Weight Loss Wednesday

Hey y'all!!

I thought that today I'd do a post about weight loss.  As women, we think about how we look, or how we feel, and our weight can have a lot to do with it!  I'm completely guilty of looking in the mirror and not being happy with what I see, and for a long time I did nothing about it, but I've now reached a weight that I am so happy with and I wanted to talk about some of my success and some of my failure.

I've never been a big girl.  I think it's important to state that first.  I've always been short, and I've always held a little weight in my midsection, because, where the heck else is it supposed to go?!  However, I was healthy.  So I honestly didn't think much of it!  I was not a particularly healthy eater, I basically lived off Dr. Pepper, pizza, mashed potatoes, sweet tea, and spaghetti, obviously not all at once but you get the idea! I was lucky that my metabolism didn't slow sooner!  Throughout high school, I think my weight topped out around 118, and for my 5'2 frame, it didn't look bad!

Now for college.  Most people talk about the "Freshman 15" that they gain their first year of college, but I didn't gain it.  I was burdened with the "Sophomore 15".  And the Junior and Senior seesaw.  I'd make a change, lose some weight, fall off the wagon, and gain it all back.  I wanted to be healthy and not become overweight, but I did not want to change my lifestyle.  The only thing I seemed to be able to give up were cheeseburgers!

My husband proposed and I decided I wanted to look great in my dress, and I did lose a little weight, but not as much as I wanted.  I had gotten up around 140 and wasn't feeling great about it.  I used Hip Hop Abs for a while, along with Wii Fit, and I probably lost 10 pounds.  I was happy with how I looked, I knew I could have done better but honestly, I just didn't put the effort in!

After a year and a half of marriage, and the two of us learning how to cook (one of my favorite ingredients was butter), I had gotten up to 150 pounds.  I was heartbroken.  I was suddenly really unhappy and knew that I needed to make some serious changes.

Okay, I gave you a huge, long, ridiculous biography, now I'm going to tell you what I did once I got up to 150 lbs.

Carbonated beverages

I have a weakness for Dr. Pepper.  It's pretty serious.  Growing up when I'd stay at my friends' houses, I'd often have one with my breakfast.  Then again for lunch, and then supper.  When I decided I wanted to start getting serious about losing weight, the first thing I did was giving up the cokes.  I tried to give them up cold turkey, and I wouldn't recommend it.  I had a killer headache for about a week while my body adjusted.

Water, water, water

I drank so much water, I felt like I was floating!  After the first month,  I'd lost about 8 pounds.  I knew, of course, that it had a lot to do with the fact that I was basically drinking a gallon of water a day, but seeing a change at all was enough to motivate me!

Exercise

One thing I've never been good at is working out.  It could be why it took SO long for me to decide I was ready to really try to lose weight.  We'd signed up for a gym membership, so I decided to finally use it.  It's so hard for me to motivate myself to really work out, and even when we went to the gym, at first I just walked on the treadmill.  When I started to see a difference on the scale, I decided to change the way I worked out.  I still didn't want to work out real hard (guys, I'm REAL lazy) so I would continue to walk on the treadmill, and just adjust the incline to make myself work a little harder.  It made quite a bit of difference, and I eventually started to work out more.  I used weights, though I still wasn't really dedicated to the gym.  I knew that, while this was helping, I needed to make some other changes.

Here is one of my favorite health/fitness blogs, Back On Pointe!

Eat less butter

I stated earlier that when I learned to cook one of my favorite ingredients was butter.  I also love pizza.  We've been in a pretty serious relationship for most of my life.  I will never be one to say that I have given up carbs, because I will never be able to give up all my carbs, they are the best!

What I did do was cut out some of the butter in my life.  Most of the recipes I had didn't necessarily need all the butter, so I just cut it out! 

Another thing that helped tremendously was choosing not to get take out 5 days a week.  My husband and I are good cooks, we enjoy doing it, but some days we just don't feel like it.  Or we don't feel like going to the grocery, and so we'd order out.  Filling the fridge and choosing to make home cooked meals made such a difference. 

While on the subject of food, skipping meals is a big no-no. It's one that I'm pretty guilty of doing, but I would never recommend it.  While I was actively trying to lose weight, I tried to have 3 small meals and 2 snacks a day.  

I also counted my calories! MyFitnessPal was my best friend while I tried to get back into a healthy state of mind.

When I was following these "rules", I lost 40 lbs.  I feel so much better, so much healthier!  I've picked up some of the bad habits that I'd been so proud of giving up (I occasionally have a burger, and a Cherry Coke), and I have gained a few pounds back, but ultimately I'm in a much better place!

I do exercise a few times a week.  I enjoy doing Yoga and I also LOVE doing dance fitness videos!  A couple YouTube channels I really like are Lauren Fitz and Dance Fitness with Jessica.

Left: Easter 2013     Right: Easter 2014

I know that it seems like I'm all about the weight loss, but honestly the most important thing is getting healthy.  In my case, I needed to lose some weight, maybe not as much as I lost, but I also wanted to be healthy.  I made some changes in my life that I ultimately thought would make me happier and healthier, and I feel that I succeeded! 

This post was a little tedious, but important!  I promise the post tomorrow will be more interesting! I've decided to dedicate one day a week to homemade Halloween costumes this October! So come back tomorrow!

See you soon!

XOXO.