Latest / SAY GRACE | Weight Loss + Health for Overwhelmed Women- Stress, Busy, Consistency, Realistic, Motivation, Starting Over, No Restrictions / How she lost 130 pounds NATURALLY (and kept it off)

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How she lost 130 pounds NATURALLY (and kept it off) · SAY GRACE | Weight Loss + Health for Overwhelmed Women- Stress, Busy, Consistency, Realistic, Motivation, Starting Over, No Restrictions

• 0:39
  On today's episode, I have such a special guest for y'all.
• 0:43
  One of our OG members, Beverly Sykes, is on talking about how she not only lost
• 0:49
  130 pounds naturally, but has kept it off over the past several years.
• 0:56
  She shares all the details of her health and weight loss journey,
• 1:00
  including the strategies and foods she used to stay consistent and lose all
• 1:05
  130 pounds in a natural and healthy way.
• 1:10
  I have been so blessed to have Beverly as a client over the past several years
• 1:14
  and cannot wait for you to hear her story.
• 1:17
  If Beverly's story inspires you to finally take action and start losing weight
• 1:22
  in a realistic and enjoyable way,
• 1:25
  check out our program information at perfectfitnutrition.com or just go to the
• 1:32
  link in the podcast description. Here we go.
• 1:35
  Welcome, Beverly. We're so
• 1:37
  excited to have you here on the Say Grace podcast. I'm excited to be here.
• 1:43
  All right. So let's take a minute. Y'all, I feel like Beverly has been around since I've been around.
• 1:50
  Not really, but it's been a while. It's been a while.
• 1:54
  And so I want to just take a minute and have you kind of tell the listeners
• 1:59
  about yourself, about who you are. Okay. So I'm a mom of two.
• 2:04
  I've got a 22-year-old and a 13-year-old son.
• 2:08
  Been married this year, will be 25 years to my husband. And I work as a legal assistant in a law firm.
• 2:16
  So busy, busy, busy all the time. My son has recently started,
• 2:20
  now that he's in seventh grade, he can do all the things at school.
• 2:23
  And he wants to do everything.
• 2:29
  Band and soccer. And so we're like constantly on the go now.
• 2:33
  My daughter didn't do a lot of those things, but my son, he is all about it.
• 2:39
  He's that second child, man. I know, right?
• 2:43
  Yeah, so we're really busy all the time. You know, we're getting up at,
• 2:47
  my husband has to get up at four for work.
• 2:48
  I get up at five, five thirty, get the youngest one to school,
• 2:52
  go to work, get home, you know, like five thirty six o'clock.
• 2:58
  And, you know, then you're just looking for quick stuff to fix for dinner and all that good stuff.
• 3:03
  But that's just kind of my day. And then weekends kind of a little more relaxed
• 3:06
  sometimes, depending on what we've got going on.
• 3:09
  Right now we're planning a wedding though. So. Oh my gosh.
• 3:13
  I did not realize that. Yes, yes, yes.
• 3:17
  Let's see, she got engaged this past summer and she graduated from...
• 3:22
  At USCM in December and she started her master's program and she wants to finish
• 3:28
  it before they actually get married.
• 3:30
  So January of 27, we've got a wedding.
• 3:34
  So yeah, so we've got all that, we're planning all that, looking for dresses,
• 3:37
  which we found one. Thank goodness.
• 3:40
  Yeah. That is so exciting.
• 3:44
  Yes. Oh, that is awesome. Yeah.
• 3:48
  And I did not realize, I guess that your daughter and your
• 3:50
  son were so far apart
• 3:53
  you know like my kids are gonna be pretty far
• 3:56
  apart and I'm like oh my gosh we're
• 3:59
  starting over I felt like that too I
• 4:02
  mean I was like 27 when I had Brianna but
• 4:04
  I was 36 when I had Pierce and so oh my gosh it's so different yeah oh my gosh
• 4:12
  it's like what was I thinking yeah yeah I'm like Lord I'm just gonna have to
• 4:19
  rely on your strength through this you know what I mean there's nothing else there's nothing else,
• 4:25
  exactly okay and so one thing I really remember about when you came into the
• 4:31
  program because your kids were I know what Brianna was like 15 or 16 she was
• 4:35
  young your kids were young she was like 15 Yeah.
• 4:39
  And so I know back then...
• 4:43
  It was the same. It felt like the same anyway. Y'all were pretty busy. Yeah.
• 4:47
  Like quick meals were very important at that time of your life.
• 4:52
  And also not even just them being quick meals, but it was like y'all had gotten
• 4:57
  accustomed to certain types of food.
• 5:00
  Right. And that felt, you know, that was your non-negotiable.
• 5:05
  Like you weren't going to change and make your family eat, you know.
• 5:10
  Salads every night because mom was on a weight loss journey.
• 5:13
  Absolutely. I didn't want them to feel like because I was trying to lose weight
• 5:18
  that they had to eat differently either.
• 5:21
  And so we didn't. I watched what I ate. You know, if I knew like for dinner,
• 5:26
  I wanted to do pizza on the way home.
• 5:28
  Yeah. I would watch what I ate during the day. and so
• 5:31
  I could and I would go ahead and log that pizza as when
• 5:34
  the day started that way I knew I was good the rest
• 5:37
  of the day but yeah I didn't want them to feel like that because my son will
• 5:40
  say I was started in 2019 so I was gosh that was so long ago it seemed like
• 5:48
  it's been that long so he was like six seven years old and so I and I also didn't ever want to sit a.
• 5:57
  Negative image with food. I remember that.
• 6:01
  I had that growing up like you know
• 6:04
  I struggled my whole life with weight and
• 6:07
  well not honestly starting around third grade probably and then when I was sixth
• 6:12
  grade my mom put me on my first diet and I did not want my children because
• 6:17
  then you would sneak food because yeah you know you're not going to get to eat
• 6:21
  that later so when nobody's here let me go grab that Twinkie or whatever.
• 6:26
  When it puts food on such a pedestal.
• 6:29
  Absolutely. Absolutely. And, you know, so I've never, I've tried to never tell
• 6:34
  my children, oh, you can't have that because you don't want to gain weight.
