Short Story Long: Why and How I Lost Some Weight

( I am what some may call "thorough". This is wordy. This first section is the "why", and the next section is the "how". The "how" is just bullet points, and more specific details are in another post, called "The Details of How: 10 Things I Do to Lose Weight".)

Four months ago I started working out. January 3rd, 2012.  Actually, 3 or 4 days before that, JP and I did a 30 minute walk each day so I could get into shape enough to even do anything useful in the gym. Though it was around the start of the New Year, it was not because of a New Year's resolution. I don't do New Year's resolutions. If I need to make a change or have something I want to start, I just do it, regardless of the point of the year.
The impetus for beginning to make changes was that right before Christmas, I had to buy a larger size jeans so I'd have something to wear. It had been becoming more necessary for the previous months, and with all the visiting and needing-to-not-wear-sweat-pants that occurs around the holidays, I had to buy these dumb jeans. So I did. And I told myself I was not going to have to buy yet another bigger size.  These size 16 jeans were a wake up call.
I had wanted to start working out way before I did. I've always worked out. In high school I was an athlete, and in college I worked out regularly, and after college I worked out off and on - right up until about 5 years ago. I just quit making it a priority. Then the longer I went without working out, the harder it became to think about starting back up again. And as I put on weight, I felt more and more hopeless.
October 2010 JP and I started doing p90x (he had done it previously).  But I was having issues with my gall bladder that made it hard to do the workouts, and after I had my gall bladder out, I just never started working out again.
Last February or March (2011) I joined a gym so I could lose some weight before I got married in May, and I went religiously for...maybe 2 weeks. I wanted to want to workout. I wanted to be motivated to go. But I didn't, and I wasn't.
Sometime around the holidays I started praying (really. this is true.) "God, help me be motivated to start working out. And when I'm not motivated, help me to be disciplined". (I still pray this quite often. It has worked for me.) Then I had to buy those dang jeans, and I woke up. Literally. On January 3rd I woke up at 5 am and thought out of the blue "I should go to the gym". I texted my good friend who is also a member, and who I knew was doing workouts early mornings, and asked her if she was going. She was. I got out of bed and rooted around the dark bedroom for my workout clothes (since JP was asleep), and I was on my way (leaving my husband to fall back asleep wondering why in the world I was going to the gym at 6 am). For the next 3 months, I went 3-5 mornings every week. There was one week I didn't go, and a couple of weeks when I only went a couple of times per week. After daylight savings time messed up my internal clock, I started going around 10:00 am or in the afternoon if I didn't make it in the morning.
I know working out for just 4 months or losing 20 pounds (ahem. 23, actually.) doesn't exactly make me an expert or even very credible. After I've kept it up for a year and am way closer to my goal weight, I'll at least have a little more credibility. But, for most of my adult life, I've worked out. I do know a little bit about working out, and a little bit about fitness, and a little bit about nutrition. I continue to learn more as I find out how to get healthier.  And, I've done the hardest part; I've started the journey.

It's embarrassing to admit where I was, and where I am, quite honestly. How did I let myself get 50-60 pounds overweight? Well, it didn't happen over night. Or over a year. Or over 5 years. And it wasn't because I ate more than one serving of peanut M&Ms every once in a while. It happened slowly and systematically. It's scary to say on facebook that I've undertaken this journey. Because what if I give up, or quit when it gets tough, or don't reach my goals? Or what if I reach my goal, but then in 5 years, find myself back here again? Failure is embarrassing.
It's very uncomfortable for me to attach these pictures. It's way less threatening to say "I weigh 214 pounds" or "I'm 50 pounds overweight" than to show you what that looks like on me. Saying it doesn't bother me that much, because it's a number. The visual proof of that is more embarrassing than the numerical representation, and I feel naked and vulnerable.
I'm not proud of my "before" body, and I'm not excited about you seeing me in compression shorts and a sports bra. It's mortifying to show you my back fat, my flabby arms, my cankles. And I'm more than a little embarrassed that in the first picture the bottoms of my shorts aren't even. Totally unpresentable. The only thing that I am not embarrassed about is that my hair looks really good in the third picture. AND I am excited that in the third picture there is a significant difference in how I look compared to both of the previous pictures.

December 31, 2011

~211/214 pounds

March 25, 2012

~205 pounds

April 23, 2012

~194 pounds
Stylish hair

Why then did I attach pictures, am I even talking about this at all? Because I'm sort of proud of the progress I've made, sure. But I also know how hard it is to get motivated. I know how it feels to look in the mirror and be disgusted. And to be overwhelmed and think "There's nothing I can do. It's too hard. It will take more energy and investment than I can give". To walk away from the mirror and cry, feeling defeated. To realize one day "I am obese. Clinically obese". And to be too weak to fight, too convinced by the voices in my head that say "I'll never be able to do it".
That's where I was 6 months ago. Maybe someone will read this who is there right now. Who doesn't think they can do it, or doesn't think it is worth it. Though I can't motivate you, maybe my journey and the start of my transformation will be encouraging to you. Maybe you are already on the journey and just need to hear from a "sister in fitness" to keep pressing on. My primary reason for posting is so maybe someone who needs encouragement will read it.
I read this article recently, which is interesting because I was thinking yesterday how Pinterest has been a motivator for me. Not necessarily in the way mentioned in the article, but because seeing pictures of people who are where I'd like to be helped get me off my butt and into the gym. There are so many examples of workouts to get you going and interesting exercises, that being on Pinterest really facilitated my workout process.  There are so many resources on facebook and Pinterest, on blogs and online in general. If I'm feeling unmotivated to go work out, I hop on my Health and Fitness, Fit is Hot, or Workouts and Exercises boards. It doesn't take long before I'm out the door. It's a resource and a motivator to me. http://newstartfitness.blogspot.com/2012/04/social-networking-can-be-key-to-your.html?spref=fb

