How I went from eating out every week to my healthiest ever (and lost 30 pounds)

I am Shelly Alvarez, creator of Letters of Vitality.

When I started this blog, I wanted to be able to get the most vulnerable I ever have, and show you what I went through in my health and wellness journey to get to where I am today. It took a long time and a lot of work, but I got there, lost 30 pounds, and want to share how I went from eating out every week to my healthiest ever.

I am so passionate about what I have learned over the past 10+ years to get to my current state of health, that I have started an Instagram, Facebook and YouTube Channel, where I can break it all down over video. The information I came across is that important to me, especially when there is such a huge problem with the health industry. I even filmed a video about How I Lost 30 Pounds – My Wellness Routine that you can watch here.

When I didn’t know better:

I have been a hard worker since I was little. My parents didn’t have much and worked blue collar jobs in order to provide for me. This taught me at a very young age about work ethic, though, which we will get into later in this post.

My parents didn’t know much about healthy food. They, as many people, exercised and provided me with a home cooked meal, which consisted of meat, a starch and vegetables from a can (all non-organic, of course). They just didn’t know better, so I didn’t know better- at the time.

 

When I should have known better:

Fast forward to work life. I started working at age 15, selling used cars. I worked about 40-50 hours/week and went to high school full time. In the evenings, I would help to repossess the cars of the non-paying customers for an extra $50. There’s that work ethic I mentioned.

I then entered the professional, exciting (insert joke) Corporate World. Since I knew how to sell a car, I quickly became a top sales professional for many years. I worked in both the mortgage and the commercial real estate industries.

The hours were long- 7 am to 7 pm, 5 days a week. I remember buying my first nice car just a couple months after starting in the mortgage business since I was doing so well.

I would bring my lunch to work sometimes, or I’d go grab something close by, which usually consisted of a sushi restaurant, sandwich shop or, brace yourselves, an American restaurant, whose daily special was typically a melted cheesesteak, or something covered in fries. It was all mine for an affordable $8.99.

After work, once a week, the co-workers and I would go somewhere for happy hour. We’d have a margarita or two, eat some nachos, and bitch about the work day.

Sound familiar?

What I didn’t realize:

• • I was always tired, and assumed it was only from the long work hours

• • I ate anything I wanted, and thought that it was okay, because I was a naturally thin person

• • I was always bloated, and just thought it was something inherited

• • I had Rosacea and thought it was also inherited

• • I took the birth control pill and thought it was an easy way to prevent pregnancy

• • I assumed because I exercised half-ass at the gym that I was a fit person

So, basically, the “shit was about to hit the fan,” and I had absolutely no idea. Years and years of this took place, too. I should have realized that my health was in danger, and that being bloated every single day was not normal, but I didn’t.

Enter the medical advice:

When you work in the Corporate World, you get access to the amazing health insurance coverage that we all live to work for. I used my plan so much for “normal” things, and thought I was taking care of myself that way.

I had a car accident when I was in High School where I collapsed my lung. I healed from it without issue, but was left with back pain, or at least I attributed the back pain to the car accident and not to the fact that I sat at a desk for 12 hours a day and was mildly overweight. No clue there.

I used my insurance for things like chiropractic visits. They’d tell me to do some home exercises (lightbulb), and give me a prescription for a muscle relaxant. You’ve got to love those chiropractors with their muscle relaxants. I even met my husband because of a car accident he had, and remember seeing him at the chiropractor (where we set up our first date, funny enough).

 "I attributed the back pain to the car accident and not to the fact that I sat at a desk for 12 hours a day and was mildly overweight."

Then came the stomach issue doctor visits. Since I was bloated, it also came with the constipation. I was on the birth control pill, as I mentioned, but never once thought it could be related, or never thought it was a diet issue. The doctors I saw, all specialists, told me to take Metamucil, a fiber powder that you mis with water and feel as large as a watermelon when you drink it, and they told me that I just have IBS (Irritable Bowel Syndrome).

IBS is BULLSHIT and it can all go away with proper steps, that we’ll discuss later in this article.

A start in the right direction?

So, when all of this is going on in my life and I saw one doctor after another and nothing was working, I develop this painful rash. I should capitalize Rash, because it was in a category of its own.

This rash was so painful (and I have the highest pain tolerance), and was all around my mouth. It was dry, would crack easily and putting lotion on it made it angry.

