I've never been so hesitant to write a blog post in my life. Mainly because tooting your own horn is annoying. But also because, really, it's only 30 pounds. Folks are on the cover of People magazine losing half their size, so I wasn't sure if this was even a big enough deal to talk about.
But the bottom line is: it might help someone else...so here we go. 30 pounds.
I made up my own diet, I called it the 4/3 diet because it focused on only these two things.
I worked out 4 times a week. I ate 3 cheat meals per week. Hence the 4/3 :)
Eating 3 cheat meals per week instead of cramming all your cheating into one day helped me tremendously.
My workouts were killer. I would lay on the floor of body pump classes staring at the ceiling, not knowing if I wanted to throw up or cry. I would typically run twice a week and do some kind of weight training twice a week.
When I wanted to quit at the gym I reminded myself of all the other things I could be getting accomplished during that hour. I could be getting ahead on my editing, or playing with my kids, getting stuff done at the house. If I was going to haul my butt to the gym away from my family and other things I enjoyed doing, I was going to make it worth it.
When I wanted to quit at the gym I reminded myself of all the other things I could be getting accomplished during that hour. I could be getting ahead on my editing, or playing with my kids, getting stuff done at the house. If I was going to haul my butt to the gym away from my family and other things I enjoyed doing, I was going to make it worth it.
Another thing that helped was writing down all the things I hated about being fat, specific things like:
* Holding my breath to tie my shoes
* Sitting on the floor I would have to rock back to get momentum before I could stand up
* I hated constantly pinching and tugging my shirt away from my body because everything felt like it was clinging
* I felt guilty at the grocery store having junk food in my cart, I could almost hear the person behind me thinking, "You really need that ice cream fatty?"
My list went on and on and anytime I wanted to give up, or give in, I made myself go in my office and read the list top to bottom. It often changed my mind.
I'm not sure if I'm done yet. I think I still have one foot firmly in the "chubby" category, and that's fine with me. Every stupid doctor's chart will still call me "fat," but I'm happy with my progress.
One really cool thing that happened throughout this process is that I've finally learned to accept my body the way it is and to give myself realistic expectations. And what I mean by that is, we all have things we cannot change about ourselves and at some point in our adult lives we have to wave the white flag of surrender and accept the things we cannot change.
I will always have chubby cheeks and a round face.
I will always have broad shoulders.
I will never have long arms with elegant piano fingers.
I've pretty much given up all hope of ever looking good in a turtle neck because with those 3 things combined, I will always look like a stuffed sausage in one :)
But my husband fell in love with that chubby face, those shoulders have carried tremendous pressure and those chubby hands held my 3 babies.
Love your body and all its flaws. I know it's easier said than done, but you can do it.
I'll get into my eating in another blog post. I've been trying to document it here and there, but it's pretty exhausting. They are mostly iphone photos, so I'll see if I can put something together later this week.