I know I still have a ways to go. Believe me, I don't have any illusions that I am "there". That I've "arrived". I've lost 20 pounds (23, actually), but I'm still 191 pounds. I'm still about 30-40 pounds overweight. FORTY POUNDS OVERWEIGHT. I have farther to go than I have come. But, I am on the journey and I intend to stay on the journey, and I've had some successes of which I am proud. A couple of people have asked what I have done to lose the weight, so I thought I'd share. Again, I still have a long way to go. But I am noticeably thinner and more trim, and I feel significantly better (physically, emotionally, psychologically) than I did 4 months ago. And I fit into my size 14 jeans again a couple of weeks ago. Just 2 more sizes to go ;)

Ten things that have helped me lose weight:
1) My goal is to make long-term, sustainable changes.  I want to get the weight off and keep it off, and just as importantly, I want to be healthy.
a) I set reasonable, attainable, measurable goals. Goals that don't have these characteristics are just wishes and will never be completed.
b) I have to take it easy on myself sometimes.  Some weeks I don't workout as much as I think I should.  Or I go over my calories.  I don't give up or quit.  I move on.
c) I took "Before/ Start" pictures, weights and measurements.  This has been a great way to measure progress, and a good motivator!

These next few things are what I have found helpful. Not everyone will need to do all these things, and not everyone will want to do them. And that's fine. This is my journey and I'm finding what helps me. You'll have to do the same thing. I hope some of these help, or at least give you a starting point.

2) I quit drinking soft drinks.  I consumed 360-600 calories per DAY of soft drinks.  That's a lot.

3) I cut back on my coffee intake.  Just a personal goal, but it helped cut down on my sugar intake.

4) I drink a LOT more water now.  I hardly ever drank water before.  I don't always drink the 64-80 ounces that is recommended, but I often come close.

5) I eat a little better.
a) Eating has never really been my problem with weight.  
b) The only exception to that is sugar.
c) I eat small portions.  I eat 3 meals a day, and at least four 150 calorie snacks.
d) I don't get seconds.  I only serve my plate with the amount I should eat, then I don't eat any more than that.
e) I try to drink some water after every couple of bites.
f) I eat a lot of protein, which for me, means meat.  Protein fuels muscles, and keeps me fuller longer.
g) I have to be more intentional when I go out to restaurants.

6) I count calories.
a) I calculated the number of calories I should be eating per day.  I try to stick right around that number, at least on a weekly basis.  Not much more, not much less.
b) I measure and write down EVERYTHING.  This is the only way I was able to keep to a certain number of calories.


(You can certainly lose weight just by dieting, though it is a little slower. And there's just all sorts of reasons to do workouts if you have time and space to do so. If not, there's other things you can do. You know them all. I always park a little further away than I have to when I go somewhere. If there's stairs, I take them. Stuff like that.)

7) I work out
a) I had to find workouts that work for me. why would I work out if I hate doing it?
b) I work out 5 times a week. On average.  While I'm not working, I'm taking advantage of free time.  I'd like to continue to work out between 3 and 5 times a week forever.
c) I work out hard. You put into it what you get out of it.  I could challenge myself and push myself more, but I am not really easy on myself during my workouts either.
d) I do 3-5 different workouts a week:
1) Cardio
2) Lower
3) Upper
4) Core
5) Whole body
d) I stretch before and after every work out.  Stretch. The end.
e) Women have to lift weights.  If we don't our bones deteriorate quicker.
f) I keep my muscles confused. They work harder if they never know what's coming next.

8) I weigh daily. This doesn't work for everyone.  It's incredibly motivating to me.

9) I track everything and keep it all in one place.   Calories, workouts, weights, goals, everything is in my fitness notebook.

10) I plan ahead.
a) Going into the week I have a pretty good idea of some things I'd like to cook. It helps me to anticipate better how many calories I should eat if I know what meal is coming next.
b) I plan my workouts before I even get in my car to go to the gym.  Or else I will get there and after 5 minutes either talk myself into believing I am done with my workout, or I'll wander around doing 1 set of 7 reps of about 16 random exercises.
c) If I go out to eat, I try to plan ahead what I'm going to eat.  I've cut way back on eating at restaurants, because it's so hard to not overeat or make healthier choices.

I read that it takes 4 weeks (1 month) for you to start noticing changes in yourself after modifying your eating/ workout habits, 8 weeks (2 months) for close friends and relatives to notice, and 12 weeks (3 months) for acquaintances to start noticing changes. I found this to be true, but when someone stops you in the gym and says "Girl, you are really losing weight", it is SOOOO worth it to hear. (And also when you like what you see when you're flexing in the mirror, or when you fit into your size smaller jeans :) )