Kim's Weight Loss Details Revealed: "I Was Addicted To The Struggle"

*This transcript was auto-generated*

Kim Gravel: Coming up on the Kim Gravel show. I think the thing I'm most proud of though, is my weight loss. I will tell you this. I want to tell y'all this. Now this, I have not shared with anybody.

Opening Introduction: Let's just go on and spill the tea. This is The Kim Gravel Show. This is one of the realest persons I've ever met in my darn life. You gotta watch this. My mission is to encourage every single woman, we're here to lift y'all up. There's no one more effective than moms. You mess with the bull. You going to get the horns. I need coffee. I need Jesus and I need therapy. If you can bring a smile to people's faces, why would you not? We love our kids. We love our husbands. What a blessing. We're gonna dedicate this to you in finding your superpower. Okay girl. True confidence is knowing who you are and why you're here.

Kim Gravel: Hey, everybody's Kim Gravel. This is the Kim Gravel show. Each episode, we are talking, experiencing, you know, learning, growing about how we can level up our lives just a little bit. I know that's what we all want to do. We all want to live these full, rich lives. And, and you can, you can, and every week we're going to be talking about that.

So today we are going to be introducing our December series. So we're just doing these amazing little. Episodes about how to finish strong right here at the holidays. Right? So it's, we've got a few more weeks, I mean, a handful of weeks until the year is over. And 2023 has been for me personally, a transformational year, Zac.

It's been I mean, I mean, I've written a book. I have started two new companies that, you know, we'll be launching in 2024. A lot of groundwork has been laid there, but I think one of the, I know exhausting, but exciting. I think the thing I'm most proud of though, is my weight loss.

Zac Miller: Really? That's the thing you're most proud of.

Kim Gravel: That's really truly, truly for 2023. When I look back over 2023, I mean, as I'm approaching the new year and I'm looking back, it's so fantastic not to have this heaviness, literally weighing over me like, Oh God, I've got to lose this weight. I've got to lose weight. You know, every single year I go into the new year with that 75 Goal.

And as I'm, as I'm wrapping up the year before, I'm always going, I wish, you know, I have regrets. I look back and say, why didn't I do it? Wonder what kept me from it? And it all happened with one decision.

Zac Miller: Okay, let's dig, let's dig into that, Kim, because I think that is something that has been hard for a lot of people to really understand.

 You know, I was, it was actually just on your Facebook the other day and I was looking at a bunch of comments and so many people commenting on, I think it was one of your live shows or something. And it was like, Oh my gosh, Kim, how did you lose the weight? You have to tell us how to lose the weight.

You haven't talked about how you lose the weight. And you know, I was like, Oh, well, you know, you've talked about it. You're very open about it. And I think it's hard for people to really. Kind of get so let's let's dig into it a little more. I think this was also our most popular episode from the whole season of 2023 was the weight loss episodes your episode and also the episode that We had david venable talking about his weight loss and we can link both of those in the show notes.

Kim Gravel: Well, I I think it's I I i'm not shocked by that because I think it is a Epidemic first it is is an absolute like we are such a culture that's obsessed with weight.

I think We are at a place where it's a crisis, I think, you know, with obesity and diabetes, and even it's getting younger and younger and younger. But honestly, it has been a struggle for me, Zac, for two decades. And it's so funny because Amy and I were talking, today, actually, cause she, we had a show this morning and she texts you this girl, you're getting so thin and I'm really, I'm really not getting any thinner.

I've lost the way. Now I'm up to a 50 pound weight loss. Whoa. I think it's like 48 points, something. So we just go round up. So it's a 50 pound weight loss. I am five pounds less than my goal weight that I can, that I wanted. And I don't even want to say goal weight because now my mother, who is, bless her heart, she's saying that don't get too thin.

I mean, it was just like, like six months ago, my mom was like, no, you need to lose some weight for your health. You need to lose. And now it's like, don't get too thin. I mean, and how, how crazy is that, Zac, that I've been trying to do this for two decades, but it did. Start with me getting sick and tired of being sick and tired and I just, you know.

Zac Miller: To me, that is such a powerful thing and it's, it's worth sort of repeating this idea of like.

