We decided to start by just changing our eating habits by following our recommended calorie intakes - it turns out on a DAILY basis we were surpassing what we should eat in a day by 100's even 1000's of calories! And that didn't even include "special occasions", restaurants or parties! I don't even want to know how bad we were eating at those events. That was a wakeup call to me! I'm a foodie, I love to cook and I LOOOOVE to eat - but all this love of food was digging me a deep hole, at the age of 26 I was gaining weight at a staggering pace. In 5 years I had put on over 60lbs and I was overweight to begin with!
We hadn't added in much exercise in that first week and it's probably good that we took it slow - the physical withdrawal from the sugars, fats and amount of food was intense. Headaches, dizziness, irritability - you would think we were coming off drugs!
We supported each other and got through that first tough week of eating and when we did a weigh in we had dropped over 5lbs each - JUST by changing our eating habits! This was encouraging to me, never in my life had I lost over 5lbs in a week. Suddenly something sparked inside me and my mantra for the next few months was "I don't want to be the fat girl anymore". I was scared to set an actual weight or fitness goal for fear of not achieving it (a whole part of my personality we might get into in another blog post), so my goal in the beginning was simply, keep losing weight. I didn't care if it was a pound, two, three, HALF - I just wanted to keep seeing the weight come off.
My whole life I have been the heavier girl, for my high school formal I had to get my dress at the plus size store (I was a size 16 at that time, humiliating for a young teenager...) so my lifelong battle with self esteem and desire to "get thin" started early. I had amassed a fitness DVD & equipment collection that could rival a gym! Free weights, steps, boxing equipment, elliptical, bike, bands - you name it I have it and yet owning it doesn't help you lose weight HA! Go figure!
So to keep the weight loss going I decided to put all these unused tools to work! I started working out in my basement using the DVD's and free weights - and let me tell you, when you start out working out, my GOD can you tell you're out of shape. I was winded in 2 mins, I could barely keep up with the workouts - but I kept at it. I did everything at my pace and if I couldn't do something fully, I would modify it so that I could do something. Slowly but surely my fitness level improved and my desire to challenge myself began. I picked up Bob Harpers Inside Out Method (cardio & strength) DVD's as well as Jillian Michaels (yoga & 30 day shred) AND as many Biggest Loser DVD's as I could. I decided if those people on the show can do it, I can do it.
Bob & Jillian are trainers to be admired. Seriously. Their workouts challenge you, they hurt you and yet somehow they do it in a way that make you feel powerful. You may collapse in a heap on the floor, and you may only have done half of what they asked, but they find a way to make you proud for trying. This became my new mantra "just try it, if you fail, try again". Slowly but surely, working out almost every day for about a half hour to an hour I had lost nearly 50lbs! I was shocked!
One day Pat had decided that he wanted to try jogging, and having my new mantra I figured, let's go! Boy, did that feel like rock bottom again... I could barely get through a block before I wanted to die, my lungs were on fire, my legs were rubber - it was BAAAAD. But somehow, I kept at it and got addicted to the mental and physical challenge of it. We would bring our dog Max (border collie... ridiculous energy) and he almost seemed to cheer us on. I think he loved the fact that he was finally getting the exercise HE deserved!
Pat and I had joined a gym the previous year - another lesson learned, you don't lose weight by owning a gym membership HA! We decided now was the time to start going back. I got a personal trainer 2-3 times a week as well as Pat and I would go in the evenings together to do cardio. This was winter and it was getting more and more difficult to jog outside so thank goodness for treadmills! Soon the gym felt less intimidating and more like a second home. The people became less intimidating and I realized they were all there to get healthy too, who cares if that girl looks like a size 0, she probably has as many self esteem issues as I do! Or not, but it really didn't matter anymore, I was focused and determined to become a better runner and just get more fit!
There was this one day at the gym I had decided I wanted to see how quickly I could do 5K on the treadmill (just over 3 miles). I couldn't jog the whole thing but I walked as briskly as I could and just kept focusing on the show on TV, I ended up doing it in about 43 mins, not too shabby for this chubby girl. Feeling proud and accomplished I headed to the change room and the woman who was changing in front of me wanted to tell me that she admired my dedication - she saw me on the treadmill and said she thought it was so amazing how focused I was. This was such an amazing day for me, for the first time I was noticed at the gym - not as the weird fat girl, but as someone to be admired. I could have hugged her! That day I decided to never think of myself as the 'fat girl' again, I was the 'fit girl' and I could do anything.
To be honest, my self esteem goes up and it goes down and I have ROCK BOTTOM days all the time. The journey to fitness is NOT easy and as confidant as I can seem, sometimes I just don't always feel it (I'll probably talk more about this another time). I just don't want anyone reading this to think, oh.. it seems so easy, because it's not.
I encountered weeks where weight just stopped coming off. I would work out and eat perfectly but not lose a pound. My longest stretch was over 6 weeks. I would cry, scream, I would threaten to stop eating (TOTALLY counter productive... but I was upset) and want to give up but I have Pat, and he won't let me give up. So if you're starting your journey - find your support group, even if it's just one person. If you don't have anyone - email me, I will support you! 'Cause sometimes it's just not fun and not easy and you might just want to throw in the towel. But believe me, when you don't give up, and those extra pounds come off, or you can run that extra kilometre or do an extra pushup - it's the most amazing feeling that nothing compares to.
We started at the beginning of August, now it's the end of March, I'm down 71lbs and Pat is down 67lbs. Together we have lost a whole person!!! I still have 30-40 more pounds to go and Pat has about another 30, so here I am - starting a blog to share our progress as we try to lose the last of our weight and reach our fitness and life goals. I've been told I'm motivational and inspirational so I hope this blog will be an outlet for me to share my stories and the things I've learned with whoever wants to listen.
The first little tidbit of information I can share with you: take the first step.
Seriously, it's THAT easy. Whether it's swapping your fancy coffee with whipped cream for a black coffee, or swapping your burger for a salad, or taking a walk after dinner instead of sitting down to watch TV right away... those little steps build to something amazing. You don't have to jump in with both feet right away, nor do you have to change your life drastically (ever..) You'll be amazed with a little dedication and these 'little steps' how far you can go, just take that first step :)
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