There again, another doctor visit. I saw several specialists, dermatologists, about this rash, and only one of them actually knew what it was: Perioral Dermatitis. We can save the shocking fact that only one specialist had the expertise to know what the rash was, for another story.

So, Perioral Dermatitis has no known cause, according to doctors, and can last for a couple years. A couple years. There are treatments to try and they were happy to help.

Enter steroids. The first method, the preferred method, is a topical steroid cream. This luxurious cream is supposed to calm the rash down, and make it moisturized and happy.

I was being sarcastic. Absolutely false.

The rash should have had its own zip code

The rash not only got worse, it spread to my eye area. I looked like I had something very contagious and I am certain that people probably had some serious hand washing sessions after passing me by in a public store.

It just would not go away, and stayed with me for months.

It gets worse before it gets better:

Now comes the fun part. I have this rash, back pain, bloating, constipation and Rosacea to deal with. I have a General Practitioner, Dermatologist and Gastroenterologist on speed dial. I am working 12-hour days, have a ton of stress and eat like shit.

I decide to take a drastic step.

I don’t know why, but something in my subconscious must have wanted better, because I wake up one day and decide that maybe the birth control that I’m taking is not a good idea. I may have overhead on the radio or something that it could cause weight gain or constipation, but I just literally woke up and said “that’s it, I’m stopping the pill.”

My husband and I weren’t trying to have a baby, so that had nothing to do with it. I just had this weird day that I wanted to do it. I am an extremely determined person. If I get something in my mind, it’s going to happen. I won’t stop until it does.

So, I quit the pill. Cold turkey.

That was probably the biggest change my body has ever gone through. What they don’t mention to you when you play Doctor Google, is that your hormones will take YEARS to balance. This is with supplementation, too. I was determined, as I said, so I waited it out.

I started taking Vitex, and found the best one on the market. I still take it to this day since it’s so powerful and also natural. You can try it for yourself. Vitex Supplement

In addition to the Vitex, I started focusing on the power of positivity. I read the book The Secret about 5 times, cover to cover, and one thing happened. I started to relax and felt happier.

“I am an extremely determined person. If I get something in my mind, it’s going to happen. I won’t stop until it does.

The unthinkable life event

There are moments in life that we will never forget. These moments may be fantastic or a tragedy. They are the moments that we all have inevitably at some point, no matter how amazing our life is going.

My life was started to see some clarity. I was reading about health and learning ways to heal more naturally, because of all the medical issues I had. I was starting to buy some cookbooks that were based on clean recipes, and the positivity I was receiving in the book The Secret was starting to work its magic.

Everything came tumbling down

I was always an animal lover since I was a small child. My Dad is a huge animal guy, so we always had a mini zoo in the house. He was the type of person that would rescue anything. We had an iguana named Otis (who ended up laying eggs, so Otis was a female), we had Jake the snake, a sexy, smooth Ball Python. We had a turtle named Popcorn, I had 2 birds, we had dogs, we had cats, you get the point.

When I moved out on my own, I got an apartment. I had a dog named Franklin who I rescued from the upper level, left lane, of the highway. I literally saw a dog sitting in a 6-inch space about to get hit by someone racing down the highway, so I stopped in the middle of the highway, and saved her. She was with me for a few years, then died of Heartworms.

Shortly after, I got the love of my life doggy. Have you had one of those? The dog who is your World- who understand you, who looks like you, who is loyal to the end.

That was my Sidney.

I got Sidney at 6 weeks old. She was my sidekick and BFF.

We did everything together. I remember one time we were walking by the pool at my apartment complex (Sidney was maybe 1 year old). I was talking to one of the neighbors and Sidney was exploring the pool area (it was gated so she could be loose). She was on the opposite side of the pool and I called her name so that we could leave. She looks up at me and instead of running around the pool to come to me, she went the faster route- she jumped in the pool and swan right to me. It was the first time she ever got into a pool. It was such a memorable moment.

Also, she wasn’t much of a licker. You know those dogs- the ones that lick you in the face until you are dripping? That wasn’t Sidney. She did give out the once-in-a-while lick, and when she did, it was like she was giving you a winning lottery ticket. She got so excited and would flip and roll over even if it was the tiniest lick. Priceless.

Then, at age 17, Sidney had a stroke. All time stopped. I spent my hours doing nothing but feeding her from a syringe, diapering her, helping her to stand up when she fell down, and just giving her unlimited hugs and kisses. My husband was right there, too, helping our Sid. I actually got her 2 years before we met, but he was there for most her life.

