Happy Weight Loss Anniversary to Me!
December 5th is one of my weight loss anniversaries. This is the day I started working with the fitness trainer who finally knocked some sense into me and helped me lose weight for good.
People say you cannot lose weight during the holiday season. I lost 13.2 pounds between December 5, 2010 and January 4, 2011. This was after spending three years to lose the first 40 pounds of the total of 130 that it took to get me to my goal.
To say I was desperate when I finally decided to spend money for help is an understatement.
What made the difference when I had been having such a hard time with my weight up until this point? You can see my hesitant thrill in this post I made on Sparkpeople where I was recording my efforts at the time. Here are some excerpts of that post.
First, I found out about the chemicals in the processed food I was eating and stopped eating them:
This was the most important change. The fitness trainer was only supposed to be helping me work out. But after seeing my food supply, he asked if he could make some suggestions. Those suggestions made me take a look at all my food one night after he left.
Every. Single. Thing. I was eating had chemicals in it. I went into a panic, threw out all my food, and flipped the switch the next day.
I knew how to cook, but I had not been doing it. I was not perfect, but after that day, my food became much healthier and had more nutrition. Once I started eating food I cooked from ingredients, everything changed for the better.
Then I started eating less food at one time, but more frequently throughout the day:
I had tried the “eating less” strategy before (many times) without success. But that had been back in the day when my food was of poor quality. Half of crap is crap that leaves you even more starved than you were.
Now that my food was of better quality, I did not need as much to feel satisfied and keep me going.
And I started working out. Gently, within the limits I had at the time:
It wasn’t until months later that I learned my stretching was not really yoga. You can see some of what I was doing and still do on this exercise series of posts from my son @bxlphabet’s blog.
I do not exercise in a gym. I exercise where I am, with what I have, and it has been the best plan for me. I exercise many times a day, throughout the day. Each time I get up from my computer, I am doing something for a few minutes.
Can YOU lose weight during the holidays?
Yes! You can lose weight during the holidays. If you are trying to lose a substantial amount of weight, the holidays can work for you or they can be an excuse. I have already written a whole book on overcoming weight loss excuses and several recent posts about them too.
Here is a long list of excuses if you want to search and find yours.
Do you want to lose weight?
You can! Decide to do it and don’t give up until you do. Take action each day, learn skills, apply them, and soon you will be thinner and healthier than you are now.
A healthy holiday without weight gain!
How did my holiday go that year? It was a good one. I cooked a nice meal for my son and myself and probably ate more than I should have. But it was healthy food, and I was not sick after eating it. I exercised that day and kept going eagerly, praying this new plan would work.
My next anniversary of weight loss came a few months later, on October 5 2011. That was the day I saw a photo of myself and decided I looked normal. It’s the second photo in the poster below and I was about 155 pounds on that day.
I had never been thin in my life before and only wanted to not stand out. I had no idea what that weight would be.
The photo on the right is from about a year later. I adjusted, kept on the path, increased my exercise, and lost about 15 more pounds. This is where I have stayed ever since.
Anyone can do this if I did. After all the struggle, it did not even turn out to be very hard. And staying at my weight for the last years has been a thrill every single day.
The outline of my weight loss program includes these topics:
Overcoming excuses
What are you eating now?
Winning the Food Fight
Exercise Effectively
Clean up the rest of your life
Rest, recover, regroup
Becoming the new you
Please follow this blog for more weight loss help and information. If you want individual help, I want to hear from you!
My post today is for the steemiteducation tag. This is a great place to teach others what you know. Go on over to the @steemiteducation blog, follow directions, and start posting there too. We want to learn from you!
This post was made from https://ulogs.org