• 6:37
  Or, you know, I might just say, isn't it a little late to have something that sweet right now?
• 6:44
  Look, we don't want it to keep you awake, you know, something like that.
• 6:48
  Not, we don't want to, you know, whatever. But so I've tried to always,
• 6:52
  and I did not want them to think that for me to lose weight,
• 6:56
  they had to change how they ate. Right.
• 6:59
  And that was really important for me. Yes, I remember that.
• 7:04
  So we're going to get into how you lost weight and all the pounds and everything.
• 7:11
  But I do want to talk a little bit about like before you found us,
• 7:16
  you know, what had been your experience? Like starting your first diet when
• 7:20
  you were in what, would you say sixth grade?
• 7:22
  Sixth grade yeah baby you've had some experience so I
• 7:25
  was and you're not alone right like I feel like a lot of women that come on
• 7:30
  here a lot of women in our community like that that is the culture and I'm like
• 7:34
  golly I hope our kids are not you know one day talking this way about us but
• 7:38
  like absolutely it seems like that was just the culture you know back then is like,
• 7:44
  Well, we need to, you know, bring Susie. Mama's on a diet, so let's put Susie
• 7:48
  on a diet because everybody needs to be on a diet.
• 7:50
  And it's just like a constant obsession.
• 7:53
  And so tell me, after sixth grade, you know, how was your experience with weight loss attempts?
• 8:00
  So they were all, you know, I tried Fin Fin back in the day.
• 8:06
  And I ain't gonna lie, it worked. Yes. 25 pounds in like a month.
• 8:11
  Wait, how many pounds in a month? 25. stuff okay which
• 8:15
  I mean isn't unheard of
• 8:18
  but it's for me it was a lot but I didn't
• 8:20
  eat like I literally was not eating
• 8:23
  because I was not hungry at all and I was drinking lots
• 8:26
  of water because it made me thirsty thirsty yeah and so I mean I was working
• 8:31
  at the time in an office setting the home health agency with a lot of nurses
• 8:35
  and they're like you're not eating enough you've got to eat more and I'm like
• 8:38
  but I'm not hungry you know and of course then while I was taking it they pulled
• 8:43
  it off the market. And so...
• 8:46
  I quit and it came right back because about a week after getting off of it,
• 8:51
  man, I was so hungry. I didn't know what to do.
• 8:54
  Yeah. Yeah. I mean, that is the trend, right?
• 8:57
  Any kind of intervention like that, while it's wonderful when you're on it,
• 9:01
  it's like, okay, but if I had to come off of it, what would that look like? Right.
• 9:07
  And then after I had Brianna, my husband and I both did the Atkins,
• 9:11
  the low carb, you know, and it worked great too. It would not,
• 9:15
  you know, I lost about 60 pounds with it, but it actually had health issues because of it.
• 9:20
  We didn't realize it until we had to come off of it because Hurricane Katrina
• 9:23
  hit and we didn't have food. Yeah.
• 9:26
  But I was having some female health issues and my doctor kept trying to change
• 9:31
  my birth control thinking it was what it was. Yes.
• 9:33
  Well, you weren't able to have
• 9:35
  a period. Yeah. Yeah. No, I was having one like for 30 days at a time.
• 9:40
  Oh, my gosh.
• 9:42
  Yeah, it was horrible. And so he couldn't figure out why.
• 9:47
  We stopped doing it because Hurricane Katrina hit and we didn't have food and just eat what we had.
• 9:53
  Right. And so I was putting carbs back in there and everything kind of knell
• 9:56
  it out. And then I said, you know what, I'm going to see.
• 9:59
  And quite literally, I started Atkins again on a Monday. And by Thursday,
• 10:04
  my cycle had started in the middle of my pill pack even.
• 10:07
  And it went and I was like, and I stopped it.
• 10:10
  Started putting carbs back in and it immediately stopped.
• 10:14
  Wow. Isn't that crazy? Yes, my doctor still doesn't know why it did that,
• 10:19
  but it did. He's like, you've got to eat carbs.
• 10:21
  Your body needs them. It's like, well, God designed these three macros.
• 10:26
  Right. We needed all three of these macros, you know. Right,
• 10:30
  exactly. But, of course, putting carbs back in my diet, it came right back.
• 10:35
  Yes. And so, you know, but I always look for those quick fixes because who wants
• 10:40
  to actually have to count calories?
• 10:43
  Right. right you know who wants to actually watch
• 10:45
  what they're eating like just let me eat anything i want
• 10:48
  but yeah so i was always looking for the click fixes
• 10:51
  and they were very much you know you
• 10:54
  could lose weight with some of them not all of them i
• 10:58
  can't remember everything that i did at this point but some things
• 11:01
  worked some things didn't i tried some pills i tried you know
• 11:04
  whatever but anything that worked as
• 11:08
  soon as i quit it came right right it
• 11:11
  wasn't teaching like lifestyle way absolutely having
• 11:15
  being able to pick up pizza for your family on the way home from work right
• 11:18
  exactly exactly it just was not the proper way to do it I guess yeah it's the
• 11:24
  best way to say that so I'm curious because I don't think I know this answer
• 11:31
  if I do I've forgotten okay how.
• 11:37
  My friend, Amanda Lingle, our Spencer. Yes.
• 11:41
  Yes. She was doing it and she did a post about it and I've reached out to her
• 11:45
  and I said, okay, tell me what this is about.
• 11:49
  And she told me and I said, you know what? I don't have anything else to lose.
• 11:51
  I might as well try it. It works great. If it doesn't, okay.
• 11:56
  Yeah. It'll just be one more thing I've tried. That's right.
• 12:00
  Because I was at that point where I was like, I know
• 12:03
  people that have had weight loss surgery say it's not the easy fix it's
• 12:06
  not the easy way out but in my mind it would be
• 12:09
  but I also in my mind it was one of those things where if
• 12:12
  I ever went to that I was
• 12:15
  a failure because I couldn't do it by myself yeah yeah there's like a stubbornness
• 12:20
  to it like right like I got here by myself I want to I want to get it off by
• 12:26
  myself absolutely and so so I was not going that route didn't want to go that
• 12:32
  route, but also didn't know what else to do.
