If you had told me a year ago that I would be writing a success story for a diet website, I would have laughed in disbelief. For one thing, I don’t do diets. Too many people seem to fail, and I wasn’t interested in failure. Besides–diets are restrictive, and a lot of times, anti-relationship.  To me, diets seemed to play on people’s vanity, and require them to focus on their bodies so much, to the detriment of their relationships with other people. All this, combined with the prospect of eating weird foods and obsessing over my weight, just wasn’t for me.

However, I did have a number of reasons–about 30-40–to consider changing my approach to food. These reasons, aka “pounds,” had sneaked up on me….having five children in as many years, being too tired to plan proper meals, and life in general had conspired to make more of me than I wanted to be.

I had always been thin as a child and teenager, and I subconsciously retained that image of myself, even when the scale, and my ever-”shrinking” clothes, said otherwise. I reasoned that even though I was too heavy, I was healthy. I wasn’t sedentary, didn’t drink lots of high-calorie drinks, and didn’t eat a lot of sweets. My thinking was that, eventually, this would dissolve the extra weight. Still, though, the “reasons” remained. Earlier, I had worn a size 6/8, but lately, I had been wearing both sizes. (That would be a size 14.) At a doctor’s exam, when I was weighed, I slowly realized my scale wasn’t “off.” I really was all that.
Several years back, my husband wanted to lose weight, and even found an eating plan (40-30-30) that he believed would help him. He brought home the books about it, which were heavy on the “why”, and light on the “how.” He was right that this plan would work–but it was so different than what I was used to serving, that all my time was consumed in finding recipes that would work for us. After spending so long planning, I had no energy or time left to go buy the food, and then prepare it, especially when odds were poor that our children would like it. During this quest, we had even looked on the Internet, checked out books from the library, and done all we could to make these changes happen. However, after several weeks of this, we found ourselves eating the same way we always had, so it was no surprise that we didn’t lose weight.

However, after my experience with the doctor’s scale, I decided to try again. Now remember–I had never really tried any DIEts. I wanted to change our LIFEstyle, and serve food that everyone could enjoy. I didn’t want it to be weird, expensive, or inconvenient food. And did I mention that I really didn’t want to feel like I was on a diet? It was then that I started to remember a website I had found during my earlier recipe hunt. With a little help from Google, I was able to rediscover that site–FormulaZone.com. I remembered it had recipes for our exact diet, but since we had just bought the books, I wanted to make use of them, so the website’s true value to me was, I regret, initially overlooked.

I should have eaten my books and gone with this website from the start. I signed up in April 2011, and never regretted a moment of my membership. I have found that there is more practical information here than in any book I have reviewed. There is also an element of coaching involved–when I have a question, the forums are the first place I look, and they often have the answers. (But if they don’t, the website owner, Cale, has always answered with such encouragement and sound guidance.) Some of my friends pay lots of money to have a menu service–this is only part of what this website offers, and a better cost. Initially, I used mainly the recipes and menu builders, but eventually, I wanted to keep a food diary, and start customizing some recipes. FormulaZone.com had anticipated these needs, and all I needed to do was start using these features.

At this point in my weight loss journey, most of my initial “reasons” for joining have gone away! That’s right: I did lose weight–about 30 pounds to date. I also dropped over three sizes in clothes–size 8 is a little loose, whereas size 14 used to fit snugly. However, I’m going to stick around–I have a few more pounds to lose, but now the weight loss has become secondary to another set of benefits.

One of the biggest reasons I truly relish this site is that it helps me maintain my emotional balance, as well as my food balance. If my kids could describe their experiences, they would say I’m more even-keeled than before. I am much more patient with them, and I can manage my household with less frustration and fewer energy drops. With so many children, it is really a big thing when we’re all happy….or not. Also, my concentration is a lot better. I don’t have the after-meal fog that was common before.  Until I personally experienced these advantages, I didn’t fully appreciate what others were so enthusiastic about. Because relationships are so important to me, I will do all I can to be the type of wife, mother, and friend I should be. Managing my outlook and energy is a big part of this, and FormulaZone.com makes it almost effortless. Between the weight loss, improved moods, and better concentration, I am so excited about these changes. We are truly thankful for this gem of a site, and the people who manage it.