Two weeks before Sidney’s 18th birthday, she passed. The stress I had endured that past 10 months was the biggest stressor of my life. I now didn’t have my best friend any more, and I knew that it could easily spiral out of control and come tumbling down very hard.

Hello, weight gain

When you go through something tragic, especially combined with terrible eating habits and stress management, you may not realize that things are worse off than you imagined.

I bought a scale and weight myself after losing Sidney. I knew I was eating more than usual, but I didn’t realize just how bad it was.

The 30 pound shock 

The day I weighed myself, it was like a punch in the gut. I was 30 pounds heavier. It seemed like it happened overnight, but I knew this was not the truth. Deep down, I knew that years of my bad habits, combined with a major life event, caused this 30 pound increase.

I had nobody to blame but myself, and I was the only one who could fix this.

Actually, this body weight put me in a very dangerous category. I was now in the “overweight category,” which was not only shocking to me, but it was very scary. It’s one of those surreal moments where you have an outer body experience. How did I get here?

According to 2017–2018 data from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES):

• Nearly 1 in 3 adults (30.7%) are overweight (less than ideal healthy weight)
• More than 2 in 5 adults (42.4%) have obesity (have trouble losing weight and need weight loss immediately)
• About 1 in 11 adults (9.2%) have severe obesity (cannot lose weight, no successful weight loss and still have weight gain)
• •  

When you’re down, there is only one way to go

This couldn’t be more true of a statement, which is actually great news. I knew I had hit rock bottom and the only direction to go was up. By this point, I had lost my dog, I had gained 30 pounds, I was depressed about everything, I ate like shit and couldn’t figure out how or why it all happened “to me.”

I had been researching health for years now, but at the time I was making only a few changes here and there, and knew that I needed to get serious in order to turn my life around. I was not about to be a statistic and end up like this.

I did one thing right: I quit being the victim.

When things aren’t going your way, it’s so easy to fall into the victim trap. I could easily have sat there and felt sorry for myself, blamed the restaurants for serving heavy food, or any other excuse out there. I do know this- if you want it badly enough, you have to just do it.

So that is exactly what I did. I already had so many books in my library about health and medical advice. I began to pour myself into case studies, publications, research reports, you name it. I read and read and got so addicted to it that I became what I was reading. I eventually started to read about weight loss strategies and maintaining weight loss, too, since I was now in the “need to lose weight” category.

Then I had “the moment.” I became health.

Also, I let the information sink in to my subconscious instead of just skimming through it superficially. I really took the time to understand it and how things work, which was an incredibly effective way to learn.

The ugly truth

When you really start digging into information, you will discover some ugly truths– things that you didn’t even realize you were doing to harm your body and health. I truly did not even know how harmful things like fragrances, pesticides and seed oils were to my body.

I owned maybe 10 different perfumes and would always want to “smell nice,” not knowing that I was inhaling that toxicity all day. I would also wash my hair with something that had smelled like flowers or something tropical, so that I could think of the beach when I got a scent of my strands during the day. First of all, the beach does not smell like fake coconuts and pineapples. It just doesn’t.

Then, there are the pesticides. I not only had a “yard guy” that would come out and treat the weeds so that we could have the show lawn that all Americans are supposed to have, but I would spray my plants with fertilizer to make them appear to look healthy, and cover my landscaped beds with dyed mulch. Yes, that’s right. All of these things contain pesticides that are not only detrimental to the health of my plants and grass (both living things), but they also harmed my dog when she would go into the yard, and harmed my husband and I. We would open the windows frequently and let everything “air out,” which was basically letting the pesticides in to breathe more toxicity.

I really love cooking and learned to cook when I got married. I would watch popular cooking shows on TV and learned all the basics, like frying with vegetable oil and buying store bought salad dressing to save time. Did you know that vegetable oil isn’t even made from vegetables? That’s right. Also, I recently discovered that a salad dressing that I absolutely loved and ate for years’ primary ingredient was sunflower oil. Seed oils are very damaging to your body and I had no idea.

Changing how I thought about food

Now that I had information about what things were harmful, even though it was still a work in process, I started to make changes with my thoughts about food so that I could think about a healthy diet moving forward. We are wired from a very young age to be used to eating a certain way. We only “know what we know,” and all I knew was that I was used to eating certain foods because they tasted good.

