C/3/3/2
Body Type:
C
Start Weight:
270
Current Weight:
189
Goal Weight:
size 10 (aout 160)
Posts: 838
Joined: 7/10/2003
Status:
offline
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When I found myself weighing 270 pounds, I had pretty much given up on losing weight and was accepting the fact that I would always be fat. I have not always been obese, but I have always struggled with my weight. As a child I wore chubby clothes, but as I became taller, the weight seemed to fit my body better. As a young adult at about 5'9", I always wanted to lose about 10 to 15 pounds. I wore a size 12 (that is the old size 12 that is now a size 10), but wanted to be just a little smaller. I tried various starvation type diets like Cambridge, cabbage soup, grapefruit and eggs, but they left me hungry, gave me headaches, and made me feel miserable. I couldn't stay on them for long.
I decided that I just needed to eat sensibly and the weight would come off. So I tried to eat 3 small sensible meals a day. The weight still didn't come off and I was still hungry. In college I started jogging and would jog 3 to 7 miles a day, and still the weight did not come off. I maintained my weight at 150 pounds, however, I felt better being more fit. I decided that I would just be satisfied at a healthy size 12 and gave up on dieting.
When I got married at 32, I was still a size 12 and weighed about 150 pounds. When I was 9 months pregnant with my daughter, I weighed 200 pounds. I lost about 15 pounds when she was born. That left me with 35 pounds to lose. I went back to work full-time, and was up for night-time feedings. I was tired at work and turned to sugar for energy. Let me tell you, sugar is not a good substitute for sleep. I started eating chocolate bars to get me through the day and I had never been a big chocolate eater before. Pretty soon the chocolate wasn't enough and I started using sodas to keep me awake.
I started to put on the weight, and although I knew it was getting out of control, I was not able to stop. Each day, I would think, "I need to get through this day, I will worry about the weight later." As my baby grew and was sleeping through the night, I still turned to chocolate and pop to get me through the day. I was hooked and couldn't stop. I kept getting bigger and bigger.
I gave dieting a few tries, but it always turned out the same. I would stick to a diet for a week or two, even though I got headaches and was miserable, until I couldn't stand it any longer, and go back to my old habits. When I weighed 150, I had found that it was impossible for me to lose 10 to 15 pounds, so how was I ever going to lose 60 or 70 pounds? I might as well give up. So for a while, I accepted the fact that I would always be heavy and just live with it. Of course, this just lead to more weight gain.
I tried to exercise more and be more careful in what I ate. I felt successful when I stopped gaining weight and finally stabilized at about 260. At that point, I was so desperate, I tried fen-phen. At first the weight just fell off. I lost 35 pounds in a few months and then the weight loss stalled. I continued the pills for about a year, but didn't lose any more weight. (Yes, I do have some heart valve damage.) When I stopped the pills, the weight came back on and soon I weighed 270 and was wearing size 26 pants. Once again, I felt successful, when I quit gaining weight and decided to just live with it.
I figured the best weight loss I could ever hope for (if I could manage to stay on a starvation diet) would be about 1 pound a week. I had never lost more than 1 pound a week with anything I had ever done and had never been able to stick to anything for more than 2 weeks. With over 100 pounds to lose, at that rate it would take me 2 years of dedication and misery to get to goal. I would rather be fat than miserable for 2 years. It was just too impossible to deal with.
My husband continued to encourage me and always said, "Someday you will lose the weight. I don't know how and I don't know when, but you will." I always thought, "Thanks for the vote of confidence, but there's no way it's going to happen. I can't do it."
My sister came to visit me for a week in June of 2003 and I took time off work to be with her and decorate my daughter's room. She had a friend who had lost 40 pounds using a plan called Six Week Body MakeOver. My sister had just completed the first week of the plan and had lost about 10 pounds. She suggested that we both do the plan while she was there. She had brought the little black book with her and on plan food. She offered to be my cook and personal trainer. I agreed to eat with her that week (after all, she was cooking) thinking, "OK another diet. I will be hungry, miserable, have horrible headaches and I will not lose anything, but I will try this with her and prove to her that I NEVER lose weight."
I followed the plan carefully that week, because I wanted to prove that NOTHING would work for me and if I didn't follow it exactly, it wouldn't be a fair proof. Well, I didn't get headaches, I didn't feel miserable, and I didn't feel hungry all the time. I was eating all the time. In fact, I felt great. I lost 8 pounds in the first week. I knew then that the plan worked and there was no reason I couldn't continue to eat like that and lose my extra weight. I made some notes from the borrowed plan book and intended to just follow what I had learned in that week with my sister.