You made a decision but you made it in a way that it really stuck and I think there's something to that and something behind that and I want you to talk about that because I think it's we all need to be reminded that we have actually like this amazing power inside of us to change our own lives, right?

Kim Gravel: That's the word. That's the word right there. Because when you make a decision, you make a powerful promise to yourself, you know, a lot of times. I am a person and I know probably a lot of you listening to this right now have a lot of responsibilities and we make a lot of promises and have a lot of responsibility for other people, for businesses, for Children, for our households.

I mean. We are loaded down with responsibility and we make a lot of promises to other people and in a lot of us, when we tell you a lot of people out there listening to this, you would never dream of letting down a promise or commitment to your kid. A lot of you sit here listening. You'd be like, I'm going to be at your game and come hell or high water.

You're going to be at that game. A lot of you said that, you know, you've, you're going to buy something and you lay down that. Credit card and that promise to pay a promise to buy and you take it home and you and you pay your bills. I mean, you pay those promissory notes, right? A lot of us make promises to ourselves that we never keep.

I know I did.

Zac Miller: I do too, all the time.

Kim Gravel: So, when I made the decision, that's when the weight started coming off. Now, a lot of you have asked me, what program did you work? I used Factor, who's one of our sponsors, which is a meal controlled, very, it's very nutritional. And, and you're saying, Kim, are you pushing them hard?

I am, because they're good. So, for those of you who do not have time to go and make nutrition, nutritionist meals that are like, Nutritional, not nutritionist, nutritional meals that are 550 calories or less because that's about what you should be eating. You have to be in a calorie deficit. Of course, that's logic to to lose weight.

 That's a perfect opportunity to for you to eat fresh, you know, good for you meals that are not prepackaged and full of sodium and full of cruddy stuff.

Zac Miller: Okay. Well, and here's the thing. I think you were going to the drive thru a lot. Like you needed fast, literally fast food. You were like.

Kim Gravel: And it's factor is fast food.

Zac Miller: And faster is fast because it takes two minutes.

Kim Gravel: It takes, I'm not trying to hard sell you on this, get it or don't get it. But that's, that's, that's just something. I mean, like if you're that person and you need some solutions here, because people are always saying, Kim, what did you do? I'm telling you what I did.

I made the decision and decided and made a promise to myself. Right.

Zac Miller: And so just to widen that out though, portion control, like that's what you did. You cut out like the, you cut out the fast food.

Kim Gravel: Let me get to that. Let me get to that. Because, I was going through drive thrus, and, and, until I sat down and did the math, and, listen.

I'm gonna keep it 100 percent real with you and be very transparent. I was probably eating about 4, 000 calories a day. 4, 000! I didn't 3, 500 to 4, 000 calories a day. Sometimes even more. That I wasn't even consciously I mean, I was just so busy. And just I wasn't like, just sitting there going You know, it was not purposeful.

It was just convenient.

Zac Miller: Are you, do you snack? Were you a snacker? Like when you have,

Kim Gravel: Dude, you know, I snack.

Zac Miller: Yeah, I know. I also know that you had like a drawer of sweets in your desk.

Kim Gravel: Cause I mean, I just, that's stress eating. I mean, I stress, you know, and so, but I wasn't, I wasn't sitting there going, I am stress eating.

Okay. I, I just, it was just habit. It was just habit forming. And it was just, it soothes a lot of my. You know, stress, but on top of that, let's not even talk about that because we're talking about making the decision to do some. So if you're even listening to this and even curious about it, you're ready to make the decision, right?

So you make the decision. So factors a way to really have this convenient set yourself up for success. That's what I did. So I started with factor and then. You know, you can't eat factor every day, all day. I can't, I don't have a mic. I'm not going around traveling the world with a micro microwave. Okay. So, I, I had to start really thinking about what I consumed.

So I, I got rid of all because people ask me how I did it. So I got rid of all sodas. Sweet teas and drinks. I only this people say, you say, Kim, what's in this cup? It's water. It's not a Coca Cola. It's water with a lime. I don't know if y'all can see it. Okay. Okay. I see it. So that's all I drink now. Even if I've got to go through the drive through and get a grilled chicken sandwich.

