Reminiscing over 2 years of Weight Loss

As 2012 is coming to a close, I wanted to take sometime to just review all the things that I have accomplished over the last two years and three months.  I started my journey at 237 lbs in the summer of 2010.  I was wearing a size 18 in pants, 1x in shirts, and not only did I not like how I looked (despite my husbands encouragement), I did not like how I felt.  I was tired, almost always struggling with sinus problems, and just constantly feeling sick.

  

After continuous visits with a doctor regarding a terrible cough that just would not go away even with the medications I was receiving, I decided that there was something that I had to do about it.  So I started researching all possible foods that could cause a person to have abnormal amounts of mucus production.  I know, gross, right?  I pretty much started cutting down on almost every food except fruits and vegetables.  I even cut out many of my choice beverages and stuck with drinking water.  I also started actually working out because I found that I could breath better when I was consistently working my heart and lungs.  Getting rid of what ever impurities I had in my body.  Before I knew it, I had dropped nearly 30 lbs in 3 months.  Just in time for the wedding of two very good friends.  I fit into a size 14 dress and felt better than I had felt in a LONG time.



I decided that my journey was not done yet though.  I decided that since I was on a roll, why not keep going?  I kept up with my workouts and eating well.  I started to reintroduce some of the breads, dairy, and meat that I was avoiding.  I continued to read all sorts of books about health and weight loss.  I wanted to learn as much as I could about taking care of your body.  During 2011, it was apparent to me that I was still losing inches and looking more toned, but actually losing weight was not happening.  I was gaining more muscle and the fat was coming off.  By the end of 2011, I was at 213 lbs.  Gained a few lbs back, but my clothes were fitting better, and I could tell just from my face that I was heading in the right direction.

In January of 2012, I knew I had developed some really good habits, but the reality was that the weight still was not coming off the way that it should.  I realized that I needed to make some changes once again.  I was eating all the right stuff and exercising, but I realized that I needed to concentrate more on my portions.  So I started out the year with Weight Watchers.  I had successfully done this program before a couple of times and thought that I would take a chance with it again.  I was not surprised when I started to see that scale moving yet again.  By Easter, I was down to 200 lbs.  Around that time, God blessed me with a couple of friends who decided to join me on this journey of weight loss.  They introduced me to free programs like sparkpeople.com and myfitnesspal.com.  The greatest benefit of working with weight watchers was the teaching aspect.  Since I felt that I already knew a lot of the basics, why not try the free calorie counting programs.  So after my weight watchers 3 month membership was up, I switched.  I really enjoyed the calorie counting more than weight watchers because I no longer had to calculate points.  I just counted the calories.  And if I was trying to watch my intake of fat, sugars, salt, proteins, etc, they would just calculate it all for me!  Before I knew it, my weight had dropped to 185 lbs by the 4th of July.

Not quite there yet.  I still have about 30 lbs left to my goal yet.  I continued to work hard and stay on a routine.  The hardest part of the summer was that I was staying at home instead of working this year.  Between my sister getting married and then my brother, it was going to be a very busy summer.  However, because of that, I felt like my routine really wasn't set.  I continued to do my best.  By October, I dropped another 15 lbs.  School had started back up and I was back into a routine.  By my brothers wedding I was at 170 lbs and feeling fantastic!! To give you an idea in size, I wear 12 in pants, M/L in shirts, and 10 in dresses.  I have not been at this weight in more than 10 years!!

I know some of you reading out there are probably struggling with your health and weight.  I share my story as a way to hopefully encourage you.  To let you know that it can be done!  And you know what, I have hardly spent any money to do it.  Majority of my working out has been done at home.  If I can do it, so can you!  My journey is not yet over.  I still have about 15 lbs to reach my final goal, but I know that if my body doesn't allow me to go there, I am much happier and healthier than I have ever been.  And if you believe that you need more than simply eating the right foods, right proportions, and exercise, than you will probably wind up right back where you started.  Fad diets or cure all weight loss pills may help you to lose weight, but in the long run you a really haven't changed.  You still have the same old habits that you used to and will just put you back where you started.  Being healthy and losing weight takes work and commitment.  (You have read my story.  It has taken me at least 2 years to get where I am today.) And when you finally get close to the end or even at the end of your journey, you may look back and say, "that was worth it!"  I know that I do!

As we start 2013, my hope is that I will achieve my final goal by my birthday in May.  I have 5 months to achieve it.  If anyone needs any pointers or has any questions for me, I would love to hear them.  I will continue to post as time permits. 

    

Holiday Season ~ Resist temptations or indulge?

Halloween, where we are loaded up with sweets that could last us more than a year, has already past.  Thanksgiving is just around the corner with Christmas following closely behind.  This is probably the hardest time for anyone who enjoys nearly any kind of food that exists because the worst of it is brought out.  All the fats and the breads.  Not to mention the cooler temperatures which I believe make us more inclined to indulge in all the fattening foods.

