Friday, May 10, 2013

I Lost 80 Pounds



Women's Health
My topic today is Eating Right to Stay Healthy and Fit

Several years ago I was a size 16. Today I'm a size 8 and 80 pounds lighter.
I had been heavy since about the age of 8 and desperately wanted
what every girl wants, to be pretty.  Over several years I had tried, and usually failed,
 every diet I could find. I drank enough diet soda that they should've given me
 stock in the company. I tried diet pills, starvation, the well-known cabbage diet
(I like cabbage but let's face it, you can only eat so much cabbage liquid)
and a ton of others.  Cottage cheese was my best friend many times
throughout out those years but unfortunately it didn't get rid of the 
cottage cheese dimples in my thighs, lol.  

Eventually I had a revelation and that was "you can't/won't live on
cabbage soup or cottage cheese forever.  All the diets I was trying were not
eating habits that I could maintain for the rest of my life.   I'm not saying that any
 particular diet will not work for you,
 I'm saying they didn't work for me.  I just could not eat that way forever,
 I really like chocolate.  I liked everything, that was the problem, or at least
I thought that was my problem.  
  
I eventually realized that my love of food was not my problem.
My weight stemmed from inability to eat healthy and exercise.
Yep I said exercise, we'll get to that topic in just a minute.  
What I had to do was not to give up everything I liked but was to retrain myself in
eating properly.  By this statement I mean cutting down on my portions
 as well as eating foods that were actually good for my body.  I started eating more
 fruits and fresh vegetables.  There are so many wonderful
 recipes out there that it wasn't as hard to do as you might think.
I didn't give up chocolate, I just learned to eat less and enjoy a normal size portion,
 occasionally, not with every meal.   

Once I learned how to change my eating habits,
I changed my thinking and my body which truly changed my life.
My body image changed and so did my self esteem. 
I felt so much better about me, not just that I was smaller but also that I did it!  
I succeeded in getting smaller and healthier and I COULD eat this 
way for the rest of my life and enjoy it.  

Now, let's discuss Exercise.
Yep, I know I'm the only new mommy in the world that thinks,
"I run after the kids all day.  I get all the exercise I can handle.
I shouldn't need to do anything further.  I just don't understand 
why I'm not loosing any weight".  Again, I'm sure you don't feel this way,
 I'm the only woman in the world that has ever thought this way. Right?
 I got into regular exercising for years and felt great.  
But after we had Jacob, #4, I felt to tired to move much less exercise.  

We've got all kinds of exercise equipment in the basement.  We have a treadmill,
exercise bike,free weights, a huge machine that you can stretch and strengthen any
body part you want,and a bunch of other pieces of equipment.
Oh, did I mention that there is a 60 inch flat screen TV there also so
 you can watch whatever you heart desires 
while you exercise your little heart out.  Yeah, right. 

I quickly realized that the exercise bike made the greatest cloths line for
anything that the dryer didn't get dry enough.
Come on now, are you saying you've never done that?
 Be honest now, that sucker is awesome for hanging cloths on isn't it.  

Then there's the treadmill.  It's got this huge top that has all the electronic in it to
 tell you your speed, heart rate, pulse, etc.  Well I realized that it was perfect for
hanging my quilts over aftertaking them out of the dryer to make sure they
were dry before using them or just to have a 
convenient place to put them until we needed them.  

Ah, and then there is that big old everything machine.
Well it has these great big side bars for doing bicep and pectoral presses and
 these make the perfect holders for cloths after 
you put them on hangers. Shoot, you don't ever have to carry them
up to the closets if you don't want to, you can just let'em hang there forever. 
 Forever!

Well I think you see my predicament.  I needed to start exercising again and
 hang my laundry in the laundry room or I could just take it
upstairs where it belonged.  Bummer.

So once again I started exercising.
 I'm now in a daily routine of walking my neighborhood 
twice a day while pulling a wagon with Jacob and his little neighbor friend inside.
 I don't have much free time to spend using all the equipment we have at this time.
I had to come up with ways to exercise 
and entertain the kids at the same time.  Sometimes if I'm feeling really strong
I just stick another kid in the wagon,
after all I've certainly got enough of them, lol.

