Weight Loss Journey

Hi Darlings,

Weight.  This one word is on the minds of many, mostly because the majority of us want to lose some of it, or all of it.  It's amazing what having "more" of you can do to your self confidence or lack there-of. 


Growing up, weight was always an issue for me.  I started out as a preemie weighing in at a whopping 4lbs 4 oz at birth (I know I was tiny, back then!!).  As a child I was a plump oompa loompa, and then as a teenager because I grew to be tall (for Indian standards I am considered tall at my height of 5' 8") I would consider myself average. 


Then I got married and gained the "happiness" weight (a staggering 30 pounds, man, I must have been really really happy!), which is a nice way of saying that basically, you let yourself go.  Shortly thereafter, I was pregnant with my son, and put on a nice 19 or 20 pounds (which isn't so bad).  Now, I should have lost those 19 or 20 pounds considering it wasn't a crazy amount of weight to lose, but I must have really not cared about how I looked because I really didn't lose much of the baby weight.  I was hoping to give birth to a 30 pound child, but instead gave birth to a beautiful baby boy weighing in at 5lb 10oz!, There goes my idea of losing all the baby weight in one sitting.  I didn't breastfeed so the hope of losing weight that way was also lost on me.  Hence, I kept an additional 12 or so pounds (to my weight gain of 30 pounds already).  A few more years pass by and I was pregnant with my daughter and gained about 22 or 24 pounds (again not too bad), and didn't lost much of it after delivery.  I remember my last OB checkup before I went into labor I weighed in at 224 at 38 weeks pregnant and I thought to myself, well I know I'm not delivering a 60 pound child, so I really have a lot of work to do once this baby comes out.  Well, she did about a week later at 6lbs 15 oz.   


By the beginning of 2010 my weight was 205, I recall.  I never thought I would ever weigh this much.  If I was a linebacker playing for a major football team this wouldn't be so bad, but that wasn't me.  I wasn't happy with what I saw in the mirror, in fact I hated the sight of me and tried to avoid mirrors at all cost.  I never went clothes shopping anymore because none of the clothes that I would have liked to wear would have fit me at that size.  This made me feel awful for a long period of time.  I would even cancel plans with people because I didn't want to go out because of how bad I felt about the way I looked.  It was then that I decided I needed to get back into a habit of adding physical fitness to my daily regimen and making a conscious effort to eat healthier.  I joined Planet Fitness (in April 2010) and was determined to work out to be healthy so I had more energy.  At 205 pounds I felt sluggish and I actually just felt "big".  Plus, I was measuring my BMI (it was 31.2) and researching all of the possible health risks associated with being that obese (yes, I was considered obese at that weight for my height) and I decided I needed to get healthy. 


I started to make mini goals for myself since saying that I wanted to lose 50 pounds would make me feel overwhelmed and ultimately like I didn't want to start this new venture.  I decided I would lose 10 pounds for my first mini goal.  I even wrote the number 195 down on a small piece of paper and kept it in my underwear drawer.  That way every day it was a reminder of where I wanted to be.  By the end of April of 2010 I was down to 198, really by not doing much just trying to be a little conscious of what I was eating and started working out about 2 times a week.  I don't remember how look it took, but when I eventually saw that number 195 on the scale I was so thrilled and that's when I started to feel like I could really do this.  I think that was about mid-May.


A friend of mine told me over the summer about how we should sign up for a 5k (3.1 mile) marathon.  I thought, I could never run a marathon.  The idea of working towards the goal of running a marathon really inspired me.  I decided that was the push that I really needed to kick up my workout and really get motivated.  In July I started going out for nightly runs about 5 times a week.  I researched sample training programs online and stumbled across "From the Couch to the 5k" and followed that training program to a T!  For a beginner runner, it was just what I needed.  I remember that first night that I went out for a run, I started off by running for 60 seconds....by the end of September I was running 3 miles with no breaks in between!  I was amazed at the transformation I made all by myself.  By the time race day arrived in October, I weighed in at 179!  I couldn't believe my eyes!  It was such an amazing feeling, since I hadn't seen that number in years!  I continued to keep myself motivated and finished the 5k race in 41 minutes! I was really proud of myself.


At the beginning of 2011 I weighed in at 177.  There was a period of time towards the end of 2010 that I wasn't working out so much and fell slightly off the health conscious eating kick I was on (hench my almost stagnant weight).  I decided at the beginning of January of 2011 that I really want to get into the best shape of my life and this was the year to do it.  In 2010 I had lost 26 pounds and I am determined this year to lose 30 more.  My goal for this year by July is to weight 145!  At 159, I am 14 pounds away! It's amazing!  I continue to run a minimum of 4 miles 3 times a week and I still make a conscious effort to watch my portions, and make healthier choices whenever I can.  This is not to say that I don't splurge once in a while, but I try to follow the 80/20 rule (80% good, 20% bad).  My next goal is to complete a half marathon in October and I plan to start training for this in June. 


I hope this was interesting, insightful, and inspiring for all of you.  For those of you thinking about losing weight and not sure how to do it, the first step is to figure out why you want to lose it and then start by making small changes and simple goals.  Keep yourself motivated and don't let anyone tell you that you cannot do something.  If you put your mind to it, the sky is the limit!


Sending positive thoughts your way...


CC