Since my last post I have not gained any weight.  In fact during the month of September I lost an additional 10 lbs!  I could not believe it.  Since September I dropped another 2 lbs, but I have been going up and down 5 lbs over the last several weeks.  In total I have lost almost 70 lbs.  Not quite, but I am close.  I am confident I can at least reach that much by Christmas if I can make it through all the holiday parties.

The benefit of taking this long with my weight loss is that I have established a lot of healthy habits. Habits that are not easily broken.  Okay, so more recently I have not been counting calories or exercising as much.  But I still continue to eat the right stuff and I do try to stay active throughout the day if I don't exercise.  It is evident to me that I have changed.  I don't even feel guilty allowing myself to have a few foods that may not be so healthy to me, but I know my limit.  I have come a long ways from the person that I once was over two years ago.  I don't beat myself up as much if I am not as strict on my diet and exercise because I know that I can always get back to it the next day.  Before, I would beat myself up and then I would abandon what I learned and gain all of my weight back.  Then I would beat myself up some more because I allowed myself to gain the weight.  This is not how God wants us to be.  He did not create us so that we could continuously beat ourselves up every time that we feel that we failed at something.  He created us in His image.  The last two years I have learned to love myself the way that I am.  I know that I am not perfect and there is always room for improvement, but God created me.  My body is created to be His temple.  His home should be a place of love, not of disgust, pity, self-doubt, or even hatred.  With all of these holidays approaching, remind yourself that your body is created by God in His image.  Take care of it.  Ask for Him to give you strength where it is needed and He will help you to resist that second helping of potatoes, sweet rolls, pumpkin pie, etc.  But also know that it is okay to eat those foods that you rarely have a chance to partake of.  All you need is a little taste.  Don't beat yourself up if you do indulge or fall into temptation, there is always tomorrow to start fresh.  Whatever you do, take care of the body that God has given you.

Summer Break Is Over, A New Beginning

This summer has been amazing!  So many things going on.  Bought a Groupon for Gold's Gym in which I am able to attend 20 fitness classes before December 21st of this year. My sister graduated from college and married in June.  Went to St Louis with friends in July and Door County in August.  Over the last few weeks have only begun the celebration of my brother's soon-to-be marriage in October!  It has been a rather eventful, exciting summer.  However, they say, "all good things must come to an end."  Or must they?

While the summer break is ending, a new season is beginning.  In one day, I will be back to work at the school and ready to be back into a routine.  It has been a long time since I have written anything, and with the change, I am hoping that this will be a fresh start.  One thing that I have learned about my weight loss journey is that sometimes along the way, you must start fresh with a clean slate.  You have missed so many of your smaller goals that it makes it near impossible to reach your next one, so rather than stressing about it, you start fresh and new, with a new set of goals.  You look at your past achievements and  know that you didn't come this far doing nothing.  You set goals all along the way and made changes to your life to help you get this far.  It has almost been exactly 2 years since the very beginning of my weight loss journey this time around and I have lost 57lbs.  That is quite an accomplishment to be proud of.  I cannot be unhappy with what I have done so far.  If my body were to say right now that it just could not do anymore, than I will be happy.  But I do not believe that I am done yet.  I am still losing weight.  Slow and steady.   I actually do have a goal to try to reach my ideal weight by Halloween.  It is probably pushing it a little bit, but sometimes it is good to take on a challenge and see if you can achieve it.  I hope that as I start fresh, some of you reading this might be thinking the same thing.  While I still have lost quite a bit of weight over the summer, it was not as much as I had hoped.  With the new season and changes happening in my day to day life, my hope is that it will help me to be more consistent.

Challenge yourself with the new season to just start over and start by drinking more water, doing light exercise, and eating more fruits and vegetables and less of everything else.  That is a great start!  I do want to emphasize that if it has been awhile since you have exercised, please don't try to run a mile or do a 60 minute class/video right away.  You have to work up to it or else you could wind up injuring yourself.  Over the summer, I read that majority of successful weight loss cases were people who decided just to take up walking everyday.  When you are starting your workout regimen, I would recommend first off to listen to your body.  If you are feeling a lot of pain during your workout, you are pushing yourself too much.  The most you should feel during a workout is maybe a little fatigued, but not pain.  I would suggest starting with 20-30 minutes of cardio 3 times a week and 2 sessions of strength training.  If your body has not fully recovered by your next workout, then either take a break or do a very low intensity workout, such as walking.   Sometimes movement can help the soreness to go away because you are warming up the muscle and helping the lactic acid to exit the area. However, one of the reasons the muscle is sore is because there are little tears all the way through it and they still need to repair.  You do not want that muscle to tear all the way through.

It has been awhile since I have done my early morning workouts, and I'll be honest, I'm a bit intimidated at the thought simply because the last time I did a video workout I had a hard time breathing.  It is peak allergy season for me.  So rather than starting off this new season doing 60 minute workouts, I will be doing 30 minute workouts each morning until I am ready to move up.  I feel that I need to take it easy since my body has had a rest from the schedule I held last year.  My intent is to get up again at 5am each morning to workout before work.  I really found that this schedule worked well for me last year and I'm hoping that it will work well for me again this year.  It had me going in the morning and by the time I was done with work, I knew it was already done for the day and all I needed to do was go home, make dinner, and not have to worry about trying to fit working out in with everything else that needed to be done at night.

