Did you know I used to weigh almost 300 pounds? I did, incredibly. Back in 2008 I was weighing in at a whopping 283 pounds sitting on my 5’5” frame. Now, I had fluctuated at my highest weights while I was in my 40s from 240ish pounds all the way up to 283. As you may know, I’ve been married 30 years and during all of those years when I was so heavy, I still had a wonderful husband who loved me, and never, ever made me feel ugly or unwanted. But, I remember trips where we’d take the girls and their friends to places like 6 Flags and I couldn’t ride the rides because, honestly, I couldn’t fit in the seats right. Many times The Mean Man would ask if I wanted him to let me out at the door of shopping centers so I wouldn’t have to walk so far to the door. And while I’ve never had to ask for a seat belt extender on airplanes- I can tell you, I had that sucker stretched to its limits and it certainly cut into my stomach.
I knew that if I continued at the weight I was, I'd likely not live to see my grandchildren born and grown up. I knew I wanted to be able to keep up with my family, to be able simply go shopping without being exhausted; to not continue the risk of heart disease and diabetes. I knew that I had to make a change but didn’t know how. My oldest daughter, Ashten graduated from University of Missouri after having put on about 20 pounds herself. She decided to get that weight off; and did it. She told me how she did it, and I decided to try it. Now it took me a while to decide to do this. In around August 2009, after just fighting through up and down dieting, I had lost down to 268 pounds and got serious about REALLY losing weight.
The first thing I did was go to www.caloriecount.com and enter my information in their “tools” section where there is a calculator that allows you to enter your current weight, your goal weight, and the date by which you’d like to achieve your goal. I don’t remember what I had entered or my goal weight. I’d guess I started with 25 pounds. It calculated the number of calories I could have each day to achieve that goal by that date. Then I downloaded My Fitness Pal into my phone and entered that daily calorie goal and I started tracking my food. Yes, I kept a diary of everything I ate.
My Fitness Pal has a really good database of foods so it’s not as hard as it sounds. And if you’re eating prepackaged food, you can just scan the barcode and it will fill in all the vital info. It’s amazing how many random calories we consume each day. And you learn pretty quickly what serving sizes look like. I just concentrated on those calories- I didn’t pay much attention to the types of food I was eating- but the healthier you eat the more you can eat. I certainly wasn’t’ doing any working out… I was so big, I had no desire or energy to do so. I just tracked my intake and stuck to the goal calories.
After I’d lost about 20 pounds my doctor prescribed me Adipex (an appetite suppressant) just to help with cravings; and it really did. I visited the doctor every month to check vitals and such… and I kept on tracking my food, and kept losing weight. Here’s how it went:
October 2009- 249.13
November 2009- 243.25
January 2010- 243 (having been through the holidays- I was happy)
April 2010- 247 (I think it’s important that you see I didn’t always go in the right direction- but I didn’t give up)
May 2010- 242.13
July 2010- 237.38
September 2010- 240.5 (again- I surged up for the next few months)
October 2010-243.25
December 2010-250.25 (Then I got mad at myself and decided no more up and down. I got serious-er!)
June 2011- 246.38
July 2011- 239.38
Aug 2011- 235.5
October 2012- 219.6
November 2012- 222.13
February 2012- 219.6
March 2012- 217.2
May 2012- 213
October 2012- 208.75
November 2012- 205.5
January 2013- 201.75
In February 2014 I bought my first fitness tracker (I’ve had several since) and started actually getting some exercise. The trackers just keep me accountable by reminding me that I haven’t moved. I just started by walking for a couple of minutes once an hour. I graduated to using some 2lb weights and doing random exercises while watching baseball games (I still do this). I thought I’d start running and bought all of the gear… turns out I HATE RUNNING. So I went down to walking every other day. I do about 2-3 miles on those days. After all that work- I actually lost down to about 193 in early 2015 but found that was just too difficult a weight to maintain for my 50-year-old self. I’m happily hovering between 201 and 205 these days. But I feel so much better because I’m actually moving still. I’m still chubby- but everything is much firmer and I certainly feel more energetic and can keep up with the wonderful younger ladies in my neighborhood. I’m excited that we’re getting close to the pool being warm enough to jump in. I get my best workouts in while in the pool.
I just wanted to encourage you that you CAN lose weight, if you don’t worry so much about how quickly you lose it. You don’t have to be able to afford weight loss surgery- I’m proof of that. It’s possible to reach your ultimate goal weight if you’re realistic. Making small milestone type goals is the best thing to do. Knock it out a few pounds at a time. I’m 50 years old and have never been a super fit person, BUT I can be the healthiest 200 pounds I can be. I’ve kept almost 80 pounds off for three years now. I feel so much better. No matter how much weight you need to lose to get healthy, just try to follow my suggestion. Find out how many calories you can have, track your intake of food, and remember, if you exercise, you can take those calories off of the calories you’ve consumed. My Apple Watch connects to My Fitness Pal (most trackers do, I think) and it subtracts the calories you’ve burned from the number of calories you’ve consumed for the day and shows the balance of calories you can have to get to your limit. For me I get really excited because lots of days it means I get to have a big ol’ cookie!! It’s about trade-offs for me. I’ll walk around the neighborhood for some chips and salsa! Just don’t discouraged- if you gain some months… start over the next… DON’T QUIT! You can do this!!