My husband insisted that I get the whole plan. He went to the internet and bought a kit for me and one for my sister. I'm so glad he did. There is so much information, support, and motivation in the book that helped me stick with it for the long haul.
When I got my kit, I read it all. It suggested that you take a before picture and draw your goal body on top of it, visualizing what you will look like at goal. I thought, "Right, like that's going to do any good. I know what I look like at 150 pounds and drawing some lines on a picture isn't going to make any difference." But, since the book suggested it, I did it. My husband took before pictures, and as I was drawing the lines to my new body over my picture, something magical happened and I could see my current body becoming my new body and it kept me motivated to keep with the program.
In case you can't tell by now, I'm a little bit of a skeptic. I never buy anything from an infomercial, because infomercials only sell junk and gimicks that don't work. I didn't know that this was sold through an infomercial, until I had been doing it for about a month. I was flipping through channels one Saturday morning as I was on the treadmill, and I caught the infomercial for the first time. I was surprised that something that was sold through an infomercial actually worked.
Yes, I was on the treadmill, just walking. Not jogging. Not killing myself. Even now, after a year, I'm still just walking on the treadmill (much faster than when I first started, but still just walking, not jogging). It does take some exercise to lose weight, but it doesn't have to be grueling.
You don't have to starve and feel miserable to lose weight either. Every time I'm hungry, I eat. People who have seen what I eat say, "I could eat like that. That looks good." I make sure that the food I eat, is food I like.
In the first 6 weeks, both my sister and I lost 25 pounds each. My sister had less weight to lose. She went from a size 16 to a size 10. When I first started, I wondered how much I would lose and how fast I would lose it. I knew that I would lose faster at first and that the weight loss would slow down after the initial period. I expected to lose the same amount every week. I soon found that the weight loss varied from week to week, sometimes 1 pound, sometimes 2 or 3, sometimes 5, but overall, it averaged out to about 2.5 pounds per week. After I lost about 70 pounds, it slowed to about 2 pounds per week, and the last 10 pounds seem to be the hardest to get rid of, but I'm almost there.
I always thought that losing the weight wouldn't make that much difference, after all, I'm still the same person. Well, I may be the same person, but I have a new body and a new life. I have lowered my blood pressure and cholesterol and have certainly prolonged my life. I feel healthy and know I am using my muscles. I have more energy and actually want to do more things. I enjoy life more. I can do things with my husband and daughter that I had to pass on before, like horseback riding, roller coasters, tennis, and bike riding.
We are getting a new family picture taken this summer. I have always put off getting a family picture taken because I was always going to lose weight before we got that picture.
I always put off buying clothes as long as possible, but clothes shopping has become my new hobby and my husband even enjoys going with me.
I am a better example for my 14-year old daughter and she is starting to pick up some of my healthy habits by her own choice. She is starting to eat some of my on plan snacks and meals. She likes to use the treadmill. I am now able to guide her better in her food choices because of what I have learned through 6WBMO.
My weightloss has inspired another sister who has not been able to wear some of her size 10s for about a year who has just completed her 3rd week of 6WBMO and has lost 14 pounds and is fitting nicely into her 10s and on her way to 8s. She feels like she's cheating because this has been way too easy. Losing weight is supposed to take months of starvation and thousands of situps. This just becomes a habit and routine and the weight falls off.
Getting the weight off is one thing, keeping it off is another, but I now have the tools I need to keep the weight off. When I first started, I worried about my ability to maintain the weight loss, but through this process of losing weight, I have learned how to take care of my body. I recognize hunger signals. I know what using muscles feels like and that fit feels better than fat. I know what kind of fuel my body needs. I know what food my body turns into fat.
As I start on the living lean phase, I will continue to learn, that means I will make some mistakes. But I also know how to monitor my weight and what I eat. When my weight gets out of range, I can re-evaluate, go back on plan to get rid of the extra pounds and start over. I can develop healthy menus for me and my family.
This has been a most amazing journey. I have lost 116 pounds and 96 3/4" inches. If you would have told me a year ago that I could lose over 100 pounds in one year, I wouldn't have believed you. I could not have even imagined the difference it has made in my life. Each day I am learning to appreciate my new healthy body and the opportunities it opens up to me. Thank you, Michael Thurmond and 6WBMO, for a new life!!
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