It was December of 2006, and I....
Saw myself in the mirror, stealing my kids' Halloween candy. Literally.
At my heaviest, I was 177 pounds on a 5'3.54" frame. To put it politely, I resembled an overgrown eggplant with double chins that clamored for attention!
A mom of 4, I had the nifty excuse of telling myself, I'll watch out for my kids while taking zero care of me! This pathetic attitude
(and let's be serious, moms....if you're NOT healthy and ARE drastically overweight....you simply CANNOT rise to your potential as a parent. Your weight will keep you from fun outings, from walking to and fro with your children outdoors, heck, even climbing the stairs without feeling like you ran the NY Marathon in high heels, and that's only the beginning....)
saw me deteriorating physically (I also have a lovely messed up bone structure as well) to the point my idea of quality family time was reduced to me sitting in the same house with my kids.
Well, let's now teleport ourselves to that fateful day back in 2006.
I had spied a candy necklace from my kids' Halloween stash, and, (first making sure I was alone and able to commit the following crime) devoured it down faster than Godzilla could snack on Tokyo. 3 seconds later, it was gone.
Alas (or actually to my benefit), I saw myself in the mirror by mistake, and was utterly horrified at the Monster Eggplant From Heck that I had become!
I looked myself in the eyes...and realized, I'm out of control. I had to treat myself the way not only I deserved...but what my family deserved as well.
That afternoon, I took my first baby steps towards getting healthy, and haven't looked back since.
Here's what I did.
Step 1 - I started walking
Ain't no way I could massively exercise!!
The first thing I did was embark on what is now fondly referred to as my beloved 2.4 mile circle walk (you can tell I extol the virtues of this - search for "2.4 mile circle walk" and you'll see what I mean. :) )
And get this! I did NOT jog! I did NOT walk fast! Heck, I was lucky to complete that walk in, what, 2 hours?
Okay, and also true - a smart person probably would NOT have started with a 2.4 mile walk! But nobody can accuse me of NOT diving into something with both hands, 2 earlobes and all 10 toes. :)
Anywhos, I FINISHED THE WALK! It was wonderful. No, not my physical feelings afterwards (I felt like I had pushed the pyramids up the Staircase to Heaven)....
But instead...the feeling that I was FINALLY taking ownership of my own behaviors...and committing to something very very important indeed.
After I began my walking, I found some DVDs as well that featured this kind of exercise too, like the below.
Step 2 - I commited to a LIFESTYLE change.
IE, I did NOT go on a diet
The next important thing I did was to commit to a
Lifestyle Change
and NOT
A Diet
Diets do NOT work. They never have and they never will.
Yes, that's a pretty bold statement to make! But here's why I claim that. If you go ON a diet...you'll eventually go OFF that diet once you've achieved your weight loss goal. Right?
Well then...what happens after that? You return back to your former lousy eating habits, and faster than your child can inhale 35 chocolate bars from Halloween, your weight returns with a vengeance that would frighten even Ahnold in his post-Terminator state.
But! If you go on a "lifestyle-change" instead, there's no eating habits to change in the future.
I think that, more than anything, was the key to my success.
Motivation can really help with the above! Some useful motivational books you might enjoy are:
Step 4 - I went low-carb
Atkins, Paleo and lowcarb work wonders
I changed my eating habits and went basically low-carb or Atkins.
But really, think about it....if you cut out the junk food ANYWAYS, you're already on the path for losing weight!
Here are some nifty support forums, some of which I frequented and others that have shown up since..
Low Carb Site
Low Carber Forums
Livin' La Vida Low-Carb Forums
Being part of a supportive weight loss community really helped my weight loss in general. Any Atkins questions I had were always answered extremely quickly and more helpfully indeed! I HIGHLY recommend you finding online support if you're considering losing weight - the Safe and Smart Internet Weight Loss Edge comes packed with supportive community resources.
Want some low-carb goodies? Check out:
Step 5 - I started strength-training
Weight lifting is great for losing weight!
It's been said that it takes more energy to keep a pound of muscle alive than a pound of fat, and hence...putting on more muscle makes you burn more calories.
And while that might be true, I much prefer this secret blindingly wondrous fact - lifting weights gives your arms great definition that look super-sexy in a sleeveless karate gi!
'Matter of fact, that's how I rewarded myself in summer of 2007. I and my family had recently started karate, and there was this one sensei with utterly gorgeous arms who always wore a sleeveless gi. I said to myself,
"Jeepers self, that is something to which to aspire!"
and when I was pleased with how my body was reshaping itself...bought my first sleeveless karate gi (in camouflage, no less!). And yes, that's me in the picture (I'm the one on the right). :)
So! Back to weight lifting. Weight lifting is a great exercise for women! It's easy to do and can make you really proud of how you look. Some nifty weight lifting resources include:
Stumptuous.com - This site is awesome! I followed Mistress Krista back when she was a regular on misc.fitness.weights - she really knows her stuff.
