How I Lost My Weight

A lot of people have been asking me how I lost my weight.  I have been holding off on writing this post or a long time. I have had a lot of people ask me to write it down for them, so I thought I would post about it. Talking about dieting and exercise to some people is almost as bad as talking politics. It can get heated and people feel frustrated and not agree with you. So PLEASE don’t be offended about what I write and also know I am not bragging or saying I am some amazing person. It took a lot of hard work and discipline.

 

So to start, I know there are a ton of ways to loose weight. Seriously, I googled a Peanut Butter Diet the other day and guess what, there was one!!! There are so many different ways to loose weight. My sister and her husband did the Body for Life Diet and exercise program and they did great. I have friends that did the HCG diet and did well. My sisters neighbor swears by Bob Greene and his cookbook (which I am considering buying because the recipes look great) and she recently lost about 75 lbs doing it. There are also amazing workout programs like Insanity, P90X, Jillian Michaels, T-Tapp, and even good old Billy Blanks Taebo! So as you can see there are a whole ton of eating and exercise programs you can use.

 

So I will give you a little back ground about me….{if this subject totally bores you, SORRY!} I grew up very active and never really had a problem with my weight. I wasn’t tiny by any means, just normal. I could eat a bowl of ice cream every night and it never affected me. My mom was the exact opposite, she weighed over 200 lbs my whole childhood and struggled every day with food. I remember when mom started loosing all her weight I was little nervous I would have the same problem. My mom looks amazing now, so go here if you want to read about her and her overcoming her addiction to food. After I had my first child I nursed her and got down to even smaller than I as before I had her. I thought how awesome it was to be able to eat whatever I wanted and be skinny!! Well I was wrong. After I had my second and gained 35lbs during pregnancy the weight didn’t come off. I nursed and nothing. I started eating a little bit better, but I was stuck at 165lbs. {I don’t think I have told anyone that, but who cares?!?!?!} Then my third came along and I gained the same and was again stuck at 165 lbs. Now I know that is not huge and that I was not considered morbidly obese or anything, but for my height to weight the charts said I was overweight and I felt like I was. I started eating better and exercising A LOT and did some races and triathlons, but still no weight. The weird thing was is I could also eat what ever I wanted and I didnt’ gain any either. So I just told myself I needed to be ok with where I was, but I wasn’t 🙁 I prayed and asked God to help me figure out what to do. I had a bunch of friends doing the HCG, and I was a bit tempted to try that. I called my mom one day and just told her that I was thinking about it. She encourage me to do this program that she has been doing for the last year and a half. I decided what the heck! I might as well try it. My mom has been doing the the 12 Steps Addiction Recovery Program in our church, and even helped write the manual. She also added this program with it, which they also use the 12 steps. It is called CEA HOW. It is for compulsive eaters {which I feel like I am, but only social, like at potlucks and such} It is also kind of a life long program for people that struggle with food addiction every single day. I don’t feel that I am that way and maybe I am in denial, but I am not drawn to the fridge like I know some people are. {which I am grateful for because that would be super hard}

 

Anyway, so I started the next day with this program. I found the eating plan that someone had posted online while searching the Internet. The real plan is a 12 step support group and you join for free and you have a sponsor you get the food plan from. You call people and can also listen in on meetings over the phone, {which I did hear once and it was inspiring}. It is great program if you need major help with your eating. Here is the website with the diet on it. Basically the gist of the diet is to get all the bad stuff out of your body. So you go off grains and sugar for a 30 days, I did it for 60!! Yes, it was hard, but oh so worth it!! I am sure you are wondering Why Grains? Well I didn’t really know this either, but grains are carbohydrates which actually turn to sugar in your body, and sugar is addicting and makes you crave more and more which makes you still feel hungry even when your not. Got it!

 

So I did it, I did it for 30 days and lost 14 lbs. After four years of trying. I was so excited! It was my birthday and Easter so I took a week off and then started another 30 days and lost 12 lbs!!!! Now I weigh 139! My goal weight was 145 because that’s what it says on the charts is a healthy weight for my height!! So a total of 26 lbs, and a lot of inches. I am no barbie doll and I am no size tiny, but I feel good and I feel happy! You can go to the website and see what to do after the 30 days. For me it is going to be different because I got down to my goal weight and I am not actually in the program. For my mom, she will probably not EVER eat sugar again. She is amazing!! I was so grateful for the support from my mom and family to do this, but most especially for the help God gave me everyday to have the will power to do it. I have had people tell me that they don’t have enough will power to do it, and they are right, I couldn’t have done it with out God’s help everyday. He cares about us and will help us even with little things, whether it’s a small 5 lbs, 25 or even 97 like my mom lost. He cares that we are happy and that we take good care of our bodies.

 

You have to do what works for you. This is what worked for me along with exercising, and if you decide to use it, awesome! I think the major thing is just eating more healthy, watching your grain and sugar intake and the amount of calories we put into our bodies. I now know what I am going to do to get back down to weight after I have another baby! I have been off the actual eating plan for a little over a week and I had two days were I struggled and ate to much because of parties and such and I paid for it, I had major stomach ache and felt awful. I have not gained any weight though and have added grains to my meals. I also am only having a treat once a week. I have learned a lot from eating this healthy way. I know what is good and not so good for my body and that I need to watch what I eat. I learned how to eat way healthier and plan on doing that. I have also learned to stop or not snack as much, and also to stop eating after dinner. I have also come up with a new plan for myself of how I want to eat, because I don’t want to have to “diet” the rest of my life, I just want to have a healthy eating plan. Every Friday for the next few weeks I will post some ideas of yummy healthy meals and also good ways to not feel hungry and get rid of that 9:00 pm food craving!

 

So here’s to healthy eating and trying to stay fit!!