• 12:34
  And I was at that point where I really felt like, you know, I've got all this
• 12:39
  weight on me. Am I going to have a heart attack one day? Am I going to have a stroke?
• 12:42
  You know what I mean? Because my blood pressure was slightly increased.
• 12:46
  It went to the point I was needing medication for it, but it was starting to
• 12:50
  increase. And so I could see that.
• 12:52
  And, you know, you hear all these people, young people, even dying of heart attacks.
• 12:56
  And that was, that was in my head. And I was like, I'm going to let Just kill
• 13:00
  me if I don't do something about it.
• 13:01
  Like, literally, I'm going to let it kill me, and I can't do that to my family.
• 13:05
  So when I saw Amanda post about it, I was like, let me try that out.
• 13:10
  Let me just see what it's about.
• 13:13
  That's how I found you. And then you jumped in with both feet. Yes, I did.
• 13:18
  Okay. So, like, some backstory here, because I think this is really cool.
• 13:22
  And, in fact, like, you probably don't even know this, but, like, your...
• 13:27
  Journey with us was part of what kind of caused me to mentally shift the program.
• 13:36
  Like, you were one of the ones, and so I'll back it up.
• 13:39
  Okay, so for our listeners who, you know, are newer around here,
• 13:43
  before we had PFN weight loss, we had the Lean Queen challenges, okay?
• 13:50
  And it was like, Like, it was so beneficial to me as like a startup business
• 13:55
  and as a mom to young kids.
• 13:58
  Because what I would do is I would literally say, okay, we've got an eight-week
• 14:03
  weight loss challenge coming up.
• 14:05
  You can, I think, I mean, Beverly, you were one of them. Y'all PayPal'd me.
• 14:11
  Like, you sent me the money via PayPal. Absolutely.
• 14:13
  I didn't even have a checkout page or anything like that, you know.
• 14:17
  And so you would just PayPal me for the eight weeks and then we would walk through
• 14:22
  the eight weeks as a group.
• 14:24
  Right. And I rinsed and repeated this over and over and over again for years
• 14:30
  upon years until it built this like system and also this community that continued to come back.
• 14:39
  Right. And so Beverly was one of those that started and then kept coming back
• 14:44
  for like two years. Yeah.
• 14:47
  You know, like you just kept, you know, I'm like, I know if I can count on one
• 14:51
  sign up, it's going to be Beverly.
• 14:54
  I had to get it all off. And so, though,
• 14:58
  watching her and several others like her, like watching them progress through,
• 15:03
  it really gave me an idea of what women need in their weight loss journey and
• 15:10
  some of the things that we were probably lacking by doing it in those eight-week
• 15:15
  cycles. And so that is...
• 15:17
  One of the reasons that helped me really move into this more membership model
• 15:21
  so that women like Beverly could continue to progress on their own journey instead
• 15:27
  of feeling like they were starting over new with every,
• 15:30
  every new cycle of every new challenge, if that makes sense.
• 15:35
  And so, yeah, I don't know. I remember you've been with me through a lot of
• 15:38
  like edits and updates and I remember talking it out with you like,
• 15:42
  okay, what would you think if we stopped
• 15:46
  sending paypals every eight weeks
• 15:51
  you know i was so excited the first time you did
• 15:54
  a year time a whole year at one time i was like yes yeah
• 15:59
  yeah and it was it was cool because like during that time i also got to build
• 16:03
  my confidence and like i was i was gaining confidence in what i was building
• 16:08
  alongside y'all who were like
• 16:10
  gaining confidence in your weight loss longevity you You know what I mean?
• 16:17
  Okay. So tell me about, with us being the backstory, I would love to know,
• 16:21
  because we didn't have a lot of like the same structure in place that we do now.
• 16:25
  So I would love to know like what the biggest, like you got in with us and what
• 16:31
  made you say, oh, I'm going to stay around.
• 16:34
  I'm going to come back for the next eight weeks. Like what made you say that?
• 16:38
  I loved the idea of grace. Give yourself grace.
• 16:45
  You know, like, I had a bad day today. I just didn't eat the way I needed to.
• 16:50
  But it's okay. I don't have to quit.
• 16:54
  I didn't blow it all. You know, I had never heard that before.
• 16:58
  Like, you know, any other time I've been on a diet, if I had a bad day,
• 17:01
  and I was like, okay, well, it's over. I'm done. You know?
• 17:04
  But with this, you know, y'all just kept saying, just give yourself grace.
• 17:08
  If you don't do great today, that's fine. Do better tomorrow.
• 17:11
  You know? And then just the encouragement from the entire group and you and,
• 17:17
  gosh, back then it was Krista and Candice.
• 17:22
  They went on and had babies and left me. I know.
• 17:25
  Left me in this business by myself, you know. Yeah, but just the encouragement
• 17:30
  from y'all and then, you know, all the people, all the lean queens,
• 17:35
  as we call ourselves back in the day.
• 17:37
  It was just that community and the grace.
• 17:41
  Just give yourself grace yeah yeah and
• 17:44
  i do it's such a it's such a simple concept when
• 17:47
  you talk about it but it's like in weight loss
• 17:50
  that it is not it is not a simple concept it is
• 17:53
  unheard of it is you are in other previous you know programs i'm sure there
• 17:59
  was a level of shame around a bad day or absolutely absolutely yeah it was a
• 18:05
  very unheard of concept it grace or you know So being okay with,
• 18:11
  I did my best this week, but maybe it didn't produce the results I expected
• 18:15
  to produce. You know what I mean?
• 18:18
  And then the idea, too, that...
• 18:20
  You know, eat the food you want to eat, count it.
• 18:25
  Yes, try to eat healthier food to help keep you fuller so that you can eat the fewer calories.
• 18:30
  But if you want the cookie, eat the dang cookie. Right.
• 18:34
  Right. You know, because in the past, it's like, no, all those foods are off
• 18:38
  limits. Like, don't eat this, don't eat that.
