Weight Loss

Abut three years ago, I decided I really needed to lose some weight. I wasn't comfortable with how I looked, and it was actually pictures of me that helped me make the decision to do it. The worst of them have already been deleted, but to get an idea of how far I have come, here are some pictures of what I looked like back in 2008/2009.

My older sister, Allison, is a doctor and has always been really weight-conscious, so I asked her how much I was supposed to weigh. For someone my age and my height, she informed me that I was a little over 50 pounds overweight. She tried to help me by giving me a book with how many calories were in everything and telling me to try to eat around 1200 calories a day. That seemed like way too much work for me, and was frustrating and hard, so I started by getting a gym pass with my friend, Kennedy.

I started going to the gym between 3 to 5 times a week, mostly working out on the elliptical for about 30 minutes a day. A year later, I had lost 30 pounds, but I had plateaued. I felt better about myself, but I wasn't where I wanted to be yet. 30 is good, but I was supposed to lose 50. People kept telling me that I also needed to learn how to eat better, but I really thought I was eating pretty well. I hate hamburgers and hot dogs, so I mostly eat turkey sandwiches. Sandwiches are better for you than hamburgers, so I eat healthy, right?





About a year and a half ago, I got conned into getting a personal trainer. I love that I got one, and overall, I really don't regret it. I won't turn this post into a rant against Gold's Gym. I'm sure you all know the story anyways, but the point is I got a personal trainer. They told me that cardio (the type of workouts I had been doing for the last year) was only 10% of weight loss. In the back of my head though, I was thinking, "Well, I've already lost 30 pounds, so what do you know?" They said that 40% of weight loss was muscle building/weight training and that 50% is diet. I did a free consult training with Carlos (the manager that conned me) and I couldn't move for two days after, even though my workout was only 30 minutes long!

So, I still did some cardio workouts, but I had one session with my personal trainer once a week, and he wrote me other workouts to come in and do on my own. So I started alternating between muscle training and cardio. Preston, my personal trainer, also talked me into starting to keep a food journal. He didn't give me a calorie limit, he just wanted me to start realizing how many calories I took in. The other random fact that also really just helps me with my workouts is that my boss also goes to Gold's Gym and he works out at the same time I do. So, I feel like someone is keeping track of whether I go to the gym or not. If he doesn't see me, he will ask why I didn't go. It used to bug me, but now I like it. He also has been trying to give me eating tips for years now. My friend Jennifer was also trying to lose weight too. Her and Justin really were the ones that helped me switch up my diet. She told me that Justin had commented on the weight I had lost, and asked her if she thought I could keep it up, or if I was going to be one of those people that loses weight and then gains it all back. So, I just felt like I had something to prove to people that see me everyday. If that makes sense. It was a good push.

Anyways, I found my e-mail from Allison telling me I should try to be eating 1200 calories a day to try and lose weight. So, when I started writing down everything I was eating and finding out how many calories were in things, I really was shocked. Remember how good I'm eating because I just like turkey sandwiches? An Arby's Market Fresh sandwich has 800 calories in it! So I thought I was eating so healthy, when really if I eat that sandwich that takes up 2/3 of my calories for the day. My beloved Chai that I was drinking everyday, that I thought was healthy because I got it with soy milk instead of real milk, had 340 calories in it! That is enough for one of my entire meals! So, I still get these sometimes, but it was really good for me to start to realize how many calories were really in my "healthy" choices. So, to get going in the right direction, I just started with little changes. I always order my sandwiches on wheat bread now. I started leaving off cheese of my sandwiches. I don't even notice that it is gone anymore. It was a little easier for me too, because I normally go to Subway and they don't carry my favorite cheese anyway. (Swiss Cheese.)

So, a few months after working out with my personal trainer, and writing down everything I eat, I put everything on hold for a very important surgery. At the end of September, I gave Wesley a kidney. Apart from being really scared to be cut open, I was also really interested to see how my body would react to no longer having two kidneys.




The first really noticeable change for me was that my body no longer knew when it was hungry. I could tell when I was empty, but I didn't get hungry. I never knew what I wanted to eat, unless I smelled food. Then I would crave things that I smelled. I think there were two days I was going to school that I didn't eat once all day. It was only at the end of the day when I felt really empty and sick that I remembered that I hadn't eaten. MY calorie counting went completely out the window, along with my exercising. I figured my body would know better than me what it wanted, so I wanted to give it anything it wanted to recover from surgery. After doing that for about two months, and not really having any desire for food coming back, Justin suggested that instead of just eating anything, I start eating healthy things. I didn't know what I wanted anyways, and he said I should use that opportunity to train my body to want healthier food. I started eating Chicken Mango Salad for lunch (something Allie got me hooked on) and pasta shells in Organic Tomato Sauce. Bam! Lost ten pounds.

I feel really guilty whenever people ask what my secret to losing weight is. Honestly, even though I've been working on it for years, my secret is that I gave up a kidney and don't like food anymore.... It made changing my habits of what I ate a lot easier than other people that still actually crave food or chocolate or whatever. Another advantage I have is that my body really doesn't handle a lot of sugar very well. If I eat too much it wants back out pretty quick. (If you know what I mean.)

After being back from surgery for a month or so, I started trying to go back to the gym. (Since I was freaking paying for it anyway.) I did one of my workouts from my personal trainer and killed myself. It didn't really hurt when I was doing it, but I knew I had overdone it for days afterwards. I started going back to just doing the elliptical to still get my workouts in and I ran into Preston at the gym. He told me to work on my cardio, not do any weight training for a while, or if I did, start with my legs, not my abs. He said most people after surgery try to work that area but it needed time to heal, so just do cardio that I felt up for. This is when I started my Zumba class and started doing some Step Aerobics too. After six months of that, Preston told me to start personal training again. He said, "I'm not going to kill you." He has been great. He has know how to help me work on things without pushing me too hard, but pushing me enough to make some progress.

I should mention also that I weigh myself every day, first thing in the morning. It helps me know what progress I've made and hold myself more accountable for the things I ate the day before. If I gained weight, I try to be more aware of what I eat during the day. If I have lost weight, it makes me feel good. I usually lose some weight, then I plateau again. Usually during these times though, people comment on how much weight I've lost. That really confused me, until I realized I was losing inches. I recommend that everyone get their measurements too, that are trying to lose weight. I think it helps so you have another scale of telling how much progress you are making than just how much you weigh.

I am happy to report that I am now only 5 pounds away from my goal weight! Preston is helping me focus even more on my diet. Justin has been telling me for years that not all calories are created equal, and Preston says even though some people are skinny, they can still be fat. We are working on changing up my diet so I can finish losing this weight I carry in my stomach and see how well toned I actually am. If you eat less than you take in, you will lose weight, but if you actually eat better than you lose more body fat. With all of this weight I have lost, I have only lost 2% of my body fat. So, we are working on getting my ratio of carbs to protein to fat better. It is a lot of work, but I am loving my results. I keep track of what I eat on myfitnesspal.com. That also helps me keep track of all my carbs and protein etc. Oh, and instead of just trying to give up my caffeine habit, I have been trying to switch it to sugar-free energy drinks. Some of them actually taste okay.

Anyways, here are some more recent pictures of myself:


















47 pounds later, I've dropped from being a size 14 in pants to a size 8. I went from buying large shirts to buying small ones. I am feeling a lot more confident about the way I look.