As the year 2012 comes to a close, I’ve been doing a lot of
reflecting on the past year and thinking about how different my life is from a
year ago.
A year ago, I was sedentary. Very sedentary. Climbing a flight of stairs was so
tough. I would get winded, and would
then take a long time to catch my breath again. I was tired all the time. If I went out shopping, I would have to sit
down to rest when I got home. I was
focused on food – what to make, what to prepare, when the next meal was going
to happen, if we should go out to eat, what we might eat, what we could snack
on.
Clothing was another matter. Almost nothing in my closet fit. I remember buying some pants and a sweater
a year ago – size 4X! That amazes me
even now, but was very discouraging to me then. The funny thing was, I didn’t see it when I
looked in the mirror. Denial? Skewed body image?
I think that buying that size 4X was one of the things that
helped me decide that I had to make some changes. The other was that I was so tired all the
time. Another was that I was watching
my kids gain weight. Earlier in the
fall, I had called the new Lifetime Fitness and inquired about rates, etc. I never was able to go in there for a tour,
but on New Year’s Eve of 2011, I took a phone call from one of the membership
consultants at LTF and for some reason, I agreed to join.
When I walked into the LTF building on January 1, I was very
self-conscious. I weighed over 300
pounds and knew that I needed to be there, but it was so hard. I felt like everyone was looking at me,
judging me, and staring at me. We went
upstairs and met the personal trainers, and I felt much better. We met Moses, and he immediately made me
feel comfortable. He was friendly,
encouraging, and never made me feel like I didn’t belong. In fact, everyone we met there was warm and
welcoming.
The next day the boys and I did our intake assessments. We talked individually with the trainers
about our goals and then we set up some group training sessions with
Moses. I remember our first training
session with him, and the workout wasn’t too terrible. He told us that he wanted to work on core
strengthening with us and he made me feel like he was invested in our success. One of the first workouts was 55 minutes of
core strengthening and then I swam 10 laps.
We would also do some exercises at home, planks for 30 seconds, side
planks, wall squats, bridges, reverse bridges on a ball and leg lifts.
During that first week of January, I set some goals (not
resolutions) for myself. They are as
follows:
1.
Lose 5 pounds per month – total of 60 pounds for
the year
2.
Exercise 5 – 7 days per week
3.
Less time on computer, more time doing other
productive things
4.
Organize house
5.
Make 50 things this year – 1 per week and keep
track! (this did NOT happen – ha!)
6.
Daily log of food and exercise.
One of the other things that I did was to look at examples
of people who have been successful in weight loss. I happened upon the blog of a young woman
who has lost 130 pounds and has kept it off for over 3 years. One of the things that she does every day is
have a big salad for lunch. I decided
to do the same and started incorporating this habit into my life.
Another thing that I did that was very beneficial to me was
to access the metabolic testing that is offered at LTF. During the course of the testing, I was
told that I wasn’t eating enough food and that I needed to up my caloric intake
by 500 calories per day. I did so, and
moved beyond a plateau I had been sitting on.
I recently re-tested and was told to eat 200 more calories per day and
more on the days I work out as my metabolism has increased!
As we continued working out, I started losing weight. I made a decision early on that I was not
going to focus on the weight loss, but instead focus on building new habits
into my life and eating better. I knew
that if I kept working out and eating right, the weight loss would follow. I got stronger and more able to do
things. One day when we were working
out in the gym, I saw a kickboxing class going on. I asked Moses if he thought I could do
that, and he said he did, and then had me talk to Rus, the instructor.
A couple of weeks later, I went to a Thai Kickboxing class
taught by Rus. It was so hard and I
thought I was going to die at a couple of points, but I finished and managed to
complete the class, even though I had to make some modifications. There was no way I could do a burpee, and
at the beginning of the class, I could not run with everyone else, but Rus was
so encouraging and welcoming and I knew I could come back. Rus continues to push me and encourage me in
every class.
Over the course of the year, I have gotten so much
stronger. I can now run at the
beginning of the Mixed Combat Arts (MCA) classes. I take the Mixed Martial Arts (MMA) class,
which is really really hard, and I love all of the MCA classes, boxing,
kickboxing, Capoeira and MMA are all high on my list. In fact, I usually take the MCA classes 4
times per week. In September, I took
part in our school Jog-A-Thon. In 2011,
I was barely able to walk around the field once. In 2012, I did 10 miles! We have a parent volunteer at our school
who teaches fitness classes for us once a week, and I am able to participate in
those classes. I can hold a plank for 2
minutes, I can do burpees (not just
one), I can jump rope for 2 minutes without feeling like I am dying, and just
the other day, I bench pressed 100 pounds!!
On January 1, I am participating in the Commitment Day 5K!
In July, I stared working with a new trainer, Alex
Freig. Alex has pushed me and helped
me to become even stronger. He cheers
me on and makes suggestions to help me out.
Once, when I was starting to focus on the scale, he suggested that I
stay off the scale for a week. I did
that, and then stayed off it for a month.
He’s been a great cheerleader and champion and challenges me. He encouraged me to enroll in the
Commitment Day 5K. I value his input
and feedback.
Today I am wearing shirts that are now XL, not 4X. The sweater I bought a year ago can wrap
around me almost twice. I’ve dropped
down 4 sizes in pants! I’ve had to buy
new underwear twice! I’ve lost 70
pounds! My kids are healthier too. They have both lost weight and gotten
taller. They look great and are wearing
smaller clothes too!
We eat so differently too. We always have fruit in the house. None of us eat the quantities of food that
we used to. We all eat more vegetables
and very little in the way of processed foods. I find that I can no longer eat pork. I think it’s too rich for me. I prefer to eat chicken or turkey or fish
as opposed to beef, and I find that I am not as focused on food as something
that provides pleasure, but rather as something to fuel my body. I
may think about eating something, but then I know that it’s going make me not
feel good, so it’s easier for me to pass it by.
I don’t fully know and understand what happened to help me
hear that click, but I know that part of what has allowed me to be successful
this year was my determination that I was not going to focus on losing weight,
but instead focus on living a healthy lifestyle. The other thing that has helped me is that
there are so many people who support me and cheer me on, from my kiddos, one
who said, “Mom, I can put my arms around you now,” to my friends and colleagues
who continue to support me and show excitement, to Rus and Alex, who know how
to push and challenge me, to my family, to people I exercise with, and many
more. Being very public about my
journey has also been an important component.
It may sounds silly, but I “check in” on Facebook when I go to exercise,
and I also belong to a group of people on Facebook who make monthly commitments
about exercise and food. All of those
structures also help me to be accountable.
I still have more
weight to lose, but I know that as long as I keep doing the things that I know
help me to be healthy - work out 5 days
per week, make good food choices – will continue to help me lose the weight.
I’m still pondering my goals for 2013, but I know that they
will include the following:
1.
Exercise 5 days per week
2.
Make good food choices
Life is good!
Before Pictures - July 2011
After Pictures - December 30, 2012