I do also want to mention that I am currently using www.myfitnesspal.com for keeping track of my calorie counts.  While I loved using www.sparkpeople.com, I discovered a large number of my friends use www.myfitnesspal.com and since I am not only looking for a way to keep track of my calories, but also have accountability, I decided to switch over.  If you are interested in using this program, you can friend me just like you would on facebook.  My username is KaraBeem.  One of the features that I like about this program is that you can allow your friends to see your food diary and get some pointers or allow them to see what you are doing to make you so successful with your weight loss.  You can also see some of your friends diaries as well to get some ideas for meals.  Especially when you can see that they are very successful in their weight loss.

Hoping you all hit the ground running this time around!  If you are ever in need of some pointers, let me know.  I'd be happy to share what I have learned. :)

Memorial Day Weekend 2012 - Being Active

On typically nice weekends such as Memorial Day weekend, it's always nice to find ways to be physically active outdoors or in your community.  There are all sorts of free activities that you can take part in.  Here are some websites containing events locally for North Eastern IL and South Eastern WI this memorial day weekend: http://www.visitlakecounty.org/events.cfm, http://www.markcz.com/events/, http://www.wistravel.com/events_in_wisconsin/.  Beware of those unhealthy choices, such as hot dogs and ice cream.  It's ok to enjoy a little, but it is easy to binge on these holidays.  Be careful of your portion sizes, and if you have the option of having food containing less calories and are just healthier in general, don't be afraid to make the best choice!

If the big crowds are not your thing, try a day at the forest preserves in the area.  The nice thing about the area that we live in is that there are many preserves with nice trails.  If you do plan to to go a park, be sure to load up on sunscreen, bug spray, and watch out for ticks.  Last year about this time, I had the unfortunate event of finding a tick attached to me after a visit to the preserve.  It is good to wear long pants and a baseball cap.  You won't be able to completely avoid them, but you are less likely to find them on you if you do take some extra precautions.  You want to stay away from tall grasses because that is where they like to hide.  Staying on the path will help you to avoid that.  After your visit, be sure to check under your clothes when you arrive home and have someone check your hair.  If you do happen to find a tick on you, there are proper methods for removal. Check out http://firstaid.webmd.com/tc/how-to-remove-a-tick-overview.  You will want to keep an eye on the bitten area to make sure that it does not become infected or appear irregular.  This may take a couple of days.  Be sure to call your doctor if you have any doubts.  If the area is red and you can see where the tick was attached, there tends to be more concern then if you cannot see where you were bitten at all.

This weekend, I intend to do some shopping and to also hang out with my hubby and friends at an amusement park.  A lot of walking.  Great way to burn calories. Much more fun when you have more than one purpose, I think.  My exercising regime was also very lax this week, so I also plan to workout a little more this weekend to make up for my lack of working out.  I have been experiencing a headache the last two days, so I'm hoping that it will not prevent me from accomplishing things this weekend.  I'm greatly looking forward to getting some vitamin D naturally through the sun. I hope you all have a wonderful time this memorial day weekend and take advantage of the many opportunities to be active and healthy.

Another Year Older . . . And Wiser

Yes, today is my birthday.  Thirty-one years ago today, my mother spent 24 hours trying to meet me before I decided to make my appearance.  Yesterday, I spent a wonderful time with family celebrating that and look forward to today spending it with my husband, coworkers, students and friends.  I truly feel blessed by all the people in my life.

As I look back on the past year or two, I feel that I have gained much knowledge and wisdom on how to take care of my body.  While I still feel like there is more for me to learn, I feel like the changes that I have made are not temporary but lasting.  When you truly desire to lead a healthier life, you just have to come to a realization that there are some things you have to learn to live without or find ways to make substitutions that will make it easier on you.  In my past, I would lose weight, then lose track and gain it all back.  I would make excuses as to why I should or should not do something.  My biggest one over the past few years has been, I'll wait until the summer, I'll have more time to get healthy then.  Of course, summer would come and I was more busy in the summer than I was during the school year.  I finally realized this year that I needed to stop making those excuses and make a change.  I just had to start making an effort and making my health and well being a priority.  I started working out at 5am.  I know, CRAZY!!! Right?!  Well, it has been the best change I have made this whole school year.  Now there are about 2 weeks of school left and I'm about 24lbs down since September of last year.  That is an average of 3lbs a month.  Ok, so maybe it's not as quick as I would like it to be, but I am down 24lbs and I cannot tell you how many inches.  I feel great physically and mentally.  That in itself is a huge reward.  I have so much more energy than I used to and I can move in ways that I have not moved probably since high school.  Like I said, I feel like I have so much more to learn, but this has been one great year!  I cannot wait to see what the next one brings.  I'm at 189lbs this year.  Hopefully by next year I will reach my goal of at least 165lbs.  Shooting for 155lbs, but I will be happy with 165lbs if that is as far as my body will go.