On the Road to a New Healthy Lifestyle

I’ve failed at sharing some of my personal life with my readers lately. It’s important that you know who is behind the articles you read. I’m heading down a new journey and I thought what a great opportunity this would be to start sharing a little about who Easter Babe is. If you haven’t read already, my name is Brandi and my nickname is Easter Babe because I was born on Easter. So I decided to call my blog Easter Babe’s Theory. I hope you’ve enjoyed exploring all the marvelous topics I’ve been sharing lately. Not too long ago I decided to incorporate travel and now I want to expand on health and fitness.

Getting a little more personal, I want to share my upcoming weight-loss journey. The reason for this is not to try and sell you something but rather finding a connection with those that may have a similar story as mine. About two years ago I was diagnosed with several health issues. Once the doctors found one thing, they then found another. Unfortunately, most of it seemed to hit me at once. It all started with internal bleeding. I ended up in the hospital and they did several tests, gave me IV’s and temporarily medicated me. They suggested that I see a Gastrologist to get a colonoscopy and endoscopy. Later, the GI diagnosed me with Crohn’s Disease which is a chronic inflammatory disease (IBD) of the digestive tract. On top of that, I also have Gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD) which is a chronic digestive disease.

After all of this testing, another issue arose unexpectantly with my liver. When the hospital looked at my MRI, they found lesions on my liver. It’s covered with small lesions which are also known as adenomas or tumors. I was diagnosed with a rare liver disease called Hepatic Adenomatosis of the Liver, also known as Hepatocellular Adenomas. These are uncommon benign liver tumors that are hormone-induced. I had been on an oral contraceptive for 20 years. I had to immediately stop taking them and I can no longer be on any type of hormones. Shortly after I ended up getting a hysterectomy. Supposedly, there tends not to be any pain associated with HCAs. That is as long as the adenomas don’t burst. The internist is not wanting to do a biopsy at the moment because of this risk. Since I have so many small adenomas covering my liver, it may be difficult to get around not bursting one. So for the meantime, I continue to get MRI’s to monitor them along with blood work. Recently I was also diagnosed with Hepatic Steatosis which is a Non-alcoholic Fatty Liver Disease (NAFLD). This could be related to the adenomas or maybe just from the weight that I’ve gained.

Right before all of these problems, I was diagnosed with Degenerative Disc Disease (DDD) along with arthritis and torn ligaments in my back. All of these issues left me in severe pain. Not to mention all the medical procedures and testing that I had to go through. Unfortunately, I was in the bed for about an entire year with minimum activity. This lead to someone bringing me fast food all the time or simply ordering one of my favorite foods to be delivered, pizza. Normally, all of the GI issues would cause you to not want to eat. Well… I’m a foodie! I absolutely love food. Eating my favorite foods just puts me in a happy place. I don’t care how much pain it will put me in afterward. That’s until I actually feel the pain and then I regret it. It’s a pattern with me as I just keep repeating the same ole eating pattern over and over.

Well, it stops now! In the past 2 years, I’ve gained a whopping 70 pounds. I’m extremely miserable and unhappy with my appearance. I’m on a mission to lose this weight. I can’t do this on my own so I researched online to find the right program to help me. Since I have a liver disease, I can’t be on any programs that offer different types of herbs, vitamins, or some “miracle” pill. So I was on the lookout for a program that can simply help me learn how to eat properly. For the next 3 months, I will be participating in the Medifast Go! weight-loss program. Medifast offers meal replacements and snacks to cover an entire day’s worth of food. They have over 65 portion controlled, low calorie, fortified, delicious meals to choose from.

I’ve never tried a meal replacement weight-loss plan because I’m such a picky eater. For real, I eat like a kid! My favorite foods are mac-n-cheese, pizza, and cheeseburgers. That’s what I’ve pretty much lived on for my entire life. If it doesn’t have cheese, then I don’t want it. This is another reason I decided to go with a meal replacement plan. Medifast Go! has an easy to follow program that teaches you what to eat and when to eat.  This program will help me to set a healthy meal routine by eating six times a day to kee my metabolism running. I love the idea of dieting but not starving myself!

I’m already addicted to the Cheddar & Sour Cream Popcorn along with the Strawberry Crunch Bars. They even have mac-n-cheese! It’s not like my fattening homemade recipe but it’s pretty good for a healthy meal replacement. I’ve only been on the meals for 5 days now so I’m going to keep you updated on how the meals taste and update you on my progress for the next three months.

Would you like to give Medifast a try and join me in my journey?!

I have a Special Offer just for my readers! You can receive an entire week of FREE Medifast Meals. That’s 35 meals for 7 days

PLUS a Food Journal + Plan Guide + Dining Out Guide + Blender Bottle + Free Shipping with the first order as part of a renewal plan!

Click here for this Exclusive Offer with Medifast Go!

Be sure to check back in a couple of weeks for my next update!

“*Average weight loss for Medifast Direct® customers using Medifast Go™ is 11 pounds. Medifast Direct customers are in weight loss, on average, for 8 weeks.”