Now that it's been a year since I completed my weight loss program and have successfully kept the weight and inches off, I felt like it was time to share my story.
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| Summer 2011 (Keeping the weight off for a year) |
Last summer June-September I embarked on a weight loss journey that has been (I may cry) a life changing experience. I know that sounds cliche but to me it really was a complete change, physically, mentally and emotionally. I went from 163 lbs to 143 lbs by eating from the food plan of Bill Phillips Body for Life and the workouts from Beach Body's ChaLEAN Extreme .
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| Fall 2009 (With friends on a trip to Washington, D.C.) |
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| May 2010 (The biggest I've ever been) |
From photos of me in 2010 you can see that I was hiding my belly by repeatedly buying oversized shirts with a lot of detail at the face, and tons of fabric to cover my big belly.
One of my shirts even said "maternity" and I have never been pregnant!
After watching my roommate at the time go through several diets and weight loss programs, I discovered, one of them worked better than all the rest. She realized this too, but felt there was one small flaw, the food. We are both particular about our food, and so when she read the book "Body For Life" by Bill Phillips and compared his weight loss program to the one she had just completed, Beach Body's ChaLEAN Extreme, she realized they were nearly identical.
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| May 2010 (With my cousin at the NW Regional TV Emmys in Seattle, Wash. (This dress falls off me now)) |
So, as an experiment in the summer of 2010 we committed to the diet from Bill and the workouts from Chalene (I feel like I can refer to them on a first name basis now that I've spent days with their programs, and Chalene has talked me through many grueling workouts).
EXERCISE
My first weight lifting workout with Chalene was not easy, I will tell you. At one point during the tricep workout (a muscle I hadn't given much thought to before this) I screamed in pain, "I feel like I am giving birth through my arms!" My roommate laughed and I have learned to push through the pain, and focus on one of the many motivational quotes we stuck on the walls of our workout room, "Pain is weakness leaving the body," - Marines.
If you don't know much about the workout routines it was three days a week of weight lifting and four days a week of 20 minutes of cardio in short high intensity intervals. You could do this by following a workout DVD or by riding your bike outside, or jogging, or anything, you would just need to follow Bill Phillip's guide for cardio.
I personally loved this workout routine, I was able to change it up so it wasn't monotonous and I actually looked forward to weight lifting, something I'd never tried until last summer.
This pushing through the pain, helped me become stronger, not just physically, but mentally. This commitment took a ton of consistent journaling. Every day I would need to record what weights I lifted, or what cardio routine I did and rate my performance, mediocre or that I rocked it. I also recorded my meals that I ate each day, and even penciling in if I didn't keep up with my goal for that day and gave in and ate a cupcake or something else not approved. But then I would set a goal the next day to stick to my plan no matter what. I wrote down my goals and realized that my change was a process.
DIET
I loved the diet (six meals a day with a protein serving the size of your fist and a carb serving the size of your palm) and realized by just changing a few things that I purchase every week from full-fat to non-fat I could slim down in no-time and still enjoy the great tasting foods I've always loved. I also realized that I didn't have to give up my two most favorite foods, 1% milk and peanut butter, I never stopped eating either of these the entire time I was on my diet. To this day, I still make the meals from the Eating for Life cookbook. They are super simple, contain tons of veggies, and have 1/2 the fat of most meals. I've even taken some of the recipes and made them my own by substituting ingredients for others, or using a simple concept and turning it into a wrap, or a salad, or a casserole. I feel like I've grown as a cook.
MY LIFE
I worked for months hating my job, and doing nothing to change it. But after starting my weight loss program, I was able to see that if I set goals I could accomplish them, and if no one else was proud of my growth, I could be proud of myself for what I did. I was even able to admit out loud that I hated my job and needed a change (something I had held in for months). I started working towards new goals and trying new things, and holding true to the fact that I was going to get where I wanted to go, because I know that if I believe I can do it and I work at it, and push hard, I can accomplish anything.
In fall of 2010 I quit my job without knowing where I'd go next (for sure) but I felt like I was changing my life for the better. Now, nearly 12 months later I can tell you I am happier than I've ever been in my life. I enjoy exercising, something I used to frown upon because it took too much time and effort, and I never got results.
Now that I've seen that changing my exercise pattern and diet and change my body shape, I realize that I can change, and that I can be better.
I'm now working at a job that I love and many people have told me that I seem very happy (something, I realize they say now, because I wasn't happy then). I love that I get to see the sunshine and meet new people, and practice my photography skills and reporting abilities.
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| December 2010 (Just before leaving my old job and starting a new one) |
If anyone out there is lacking motivation to change their workout plan, eating plan, or anything else in life, I'll be your coach. I'll cheer you on all the way. Because I realized that that's something that helped me the most. About 6 weeks into my 12 week body makeover, I was very discouraged. The books tell you that men see results within 6 weeks, while women don't see results until week 9. I almost quit the entire program that day. Then I remembered that in the book there was a phone number I could call at any time of the day and someone would help me if I was feeling discouraged, but as I went to dial, crying while sitting on the couch, I thought, "I don't need to talk to a stranger, I'll call my mom." Thank goodness I called her. She cheered me up by reminding me of my goal and how I told her I was going to stick to it no matter what. I appreciate that feedback so much, the sad part is all she had to do was repeat my own words to me.
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| Summer 2007 (didn't look much different than high school) |
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| Summer 2009 (Not too bad) |
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| Fall 2010 (Just 2 weeks left of my diet and exercise program) |
I encourage anyone who needs to smile a bit more, make new friends, get out and see the sunshine, or just wants to make some more tasty less-fattening food to try out what I did. It worked great and I still follow it 70% of the time. I can't imagine ever going back to who I was before. I don't like that stick in the mud. I like the new me.