• 18:41
  And you didn't say that. You said, if you want to eat it, just make sure you count it.
• 18:46
  Make sure it fits in your day. Right.
• 18:49
  And you don't hear that in other programs so
• 18:53
  it's quite literally cut all this out no sugar
• 18:56
  or no carbs or you know
• 18:59
  you can't have pizza you can't have fries you
• 19:01
  can't have the cookie you can't have a piece of cake if you want it
• 19:04
  you know yeah and it creates a
• 19:09
  heavier burden than is necessary for weight loss
• 19:12
  absolutely absolutely and you're and if
• 19:15
  you eat those things that's bad you know
• 19:18
  and they told they're being
• 19:20
  bad you know just as a
• 19:23
  grown woman exactly exactly so yeah those things those are just what have kept
• 19:30
  me here the whole time yeah yeah so would you say that's still your favorite
• 19:35
  part about the program absolutely absolutely it's just the grace, the grace mindset.
• 19:43
  That's it. Yeah, because I mean, I think even in like.
• 19:48
  My gosh, okay, so you came, you lost, and then you stayed, right?
• 19:52
  You've been around a while.
• 19:53
  And so, like, you have still had to deal with that.
• 19:58
  I know you've had some seasons of life that have been a little more difficult
• 20:02
  than other seasons, right, throughout your time with us.
• 20:06
  So, it's like, you have still, you still have to accept that concept of grace, like, okay.
• 20:11
  Oh, yeah, for sure. Maybe I gained 10 pounds. I need to get that back off.
• 20:15
  Or maybe, you know, like, whatever, like you it's very much a forever cycle
• 20:20
  absolutely and that's what you learn that's that's the wonderful thing about
• 20:25
  those because you learn like once you get it off how to keep it off and how you,
• 20:32
  if you do mess up like you know I've had since I started this journey I've had
• 20:37
  both of my parents pass my stepdad pass I've had to I've had to go under do
• 20:43
  two different surgeries and fix my third third one.
• 20:45
  And those are all hard things to deal with just in general.
• 20:48
  And so you do have those moments where you realize, okay, I've gained a few
• 20:52
  pounds. Let's get them back off.
• 20:55
  And guess what? I know how to do that now. That's right. You have a confidence
• 21:00
  nobody can take from you.
• 21:02
  Absolutely. And if I hadn't done this, I will say this too.
• 21:06
  If I had not been a part of this journey, what I have gained back or what I
• 21:11
  do gain back would have probably been twice as much,
• 21:15
  but for the fact that even though I may not be completely 100% counting everything
• 21:22
  I'm eating every day because it's so hard right now or whatever I'm.
• 21:28
  I'm still paying attention to what I'm eating more so than I would have.
• 21:32
  And your history with the program, your consistency with the program.
• 21:37
  And we tell people say that people come to us with this all the time.
• 21:40
  Like, I don't want to track forever.
• 21:41
  Like, do I have to track forever? And I'm like, no. But by tracking for a long
• 21:46
  period of time, you start to understand without having to track.
• 21:52
  Like, you know, Beverly, like if your breakfast was large and your lunch was
• 21:56
  large and you grab the cookie at the work break room, you ain't going to have room for that pizza.
• 22:01
  Like, you know that without having to track now. You know what I mean? Exactly.
• 22:06
  And so that's why you've been able to manage, even when these stressful times.
• 22:11
  Like, we're all going to have those times where emotions are so high,
• 22:17
  priorities are not our weight or our body or our food.
• 22:20
  And, like, we will all have those times where we just kind of have pockets where
• 22:23
  we eat and we really don't care. Like, we don't give a rip.
• 22:27
  You know, like, we know I'm eating the cookie and the pizza and getting a milkshake
• 22:32
  after dinner. That's right. And I don't care.
• 22:34
  You know, like, we all have that. You know, that is life.
• 22:38
  Life, too bad it's not perfect, but it ain't, right? It's just not. It's not. And so, but...
• 22:45
  When you were able to kind of zoom back out and say, okay, that was a tough time.
• 22:51
  It's still kind of a tough time, but I am going to at least try to make an effort.
• 22:57
  I'm going to try to be mindful again. You have every tool that you ever could
• 23:02
  possibly need to do that. Absolutely. Absolutely.
• 23:05
  And like I said, you know, had I not, and I do still track because I just find,
• 23:11
  now I do go periods where I don't.
• 23:14
  And I don't tend to gain because, again, I know what it looks like. Right.
• 23:20
  And if I hadn't done it for so long, I think it would be more difficult.
• 23:25
  But, yeah, you just figure out what you can and can't eat and still be okay.
• 23:30
  And so you don't necessarily have to track forever.
• 23:33
  For me, sometimes it just makes me feel better to do it. Yeah.
• 23:36
  I mean, same. You know, like when I have this baby, I'm going to be tracking to get it off.
• 23:42
  Even though I could mentally probably calculate it, there's something a little
• 23:46
  bit satisfying about looking at the numbers. Yeah, like when you look at it
• 23:49
  and you go, okay, yes, I stated my numbers today.
• 23:52
  Yes. Yeah. It just really does help.
• 23:55
  But it took you a long time to get comfortable there. Oh, absolutely.
• 24:01
  You know, feel that way about tracking.
• 24:05
  And so some people, you know, some people try for a few weeks and then they give up.
• 24:09
  And I'm like, well, okay, that's because it wasn't consistent.
• 24:11
  And it wasn't a habit, you didn't feel comfortable with it yet. Right, right.
• 24:15
  Well, when I got to my weight loss goal, you know, I had been with you guys for right at two years.
• 24:20
  And so that was a long, that's a long time to be that consistent.
• 24:26
  But even then, I tracked consistently to maintain for over a year,
• 24:33
  probably another year and a half, two years, just because I felt comfortable
• 24:37
  doing it. You know, I knew...
• 24:41
  It was kind of my crutch almost, but that was okay because I needed it at that
• 24:46
  moment. But now I can definitely kind of navigate without tracking.
• 24:51
  Well, Anne, and this is something we talk about, you know, with our PFM Plus clients a lot.
