn't concerned with it at like I was doing everything I
• 39:53
  could like to have like my best like fertility possible right
• 39:57
  but she wasn't worried about like me losing
• 40:00
  any weight so I was like okay I'm not gonna like I'm not gonna
• 40:03
  try to gain any but like I'm not gonna like focus
• 40:06
  on losing any and then at that like I mean
• 40:08
  you just hear all these things like you hear
• 40:12
  all these things like don't what am
• 40:15
  I trying to say like don't change anything you're doing
• 40:18
  like don't go back to a strenuous workout like
• 40:21
  stop drinking caffeine like all
• 40:26
  this so it's like well I didn't want to like get back on my Peloton because
• 40:32
  I didn't want to do like super intense workouts because I wasn't used to doing
• 40:35
  intense workouts so it's like I just kind of like stopped I like put all of.
• 40:40
  That on hold and just like focused on like.
• 40:45
  All the fertility stuff trying to take care of your body to carry a baby yeah
• 40:49
  for sure And I want to say too, like, if someone listening to this is going through that,
• 40:58
  God sees you and he's the girl of Christ. He's okay.
• 41:06
  But he sees you and he is with you and he wants the best for you. Yeah. Anyway.
• 41:15
  No, you got me over here.
• 41:18
  It's true though, right? Because I think with both my girls,
• 41:24
  even just like with Glory, we lost a baby before her, right?
• 41:30
  And then when we found out we were pregnant with her, she had a twin that we
• 41:35
  had lost before we even like knew and knew that she had a heartbeat,
• 41:39
  right? Like, so we go in to see the heartbeat.
• 41:40
  We see her with a heartbeat, but there was also another one that had not made it.
• 41:44
  And so I think, and then I had like some crazy stuff going on through my pregnancy.
• 41:49
  Like, what is it called? A hemorrhage.
• 41:51
  Like I just started gushing blood one day, like just crazy, crazy stuff.
• 41:55
  And so I think what is so powerful about like bringing a baby into this world,
• 42:02
  like whether IVF, IUI, during your pregnancy, even I know you're walking through
• 42:07
  it right now, like after the baby's here, it's like,
• 42:10
  man, we can control so many things or
• 42:13
  we can think we're in control of so many things until
• 42:16
  like we're faced with something like that where
• 42:20
  you're like trying to control not getting on
• 42:22
  the peloton right for your body's sake but
• 42:25
  then at the end of the day you just have to like accept that like God's gonna
• 42:29
  do what he's gonna do you know in my life you know and so you of course you
• 42:34
  want to take your best care of yourself but I just think that's something so
• 42:38
  beautiful about trying to conceive and about pregnancy and even about raising
• 42:43
  littles is it's just a constant...
• 42:46
  Sacrifice a constant surrender right to not
• 42:49
  sacrifice but a constant surrender to just like say like
• 42:53
  clearly I have no control here as
• 42:56
  much as I think I have control even with shots and
• 42:59
  you know all the things it's like you know
• 43:02
  I think with my pregnancies I've felt
• 43:06
  the closest to God you know do you feel that way too
• 43:09
  like yeah yeah and it's
• 43:12
  because it's because we allowed ourselves to get to
• 43:15
  that like super vulnerable surrendered posture
• 43:19
  with him because we had no other freaking
• 43:21
  choice right like a lot of things in our lives we
• 43:24
  can choose to to do it differently you know but when you're trying to have a
• 43:28
  baby it's just like well what else can I do other than not get on my peloton
• 43:33
  and you know like yeah it's it's so true it's like you just can't you can't control it at all.
• 43:43
  Like there's literally nothing you can do. Like just pray it works and pray
• 43:48
  that like, it's just like God's will and we live in a broken world. And yeah.
• 43:57
  And now Harper's here eating the tiniest bananas because his mom has prayed he's going to die.
• 44:06
  All right, y'all. This conversation was so heartfelt and detailed and before
• 44:10
  we knew it, we went way over on time. So I cut this into a two-part series.
• 44:17
  Tune in next week to hear more of Ann Lauren's story, including her pregnancy weight gain,
• 44:22
  her weight loss struggles afterwards, and the big changes she made after joining
• 44:26
  PFM Plus that have finally helped realistic and consistent weight loss clean.
• 44:32
  Music.