So what drink do you want? I want water. Well, ma'am, you get a drink for free. I want water. I probably drink a hundred ounces of water every day. And y'all I'm telling you when I did that, I cut out like a thousand calories.

Zac Miller: Drinking sugar is so bad for you because your body there's actually like, you know, I, my wife is a food anthropologist.

So like we, we talk about this stuff a lot and you know, obviously like we don't. We have little kids and we're trying to figure out how to like, you know, when do you let them have soda and stuff? And like, you know, we don't let our kids have soda at this age. And. It's so hard because your body doesn't know when to stop.

Like you can keep drinking soda and keep drinking soda and keep drinking soda. And like all cards on the table, I love Coca Cola. Like, I love Dr. Pepper. Yeah, I love soda. Yeah, I, that would be my choice. Like if I was, if you were like, you put a bunch of, you know, sweets in front of me and, and you know, can of Coke or something.

I'll probably choose the coke.

Kim Gravel: It's so much easier. You can drink a lot more than you can eat. So, so that was a, that was a choice to cut out, cut out all the cells that just have water and you'd be surprised how I was so dehydrated, like I was so swollen and you'd think I would be retaining water, but the swelling was coming from my inflammation.

So the first three weeks I looked like I had lost 15, 20 pounds because just of the inflammation going down. Okay. So then after that, I, here comes to what I want to talk to you about in this episode. Okay. I made the decision and I made a few tweaks and changes. So it doesn't, I tell you what, the decision to make, to do this is one thing.

And then don't think these big monumental decisions you have to make in your life that a lot of times we don't make that decision because we think, Oh, all the responsibility that's going to come with making that decision, stresses me out. Gives me anxiety. So what I say, make little simple changes.

You take a bite out of this elephant one bite at a time. But what comes next? So this was, this happened a couple of months and I lost like 27 pounds. But what came next was so powerful. Because I made myself the promise that I was never going to get that way again.

Zac Miller: Ooh. Wow. Okay. So the, so you made the promise.

What did that do? Like, what did that feel like? Bring us into that moment for you when you realized that you were never going to get it back.

Kim Gravel: Well, when I made the decision to lose the weight. And I started losing that gave me momentum. And so there was a point where I thought, I cannot believe I've lost 27 pounds.

I look so good. I haven't looked this good in decades. I haven't felt this good in decades. And don't, don't, don't, don't fool yourself. Don't fool yourself. Say, well, I just want to feel better. No, you won't look good too. It's a part of that, that physicality, looking in the mirror and liking what's looking back at you.

That's a very, very powerful exercise. Okay. Now keep in mind, I still have not incorporated exercise in my routine still to this day. Okay. And I've lost all the way. People say you look fantastic.

Zac Miller: Well, you did say you're walking a little bit though, right?

Kim Gravel: A little bit, but not, I'm not, I'm not, it's not on my, it's not on my regimen.

It's not a habit. Look, I'm telling you, I did not sit there and kill myself. I didn't sit there and pressure myself and go, I've got to work out. I got to do this. I didn't do that. I just, I was very, I was very graceful to myself. I was very kind to myself. I stopped beating myself up and I stopped, I started just loving right where I'm at.

Zac Miller: Were you hungry? Like you're eating so many less calories in a day, right? Did you, did you get to the end of the day and, you know, you turn the TV on and watch whatever, like, you know, Desperate Housewives, Real Housewives. Did you want to grab that bag of chips or whatever and have to like, give yourself a pep talk?

Like, how does that work in those hard moments? Cause I think those are the moments of weakness where it's like, I know I had like a really hard day yesterday. I got to the end of the day and I grabbed like one of those sleeves of like, chips and I ate almost the whole thing. And I was like, Oh, That's bad.

That was really bad. I should not have done that.

Kim Gravel: This is what you're doing. You're already beating yourself up thinking about what am I going to do when I get to a point of I need this or I want this or I deserve this or I'm stressed. Let yourself have 10 chips. Y'all I'm telling you part of it is how we are viewing ourselves.

