Phoenyx
0
Forgive the long-windedness of this post. I wrote it in one of my blogs, and really couldn't cut it down. I promise that most of my entries won't be as long as the first couple.
I decided late last year that I would be very aggressive and proactive about losing weight this year. Its just something that has been long overdue anyway.
I really let myself go over the years. Packed on 70+ pounds. 70 POUNDS!!! Can you believe that? I've never been a small woman by any means, but 70 pounds is a LOT of weight.
I'm 5' 9" and I was weighing in at 241.6 pounds. At the point where most women's clothing just didn't fit me right, even the 'big women's' sizes. So I just started wearing men's pants. Yeah, really styling there. Ok, granted I do a lot of welding, metal work, out in the garage, that type of thing... but to reach a point that is the norm for how I dress? Ouch. I used to be very flamboyant in how I dressed as an everyday occurence. As the pounds added themselves, that became less and less. Got to the point where I was looking downright dowdy.
Physically, I was getting winded going up a flight of stairs, getting heartburn all the time, knees started to hurt. Worst of all, I was getting very unhappy in life. No energy to do anything, no desire for anything. No sex drive. Kinda hard to get in the mood when you don't feel sexy. Gets downright depressing when your stomach gets in the way when you are tying your freaking shoes!!
I tried and failed several programs over the past few years:
Atkins worked great during the initial stages, but as soon as I started to introduce carbs back in, the weight came back and brought friends.
Joined Curves for almost 2 years, lost weight, but got burned out on the workout because, frankly, its boring as hell. Hit plateau, gave up.
Tried the Weight Watchers method, multiple types of 'diet pills' out there... nothing really worked that well. Or it would start to take off weight, and then I'd end up self-destructing on it somehow.
January 2007 I started taking belly dancing classes. Incredible workout! Even started collecting belly dance DVDs to supplement the classes by a home workout. Started making it a goal to do something at least 3 days a week. Later in 07 I also added a martial arts class to the mix. Ok, on the good side, I was starting to get some tone happening under the fat (my joke about this was that I was like a steel bar wrapped in Nerf), but on the bad side the fat wasn't coming off, and now my left knee started to hurt. Part of that was probably due to dancing barefoot. On a wood floor that's ok when your feet aren't getting damp from perspiration, but trying to do a pirouette when you have been at it for a while... well, it just torques your knee and starts to make it hurt. Especially carting around an extra 70 pounds and trying to do this stuff.
I admit my eating habits were horrible. No portion control, eating lots of bad stuff, etc. Drinking too much alcohol, etc.
Something had to give somewhere. Unfortunately it was my waistline. I had become a 'fat chick'. I hated having my picture taken because I'd look at it and really see how bad I was looking. If I had to have my picture taken I'd try to hide behind other people (usually my husband), or since I'm the one with the camera usually, I'd take the pictures and avoid getting in the sights of other cameras.
The only time this didn't work too well was at car shows. I don't know how many pictures of my chunky ass at pinstripers' panel jams are out there... honestly, I don't WANT to know. To date only one has made it in to a magazine, and luckily I'm sitting behind a table and it is hard to tell what my weight is like.
Needless to say, I started getting desperate.
I noticed a few of the ladies at work had started shrinking. One was quite drastic. I finally worked up the nerve to ask her what she was doing. Turns out she was going to this doctor out here in Walnut Creek who only focuses on weight loss. Found out the other 'shrinking' women were going to or had gone to him as well. This doctor was also an advertiser in one of our magazines. Usually when I look at the ads it is with a jaded eye, but here I had 4 'before and after' cases right in front of me! I started asking them all questions. A lot of questions. They all had nothing but good things to say about him and the program, so I decided to talk to my husband about going to this doctor.
My husband, bless his heart. He was nothing but supportive when I told him what I had been thinking. Told me that if this is what I needed to do, then do it, and I didn't need to cook 'special' for him, that he'd eat what I cooked for my diet. Yeah, I do most of the cooking in the house.
So, I made my appointment for January 31, 2008. Figured I don't make New Year's resolutions, beginning of February would be just fine for starting on the new diet.
That first appointment was when I found out that I had weighed in at 241.6 pounds, with a positively obscene 47% body fat. BMI of 35.7, which is considered obese. Ouch! I thought it was only in the 220s... that was a real eye opener. They have this great machine there, its a scale, but it also calculates your body fat, water, lean body mass of each limb and the trunk... so there it all was in black & white, no way to lie to myself about it anymore. Part of me wanted to cry, but I didn't. I got myself in to this mess, now it was time to get serious about getting out of it.
Since the beginning of February I've been going to see this doctor once a week for my weigh in. It really helps to have that motivation, to see the scale go down every week. And it HAS gone down. Every week. I've lost 65 pounds so far. Have about another 10 to go weight-wise, and a lot of muscle building to get myself back in to 'fighting trim'. I looked really good as a size 10-12 and that's my goal again. The body shape will be a bit different, as my exercise focus is on dance this time around, as opposed to weight lifting I did in college, but that's ok. Dancers look great.
I did not take any 'before' pics, but I am sure I can find a few to really illustrate just how bad it got. If I can I will post them here.
