My Journey to Better Health With a Side Effect of Weight Loss

Howdy you all! Wow, 2 blog posts in one day!! Yup...that's the truth!! 😀

Anyway, I wanted to take a few minutes to share with you the health journey I entered on Mother's Day, May 11, 2025.

But first....a bit of backstory for you. My beloved maternal cousin Deb put a before and now picture of herself on her facebook page a few months ago. I knew that she had been working hard on her health in the last year and was looking amazing. I also knew that she was doing an intermittent fasting lifestyle. When I saw her most recent picture on fb, I ask her a quick question in her comments..."are you still doing IF?" She told me she was. I immediately sent her a private message and told her..."Okay, I want to know everything. I feel like this is something God is leading me to do!" 

That began my messaging back and forth with her. She shared what IF looked like for her and then she recommended a book to me. Delay Don't Deny (2nd edition) by: Gin Stephens. 

See below: 👇

I sent away immediately for the book. You can get it on amazon. It's super simple to read and it's like Gin is sitting in my living room chatting with me!! 

Deb also told me about Gin's podcasts, too. I ordered the book that day, and began listening to one of the podcasts called:  Intermittent Fasting Stories: Gin Stephens.  I listen on Spotify, but you can catch it wherever you listen to podcasts. This has been truly inspirational. I just LOVE each and every individual story that is shared on the podcast. They record a new one each week. I started at number 1, and am now on 134. It's been such an encouragement to me. I'm sure you will love it, too!! (See below) 👇

Deb let me know that the most important thing was embracing a clean fast. What does that mean?? It's pretty simple. During the fasting window consuming only water, black coffee, or black tea. Um....whaaat????? Black coffee?? What about stevia, or my beloved creamer with allulose?? NOPE. NADA....only black.  You see, I had dabbled with fasting last year and thought I was doing great with it. BUT....I was drinking my collagen fatty coffee with stevia and my creamer during my fast, and also having fasting snacks, too. 

Okay...okay...okay....I can do this. I had my first cup of black coffee, #didIdie ?? #noIdidnotdie !! Now it's second nature. Truly. 

Deb has been such a blessing to me. Checking in with me each week, and that has been awesome! 

So, this Sunday will complete my 8th week of doing IF and embracing the clean fast. Things have been going really well for me. I began with doing an 18-hour clean fast with a 6-hour eating window. Then for the next few weeks I did a 19-hour clean fast with a 5-hour eating window. Within those eating windows I usually have a nice hearty snack to break my fast and then a full meal with my family to close out my window. It's gone really well.  When you are fasting clean, and giving your body a break from digestion and allowing it to rest and heal, a really awesome thing called "body recomposition" occurs. I liken it to sculpting. It's slow and precise. Also, a 17 hour or more fast allows autophagy to occur in the body. This is an amazing phenomenon. Here is some info about it:

Autophagy is a natural cellular mechanism by which the cells in our body degrade unnecessary or damaged components within the cell. The process of autophagy helps maintain normal functioning (homeostasis) in the cell. The term “autophagy” literally means “self-eating.”

Though autophagy sounds like self-destruction, the process actually helps clean up harmful material inside the cells and rejuvenates them. Autophagy may completely destroy damaged molecules, or recycle them into new components which can be used for cellular repair. This can be accomplished during fasting. 

Here are the stats so far: 

Scale: Down a mere 3.9 lbs (This my dear friends is why the scale should NOT be the only measure of results!! I weigh myself once per week)

Picture below 👇. Left is May 11, 2025 (Mother's Day) and the right is Sunday June 22. 

*Let me just say, this is a bit humbling to put this picture on here, BUT....this is me, and my health journey. I'm praying it's encouraging to you all! A picture truly is worth 1,000 words!!! 

Measurements: 

This can be hard to do manually on my own! Can you relate?? Truly....a tape measure, and what spot did I put it here or there last time?? Did I cinch it up too much?? Etc, etc. So....I downloaded a free version of the app Me 360. I did a scan on May 31st, and then I did a 2nd scan today. I plan to do it monthly. This app allows you to do a comparison and it does the math for you. 

Stats:

Body fat:  -3,2 %!!!!

Inches lost:  6.3!!!!

Body surface area lost: .2 square feet

And...last but NOT least....drum roll please....Lean body mass increased by:  5.6 pounds!!!!  Y'all, this is HUGE!!!! Truly!!!

So...I'd love to share my journey with you!! You have a front row seat!! This is what I LOVE about IF. 

*IT'S FREE OF CHARGE!!! Truly....from someone who has spent a BOATLOAD of money on this plan, that plan and the other plan, this is such a blessing! 

