I came across this would-be blog post that I wrote a year ago. Tomorrow is the 2 year anniversary of no soda so I thought it fitting that I finally publish it.
How I lost the initial 30 pounds. (Originally written September 8, 2014)
At my healthiest in high school, I remember I weighed 147 pounds. At the time, I thought I was chunky. Oh, you silly girl. I have never been skinny. Maybe when I was a child I was average but I remember I always had a few extra pounds and a small belly pudge. When I first went to college I gained the freshman 15 and then the sophomore 10… My weight would go up and down as I tried different diets and inconsistent exercises. During this time I had a bad-for-me relationship and was depressed most of the time. I think that could account for most of the weight loss during that period.
Then I made a giant change in my life. I left my comfort zone and moved to Phoenix to go to a different school. I knew 0 people and was 0% familiar with the area. I was an introvert and all alone. I would drive to subway and order a foot long with two macadamia nut cookies and a large 32 ounce Dr Pepper and I would eat that by myself in the car in the mall parking lot. Stairway to obesity starts here… To compensate (or overcompensate, really) for not having friends I would indulge in food. I enjoyed it! I wasn’t stuffing my face while crying and hating myself. It was fun! It tasted good! There was a little bit of freedom in eating anything I wanted. Also, have you ever eaten a greasy pizza then washed it down with a cool, fizzy Dr Pepper? Oh man, that made my belly happy. And so the pounds started adding on. Over 3 years I gained about 35 pounds. I didn’t mind too much the number on the scale and I was even OK with the bigger booty but I remember starting to feel sad about it when I felt my back fat rub the seat in my car as I sat down. Then I went over 200 pounds. What a sad time. And one day, belly stretch marks just appeared. Literally just one day they suddenly showed up. I thought stretch marks were a gradual thing but no. Rip!
I tried dieting again. Low Carb and diet sodas. And I lost a few pounds. Yay! And then I gained twice as much back. Boooo! For a few years, I kind of accepted it. I thought, “Ok, so I’m a plus size now.” My best friend and love interest ended up following me to Phoenix and then became my husband. (He’s amazing in so many ways.) I regret being a plus-sized bride. I hate the back fat that is in my wedding photos. I weighed 214 pounds. I should have tried harder. BUT it is nice to know that my husband loves me at any size.
Moving on.
I finished school and had lost a couple pounds again. I was down to 205. Then I became pregnant. I think my weight went up to 240 when I was pregnant with #1 and then 1 year and 9 months later I had baby #2. My highest weight with that pregnancy was 244. Yowzer! For a couple weeks after the delivery, the pounds were naturally falling off.) Then after a weekend of family visiting the numbers on the scale started to creep back up. No! I was not going to let that happen. That was the straw that broke the fat camels back. I could not stay this unhealthy. Through the years the husband and I had done enough research on dieting to know what worked and what would not. What foods to avoid and what foods we needed more of to be successful. Sunday, February 16, 2014, I had my last Dr Pepper. February 17 was the first day of the weight loss journey. I weighed 218 pounds.
The number one reason I have been successful this time around is the support of my husband. It is so much easier to have a healthy household vs. you trying to eat healthy food while the rest of the family is eating a pizza. If you can surround yourself with support, do it. If not, ask why they aren’t supporting you.
The number two reason I have been successful this time around is because I have NOT been counting calories. All the previous diets I would count carbs or calories and I would get burned out. Not counting calories but rather just eating healthy food in healthy portions and NOT drinking soda is what has worked for me. So much that I have lost 30 pounds! There has been a little bit of exercise but nothing consistent.
