Get Healthy World

I got to see my friend Sandy yesterday. She looked absolutely GORGEOUS!!! She has lost 82 lbs. now! She’s doing great! She’s an inspiration to me and to others. There was another JDC teacher at the meeting Jamie who has lost 50 lbs.! She too is making changes for a healthier lifestyle. She is following UAMS’s weight loss program that our previous Governor Mike Huckabee did. www.weight.uams.edu is the website where you can read about it. I was so elated to see friends of mine making healthy choices and life style changes.

Weight loss and how you go about it is somewhat personal I will say that. Sandy hasn’t followed the same regiment that I did. I didn’t do the same thing that anyone else did. We all are different that is true but one thing is constant. You have to burn more calories than you consume to lose weight. It is just that simple. Your body has certain needs as far as vitamins and minerals go and you need water.

When I set out it wasn’t just about the numbers. I will admit that I had a number in mind. But if I concentrated on the number it became overwhelming b/c I had so much weight to lose. So I set many different kind of goals. Goals that were measureable and attainable. Like I wanted to be able to run a 10 minute mile. I wanted to be able to do a one arm push up (still working on that one). I wanted my weight to be 130 lbs. I chose that # b/c it was right in the middle of the range for my height and I thought no matter what I wore or had to eat on that day I wouldn’t be overweight when I went to the Dr.’s office. ha. ha. For some people it is about a certain size and they will purchase a smaller clothing size and try to get down to that size.

Staying motivated and up about something that can be so hard to do is just hard. There’s no way around it. I guess that is why I am so inspired by Sandi. This has not been an easy journey for her nor a quick one and here she is 82 lbs. down and 18 more to go. She is determined to continue this journey and then to keep it off. She’s doing a great job and all of her hard work is paying off. Because like I said before she looked GREAT yesterday and I am so proud of her.

Today, my friend wrote me that she is down 80 lbs and 20 more to go!!!! I am so excited for her! She has done a lot of hard work. It is inspiring to others and to me. No drugs, no gimmicks. It is awesome. It is a life style change and I am soooo proud of her.

You have no idea what kind of influence you have on others good or bad. Honesty, taking a look at yourself honestly. I can tell you that I would lie to myself about what I had had to eat that day or how many calories it contained. When you get right down to it I just didn’t realize how much I was eating or how many calories were in the foods that I was eating.

When I put it honestly down on paper and I looked a food as fuel for my body instead of some kind of reward or something to enjoy then my outlooked changed. I was eating somewhere between 3800-4000 calories a day just to maintain my weight. When I researched it online it takes an inactive female 10 -12 calories per lb. just to maintain their body weight. So I began to diet and exercise and not lie to myself. I didn’t eat between meals and I measured my portions. (Portion control was important. I had unrealistic ideas of what portions were.)

Walking was my exercise and I already lifted weights 3 days per week with my husband so I continued on that regiment. Walking for 30 minutes per day. Wow, it hurt. I had barely made it a block and my calves were screaming. My husband was ahead of me saying, "Come on." We walked in the rain, in the snow, no matter what. At first it wasn’t very far and I was winded but as I walked everyday the same amount of time I improved. I walked faster and farther always pushing a little harder.

Because of the difference in my diet and exercise, I began to lose weight. It was coming off FAST. I was losing a pound a day. I had never experienced that before and was elated and pumped about losing weight and inches. It made it worth the withdrawals of no caffiene, no sugary drinks, candy, etc. I would weigh myself and see a loss of some weight even if it wasn’t a whole pound.

By the time spring got here I was in a routine where I had it down that I didn’t have to have as much support from my husband. I could get up in the morning and walk by myself. After work I would work with my husband in lawn maintenance. I just made sure I planned all my meals out so I wasn’t out of control hungry and their were foods that I could eat ready during my problem times.

I used little tricks from different places, like eating off a desert plate instead of a dinner plate. Eating out of a small cereal bowl like the size of a kiddie bowl instead of the regular bowls that came with my dishes. The size of dishes have grown over the years and are unneccesary. Most people pile their food on their plate as full as they can and if you fill one of those huge plates full you have enough food for two or three people.

By August I had lost 80 lbs and had begun in January. I went to a meeting with teachers from Juvenile Detention Centers and they almost didn’t recognize me. Of course lots of people asked if I had been hypnotized or was on some kind of medication or what. I could have not been brutally honest with them but I was. I was fat b/c I chose to be fat. With every bad decision I made be that the food I put into my mouth or choosing not to get off my butt and exercise. Little did I know that I would inspire some to get honest with themselves. Hence the inspiration of this blog today: Sandi has lost 80 lbs today!!!!! Way to go!!!!!

Sandi has made this journey and worked very hard for it. The last time I saw her she looked awesome. I get to see her again on Tuesday. I can’t wait!

This is all new to me. I am not familiar with blogging and am unsure of what it is all about but I do have something to say. This is a shout out to all of the people out there who are down and out about being unhealthy. Who have given up on getting healthy. For 10 years I was in a downward spiral of gaining weight yo yo dieting and trying everything on the market. From every "magic" pill to every infomercial out there to only get discouragement and let down. Finally with the help and support of my husband and son and a lot of hard work and the use of some free tools on the internet I have lost 104 lbs. I went from 242 lbs. to 138 lbs. and have kept it off for a year.

Please don’t lose hope but get up, get moving, and change your lifestyle. www.sparkpeople.com is a great free resource to help you with planning everything out there and tracking it all the only thing it can’t do is actually get you up off that couch or out of that chair or make you quit lying to yourself and others about what you have eaten. I am not downing anyone I have been there myself. Let me tell you the kudos you get from people that you haven’t seen in a while when they see you is amazing. It is not too late.

There is no sense in putting it off until tomorrow. Start now. Start today. Being unhealthy is addictive. Overeating is addictive just like drugs and alcohol. The difference is you have to eat to live. My journey by all means was not an easy one. My husband especially during the first few weeks thought of moving out. Ha! Ha! Because it was like a smoker giving up cigarettes. But if I can do it you can too. There have been several of my friends who have taken my lead and have dropped 50 -70 lbs. Just because we were lying to ourselves. We wanted there to be a "magical cure" out there the cure was with us the whole time.