Next post I'll answer the questions on the sticky post. And I'll post more about what I eat, and my weekly exercise.
I decided late last year that I would be very aggressive and proactive about losing weight this year. Its just something that has been long overdue anyway.
I really let myself go over the years. Packed on 70+ pounds. 70 POUNDS!!! Can you believe that? I've never been a small woman by any means, but 70 pounds is a LOT of weight.
I'm 5' 9" and I was weighing in at 241.6 pounds. At the point where most women's clothing just didn't fit me right, even the 'big women's' sizes. So I just started wearing men's pants. Yeah, really styling there. Ok, granted I do a lot of welding, metal work, out in the garage, that type of thing... but to reach a point that is the norm for how I dress? Ouch. I used to be very flamboyant in how I dressed as an everyday occurence. As the pounds added themselves, that became less and less. Got to the point where I was looking downright dowdy.
Physically, I was getting winded going up a flight of stairs, getting heartburn all the time, knees started to hurt. Worst of all, I was getting very unhappy in life. No energy to do anything, no desire for anything. No sex drive. Kinda hard to get in the mood when you don't feel sexy. Gets downright depressing when your stomach gets in the way when you are tying your freaking shoes!!
I tried and failed several programs over the past few years:
Atkins worked great during the initial stages, but as soon as I started to introduce carbs back in, the weight came back and brought friends.
Joined Curves for almost 2 years, lost weight, but got burned out on the workout because, frankly, its boring as hell. Hit plateau, gave up.
Tried the Weight Watchers method, multiple types of 'diet pills' out there... nothing really worked that well. Or it would start to take off weight, and then I'd end up self-destructing on it somehow.
January 2007 I started taking belly dancing classes. Incredible workout! Even started collecting belly dance DVDs to supplement the classes by a home workout. Started making it a goal to do something at least 3 days a week. Later in 07 I also added a martial arts class to the mix. Ok, on the good side, I was starting to get some tone happening under the fat (my joke about this was that I was like a steel bar wrapped in Nerf), but on the bad side the fat wasn't coming off, and now my left knee started to hurt. Part of that was probably due to dancing barefoot. On a wood floor that's ok when your feet aren't getting damp from perspiration, but trying to do a pirouette when you have been at it for a while... well, it just torques your knee and starts to make it hurt. Especially carting around an extra 70 pounds and trying to do this stuff.
I admit my eating habits were horrible. No portion control, eating lots of bad stuff, etc. Drinking too much alcohol, etc.
Something had to give somewhere. Unfortunately it was my waistline. I had become a 'fat chick'. I hated having my picture taken because I'd look at it and really see how bad I was looking. If I had to have my picture taken I'd try to hide behind other people (usually my husband), or since I'm the one with the camera usually, I'd take the pictures and avoid getting in the sights of other cameras.
The only time this didn't work too well was at car shows. I don't know how many pictures of my chunky ass at pinstripers' panel jams are out there... honestly, I don't WANT to know. To date only one has made it in to a magazine, and luckily I'm sitting behind a table and it is hard to tell what my weight is like.
Needless to say, I started getting desperate.
I noticed a few of the ladies at work had started shrinking. One was quite drastic. I finally worked up the nerve to ask her what she was doing. Turns out she was going to this doctor out here in Walnut Creek who only focuses on weight loss. Found out the other 'shrinking' women were going to or had gone to him as well. This doctor was also an advertiser in one of our magazines. Usually when I look at the ads it is with a jaded eye, but here I had 4 'before and after' cases right in front of me! I started asking them all questions. A lot of questions. They all had nothing but good things to say about him and the program, so I decided to talk to my husband about going to this doctor.
My husband, bless his heart. He was nothing but supportive when I told him what I had been thinking. Told me that if this is what I needed to do, then do it, and I didn't need to cook 'special' for him, that he'd eat what I cooked for my diet. Yeah, I do most of the cooking in the house.
So, I made my appointment for January 31, 2008. Figured I don't make New Year's resolutions, beginning of February would be just fine for starting on the new diet.
That first appointment was when I found out that I had weighed in at 241.6 pounds, with a positively obscene 47% body fat. BMI of 35.7, which is considered obese. Ouch! I thought it was only in the 220s... that was a real eye opener. They have this great machine there, its a scale, but it also calculates your body fat, water, lean body mass of each limb and the trunk... so there it all was in black & white, no way to lie to myself about it anymore. Part of me wanted to cry, but I didn't. I got myself in to this mess, now it was time to get serious about getting out of it.
Since the beginning of February I've been going to see this doctor once a week for my weigh in. It really helps to have that motivation, to see the scale go down every week. And it HAS gone down. Every week. I've lost 65 pounds so far. Have about another 10 to go weight-wise, and a lot of muscle building to get myself back in to 'fighting trim'. I looked really good as a size 10-12 and that's my goal again. The body shape will be a bit different, as my exercise focus is on dance this time around, as opposed to weight lifting I did in college, but that's ok. Dancers look great.
I did not take any 'before' pics, but I am sure I can find a few to really illustrate just how bad it got. If I can I will post them here.
Next post I'll answer the questions on the sticky post. And I'll post more about what I eat, and my weekly exercise.
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Ah well, I'll have to do it when I get home.
