I am the kind of person who believes things happen for a reason. Not everything but somethings happen for a reason. I've contemplated blogging for a long time and even started looking into starting a website and blogging. I was overwhelmed with all the options and decisions and ended up not following through. So this free platform is not something I am going to pass up. That being said please be kind to my first blog EVER!
I started my wieghtloss journey on January 2nd, 2017. I've been overweight my entire life. I remember my Gramma trying to bribe me as a little girl to lose weight. Looking back on those memories I had no idea how to lose weight. I used to eat corn at my Gramma's by the bowl full, thinking I was eating healthy by eating a vegetable, but not realizing the salt and butter I drowned my corn in was not helping my weight. In my teens I dabbled with anorexia, bulimia, pills and a fat free diet. I could never starve myself for very long because I didn't have any self control. I hated throwing up, didn't know if I was doing it right since I didn't know how to tell if all the food was out of my stomach and felt terrible doing it. I did lose weight on my low fat/fat free diet. I lost 18 pounds but I was so unhappy I couldn't eat the foods that made me feel happy inside I didn't stick with it long enough to lose any other weight. I lost weight by taking ephedrine and who knows how much weight I could have lost before that was outlawed?!?
I really couldn't have started seriously, dilegently working on losing weight at a better time. I didn't know it for about 3 weeks in, when I bought a digital scale, but I was closer to 400 lbs than I was to 300 lbs. I was uncomfortable, it took so much effort to move all of me I didn't move unless I had to. My feet and ankles hurt when I got up and my knees took turns feeling like they wanted to give out. I was going to have to start shopping from a specialty catalog for my clothes because I was already wearing the largest plus size in the stores and they were getting tighter and uncomfortable. I was pretty miserable and didn't have a plan to change it.
For Christmas my husband booked us a kayaking excursion in the San Juan Islands where I have the best chance of having a close encounter with orcas in the wild. As soon as I opened the package my husband explained my chest can't be bigger than 54 inches or I won't be able to fit in a life jacket and/or kayak. I ran to the bathroom, grabbed my tape measure and measured my chest at 56 inches. I told my husband I will not be kept from kayaking with orcas. I will do WHATEVER it takes to fit in that damn kayak. I told a close friend I needed to lose weight and explained to her why. She suggested, again, to get the My Fitness Pal app to get me started. I set my goal to lose 70 lbs before my trip in July and started just after new years as there is no way I could deprive myself through the holidays.
First week of calorie counting was okay. MFP suggested a 2300 calorie diet. I honestly didn't feel too deprived and tried to keep my calories under the 2000 mark because I was looking to lose a large amount of weight in a short time. My old scale told me I gain a few more pounds after the first week so I picked up a digital scale next chance I had. I lost a few pounds after really being able to tell what my weight was on the digital scale and I was encouraged and kept me movitated. I think it was after two or three weeks something finally clicked and I truly grasped the concept of eating less calories and losing more weight. Since about February I've been restricting myself to 1000 calories per day. I lose about 4 lbs per week if I can stay commited to my 1000 calories per day all week. I usually give myself a break on one or two days of the weekend. I can see on the scale that doesn't help me though and the closer I get to July 15th the more focused and determined I have to stay. I told myself one day "there is plenty of time for pizza after I kayak with orcas!"
So far I've lost 52.7 lbs. I've lost 2 pants sizes and half of my double chin. What I've gained is some mobility back. I've gained the confidence in myself that I can control what I eat, I can make good eating choices, I can have a slice of pizza without eating half the pie. It didn't happen overnight but I've learned so much about myself, my determination, my inner strength and how to deal with my emotions without burying them under a bag of cheetos. I feel like I've made big changes in my life and can't wait to see how far I can take myself with these changes. I hope I can win my current diet bet and join another one before I am done with my journey. I am so excited about my small success I want to share my experience and encourage other women to work on themselves and not to let weight keep them from enjoying life!