Or for me, it was. Again, I'm just speaking from my own personal experience. Like, yeah, there was times where I sat there and was watching whatever. I got, I filled my jug up with water and I drank the water and I had the 10 chips. I didn't have the whole sleeve. And then the next time I had five chips.

And then by the time, now I don't even eat chips. Y'all I'm telling you, it was a point and so, so fast forward where I've lost the 27 pounds and I thought to myself, I'm going to make myself the promise that I'm never going to be this way again. I'm never going back. I'm never going back to where I was idolizing and worshiping the struggle of my weight loss again.

Zac Miller: Cause that struggle becomes such a big part of it for everyone.

Kim Gravel: It's, it's addictive. It's as addictive as sugar. And so people said, cause people just say to me, Oh, when you lose the weight, you're just going to feel so empowered. And you're going to feel that I don't, I felt empowered after I made the decision and made the promise to myself.

That's when I started feeling the empowerment. Now I just feel like, wow, I can wear more things. I can, I mean, I can, I don't, I feel more empowered now because I go, you know what? I don't want the Snickers. I'll have. The blueberries. That's empowerment. That's a person that's empowered that knows the muscle of my decision making is so strong now that I have no problem going.

Yeah, I'll pass. But like today, Travis took me to lunch and I had I had nachos. But guess how many I had? I had half of them. Right. I said, ma'am, do you have a half order? I don't. And I said, well, I'm going to get the nachos anyway, because this is what I'm hankering for. And only half. I didn't have to eat all the nachos.

So guess who inhaled them all? Travis. After I didn't eat them. But I'm just saying, that's the thing. Split meals. Right. Start small. Yeah. But make that decision and then make that promise to yourself.

Zac Miller: This is actually something that, that book that talks about building habits, Atomic habits. Yes.

Atomic habits. Thank you, Kim is so great. And it's like, there's a part of it where it's like, you have to make the decision before you make the decision. In other words, like, but it starts with the decision. Yeah. Like you made the decision that you weren't going to eat the whole plate. Before you even ordered, right?

You didn't, it wasn't like in the moment where the nachos are staring at you and you like, you know, you could just keep eating. You already knew you already had made the decision.

Kim Gravel: But I didn't deny myself to get the nachos though. That's what I'm saying, y'all. It's not about denial. It's about decision.

Zac Miller: So, so Kim, this is a big question that, that a lot of people are like curious about. And it's like, All these new weight loss pills, right? And of course, there's people online being like, Oh, Kim's just on pills and whatever. And you haven't talked about weight loss pills at all. And I want to speak to the people.

Cause this is like changing a lot of people's lives, right? That's fantastic though. What's your take on that?

Kim Gravel: It's the whole thing? That's fantastic. But make the decision to do something. It doesn't matter what the something is that you're doing. Why? Why are we judging all of that? Don't make whatever works for you, y'all.

Amy, Amy worked out five days a week with a personal trainer and ate a strict regimen diet and lost 80 and she looks amazing. Yeah, she looks amazing. Who cares how she did it? She did it. So if you need a diet pill or a, a, a, a, a weight loss injection or whatever factor meals or you're cutting back, whatever is going to, y'all, there is no perfect way.

We all know. We all know how to lose weight. It's a over a billion dollar industry annually.

Zac Miller: And actually I just read an article about how Weight Watchers is changing its entire business model to be more in the business of prescribing like more weight loss pills and things like that's where they're moving their entire. Model and they're closing down like store, you know, storefronts and things because they know this is the next thing.

And I think I agree with you. There is a weird stigma though. I think it comes from like weight loss pills used to be really bad. I think weight loss pills used to be really bad for you like 20 years ago. And so am I right?

Kim Gravel: Again, we are idolizing and we are stressing and we are focusing on the weight loss pills.

It's not about that. The weight loss pills are not what's important. You are the diet. It's not what's important. You are. It's you.

Zac Miller: And it's how you feel about yourself.

Kim Gravel: Well, you just, you just have to, it's like, it's like plastic surgery. People get so, so what if you want to go get plastic surgery, make sure you've got a great doctor and don't, don't go crazy, but go get a little Botox of this.

