From Hopeless to Winner! Carrie’s story.

I both hate and love this comparison picture (attached). I love that it is a visual representation of the changes that have happened in my body in the last 6 months….but it doesn’t begin to show everything else about those changes.

I’ve been on some sort of quest for health on and off for the last five years at least, probably more. Until last fall, that quest always led me to ….just lose the weight and you’ll feel better. That did work for a time. But then it stopped working. I had lost 80 lb, but I still felt terrible. So much inflammation…digestion that hurt…tired….angry….I felt like I couldn’t possibly be getting it more wrong while doing everything “right”. And then I found Vivica. 

I had started to investigate the benefits of keto more closely. I was reading about the claims that keto could not only help with weight loss, but also with hormonal healing. But there was so much that I didn’t understand! I knew I needed someone to look at my individual situation and walk me through it. What little hope I had left needed a nurturer. When I heard Vivica’s podcast interview with  Leanne Vogel (The Keto Diet Podcast), I was pretty sure I’d found my person. I had just gained an unexplained 10lbs after returning to what I thought was right eating. I was in pain, angry and so frustrated.

I contacted Vivica and ultimately signed up for her program, which included one on one counseling. Vivica reminds me of my first reactions to her instructions…..I was belligerant! I was so sick of everyone telling me what to do, thinking they knew what was best. I was already doing all the right things!! It turns out there were more right things, and I needed the kind of person who could gently but firmly insist on compliance. Vivica worked through my doubt and continually points me in the right direction. She is patient with me and is very quick to provide suggestions (which always end of being answers!) to all my ongoing symptoms. 

The Healing Foods Method taught me so much that every other nutrition plan never did. Our systems….hormonal, nervous, mindset,digestion….all work together. There are ways to address all of them so that they can be harmonious. With this plan, I set out to become healthy and feel better. Of course I wanted to lose weight…but I felt so crappy that I really just wanted to get healthy. Vivica helped me to put that into perspective. We focused on everything but the weight loss. And results came almost immediately! Her suggestions really changed how I felt on a day to day basis. 

I ride my horses in competitive endurance races. Last August (that’s the picture on the left in the comparison photo), I knew I had to change something if I was going to continue to enjoy riding. After the ride in that picture, I did not get on either of my horses until January. Finally, after being with Vivica’s program for 3 months, I felt good enough to get back on my horse, Brimi.

Brimi and I have been conditioning steadily ever since. (See video of us in winter!) Somewhere during this time I lost 50lb. I didn’t try….I just got healthy. My body is taking care of the rest. Vivica said it would happen….I trusted her. Once I started to feel better, I truly didn’t care if the weight came off or not, but it has. And it continues to. Today I’m down another 2lb.

 

But the point is that I can do what I set out to do. Last weekend my horse and I won our 25 mile race, and Brimi was awarded the Best Condition prize…meaning his fitness outshone the other horses. This is truly a magnificent story on so many levels. He and I are the little team that could. As an Icelandic Horse, he typically would not be able to keep up with, never mind beat, the Arabian horses who are bred for this sport. But with hard work and dedication from both of us, we’ve accomplished the unimaginable. We didn’t set out to win….its a really nice reward for our hard work. It’s a moment I’m very proud of and I will keep it with me forever. 

Vivica has never left my side. My story isn’t done yet. I have so many things I’m excited to do in a body that is functioning the way it was meant to. I will continue to consult Vivica for a long time to come, I’m sure. She has so much knowledge and experience and has been able to answer every question that has come up in this process. I am so grateful for that. She is a professional who is fulfilling her true calling; I am inspired by this. I would hope for anyone that they be able to find the thing that is theirs to do with their whole mind, body and spirit. Sometimes in order to get there, we need a little help. Thank you, Vivica, for being my help. <3