**Disclaimer: I am not an expert and really don’t know what I am doing. These are just the things that I have tried that have worked for me. Also, I am not endorsing anything, they are just things that I happen to be using to help me along my journey. No one is paying me to say any of this.**
Since I did a post on FB talking about losing weight, I have had some folks ask me how I did it. Here you go.
Back in the spring I realized that I was moping around feeling bad about myself. At first, I wasn’t sure what my problem was, and then it dawned on me. My clothes were getting tight and I was finding myself buying tops that were loose fitting or wanting to wear t-shirts all the time to hide my growing belly and love handles. And I also noticed that my thighs were sticking together. I realized that I was gaining weight!
If you have a conversation with other moms regarding weight, it seems like there are two ways that we gage our weight, before pregnancy and after. Over the last 10 years, since I had kids, my weight has gradually gone up. After each of my three pregnancies, I have hung onto about 10 pounds. (I need to qualify here, though, that when I got pregnant with Josh I had just lost about 10 pounds because I thought that braces at 27 would be a good idea (they were!). So the 10 pounds that I hung onto after I had Josh were actually needed pounds.) So, after Hannah, I was 10 pounds heavier than before and after Bethany, the same. (BTW, is it still “baby weight” when the baby is 3 1/2?)
So, this spring, when I weighed myself and saw that I was the heaviest I have ever been, I started to think that I needed to do something about it. The only thing that I have ever attempted to lose weight is to exercise or “get in shape”. I have always thought that that was enough. Since I was at my highest weight ever and was dabbling in home workouts, I knew that was not enough. One evening I was listening to an interview on the radio. Truthfully, I was half listening. I heard the guy being interviewed say that one thing he tells his clients is to leave a little food on their plates at the end of a meal. My first thought was “how hard can that be?” Then I realized that he didn’t mean seconds, he meant after the first helping. Ouch. That day I committed to not eating seconds at dinner anymore. Because Shad and I usually sit at the table and catch up on our day after the kids leave the table, it has been very easy to keep picking at whatever food is left, even though I had seconds and was full. So now, I push my plate and all left over food as far away from me as possible. I sometimes even take it into the kitchen if it is too tempting. It has been about 4 months since I stopped eating seconds at dinner.
About the same time I started pushing my plate away from me, my friend loaned me this workout video:
Photo courtesy of Amazon.com
That day, I decided that I would do one workout (“Rock it Out”) 3 times a week for 6 weeks and see what happens. I am happy to say that I was successful and reached my goal. (Shaun T is the instructor. He’s a lot of fun and cracks me up. He does little raps and sing songs during the workout. He is also very encouraging and says things like “flava” and “this is your stage”.) Up until this point I did not own a bathroom scale. The only time I would weigh myself was if I was at my parents’ house. So during this time I did not know if I was losing weight by looking at a scale, but I will say that I was building muscle and my body felt like it was changing. So I continued to do this same workout for a few more weeks. Also, on the weekends, Shad and I would do a 3 mile run once or twice in the morning. I was feeling and looking a little better, but I was still not happy with my body.
At the very beginning of July, I just happened to see that one of my friends had joined a Meltdown Challenge online. The whole premise is that you ante up $20 and then you have 28 days to lose 4% of your body weight. If you are successful, you win a portion of the ante. They say that research shows that if money is an incentive to lose weight, that people are more successful at it. I was intrigued, but thought it was totally impossible. I did the math, and found that 4% of my weight would be 6 pounds…in 28 days! I mentioned it to Shad and he was instantly supportive. “I think you could do it” is all he said and that was all I needed to hear. I signed up immediately. The first thing I had to do was go buy a bathroom scale so I could weigh in. 147.8 pounds was my starting weight. This was when I realized that my prior plan had been helpful, 2 months earlier, before Shaun T and not eating seconds at dinner, I was at 153 pounds.
I honestly did not know where to begin with my eating, but with this challenge you get all kinds of helpful information and a team coach. Mine just happened to be the former lead pastor at our church. My eating habits changed gradually over the 28 day challenge. The hugest change I made was my water intake. They say that your body retains water to make up for the shortage of water that we drink. Once we begin drinking the proper amount of water, our body releases that stored water. I have to say that has to be true. I was peeing up a storm and, initially, the weight felt like it was melting off of me. Now, I was also eating better and in smaller amounts, so it was that too. The first week, seeing the number on the scale go down each morning was quite motivating!
The second week things started to slow down a bit. I found myself feeling angry and resentful toward the whole thing. I wanted my Dr. Pepper and chips for lunch and mashed potatoes and gravy for dinner! But I pushed through and a week later the number on the scale started to go down again. For the rest of the challenge that is how it went. My weight would go down a little for a couple of days, then stay in the same spot for a few, then go down again. By day 28, August 5th, it was time to weigh out. My final weight was 139 pounds! I had lost 9 pounds in 28 days! I though 6 pounds sounded impossible and I made it to 9!
