I was not a chubby child. In fact by
my family's standards, I was skinny. Not all knees and elbows, just
slender with good muscle tone. I was not a chubby youth. I knew the
importance of healthy eating habits. I had family members with
health problems that required a restrictive diet. Vegetables,
proteins, complex carbs, fruits and dairy were all things I enjoyed
so eating “healthy” was not a burden just part of life. I was
not an overweight college student. Sure I gained some weight, but my
eating habits were changing. Carbs were quick and convenient and
they traveled well. My healthy habits fell by the way side and were
replaced with convenient alternatives. But I was still not over
weight. My clothes still fit. I was not a chubby bride nor was I a
chubby mom-to-be. I gained only 60 lbs with each pregnancy and lost
most of it with in the first month after delivery. I refused to be
the fat mom who never got off the couch to play with her kids. Sure,
my healthy diet was now a convenient diet of processed and frozen
foods filled with sodium and sugar, but I was active and definitely
not fat.
One day I was asked to do a video
interview. I must have spent an hour in front of my bathroom mirror
making sure my hair was perfect, make up, prefect, clothing, perfect.
I was confident in my perfect appearance. Oh how my mirror deceived
me! I did not see the video until it was presented at a banquet to
an audience of 500+ people. The lights were dimmed and I was so
happy because I sat there in the dark crying. On a movie theater-sized screen, my size was hard to deny. I was more than chubby. I
was fat.
Where had the skinny child I once was
gone? Had the years of convenient processed foods really caused that
much weight gain. Had my seemingly active lifestyle really been so
sedentary? Was my age really to blame and was there anything I could
do about it?
I had seen the Six Week Body Makeover
Infomercial and Extreme Makeover. I thought this was like all other
fad diets. But after researching for consumer opinions on this program,
the only negatives I read about were that the program was
restrictive. You could not eat what you wanted when you wanted. Oh
really!!!! Hadn't my ability to eat what I wanted when I wanted got me
to the place I was? I needed rules, restrictions and structure to
get me back into shape. I knew from previous attempts that dieting
would last a week or two but then I would get tired of it and any
weight I had lost would just return. So I ordered my kit In early
January of 2007. It arrived on my birthday! Oh what a gift! I put
it together that evening and set up my shopping list with plans to
start on Sunday. I also got on line to find out what was available.
I found support on the forums, other people like me struggling to
lose weight.
I began on January 21, 2007. I
weighed 170 lbs and by the end of that week I had lost 5 lbs. That
was it; I was hooked. A few more sacrifices and one week later I had
lost another 5 lbs. By the end of my first six weeks, I was down a
total of 18 lbs and 20 inches off my entire body. By April I was
already down 3 full dress sizes and still losing. By July 24, 2007,
I had lost 45 lbs and reached my goal. I looked great in a swimsuit
and I had found something I never thought I would see again, a flat
stomach. I lost a total of 55.25 inches and went from a size 14 to a
size 3.
I learned that eating healthy has
different definitions for different people. I learned I was not as
active as I thought. I learned all because I was willing to accept
someone's teachings and practice to create new habits. Thank you
Michael Thurmond for giving me the knowledge and tools to change.
Thank you Dolores, Annie, Rikki, Tenderpaw and Gail, for your
guidance and support. And thank you Provida and all the support
community for a place to learn and people to lean on. I am no longer
a chubby person because of you all.