Y'all I'm telling you, but because that's all a distraction. Okay. When you're sitting there Going, how did she do this? How did he do this? But I get it. You know, I mean, mine was not even medically motivated. My doctor was not threatening me with, with, with a bunch of, you know, pills or, you know, you're going to whatever, like, like David Venable, you know, his doctor was like, look, you're going to have an issue.

And that motivated him. What motivated me was looking through my journal and I'm sick and tired of saying that it. I get bored so easy, and I have been carrying this brick too long. I should, I can't believe I have sat here every single month of every single week, and every single day going, I can't lose weight.

Y'all, it went in my head every day. I wish I could lose weight. Every time I look in the mirror, I need to lose weight. And I got sick of that.

Zac Miller: Trying to lose the weight was a big part of who you were though. It was part of how you saw yourself, right Kim?

Kim Gravel: Yeah. That's, I think. My, my identity was in the struggle.

Zac Miller: Yes. And I think for all the people online asking, oh, how did you do it? How did you do it? How did you do it? I'm telling you how I did it. Flip it. Flip it. Ask yourself, how am I going to do it?

Kim Gravel: How do you want to do it?

Zac Miller: Because like you're saying, the tools are out there.

Kim Gravel: Like, some of you are sitting there going, I want to lose weight.

Go to your doctor and get what you need to get to lose weight. If that's for you or do like, like I did and I just, I cut everything. I cut everything in half over a period of time. Now, keep in mind. You have to be honest with yourself. I had to sit down and so I was eating 4, 000 calories a day on a regular basis.

If you eat 4, 000 calories a day on a regular basis in 30 days, you will gain 10 pounds.

Zac Miller: And don't work out, especially.

Kim Gravel: It doesn't matter. You can't. It's 80 percent what you eat. You can work out till the cows come home, baby. And not lose weight. It's all in what you eat. So, for me, I was addicted to high, you know, preservative, high sugar drive through foods.

When I cut that out, my body was like, Hallelujah! And it dropped it. Y'all, when you go to eat from eating 4, 000 calories a day to 1, 500, you're gonna lose weight. But are you counting calories? I did. I did. I don't anymore. Now I pretty much know what I can eat.

Zac Miller: But you did for part of the weight loss. Part of that was counting calories.

Kim Gravel: Now, I will tell you this. I want to tell you all this. Now, this I have not shared with anybody. And I want to be really transparent about this. I did do intermittent fasting. And I did, oh, I forgot. I should have been told this a long time ago. I apologize, y'all. I did do intermittent fasting. And I did it, but I ate based on my blood type.

I'm a negative blood type. Oh, you did the blood type. I'm being negative. I did the blood type. And for my blood type, And, and a lot of people are in my family have diabetes. I stopped eating after six and a lot of times I would not eat unless I was just really, really hungry to like noon. Wow. And that time period of time of fasting, you will never convince me did not jumpstart my metabolism.

Wow. So. I've read a lot of things about it. Again, I'm not a doctor and I'm not a dietitian. You would need to really go check that for yourself, but it helped me because I stopped going through Chick fil A in the morning for a biscuit, you know, and all that. Everything that comes with it.

Zac Miller: You would go for breakfast even.

Wow. That's yeah.

Kim Gravel: Y'all. It was 4, 000. I mean, I'm being, I don't know how much more to say. It was a lot.

Zac Miller: Well, and I think, you know, and, and look. I know for some people, I know people that, you know, that I'm very close with that could not do that right like that, that have blood sugar that's such that like, correct, they feel terrible if you don't eat and like, keep, you know, like, I'm saying that's what I did.

People ask me what I did. I just want to say that, you know, that's not for everybody.

Kim Gravel: It's not for everybody.

Zac Miller: But it worked for, that's really interesting. But I didn't do that at first. How did you find out what your blood type? I want, like, I want to dig into this, Kim. How did you find out? You know what your blood type was and then what that means for intermittent fasting.

Was there a book you read or a certain program?

Kim Gravel: I just went online and googled it. I did in my doctor. You know, I know what blood type is because I'm a negative blood type. So with my Children, you know, I had the R. H. Factor. So I had to really be, you know, I had to have shots before I had them. I'd have shots before I try.