• 24:56
  And Stacey and I talk about it amongst ourselves a lot, you know,
• 24:59
  about making sure our clients understand this, that, yes, you've met your weight loss goal.
• 25:05
  That is such a win. And we are so hype about that. But reaching your weight
• 25:11
  loss goal is a different beast than the beast of maintaining that weight loss.
• 25:19
  You know, like, we want you to now keep it off.
• 25:24
  And so reaching the weight loss goal doesn't mean, oh, you're done.
• 25:28
  Time to clock out. Let's go back to, you know, we don't want that mindset that
• 25:32
  has come with other weight loss programs, you know, for many of our ladies.
• 25:36
  And so I feel like in that moment of you tracking for that year and a half that
• 25:41
  was part of it as well is like okay I've been on this weight loss journey but
• 25:45
  now I've got to be on a maintenance journey and exactly and really see what
• 25:50
  that looks and feels like every day because I know,
• 25:53
  maintenance don't look and feel the way it felt to gain all that weight you
• 25:56
  know and a lot of times we refer back to those habits you know oh yeah and it's
• 26:00
  easy to like even you know.
• 26:02
  I'll catch myself sometimes when I'm back, you know, where I'm not tracking.
• 26:08
  I'll be like, let me have that, you know, whatever.
• 26:12
  Like, I'm going to just eat and I'm going to, and then you really do.
• 26:16
  It's really easy. Even after this amount of time, I can find myself trying to
• 26:20
  slip back into old habits. Yeah.
• 26:23
  And I've been doing it for a long time now. So it's amazing how easy it is to
• 26:28
  slip back into old habits. And then you just have to say, okay, no, I'm not going back.
• 26:33
  I'm not going to be that person again. I'm not going back to that.
• 26:37
  That's the old Beverly. Right. Exactly. I'm not doing that again.
• 26:42
  And I think that brings up a really good point. It's like when we make changes
• 26:47
  and when we see ourselves evolve and when we progress forward,
• 26:50
  we expect to never have to deal with the old version of ourselves again.
• 26:56
  And that is just not the way it goes. Right.
• 26:59
  Absolutely not. Even me, like in my anxiety journey over the past few years,
• 27:03
  I'm like, oh, I'm healed. I have no anxiety.
• 27:06
  You know, I don't have to manage this. And then what tomorrow?
• 27:09
  I'm going to be like, oh, my gosh, my anxiety. You know what I mean? Right.
• 27:13
  If it matters to us, if it's things that have a chokehold on us,
• 27:18
  which for a lot of women, it is weight loss and or anxiety.
• 27:21
  It is something that we have to keep, you know, on our radar. are.
• 27:25
  No, you cannot lose, you know, 50 pounds quickly and then just go back to normal
• 27:31
  life and go back to ignoring your food choices and assume that you're going to be able to keep it off.
• 27:37
  Like you just can't, you know, you can't, you absolutely can't and never will
• 27:41
  be able to. I mean, I found that out real quick.
• 27:43
  I mean, this, the way it came off with the way I was eating and.
• 27:49
  It amazed me. I will say this. I have to tell people this all the time.
• 27:54
  It amazes me how full I stayed.
• 27:57
  And I was afraid that I was going to be so hungry when I was trying to lose
• 28:02
  weight. Yeah, yeah. But I never was.
• 28:04
  Like, I was never hungry. I was actually, that's the part that amazed me, too.
• 28:09
  When I was paying attention to the food I was eating and being intentional,
• 28:12
  I was eating more physically than I was when I was gaining all the weight.
• 28:20
  Yeah, like volume-wise. Right. Yeah, right.
• 28:23
  Yes, right. And it was amazing. Like, how am I eating this much more,
• 28:26
  but I'm losing, but I'm staying full. And that was the difference.
• 28:31
  You know, I wasn't eating the, yeah. I wasn't eating the stuff that would make
• 28:34
  me hungry again in an hour.
• 28:36
  What were some things that you ate back then? And do you remember?
• 28:40
  I don't even know if I remember anymore.
• 28:42
  I did a lot of fast food, like at lunch and stuff.
• 28:45
  I would, you know, go grab Taco Bell or Whataburger or Wendy's, you know, whatever.
• 28:52
  But it would be, you know, the hamburger and fries and a drink.
• 28:56
  And I didn't drink hardly any water before. Or now I still drink a minimum of
• 29:03
  100 ounces of water a day.
• 29:06
  And if I don't, I can tell just what I feel. Like I don't feel as good not drinking it.
• 29:13
  Just, I really, yeah, I had a lot of time food, I guess.
• 29:17
  On your weight loss journey, what kind of food? Oh my gosh.
• 29:23
  All vegetables. you know even now a lot of times what I'll do is I'll I'll family
• 29:28
  little eat up meals that have like,
• 29:32
  and broccoli and some other little vegetables in there. And I can eat that up
• 29:36
  and I throw a little bit of grilled chicken in there with it.
• 29:38
  That'll be my lunch. And it's only like all 300, 400 calories max.
• 29:43
  But it fills me up. Like when I'm done, I'm full.
• 29:46
  Lots of fiber and protein in there. Right, right. Oatmeal for breakfast instead
• 29:50
  of a bacon, egg and cheese biscuit.
• 29:52
  Yeah. You know. And then for dinners, you know, we might do.
• 29:57
  One of the things that my family still loves is the pfn chicken spaghetti so
• 30:02
  yeah so we still do that a lot of them actually the,
• 30:08
  Gosh, I can't even think of everything. I'm going completely blank right now.
• 30:11
  But, yeah, so we just changed.
• 30:15
  Not so much them, but me, changed the way I ate more during the day than at night.
• 30:21
  But I would always, always took a meal with a meat and a vegetable and a starch
• 30:27
  and then, you know, like a bread or something. And I still do that.
• 30:31
  That didn't change for them. I just watched what I ate of it. Yeah. You know. Yeah.
• 30:38
  More of the vegetable, less of the starch. Yeah. Right. Maybe grilled the meat
• 30:44
  instead of fried before.