The psychological part of eating is a big one. We all have those moments where we overeat for various reasons. Maybe it’s excitement from a job promotion and you go out to celebrate; maybe there is a sad situation that got you down and you binge and watch Netflix. Whatever it is, we’ve all done it at some point. I was well aware that I was doing this more often than I should.

To change my thinking about food, I became aware of everything I was eating. If I ate something terrible for me, I was aware. If I ate something clean and healthy, I was aware. I basically knew what I was eating and how many bad meals a day I consumed versus good ones. Mindful eating became my daily routine.

My goal was simple: to reduce the number of bad meals over time, reduce my total calorie intake, and to start slow. I started to make clean recipes and healthy meals more often for my husband and I. My supermarket visits were to buy lots of vegetables and spices and experiment to find things that we both liked.

The discovery

The discovery process was remarkable. I always had the opinion that healthy food sucked. It literally tasted bland and boring- like a plate of romaine lettuce with some olive oil on top of it. No flavor whatsoever. I was so incredibly wrong. Healthy eating was not for me because of this misconception.

I discovered that when you start experimenting with healthy foods and actually try new things, food is wonderful and delicious. Spices can take you to another dimension. Adding a Peruvian chili spice to a bowl of steamed potatoes will make the dish taste like you’re at a restaurant. Literally. Adding preserved lemon and harissa to a chicken breast as a marinade will make your chicken taste like you’re in the Mediterranean eating it at a beautiful little restaurant.

I started out this way- by using different spices to add flavor to my clean recipes. I also added healthy fats to my recipes, such as avocados and coconut oil. I’m glad I did, because I think this is a huge part of why it stuck. My hubby and I are foodies and love to eat. For me, I love the process of the meal. It’s like a ceremony. You get dressed up, you go to a restaurant, you are sent on a culinary journey that allows you to “travel through your taste buds,” which is emotional and satisfying.

Move, baby, move

Now that I started to cook some healthier meals each week, I knew that there was an integral part in my healing journey that I had to do: exercise. If I didn’t do this step, none of the other things I was doing for my health would work.

I had always exercised before. I did hard core High Intensity Interval Training for a few minutes, 3 times a week. I jogged and went to the gym to push weights around rather half-ass like. I “worked out” but didn’t work out.

Exercise or a “work out,” is just that- work. We can spend all day staring in the mirror at our pores and blemishes and spend another hour massaging creams on our faces at night to pamper our skin or better, “take care of it,” but we can’t take care of our bodies?

My body needed to be taken care of properly at this point. I had abused it long enough with the wrong foods, chemicals, stress, etc. Plus, the 30-pound weight would not go away on its own. I needed physical activity and a sustainable weight loss method that would support my weight management goals and also help me to lose weight safely. Weight loss, when done properly, can not only help you lose weight, it can also lower your blood sugar, lower your risk of heart disease and support your overall health.

I knew I needed a plan where I could be physically active, but it couldn’t be a weight loss program or something that was unrealistic and that I would relapse on. I had to be able to support my weight loss, but also implement lifestyle changes so that I could actually stick with this. I’m sure some of you can relate- when you’re not at your optimal health, it is very easy to ignore your weight loss goals and just go back to eating saturated fats and crapity crap crap.

I did one thing, which I would say changed the game for my entire journey. I started walking. My body wasn’t in the position to go all out and do HIIT or those other things I did in the past, because of the weight gain. I would literally hurt myself if I did that, and the goal is to be gentle on your body (it is all we have).

I would walk for 15 minutes, around the block in my neighborhood. I did this about 5 days per week. I walked in the rain, I walked when a front blew in. I retrained my brain to become walking. It was who I became.

I did this diligently, and didn’t see much of anything happening with successful weight loss at the beginning. Then, it all happened. In what seemed like overnight, I woke up, weighed myself, and there it was. I lost weight. I could not believe my eyes. Was the scale playing tricks with me?

Good things will come

The weight loss I saw was only a couple of pounds, but it was there, looking right at me. This process took exactly 3.5 months.

I knew that it had to happen eventually. I truly thought I had this excessively high metabolism and would have a supermodel body in 30 days, but that wasn’t on the menu.

The good thing is that it did take 3 months for the weight loss to start, and let me explain why. If the weight loss had come easily in 1 month, or even 6 weeks, it would have been an easy outlet. This would have been a way for me to go back to bad eating habits and just have a little “correction party” when I needed to slim down.

