Typically, the average person does not get excited about gaining weight, but I’m not normal.

Many of you were with me over this past year as I went through some experimentation. First, last August through October, I went on my 3 month food experiment of eating like the average American (the Standard American Diet). I gained 18 pounds just by changing how I ate. Then over the next two months I proceeded to lose 20 pounds by just switching back to my routine of eating real food and eating clean food.

My normal eating lifestyle. Twenty pounds lost just by eating differently. Amazing, huh?! Then in April of this year, my husband went on his 28 day challenge following a meal plan that I designed for him. In those 28 days, he lost 28 pounds and 4 1/2″ off of his waist! That was awesome!

Then, about 45 days ago I put myself on a challenge that I am affectionately calling #takethat40! You see, I turned 40 in May and I was bound and determined to enter my 40’s healthier then I did in my 20’s and 30’s. This meant I would have to implement some changes. I eat healthy and I was a healthy weight, but I wasn’t necessarily toned, lean and fit. So, this was my new challenge. I gathered some info and created my own workout routine that I decided to do 7 days a week. Other than a few days when we were on vacation – I have stuck with my morning routine. I also told myself not to use a scale to measure my progress. I would just measure results by how my clothes fit, how I felt and by simply by how I looked.

Until yesterday. I decided to step on a scale and to my surprise I found out that I have gained 7 pounds.

Seven pounds in just 45 days.

BUT – this was a good weight gain. My clothes fit great and many are baggy now since I’ve toned up quite a bit. I feel amazing and my overall body strength has increased – so seeing this increase in weight did not bother me one bit. It told me that my hard work is paying off! Does this mean I’m going to stop my challenge soon? Nope! I made a decision to purposely NOT put a deadline on my newest, personal challenge. Why? Simple – my plan was to make being active, fit, toned and lean my lifestyle – not just a mere experiment.

So far, it’s working! I feel great and for the most part, I look forward to my morning workouts. Except for this morning when it was only 48 degrees outside here in Colorado – when usually it’s about 75 degrees. Cold. I did it anyway though. I made a committment to myself that I would follow through with this and I will!

My challenge in telling you all of this is to remind all of you beautiful people that numbers on a scale should never define you. Never. Even if you feel the numbers on the scale are higher than what you’d like – don’t ever let those numbers define you. Numbers on a scale, numbers or letters on clothes – they don’t make you you! You are more valuable than numbers. Never forget that!

Now, don’t forget to keep up with me on my #takethat40! You can find me all over social media these days and I’d love to have you join me so we can reach a greater number of people with the message of what true health is! One of our newest ventures is live streaming on Periscope and Meerkat (Periscope being my favorite). Love these! You get the opportunity to watch me randomly do live streaming from the kitchen, from our property – wherever I feel like talking to you! Please join us if you haven’t already!

Periscope: my username is LIVINGSTRONGHW….Periscope.tv is where you can go to download the app on your Apple or Android. Would love to see you jump on a broadcast, say hi and bombard me with those little love hearts – haha!

Meerkat: my username is KARIKANEWSOM…Meerkat is another app that you can download for Apple or Android.

You can also find us on instagram at “eatreal.eatclean” and Facebook at facebook.com/LivingStrongWellness.

Until we speak again on the blog or chat over live streaming, thanks for being a part of my tribe! I love having all of you in my life!

xo Kari