• 30:46
  Yeah. Yeah. I mean, that's it. Again, sometimes it can be so complicated or
• 30:51
  it feels so complicated, but it really doesn't have to be. It really doesn't.
• 30:54
  And when people would ask that kind of question, they'd be like,
• 30:56
  well, what are you eating? And I'm like, normal food.
• 31:02
  Yeah. But like, so what do you do for snacks at night? And then for a while,
• 31:05
  I got on a kick of cucumbers.
• 31:07
  And they were wonderful because they were filling and like no
• 31:10
  calories yeah like not many calories and i can't do that i'm like well find
• 31:16
  something else right you know whatever you want like you can go get a sugar-free
• 31:21
  fudge pot for 40 calories you know and it's like eating ice cream so just,
• 31:28
  just be mindful you know you just have to be mindful of it but yeah i can even
• 31:33
  i think i told you this earlier, I had people ask me when I got done,
• 31:37
  they're like, so I see your posts about it on Facebook, but what did you really do?
• 31:42
  Did you have weight loss surgery or did you take pills?
• 31:45
  And I'm like, no, I didn't do any of that. And I'd go into the whole spiel.
• 31:48
  Like I worked for the dietitian and I got my, you know, my macros and I drank
• 31:53
  water and just stayed within my calories. If I wanted the cookie,
• 31:56
  I ate the cookie or whatever your crutch is.
• 32:00
  It doesn't have to be a cookie, but.
• 32:03
  You know, that's all I did. And they're like, oh, okay. They were looking for that quick thing.
• 32:09
  And it's not a quick fix. I mean, it took me two years to get 130 pounds off.
• 32:15
  Two years at 130 pounds, all natural. All natural. Yep.
• 32:21
  Yep. Yeah. 100%. And that is something to be so proud of. Yes. No shots.
• 32:27
  They weren't around back then. They weren't around back then.
• 32:30
  Just yet. You didn't have a choice.
• 32:32
  Right. Like, but I still don't think I would have. Like, I was at that point
• 32:36
  where I knew quick fixes were not going to work because I've done too many of them. You've done them.
• 32:41
  So I knew I had to find something that was sustaining.
• 32:45
  Yeah. And you did it so gracefully. I mean, I just remember it was just like
• 32:49
  every week it was just like a few pounds and a few pounds.
• 32:53
  And I mean, it was just so, and we're like, well, we can count on,
• 32:56
  again, we can count on Beverly.
• 32:57
  She's going to lose this week. You know, she will show up for herself this week.
• 33:01
  Like, it was just such a beautiful thing to watch.
• 33:04
  Oh, thank you. It was easy. Like, you know, people are like,
• 33:07
  oh, but it's going to be so hard. I'm like, no, it's really not.
• 33:10
  Like, I thought it was going to be. I thought it was going to be so hard.
• 33:14
  But it really wasn't. It was so easy. I remember you got down to,
• 33:19
  what was it, like, maybe your last 10 pounds, and it got a little tougher.
• 33:23
  Right? Like, you were like, fighting for those last 10 pounds.
• 33:26
  I'm like, Beverly, this is everybody's journey. Everybody fights for those last few pounds, you know.
• 33:32
  I was so frustrated, though. I was like, I don't know.
• 33:36
  But, yeah. Our body just don't like it. No.
• 33:40
  Okay. But I do want to talk about, aside from the 130-pound weight loss. Right.
• 33:45
  You had a lot of, like, life-changing health occurrences as,
• 33:51
  like, as a result of the weight loss. So, can you talk a little bit about that?
• 33:55
  Yeah. So the biggest one, well, I was, so my legs and all would swell and I
• 34:01
  was on medication for that. They quit doing that.
• 34:04
  And I came off of that medicine. You came off your medicine for swelling.
• 34:07
  Right. But the biggest one for me was when I was pregnant with my youngest, I found out I had asthma.
• 34:14
  And so I started treating for that. And of course, by then, I'm going every
• 34:18
  six weeks or every six months, rather, to the doctor for that.
• 34:22
  And actually, the day that I started your program, I saw him at one of my six-month
• 34:27
  appointments for my colonologist. And my lung capacity was like 79%.
• 34:34
  Wow. And when I hit 130-pound weight loss, my lung capacity was at 94%. Yes.
• 34:39
  And that was strictly from the
• 34:41
  weight loss. Because my asthma was very well-maintained when I started.
• 34:46
  So it wasn't the asthma. It was quite literally the weight that was causing
• 34:51
  the decreased lung capacity. That is insanity.
• 34:56
  It is. And so I have since come off all of my asthma meditations now.
• 35:01
  Because I don't need them. He made me say on them during COVID because of the
• 35:05
  fear, you know, that I got it.
• 35:07
  But since then, I've come off of everything.
• 35:11
  Everything. That's insane. And something to be so proud of. Yes.
• 35:17
  And then also you were, what, you walked like your first 5K?
• 35:22
  Oh, yeah. I didn't even think about that. Yes.
• 35:25
  Yeah, I sure did. I walked my first 5K. I've since done another one.
• 35:30
  I haven't had many more of those they'll start having problems with my knee
• 35:33
  but yeah so I've done two 5Ks that I never would have even dreamed I could have done before,
• 35:42
  wouldn't have been able I wouldn't dream I couldn't have done them before right,
• 35:48
  but that first one my son did it with me and he was he loved it he was like
• 35:52
  hey let's do this again but he didn't do the second one he was in the middle
• 35:56
  of G and he's like it's too hot for this.
• 36:03
  Yeah yeah but yeah so it was just a
• 36:06
  lot i mean i got to i wasn't able to enjoy getting
• 36:09
  out and about because i would just get winded because of all the weight you
• 36:13
  know i just couldn't move like i could when i got it all i was able to actually
• 36:18
  start really moving and get out and really hike and we got on then we hiked
• 36:24
  too and about two miles away and we'll just get out and walk to it because I can't.
• 36:30
  That is like, that is so life changing, you know what I mean? Absolutely.
• 36:34
  Absolutely. Okay.
• 36:37
  So I have one more question and then we can go into our Q and A's that I do
• 36:43
  with all of our visitors, unless you have something else you want to kind of dive into.
