This post is going to be long, and it's mostly rambling. I just wanted to share my story of how much my life has changed since a year ago today.
Today, August 10, 2005, is the one-year anniversary of my lifestyle change. A year ago today I moved into a new apartment in a new city with my boyfriend, and said "no more excuses, I am cooking for myself now and I will do it right."
A year ago, I weighed something like 185 lbs (I had no scale to check), I wore a tight size 14 (didn't want to admit to myself that I should look at 16's!) and at least a L in shirts, my diet consisted of mainly greasy fatty foods and LOTS of desserts and snacks, I couldn't run for more than a minute (probably not even that), and walking the 1.5 miles to school totally exhausted me. I couldn't climb a single flight of stairs without getting winded. I had no noticable muscles anywhere on my body. I could clean my plate at any restaurant and still have plenty of room for dessert.
Today, I weigh 140 lbs. I wear a size 10 or a tight size 8, and size M shirts (depending on the cut, I still have big boobs!
). I can jog for two hours straight and my longest run so far was about 6.7 miles. My arms are starting to look toned (the granny flab is greatly diminished!). I eat fruits and vegetables and lean meats, not much fat (to be more specific, I try to get *good* fats), and whole grain breads. I still allow myself one meal at a restaurant each week, where I can order whatever I feel like, but I only eat less than half as much as I used to. I can do a girly-style push-up, all the way down and all the way up. I can do crunches till the cows come home! I am still bad at going up stairs or uphill, but it takes at least three flights of stairs for me to be breathing a little hard nowadays, and the walk to school is no problem at all.
I didn't take my measurements when I started my lifestyle change, and I haven't taken them too recently (my next measuring date is Friday), but from December 20 to July 29, I lost 5.25 inches off my waist, 4.5 off my hips, 3 off my chest, 3 off my thigh, and 1.5 off my upper arm. I even lost 1.2 inches off my neck (no more double chin here!).
The point of this post is to say . . . if I can do it, so can you! It has been a WHOLE YEAR that I have been eating right and exercising, and I barely even felt the time pass. Yes, it is hard. Yes, there are days I want to give up and pig out on cake and ice cream. But I know in the long run I will be happier and healthier if I keep it up. I know I am making progress when I look back at the way I used to eat and I am disgusted. I can even give an example of a typical day, then and now:
A year ago, at my college dining hall, I might have eaten: a bowl of sugary cereal or pancakes and sausage for breakfast, a large muffin for a snack, a cheeseburger, 2 plates full of french fries, a corn dog, and two brownies for lunch, a candy bar for a snack, a huge plate of pasta smothered in sauce and cheese (we're talking like at *least* 3 cups of pasta), five or six pieces of garlic bread, some fried chicken, and two pieces of cheesecake for dinner, and then later at night some ice cream, or cookies, or a brownie, and a drink from a coffee shop.
Today, I might eat: a bowl of multigrain cheerios with some fresh fruit and skim milk for breakfast, a cup of yogurt for a snack IF I did a workout, a plain turkey sandwich on wheat bread (turkey, lettuce, tomato) and some grapes for lunch, an apple for a snack, 1 cup of pasta (or wheat pasta) with a little bit of sauce with boneless skinless chicken breast in it (no cheese) and a plate full of plain steamed green beans for dinner, and if I really need a snack after dinner, some watermelon.
I still splurge. In fact, I have a plum cake I baked sitting at home right now, and I have been having one small piece each day. But it is a planned splurge.
A year ago, I hated my body. I would say things like "well, the reason I can't run is just because I am naturally bad at it," or "I am just overweight because of genetics," or "these pants don't fit because the companies only design them for girls who are shaped like they are still 12 years old." It took me a little while, but I could not be successful at losing weight until I accepted my body and started treating it well. Now, I know that I can run because I have worked hard at it, I am officially no longer overweight, despite my genetics, and pants fit me as long as I buy the right size (and if that size is one bigger than I was expecting, it's okay).
If I could only say one thing to all the people struggling to lose weight it would be YOU CAN DO IT. It won't happen overnight (obviously, it took me a year to lose 45 lbs). But it will happen.
Before my lifestyle change, I would have been dreading how fat I would be in a year. Now I am looking forward to reaching my goal weight and being healthy for the rest of my life. I feel great, and I know if all of you hang in there, you will feel great too. I am the laziest person ever, and if I could do it, so can you!
I give this website a huge amount of credit for how successful I've been. If I hadn't found it, back when I was starting to have a lot of trouble and I'd been plateaued for a month or two, I don't know what would have happened. So I just have to say THANK YOU 3FC!!!
Sorry for rambling, but there it is.
One whole year of healthy living!
I can't believe how far you can jog! I'm still a no-go with the running!
Easy to remember for next year to congratulate you!!!
