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I Got a Little Chubby

 Hi.


My name is Noelle.


Last New Year’s Eve, I planned to start a blog called “I Got a Little Chubby” that would be all about my journey to get in better physical and financial shape over 2020. 

But, New Year’s Day, we found out we were expecting baby #6.

Oh yeah, then we spent much of the rest of the year in a worldwide pandemic. 

So, I gained a lot more weight. And we racked up a lot more debt. 

What a bust.

(I did lose around six pounds in August. His name is Andre and he’s beautiful.)

So, here we are at the end of 2020 and the start of a New Year. This time I have to do this. It’s time for change and I very much pray for the grace of self-discipline and the fruit of the Spirit that is self-control. 

My kids are out of shape too and that’s my fault. But when you lose your job, which I did during the pandemic, you cut out all the fun activities. No more skateboarding lessons, dance class, martial arts, or Beachbody on Demand. 

Just food. What can we reward the kids with? I can’t buy that new toy or take you to the movies, how’s about a candy bar? 

And that’s how the year went. 

It’s not that I didn’t or don’t care about our health, it’s that it quickly spiraled out of control and I met the events in epic fail as best I could. Not that I tried to fail but that I really did the best I could in those moments  and I give myself mercy for that, but it ended up as an epic fail when I realized my reward relationship with food is...bad.

But just like a good night of sleep can be a giant reset, or a great Confession (I’m Catholic) is a fresh chance  to start again, I’m here with goals for 2021. 

I am sharing my journey here with you because it gives me accountability and, I hope, solidarity. 

I don’t know what my starting weight is because my kids put the scale in the bathtub to see what they weigh underwater but I’m guessing I have about 60lbs to lose. This time, I’m not going to worry about numbers on the scale, but I’ll share pictures and strategies. I can squeeeze into a large and a size 12. So, we can start there. 

Debt wise, we need to go back on the cash system. Every month we are scrambling to come up with just a little more money. Somehow God provides... this just wasn’t the year we expected. We needed help. A lot. But this is a season and we have everything we need. 

The challenge is going to be feeding family on a budget. But I’ll write more on that later this week.

Welcome to my journey. So long 2020. 

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