You asked for "a little" history. Well, I'm afraid I've got a lot & couldn't decide what to leave out...
Age: 48 years young
Height: 5'5"
I don't
ever remember being happy with my body.
EVER. I made the decision to "get healthy" more times than I can possibly remember. My solution was always a diet-never a change in my habits. I started Weight Watcher's more times than I can remember; the first time I
think I was 17. I know I was in high school (that first try didn't last long). I don't remember how much I weighed, but it had to be under 130 lbs. I was miserable because I believed I was fat.
In the next few years I managed to eat my way to obesity. I was unhappy & felt unloved. I had no self-esteem. Food was my best friend. I tried WW many times, doing very well much of the time. I could lose 10 lbs. per month-until I got so hungry and felt so deprived I would run to the grocery store and buy every bit of junk food I could and binge on it. Each time this happened I would gain back all I had lost plus more. Weight Watchers helped me diet my way to 282.5 lbs. at the age of 45.
Then one hot July night I was flipping channels on the TV and happened upon an infomercial for a weight loss plan. I'd seen other infomercials about this plan before, but this one was different. It must have been fate because just when I got to this station the announcer said that you could get the plan for free. That kept me from moving on to the next channel. They were offering to send books & tapes about the low carb plan Protein Power free when you tried their new protein powder (I've been addicted to shakes ever since!). I knew I had a problem with carbs & had tried CAD & Somersizing. The order I placed that night was the first step of the amazing journey that I am on.
On July 15, 2000, I started Protein Power at 282.5 lbs. I had dieted most of my life and was convinced that if this didn't work I would be obese for the rest of my life and end up with weight-related physical problems. Perhaps fear of that is what made me such a good LCer. I
never cheated. I was afraid it would end as all my other diets had.
One year and 83 lbs after starting PP, I began my first BFL Challenge. I actually began the BFL WOL a month earlier when I joined a gym & hired a BFL certified success coach (You may know Dianne from L&S) to show me the ropes. I followed PP nutrutrion, increasing my carbs to 60g. This was
NOT a good thing.
On the advise of an online bodybuilding guru, I ended Challenge II early in December after burning out both physically & emotionally. He suggested I 1) take one week off from working out, 2) get more rest (bedtime was around 3:00 am), 3) eat 1g of protein per pound of current body weight. (PP nutrition is based on LBM.) and, hardest of all, 4) dump cardio for better results. I was completely freaked out when I saw my calories go so high. Anything over 1400 made me gain weight. I put my trust in my friend's 20 years of bodybuilding experience and saw immediate results! I felt better, my energy came back full force...and then some, and I started losing again, bringing my total lost up to 100 lbs just before Christmas. I rewarded myself with a pair of diamond earrings!
In January, 2002, I began Body Rx. Giving up cardio was very hard for me. I loved HIIT and running on the treadmill, especially. All the other advice my friend had given me worked, so I decided to trust this, too. Body Rx was the first program I'd heard of that did not include cardio. I figured it was exactly what I needed! ! I figured right! I lost over 31 inches-most of them lost during the 6-week fat-burning cycle. When I tried to continue with Cycle 3 nutrition, it led to a true stall. Eat the same way all the time and your body will adjust to it. I needed a change.
I decided to try an amitious round of calorie cycling & dropped weight like a hot potato, reaching a low of 155 lbs-a total loss of 127 lbs. My "goal weight was 140 and I realized I was not 15 lbs. away from my goal body. I dumped a "goal weight" am shooting instead for a low BF% (maybe 15%) and lots of muscle. At the end of several weeks of calorie cycling, during which I was hungry often & too tired to complete the sets & reps in my workouts-even at reduced weights, I lost control of my eating for the first time since starting this journey. I gained weight back that I still haven't lost. I put the blame for this on the combination of cycling extremely low calories & extreme stress. My life is very stressful due to things I have little control over but I usually handle stress well-not this time. I forced myself to admit what I knew-this was not a healthy way to lose.
I decided to go back to BRx, the healthiest program I knew, a week before Christmas. I had planned to have a free week over the holidays, but figured I didn't need one as much as I needed to be back on track. It was tough to stick to the nutrition because I knew I wasn't likely to lose the weight I'd gained back for 3 months, but I did it. Hopefully I'll lose it now that I'm in Cycle 3 again.
Along the way, I've changed who I am where it really counts-on the inside. I've changed so much that I have gotten comments when speaking to friends who haven't seen me in a long time (even without them seeing me). Thank goodness everyone prefers the new me to the old one! I've gone from having no self-esteem to having lots. It makes a huge difference in the way I present myself to others. I plan to have a career educating women on the importance of self-esteem, nutrition & exercise.
Deb