1. What made you decide to lose weight (I know the easy answer is I was tired of being obese, or my family encouraged me to lose weight, but what REALLY made you decide that first day?)?
It wasn't really a "certain one thing", more like a handful of things in a time period of a few months:
~I had had my first child, and ended up weighing 200 pounds a few months after her birth. I had a lot of health issues with her, and it was never caught with that pregnancy, but the extreme complications (for me and her) surrounding the birth led to the belief that I may have been a gestational diabetic, that had gone unfound until it was too late, which risked the life of myself and my child on the delivery table.
~When my daughter was a few months old, my aunt (my mother's YOUNGER sister who was only in her very early 40's at the time) passed away from diabetes and the surrounding complications. She did not take the diet plan and exercise recommendations as seriously as she should have-kept slacking off, and it ended up having fatal consequences. With my high risk of being diabetic full time later in life-I decided that I needed to lose weight, and not only that-get FIT and eat better-to hep delay that onset of diabetes in my life.
~Part of it, of course with everyone as well, was how I looked.
2. Did you go right for a set number of calories (i.e. 1200-1500) or did you try to slowly cut back?
~With my knowledge (mother is a nurse who worked in the dietary field for years, stepfather a former pro bodybuilder) I knew that the best way to go was to start at around 2000 calories for a woman, and try that and see what happened. Then adjust it accordingly to strive for a 1/2-2 pound loss per week.
2000 calories was too high at my current weight of 200 to lose (but would maybe be perfect for someone at 250+ pounds) but I found that for the first 10-15 pounds, that 1800 calories was a great level for me at that time. I lost about 15 pounds on 1800 before I became "too small" for that level, and then dropped to about 1600 for the next few months, etc. I ended up reaching my goal weight of (I think it was) 155 in less than a year.
I maintained that loss until I became pregnant with my second child, my son, who is now 5. I became a moderator here at 3FC when my son was an infant-and I was losing the weight that I had gained from that pregnancy.
3. What was your starting weight and how much do you weigh now?
Well, I am currently pregnant with my 3rd and last child, so mycurrent weight really doesn't figure in.
Before this pregnancy, I was at a high of 211 after the birth of my son a few years ago, and I was 164 before this pregnancy.
It was a lot harder for me to lose this time around as far as pounds on the scale-much slower process than the first time.
I did become very, very fit and active though-more so than after my first child, and even became a professional dancer in that 5 year period.
I *am* a gestational diabetic (diabetic when pregant), and currently I am sticking to my eating regime for my pregnancy, as well as continuing to exercise about 5 days a week.
4. How has it gone for you along the way?
Slow and steady-but the healthier that you lose weight (no quick lose 5 pounds over the weekend things, no pills, etc.) the more likely you are to maintain your weight loss-and not gain back the weight.
5. Any advice, tips, or just anything else you want to add (including more recipes
)??
Patience, and EXERCISE.
If you are in need of recipes, let's try to keep them to the Food and recipes section, or at least down to one single thread here in the calorie counters area-so that they are easier to find-and not scattered everywhere.
Thanks.