I have never been “skinny”. I developed early and have had curves for as long as I can remember. I never had a problem with my weight growing up it was my mid to late twenties before my weight inched into the “overweight” category. No matter my size I have always been comfortable in my own skin. I have been on various diets over the year, at one point after reaching my heaviest point after a prolonged period on steroids to control my arthritis, I lost over 80 pounds. That was 17 years ago and I have gained most of that weight back over the years. Last week a few things were like a sign that once again I need to make an effort to drop some weight, not for vanity, but for health reasons.
Sign #1: I have been having heartburn more frequently and it had gotten to a point that pretty much anything I ate would be followed by a dessert of Tums. OTC meds were long cutting it, so I made an appointment with my doctor. In addition to yet another prescription, my diet needed to change to avoid trigger foods. While at the office I made the mistake of looking at the BMI chart. I really have no idea who came up with these “normal” weight ranges, because I’m here to tell you, if I got down to 120 lbs, which is mid-range for my height, I would look like I had a disease worse than arthritis or GERD. But it was a wake up call that by medical standards I am in the unflattering category of the “morbidly obese”. Ugh.
Sign #2: A friend who had gastric bypass weight-loss surgery several months ago posted her 100 lost photos on Facebook. I am so happy for her and know the decision to have surgery was not an easy one nor the easy way out. The sign was, for the first time I realized that her starting weight at the time of her surgery is my current weight. Now, she is shorter than me by 4 inches, which when figuring BMI is significant, but I never thought of myself of “gastric bypass” weight. I really made me think and I decided it was time to use her milestone as my motivation.
Sign #3: Thanks to physical therapy I am feeling better and able to exercise, which has not been the case for some time. Yes I can make changes to my diet, but without getting out and moving, I will not be successful in the hell that is life on a diet. We all want to see results of our hard work, so now I feel I can do both sides, the diet and exercise.
So, as of Monday I have started my new fitness routine. For me, when I spend money on something I am far more apt to commit, as I don’t want to waste my hard-earned cash. I signed up for the Beachbody program. Let me just say, that name is really stupid. To me, “beach body”, is a bikini body and no matter how much I lose, that will never be me. I see desiring a beach body to be vanity and that is not what this journey is for me. However, even with my dislike of the name, the options for meal plans and workouts was the best fit for me. I have a coach, not a 30 something stay-at-home mom who works out non-stop and raves about how the program helped her lose 20 lbs and now she looks like a supermodel, my coach started the program at 57 and lost 127 lbs. I don’t need or want to lose that much, but I love having someone who was more my age and weight, she knows the struggle.
Right now the hardest part for me is the water. I need to drink A LOT of water! I thought I drank a fair amount of water before, but no, I was not, not even close. Along with the added water intake, you have the opposite and the many trips to the little girl’s room must count towards my daily steps, so win/win there. I gave up sugary drinks almost two years ago, so it’s not like I will see drastic effect of the water, but I’m sure it all works out somehow, I can’t say I understand all the science, but I paid good money to be told to drink 4 liters of water a day, so by golly, I’m going to drink up.
The food, so far, hasn’t been too much of a challenge, but I’m only 3 days in. The program gives you lots of options so it’s not like I’m being forced to each things I don’t like. One thing I have noticed, while I’m eating more during the day in addition to all the water, I’m hungry. I was never hungry before, even without eating breakfast most mornings. The plan I am on is you eat 5 small meals a day, so I should NEVER be hungry, yet I am. I’m sure when my body adjusts that won’t be the case, but its hellish. And eating healthy is expensive. Leaner cuts of meat are more expensive than the fatter ones. Fresh fruits and veggies add up quick. I was trying to find a lower carb whole grain cracker, the only one I found was cost five times what a regular box of crackers cost and was about 1/3 the quantity. It’s crazy, but I’m going to do it!!
I am sure there will be many blogs in the coming months about my weight loss journey, maybe putting it out in the universe will add another level of accountability and keep me one track. Or maybe I just like having a place to bitch about being water-logged while eating my expensive, yet tasteless crackers and feeling hungry all the time. Stay tuned….
Southern Belle in Hell 