• 36:48
  But after like this journey for you, losing it and then keeping it off,
• 36:53
  what would be your number one tip for someone who is like,
• 36:58
  Wanting to lose the weight, wanting to do it in a way that they know is sustainable.
• 37:03
  Having had the history like you had of trying several things before finding
• 37:08
  us, what's the number one thing you would say to them?
• 37:12
  Give yourself grace. Give yourself grace. But also make sure you're in your right headspace.
• 37:19
  Because I don't think if I had tried it a year earlier, I probably wouldn't
• 37:26
  have done as well because I just wasn't at that space of, okay,
• 37:29
  I've got to do something. You know what I mean? Yeah.
• 37:32
  Like, I think you have to be in that right space of, I'm going to give this my all.
• 37:37
  Because if you don't, this, I mean, it could still work, but it's not going to work as well.
• 37:43
  Does that make sense? Yes. It's not going to feel as comfortable either, yeah.
• 37:47
  Right, exactly. Because you're not going to give it your all and you're going
• 37:50
  to have more of those days where you're like, you know what,
• 37:53
  you're going to give yourself too much grace. Yeah. Yeah.
• 37:57
  Because that can definitely happen. I've seen that with friends of mine who
• 38:00
  have joined and then they're joined for one little small session and they're
• 38:05
  like, oh, that didn't work for me. And I'm like, well, what did you do different?
• 38:10
  Oh, well, you know, I just couldn't try it. I just couldn't this. I just couldn't that.
• 38:15
  They didn't fully plug in. You weren't ready. Right. Exactly. And they did not.
• 38:19
  So fully plug in. Be ready. Yeah.
• 38:24
  Have your mind ready and just go 100% into it. Don't just give it 10%.
• 38:31
  Yeah. Because you're going to get 10% out. Right.
• 38:35
  And I guess you're right. We have seen that, too, with people coming in and
• 38:38
  being like, oh, she says give her grace. So grace is, I'm going out to Mexican.
• 38:44
  I'm going to have two margaritas and chips and salsa. I got grace.
• 38:47
  And I'm like, no, girl. That's not it. Grace.
• 38:51
  The grace is meant for those days where like you went you mentally were checked
• 38:57
  in but my gosh the day just killed you you know what I mean like the day came
• 39:01
  out of nowhere and that's where the grace is the grace isn't like knowingly day in and day out,
• 39:10
  going against what you know is necessary for the change, right?
• 39:14
  Changes in eating. Absolutely.
• 39:16
  Absolutely, yeah. The grace is when you've followed everything you're supposed
• 39:20
  to do for that day, and then you get home, and you were planning to do one thing
• 39:23
  for dinner because that's what's going to fit in your calories,
• 39:27
  and everybody loved that.
• 39:28
  But you get home, and you don't have electricity, and you can't cook.
• 39:30
  So now you've got to go to McDonald's or whatever.
• 39:34
  And they don't have anything anymore that's healthy.
• 39:39
  I used to grab you a salad but not anymore so yeah
• 39:42
  you know give yourself
• 39:45
  grace yeah for those times but you know or you know it's just been a really
• 39:51
  bad day and i don't feel like doing anything so i'm gonna do this but tomorrow
• 39:55
  i'm gonna do better you know give yourself grace for those things but like yeah
• 39:59
  don't just knowingly every single day go against it and then go like oh yeah,
• 40:04
  but I'm giving myself grace. No, that's not going to get you there.
• 40:07
  That's not, yeah. And anything in life, right? Like your job,
• 40:11
  parenting, like, you know, we still got to put forth the effort.
• 40:16
  Absolutely. Absolutely. All right. You ready for our Q&A or you got any last words?
• 40:22
  No, I think I'm good. I think I said most of everything I thought about. Good. This is good.
• 40:28
  Okay. So my first question for you, which you may have already answered it. I don't know. Okay.
• 40:34
  Because, like, you have literally been around since I started creating recipes, right?
• 40:40
  Oh, yeah. And so I'm curious, what is your favorite perfect fit recipe?
• 40:47
  We love the spaghetti, the chicken spaghetti, but we also love the lightened
• 40:52
  up breakfast casserole.
• 40:54
  So I think that's probably, we have that like every other week or Sunday morning.
• 40:59
  Yeah. Because it's easy. Yeah, those two are probably our favorites.
• 41:05
  I love that.
• 41:08
  All right. What's your first question for me? So did you ever see yourself doing
• 41:12
  anything besides being a dietitian? them?
• 41:17
  That's a good question right now, Beverly.
• 41:22
  I never, I mean, yes, obviously when I was a kid, I thought I was gonna be like a teacher or whatever.
• 41:28
  But when I became a dietitian, I have never thought about being anything different until lately.
• 41:38
  And like, that's kind of scary. Yeah.
• 41:41
  Yeah. That's kind of scary to say out loud.
• 41:43
  It's like, I mean, I'll obviously always be a dietitian and I think I have such
• 41:48
  a love for weight loss, but I'm just like, what if there's more to it?
• 41:54
  I gotcha. You know, like that's where my brain is right now.
• 41:57
  Like, what if there's more to this? And so...
• 42:00
  I've got a baby on the way. So I don't know that we'll see any of that come
• 42:04
  to fruition anytime soon.
• 42:07
  Right. But it's actually been like a really scary thought that I've had.
• 42:11
  I'm like, but wait, people know me as a dietician, you know? Right, right.
• 42:17
  But again, I don't think I will ever let that go. And I don't think I could
• 42:19
  ever let weight loss, like not be part of my life and my business.
• 42:23
  And so that is part, I'm like, I'm in big prayer right now about what that means, you know? Oh, wow.
• 42:28
  Okay. So good. And the Lord done put that question right in your mouth.
• 42:32
  Yes, because I did not think about that earlier. It was kind of while we were
• 42:35
  sitting here talking that I was like, I wonder. Yeah, yeah.
• 42:42
  Okay, so my next question for you.
• 42:45
  Okay, if you are out and about and need a snack, but you don't want to blow
• 42:50
  it, what are you getting?