So I knew I was a negative blood type. Both my parents are negative blood types. So, and I just started reading about it and, and it was very interesting and it made a lot of sense, but again, I'm not saying that's what you need to do, but can I just say, whatever it is you need to do, make the decision to do it right now.

Zac Miller: And do you know, and can I just say, can I just say something in defense of just taking, like, incremental steps and not going all in on something right away? That's what I did. Like, everything, and this is something that David Venable said in his great episode about this, it's like, everything in moderation.

Kim Gravel: You can he dropped his lap pretty fast. He dropped his weight pretty fast too. But again, people say, well, how did you drop it so fast? I really it's been, it's been nine months. So people think it's, it's not been that fast. I have gotten to my goal weight in nine months. To me, that's realistic. I only needed 50 pounds of like 47 pounds to lose.

So, so do the math. I mean, there was a big weight loss really quick in two months. It was 27 pounds, but that's because my body was just like, what the right. Cause it was so, it took me a lot longer to lose the last half of it. But do you see what I'm saying? Why did it take longer because my body was in shock after not eating 4, 000 calories every day.

Yeah.

Zac Miller: So I was just like, I mean,

Kim Gravel: so what I'm saying is David lost his fast too. I mean, it took him about eight months. I think he said, and so really it, but you will start seeing results. If you really make a change, if you really make a change and you say with Kim. You made a big change, but it was only one change.

It was cutting back what I was eating by, you know, I was eating a fourth of what I was. And when you do that, it was, it was, it was very powerful. It was very power. And it was an, it was normal. What I was eating was not normal. So for you, some of you, you might be eating 2, 500, 15, 2000. I don't know what you're eating.

I just telling you for me, I was overeating. If, if you're, if maybe you're not, maybe, maybe you need to up your water intake and get rid of the drink, start something and you'll see results, but you got to make the decision to start. And then you got to put a promise to yourself. Once you start doing it, that you are going to continue on with the process because eight months down.

I've done it.

Zac Miller: And, Kim, like, seriously, you look great, and, but don't get too thin. Don't get too, don't, like, listen to your mom.

Kim Gravel: No worries there, people,

Zac Miller: Do you still go through the drive thru?

Kim Gravel: I do. I went out to eat today. We, it wasn't a drive-through, but it was a restaurant. I mean, we, my Travis and I went to Mexican.

I had, I bought the plate of nachos. I ate a half of them. And, and, and did I have four and a half for breakfast? I had a, these are the best honeybee apples. I don't know if you've ever heard of 'em. No's, sugar bee. Sugar bee apples. They're these little red apples. They're crisp. And I ate a apple and I had a piece of toast with peanut butter on it.

That's what I had this morning. 'cause I didn't, I didn't fast this morning and then tonight

Zac Miller: That's what my kids ate for breakfast.

Kim Gravel: Easy where I normally would have a 1, 500 to 1, 600 calorie meal it chick fil a and I still eat chick fil a. I just get my water And I don't eat the hash browns and I still get my biscuit and I love it.

Zac Miller: There you go. All right, y'all. Well, that's it. This is the start.

Kim Gravel: This is our December series, Zac, and we are going to, we're going to call this episode, the decision, December, the December of decision, because a lot of you are wanting to make some big life changes if, whether it's your weight or your health or whatever.

I'm here to tell you, we support you and we believe in you. And if I can do it, anybody can do it. Okay, make the decision and make that promise to yourself and watch your life level up. It's gonna be a fun month, y'all. The holidays are here.

Zac Miller: And we got, and we have new episodes coming out all through December.

You will not miss.

Kim Gravel: You don't want to miss it. Any of it. All right, love y'all. Make your decision. Bye. Bye.

The Kim Gravel Show is produced and edited by Zac Miller at Uncommon Audio. Our associate producer is Kathleen Grant, the Brunette Exec. Production help from Emily Bredin and Sara Noto.

Our cover art is designed by Sanaz Huber at Memarian Creative and Mike Kligerman Edits the show and a special thanks to the team at QVC. Head over to kimgravelshow.com and sign up for our mailing list. Again, we can't do this without you, so thank you for listening, and we love you.