Below I will list the changes I have made that got me to this point:
-I drink 80-100 ounces of water per day. My tumbler is my new best friend. It is always full of ice water and goes everywhere I go. My belly feels way less bloated, my skin looks great and, once you get over the hump, the peeing goes back to a normal frequency.
-I eat 5 or 6 small meals per day instead of 3 big meals a day. Here is an example of that:
Breakfast: 1 serving of Wheat and Bran Shredded Wheat, 1 tsp. sugar (I used to always to 2 so I cut that in half), and 1 cup of 2% milk ( I can’t stand 1% or skim).
Snack: 1 serving of raw almonds, nectarine
Lunch: Salad: romaine, 1 cup English cucumber with skin on, 1/2 avocado, 1 tbsp. low sugar dried cranberries, 1 tbsp. blue cheese crumbles, drizzle of olive oil and balsamic vinegar, 1 slice cheddar cheese
Snack: 1, 5 oz. Greek yogurt, handful of blueberries
Dinner: whatever I make for everyone else just one serving of each thing instead of heaping on my plate. Also I do half my plate the veggies instead of a small scoop like before.
Snack: some kind of fruit
This just an example of what I eat each day. Keep in mind that I don’t always make 5 or 6 meals. Some days I only have 4. Basically, I do the best I can and try not to be too hard on myself. I have had a lone cookie once or twice and I did eat a tiny serving of a brownie with a tiny scoop of ice cream for Hannah’s birthday celebration. I think the biggest change I have made is to actually eat a serving of a food instead of what my eyes think it should look like. If you read the nutrition facts on the label, I think you will be surprised how small a serving actually is compared to what you have been eating. And, you know what, after my angry week during the challenge, I found that it was getting easier to say no to foods that are not good for me. If I get a craving for something sweet, I grab a handful of grapes of blueberries. If I get hungry at night, I eat a piece of fruit or one serving of Nilla Wafers (my other new best friend). I am not doing it exactly how they said in the challenge, but I am making it work for me. I’m going to eat a slice of pizza once in awhile, or a cookie. But, I am not going to eat 4 slices of pizza or 4 cookies. I think the idea is to be intentional and plan ahead what you are going to eat instead of just walking into the kitchen and grabbing whatever sounds good.
Another tool I have been using is the My Fitness Pal app on my phone. I can keep track of everything I eat and all my exercise. It tells me all of the nutrients I have consumes and how many calories. You can enter your weight goals into it and it will adjust your intake needs according to how much weight you want to lose. It has been my buddy through this whole weight loss journey. And speaking of exercise, I am proud to say that I have done some kind of workout every single day since I started the challenge on July 6th. That’s one month straight doing a workout every morning. My workouts range from 25-50 minutes long depending on how much time I have. I either do a Rockin’ Body workout in the living room or go for a run that is between 2.5-3 miles. I’m not very fast so that takes 30-35 minutes.
Here’s the deal. The weight loss is great and I feel so much better in my skin and clothes. But the hugest thing is I feel so good. My body is strong and in shape. I can do physical activities and enjoy them instead of feeling like I am going to die: hiking, bike riding, running, paddle boarding, etc. My belly does not feel bloated all the time anymore. This may be TMI, but my bowels are regular, too. Even my skin looks better. I just feel GREAT! It has been hard work to give up things that I thought I HAD to have. I still get desperate feeling cravings for a Dr. Pepper or a fun sized candy bar, but I grab something healthy instead because I know that I will feel and look better in the long run if I do.
I always used to think that my weight was something that just happened and that I really couldn’t do a lot about it. I would just kind of accept it and be kind of miserable. After losing this total of 15 pounds, I am motivated and now I know that I can be in control of my body and my weight. I am so motivated that I have decided to keep going to 135 pounds! This morning the scale said 137.8! It’s invigorating to feel healthy and strong and I am going to stick with it. Another plus is seeing the pride (and maybe a little lust) in my husband’s face when he see’s me working so hard toward my goal. When I told him I was going to keep working toward 135, he said “I know you will do it.” I so appreciate his confidence in me and his encouragement. In fact, he has given up having cookies and ice cream each night for a snack, too. Another bonus is that a produce store was built at the end of the road from our house. The kids and I go there once or twice a week and stock of up on fruits and veggies so that the house is well stocked at all times. I even bought about 10 pounds of peaches when they were on sale and sliced them up and put them in the freezer for the winter. This has been a challenging journey, with a lot of changes, but I am so glad I have done it. I hope this helps even one person get motivated! Stick with it, I know you can do it! You will not regret getting healthy!
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