• 42:51
  Either do you keep a snack in your car, a certain kind of snack,
• 42:54
  or are you ordering a snack from somewhere? What are you getting?
• 42:58
  Okay, so I don't usually, but I would probably just run through,
• 43:01
  I'd probably stop at a gas station and get a pack of crackers or something.
• 43:04
  Yeah, peanut butter and butter. Peanut butter crackers, peanut butter and abs.
• 43:08
  If not that, if they had some Skinny Pop or Smart Food popcorn or something like that.
• 43:14
  You know, some of these gas stations are really impressing me lately.
• 43:17
  They have a section for healthy food. Now, some of it's like protein Pop-Tarts.
• 43:22
  And my brother-in-law got those one time as like a joke, and they were disgusting.
• 43:27
  So just for anybody out there listening, they were pretty bad.
• 43:31
  But there are some decent things there, you know, on that little section,
• 43:34
  too, a lot of times at gas stations.
• 43:36
  Yeah. So that's what I'm going to—that's what I would deal with.
• 43:39
  Okay. What's your next one for me?
• 43:44
  I don't know. Okay. I don't know. That's it. That's the only thing.
• 43:48
  Okay. But let me say this. Like, with you having that questioning,
• 43:52
  just know that we all love you.
• 43:54
  And that you are absolutely wonderful at what you do. So we hope that this does
• 43:58
  not ever not be part of your journey.
• 44:02
  Yeah. Thank you for saying that. I don't think that it will.
• 44:06
  I don't. I mean, I love this.
• 44:08
  Like, I love everything perfect fit stands for.
• 44:12
  And I love what I do. And I love weight loss and I love watching women reach their goals.
• 44:17
  It's just like, sometimes I just wonder, like...
• 44:21
  I think if you're not evolving and growing, you know, you're dying.
• 44:25
  And so I guess that's my next thing is like, where is my growth forward next?
• 44:30
  Right. I don't see myself going back to school to be nothing else.
• 44:34
  If, you know, we are not in the, we are not going back to school for anything.
• 44:38
  So it's just kind of like, I don't know.
• 44:40
  I literally don't know, you know. Yeah. Yeah.
• 44:44
  Well, I have to say that for me personally, it's just been, Perfect Fit has been a blessing for me.
• 44:50
  So you and perfect fit I thank y'all enough so thank you you're welcome,
• 45:02
  okay and then I think I don't know I think this one is going to be repetitive
• 45:06
  okay but what is one piece of wisdom you had when you were first starting out
• 45:12
  that you'd share with others so like when you were first starting out and you
• 45:16
  were like kind of trying to get your bearings with,
• 45:19
  tracking and understanding it all and whatever.
• 45:24
  Don't so much focus on all the macros in the beginning, just your calorie intake,
• 45:30
  because it's really hard if you've never tracked before.
• 45:34
  For me, it was to focus on all of them because I felt like I was going to fail
• 45:39
  if I didn't hit all of them just right.
• 45:41
  So I believe it was you that said, you know, just at first you can just focus on your calories.
• 45:45
  And so that's what I did because that was just so much easier for me.
• 45:48
  And then drink the dang water.
• 45:51
  Drink the water. I promise it makes a difference. Makes such a difference. Yeah. It keeps you full.
• 45:57
  I mean, it makes a difference. Yeah.
• 46:00
  I struggled at first, and then I finally realized if I'd drink a whole bottle
• 46:05
  of water before I drank my coffee in the morning, I did so much better because
• 46:08
  I would sip on that coffee and sip on that coffee.
• 46:10
  Yeah, yeah, and then the day would go by. Yes, and then I'd be like,
• 46:14
  oh, man, I got to get all that water in now, and I'm going to be up all night.
• 46:17
  Yes, yes, and I don't know about you, but for me, after I finished my coffee,
• 46:23
  I'm not interested in drinking anything else for a little while.
• 46:26
  Like, I'm not interested in my water.
• 46:28
  So I've got to get some of it in before.
• 46:31
  Yeah, I make sure I get at least 33 ounces in before I start my coffee.
• 46:35
  And then it'll be after I finish my coffee. It's probably at least an hour or
• 46:39
  so before I'm going to touch anything else. Same. You know.
• 46:43
  I'm glad you brought that up, though, about the macros. Because we are in such
• 46:46
  a macro-obsessed culture right now with weight loss.
• 46:50
  Like, yes, they matter. But like the truth is they don't matter as much as people
• 46:56
  like, you know, put things,
• 46:58
  put them on a pedestal, you know, like most of the time, unless we are eating
• 47:03
  crackers and donuts all day, like we are getting a variety of our macros anyway.
• 47:08
  Right. So really the macro focus is when you're ready to fine tune,
• 47:13
  like when you're ready, you know, to worry a little bit more about muscle building
• 47:16
  or, you know, like leaning out a little bit more like, and so by then you have
• 47:23
  gotten comfortable with food.
• 47:26
  It is very, very hard to start a weight loss journey kind of uncomfortable,
• 47:32
  not knowing what you're doing, not knowing how things add up,
• 47:34
  not knowing, and then also having to deal with like how the macros shake out too. Absolutely.
• 47:40
  It really is. It really is. And so, yeah, that would be my biggest piece of advice.
• 47:45
  Don't necessarily focus on all of your macros in the beginning,
• 47:48
  just your calories. Yes. I love that. I love that.
• 47:52
  From the queen herself, y'all.
• 47:57
  All right. Well, we have been so blessed to have you today. I cannot wait for
• 48:01
  our ladies to just hear your story and truly just hear how like normal it is.
• 48:07
  You know what I mean, Beverly? Absolutely.
• 48:09
  I mean, it doesn't have to look like, you know, this dramatic tale for it to
• 48:14
  be impactful and lasting and something that truly changed your life, you know?
• 48:19
  Absolutely not. And so thank you so much for coming on today.
• 48:24
  Well, thank you for having me. I appreciate it.
• 48:26
  All right. And as always, y'all remember to say grace.
• 48:31
  Thank you for listening to today's episode of Say Grace Podcast.
• 48:36
  If you enjoyed it, it would mean it.