So, the time frame was perfect. Also, I was now addicted to the way walking made me feel. I felt energized, happy and like I could do anything I wanted. It was a natural drug.

My walks increased to brisk walking, and also in length, to 20 minutes. I even increased them to twice per day (still 5 times per week). Adding that second walk has really increased my metabolism because we get stagnant by the afternoon, and that jolts us back into energy mode. My exercise was becoming a part of my life and I felt great.

Refining my lifestyle

My lifestyle was improving so much at this point. I added a small jog and gym workouts to my routine, and really listen to my body when it comes to movement.

Your body is the best messenger. It told me all those years that it was sick or not feeling well, and I just chose to ignore it. After all, it is all about the choices we take that creates our life.

Now that my metabolism was high again, I was always hungry. The good news is that I was getting so used to the clean food that it’s the only thing my body wanted to eat. I was now making better health food choices, which played a drastic role in my long term weight loss goals. This will happen for everyone, with time.

When hubby and I eat out (and we still do, although less often), two things happen. First, we are aware of what we are ordering and know that if we eat crap, it’s our own doing. Also, we have totally changed the way we eat out. We not only look for restaurants that have healthier options, we share a plate. Sharing is caring.

The refinement in our dining process has made a huge impact on our health. I used to order more than my husband. I would literally eat until I was so full and could barely move. Now, we feel great when we leave a restaurant because we aren’t full.

I always have a little trick I do- stop eating after about 5 bites. Talk to your husband or your friends for a few minutes and drink some water. After a few minutes, see how you feel. Most always, I will feel satisfied. If you’re talking and eating mindlessly, you won’t even realize that you just cleaned up your plate, and your husband’s leftovers.

External results and feeling different

Now for the fun part- the results. My hard work and dedication didn’t just pay off with a few pounds of weight loss. It took about 6 months for the 30 pounds to come off, but it all did. That was almost 5 years ago, and I have kept every bit of it off.

Additionally, I drastically improved my supplement regimen. I believe that supplements are extremely important, but you really have to know what you’re actually taking, and they have to be the utmost clean formulas on the market. If they aren’t, you’re wasting your money, or even worse, maybe putting harmful ingredients like chemicals into your body.

Since I changed up my supplements, had lost the weight and was exercising to my full potential, I looked completely different on the outside. 

The results on the inside, though, were astonishing. When I tell you I feel more energy than I had as a teenager, it is no joke. I feel youthful, my skin is clear, the IBS is completely gone and I have ZERO bloating. 

I have no redness on my face whatsoever, or dry, red rashes. I am happy, I feel clear and can concentrate easily. I feel positive and motivated.

Also, one huge, and I mean HUGE benefit of all of this is the fact that I can sleep. I had so much trouble sleeping when I was in my prior health state. I never realized that things like a full stomach or excessive alcohol were the reasons I would wake up in the middle of the night and not go back to sleep. Today, I sleep like a baby and also take the proper supplements to help me achieve that.

I take no prescriptions and have no ailments or health conditions. I actually free free, liberated and fully alive.

True wellness and my healthiest self

My true wellness has definitely changed its course over the years. I have become my healthiest version of myself than I ever have, and I cannot believe that it’s possible to feel this good. The exterior is just a bonus, because the way I feel inside is how I want to feel always.

To have true wellness is a complete and total circle. It’s not just eating healthy and exercising. It’s happiness with yourself, your relationships and connection with your spiritual beliefs. It’s to “be well,” which is an art.

Everyone’s artwork is different, but the blank canvas is the same. The goal is to preserve our fine piece of art and maintain it so that it’s always beautiful and unique.

My advice

I will say that it took me a very long time to get to where I am today. It took years of researching and a lot of trial and error. It’s still, to this day, a work in progress, as I continue to research and work on self development.

My advice to anyone who is stuck and doesn’t know where to begin, or who is in a routine and wants to get better, is to just start small. You can and will do it! Believe me, it will work.

Most people try for a short time and stop because they feel it isn’t working. If you actually keep going past those thoughts (and they will come), you will succeed.

My goal is to share information I’ve learned throughout the years with you all, so that you can also benefit from it. I have a YouTube channel that I will share videos about all of this with you. The goal is to spread health and awareness, so that we can all live like Blue Zone centenarians.

Please read more on my blog page. I hope this was inspirational from you, and I am excited to help with your journey, wherever your starting point may be.

For more information, watch How I Lost 30 Pounds- My Wellness Routine below