*I am a study of one! I get to decide what works best for me and adjust accordingly! This has been so wonderful!

*I have a giant increase of energy! My mental focus is on point, too! I LOVE being in the fasted state!!

*There are truly so many health benefits, and the weight loss, is just that. A lovely side effect! 

Please let me know if you have any questions. I'd love to come along side of you and encourage you! 

I promise to keep you posted! I truly do!!

💕💕

M

A girl and her love of horses!!

Okay beloved blog readers. I am finally back and committed to keeping you updated on our life here at Grace Abounding Farm. 

Rosie loves horses, and always has. She is not alone. Truth be told, I have always loved horses. ALWAYS, and I dreamed of having a horse of my own, too. Growing up in Candia, NH, we lived in the PERFECT location to have a horse. We had a barn, and plenty of land. But it wasn't to be. Then when I was 10, my Dad moved us to Strafford, NH. It told me, "Mary, I promise you that in our new home, I will get you a horse." I clung to that promise, but alas, it did NOT happen. 

Fast forward 50 years and here we are. Rosie has been taking riding lessons with our dear friend Kate for a couple of years now. Rosie has become best friends with Kate's youngest, Mackenzie. They have so much in common, especially their love of horses and riding. And can I just tell you that their friendship is a gift straight from God, truly. 

On Saturday, the girls represented Belknap county at the 4-H qualifying horse show. They both did amazing!! I'm so proud of both of them! They will be representing Belknap County at the 4-H state horse show July 11-13 at the Deerfield fairgrounds. 

We will be taking our camper over, and Kate and the girls and I will be staying there for the weekend! We'd LOVE to see you there! Most of the events will be on Saturday. I will keep you posted!! 

Don't Be Afraid

Good afternoon precious blog readers! Praying that you are doing well on this the last day of January, 2023. On Sunday at church we sang an awesome song. Don't Be Afraid. As we were singing it, I thought, "Wow, this could be our theme song right now with all that we have going on in our family. The words just completely felt like this song was meant just for us. 

Don't Be Afraid lyrics:

1. When deep water curls around you and fear replaces faith.

When the floods would seem to overwhelm God's promises of grace .

When the fires seem overtaking and all seems torn and tossed.

Trust His Word. O truly listen, hear Him say, "All is NOT lost."

Chorus:

Don't be afraid, don't be afraid. I have redeemed you, you are mine; Don't be afraid.

Don't be afraid, don't be afraid. You are a precious child to Me; DON'T BE AFRAID!

2. I am with you through the water.

I am with you through the flood.

They will NEVER overwhelm you.

I have bought you with my blood.

Even though you walk through fire.

I'LL GO WITH YOU ALL THE WAY!

I'M YOUR SAVIOR, TRULY LISTEN, HEAR ME SAY, THESE WORDS I SAY:

"Don't be afraid, don't be afraid. I have redeemed you, you are mine; Don't be afraid.

Don't be afraid, don't be afraid. You are a precious child to Me; DON'T BE AFRAID!

I especially LOVE this second verse. God is truly with us through the water, and with us through the flood. He promises they will NEVER overwhelm us because He has bought us with His blood. Even though we walk through fire, he is with us all the way. You see we are NOT promised that there won't be fire or floods, but God will NEVER leave us nor forsake us! For this promise, I am so very thankful!

A bit of an update here. We had a wonderful Christmas season. Jonathan came home for a visit! We haven't seen him in over a year! It was AWESOME!! We had our 2nd annual gingerbread house making day, which was amazing!! Check it out!

The whole group! What am amazing blessing!!! 

Love this picture so very much! 

We had a charcuterie board brunch!  

Glenn and I and the grands! 

We had a wonderful Christmas eve candlelight service at church, too. What a blessing!

We ended up using our gingerbread house for target practice. That was fun!

The sunrise was super beautiful on this particular winter morning!

Check out the travel mug Nicole got me! It truly warmed my heart!

We celebrated Rosie's 12th birthday with a special girls day out with Annie, Rosie's niece and best friend!

Happy 12th birthday Rosie girl! We sure do love you!

Last Saturday, I started back with beach body on demand and an old favorite workout series, 9 week control freak. I LOVE it and this is my 3rd time going through it!

💓

So in pictures, this wraps up what has been happening here on the brighter side of things. We sure do covet your prayers with all of the school drama that we have going on right now. We trust the Lord and know that He is in control.

Until next time! Please keep in touch, oh and by the way....we LOVE comments! Make a comment and let us know you stopped by, kay??

M 💗

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