Leigh Peele - she's an avid fitness trainer and always has excellent advice to offer.
Weight Lifting Examples - Click down enough and you'll see nifty animations showing dozens of weight lifting exercises
Never Gymless - This is the book I bought when I was teaching myself bodyweight exercises. It's terrific!!
Want some other strength-training goodies? Check out:
Step 6 - I kept an online weight loss journal
Very helpful indeed!
I searched about online and came across theWeight Loss Fitness forums....which had a category for weight loss diaries. Happy I was indeed!
So I decided to do one myself And here it is!
IAmFire's Diary
Why did I call myself IAmFire? It's because that's how I felt - I was on fire to regain my health and be a better parent to my kids.
Other places that offer weight loss journals include:
Spark People
Fit Day
My Calorie Counter
Weight Watchers also offers diet journals like so (notice the usually-there different pricing!)
Step 7 - I gave myself permission to take it slow
A pound a week is a good start.
Sure, it would be nice to sneeze off my weight.
But life doesn't happen that way. :)
It took me years to put on those pounds, and it took me over 2 years to take it off again. And you know something....that's okay.
Life happens and you deal with it as you can.
When I was in lose-weight mode, I generally lost pounds for several weeks and then slammed face-first into a plateau. Then I'd start losing again. I've never gone BELOW 125 pounds...and I don't think I will - my body is simply happier at 126-130.
Giving myself permission to see slow results was key.
Step 8 - I discovered Beach Body Workout DVDs!
P90x! Turbo Jam! More more more!
Workout DVDs are utterly a blast to enjoy! And I will confess - I was sold, seduced and quite happy as well by the siren songs of P90x and TurboJam, classic infomercial goodies that you can see to this day on your lovely TV.
There are several great forums for P90x and TurboJam, including:
Official P90x Forum
TurboJam
I did P90x for several months and loved the results.
There are other great Beachbody products too, like Hip Hop Abs, Chalean Extreme and more. Here are some you can check out:
Step 9 - I did DDR (Dance Dance Revolution) with my kids!
It's really fun!
I introduced my kids to fitness fun by bringing home a set of DDR goodies and even wrote about that over at Fantastic family exercise - DDR plus Parents plus Kids = FUN!.
DDR proved to be most energizing indeed! It's a great way for parents to lose weight too.
Some nifty DDR goodies include:
So what REALLY is the guaranteed way to lose weight?
Hope you're sitting down for the answer!
The guaranteed way to lose weight is very very simple indeed.
It's:
Daily....expend more energy (exercise) than you take in (calories), cut out the junk food, and don't look for the quick fix. Make a LIFESTYLE change instead.
Wasn't that simple?
But simple doesn't sell products, and that's why the diet and weight loss industry will never tell you that.
Folks, diet gimmicks do NOT work. Diet pills do NOT work. Quick fixes do NOT work!
The ONLY thing that will work is a serious life-style change to which YOU can commit.
Not your friends. Not your Aunt Bertha. Not the alien scum marketers who want to "sell you the dream" of weight loss with zero effort. YOU.
That means you have to learn how to modify your eating habits, how to work in exercise and make it so enjoyable you'll happily do it no matter where, and the like. Heck, check out this photo of me at the Railroad Museum of Pennsylvania!
Yep, I had taken my kids to that great museum, and every hour on the hour, bashed out 50 pushups. I did 400 that day if I remember correctly.
And if the above is the only guaranteed way to lose weight, it's time now to ask yourself:
What will YOU choose to do to start your new weight loss lifestyle?
Shun the diets, turn the key in your mind.
Now that you know what will work for you....what are you going to do about it?
The Internet is replete with tons of free information to help you craft your own new weight loss lifestyle plan. Heck, I spent literally 100s of hours online researching that myself, and am very happy indeed with my personal hero's journey and weight loss goals that I achieved.
If you want to get the answers for your particular weight loss needs, you can check out my writings on the subject at The Safe and Smart Internet Weight Loss Edge. That's all I'll say about it, as I don't want to sway you either way.
With that, I truly hope you enjoyed reading about my own personal weight loss story! It's been fraught with anxiety and saturated with angst at times...but I can happily say, I'm still in great condition and the weight has NOT come back.
And that, of course, can only be described as a Very Good Thing Indeed. :)
Sincerely,
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