You asked: I have shared my weight lost story many times before, and it never seems to go over well. I guess it is because people are hoping to hear about some sort of magic bullet to losing weight and keeping it off. Unfortunately, disenchantment seems to set in as soon as my listeners realize that what I am saying is every tough thing they’ve ever heard before about losing weight and keeping it off. There is no magic bullet, I am not going to tell you that I took a special pill that allowed me to eat cookies and pizza every day and lose 80lbs, because I didn’t, and that doesn’t exist. And if it did, it wouldn’t be good for you. I know you’re probably thinking that I’m putting the horse before the cart, but I am tired of telling my story and feeling like… I dunno… that I am coming off as preachy. You asked me, so I am telling you my truth. The bottom: I was 210lbs and a size 18 in 2009, I was unhappy and unhealthy and I acutely felt both of those things throughout every area of my life. I don’t remember the exact moment that I was compelled to be better or do better, but in May of 2009 my employer decided to sponsor Weight Watchers memberships for the whole office. I went to one meeting, weighed in, sat through class, and never went back. Not to bash Weight Watchers, because I know some people swear by it, but I found their celebration stickers and their product pushing offensive to my better sense. I mean, am I really going to let a sticker be why I lose another pound? Or am I going buy and eat their boxed, diet food, crap and call that healthy?? I just couldn’t, so I didn’t. What I did do is go home and start eating the way I KNEW I should. What I knew: I used to walk the grocery store and pour over the diet foods wondering which ones were really good. Good as in, which one of these can I eat like crazy but still lose weight. I can’t tell you how many times I wished for this. I was hungry! And like many of you I really liked to eat. BUT, when I finally decided, not just in my mind, but with every fiber of my being, that I was tired of feeling bad, I found that it wasn’t very hard at all to know what to eat. And so I began eating clean, VERY clean. What I ate: Early on in my weight loss I was devoted, and I mean devout, in eating clean. I swore off almost all bread and was very concerned with the number of ingredients in my food. I had a pretty staunch three-ingredient rule, and where there were more than three, I tried to pick the lesser of all evils available to me. That was a pretty big thing; I used every opportunity to make the BEST choice. So, you are probably bemoaning all the yummy goodness that you will have to forgo to take up a “clean lifestyle”, yes, I’m sorry about that. ^.^ The good news is, if you get good at eating clean, you can eat and eat and still lose weight. I did. I ate huge amounts of fruits and veggies. I ate them fresh and cold. I ate them hot and hearty. They were delicious, and I never counted one calorie. I was able to eat all I wanted, and feel good, and lose weight but it took devotion. I had to make my food one of the biggest priorities in my life. I went the grocery store every day and made sure that I always had a healthy go-to, so that I wouldn’t be so vulnerable to bad choices. This was an additional challenge at home, because my husband and boys didn’t have the dietary issues I did, and they ate things that I just couldn’t. Some nights I would eat my healthy dinner early and busy myself elsewhere while they enjoyed their less healthy fare. This didn’t really bother me, because I knew the consequences of THAT food. It did however, occasionally, bother my husband and my family that I didn’t join in on meals. There was a lot of, “it’s just tonight” kinds sentiment propagated about breaking out of my healthy streak to enjoy whatever indulgent meal was being served. This push to eat what everyone else was eating was probably the hardest, most frustrating thing about my weight loss journey; I was trying to be healthy, and the pressure to eat what they were eating felt almost like disapproval of my good strides towards being more healthy. But none-the-less I usually stuck to my guns and was better for it. And after one year exactly, I had the weight watchers pass to confirm the date, I had lost exactly 50lbs. The End. Just kidding, it’s not. ☺ Move it: You’re probably thinking, “hey wait, you failed to tell us about your extensive gym schedule,” but you’re wrong, I didn’t. I never went to the gym. Not in that whole year, I didn’t step foot in a gym – not even once. What I did do is spend a lot of time at the mall trying on smaller and smaller clothes. Oh, and I can shop for hours!! It must have been all the exercise I needed because I had to keep going back for smaller and smaller sizes. Hurrah! So that is the story of my 1st 50 lbs. Here are some of my rules: *Don’t drink your calories *Just say no to sauce, unless it’s mustard – mustard is harmless *Treat cheese like a decadent desert *Say yes to vinaigrette *“Super foods, super foods!” – said like Hercules, Hercules!” *Don’t eat cereal ^ treat it like a decadent desert *Milk has a lot of sugar and calories – don’t drink your calories. *Shoot for foods with less than 5 ingredients *AND be able to understand them ^^^ *Fish and chicken are healthy *Fried foods are the devil – treat them as so *Salt gives you cellulite – keep that in mind when reading labels *It has more than 4 grams of sugar per serving – maybe you should put that back *Move more – just do it *If it grows from the earth and you are eating it fresh or through some healthy cooking process – eat it fear free with wild abandoned. *Except nuts – they will make you fat – eat them in moderation – they are good for you ☺
Posted on: Fri, 23 Jan 2015 02:15:58 +0000
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