Honestly there are a lot of days that I don't want to walk the neighborhood
let alone pull a wagon full of kids.
 But what I tell myself and what I'm telling you today is,
 " Get up off your butt and move"  
All the diets in the world will not help you if you just sit there and stagnate".
I encourage you to take an honest look at your diet and your
exercise level, not to be skinny but to be healthy and Be the Best You there is.  

I could ramble on about food and exercise forever but I'd probably
run out of blog space.  So I want to share my idea of a salad with you.

Spinach salad

I always like fresh everything.

I put everything I can think of in a salad.  Tomato, Cheeses, Cranberries,
Grapes, Oranges, Peaches,Mandarin Slices, Croutons, Peppers,
Cucumbers, Red Lettuce, Nuts, Berries, Eggs, Lean Meats
You like it put it in your salad.  It doesn't have to be a plate of lettuce to be healthy.
I use homemade light Ranch dressing but this tastes great with any dressing

Give it a try, you might just like it.

Now on to our Recipe Swap Hop Friday

Angel

Please follow Sew Crafty Angel & Cuddlebug Cuties your Hosts
Have fun and link up

17 comments:

  1. Congrats on losing the lbs. Angel! I have the same problem with motivating to exercise...not easy. Wish I had a recipe to share today, but I don't. Maybe next week :))

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  2. That is totally awesome! Way to go! I'm a big believer in doing your best to eat healthy (with a few treats along the way) and getting in some good exercise. THanks for sharing!

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  3. awesome job on the weight loss!! thanks again for hosting ladies! love this recipe hop!!

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  4. I love 'everything' on my salads too :) I would love your recipe for ranch dressing!

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  5. Congratulations on the weight loss Angel!
    I almost feel bad linking up my yummy chocolate cheesecake on this healthy post....but I say all things in moderation, right?

    I love salads and I love strawberries, grapes, apples and cranberries in my salads, yummo!

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  6. I'm trying to get better about eating salads. That is amazing that you got 80 pounds off and have kept it off! Go Angel!!
    I love that you used your exercise bike for a clothesline!! That's funny!

    ¤´¨)
    ¸.•*´
    (¸¤ Lanaya | xoxo
    www.raising-reagan.com

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  7. That's great that you lost so much weight! I would love to lose 80 lbs and your post plus a few others I have read today are encouraging me to work on it! Thanks for sharing at Friday Follow Along party. www.leahinspired.com

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  8. Huge congrats on your amazing weightloss Angel. I wish, I could do the same, and have all my life been really thin, but after 3 major backsurgeries over the last 6 years, I can´t move very much anymore, and that has made me gain 15 kg, which I absolutely don´t like. I still eat healthy enough, but it´s because I can´t exercise anymore, and both doctors and fysiotherapists says, I can´t do that heavy exercising anymore, but are only allowed to do very simple things to strenghten my backmuscels, but that doesn´t help on the gained weight, so what do you do then??? Well I guess, we can´t win all the battle in life, and this will be the one I was ment to loose.

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    Replies
    1. Like me you just have to accept yourself as you are. See my message below.

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  9. Wow 80 lbs. by diet and exercise alone is amazing! I envy you. I lost 105 lbs. in the last year but I had to do it with surgery. Everything I tried didn't work and my arthritis kept me from doing much exercise. I still have about 50 lbs. to go to get to my goal weight and exercise is the only way I'm gonna get there. The surgery can only do so much. One day at a time is all I can say. Thanks for sharing your story.
    ~Deb~
    CDAC DT Member
    A Look Through My Eyes

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  10. Wishing you a great weekend! Happy Mothers Day!!

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  11. Congrats on your weight lost. Happy Mothers day! :)

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  12. Congrats on your successful journey and life style change. I have met these challenges myself, it is definitely a mind set you have to get into before and during the journey!!

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  13. Congratulations on loosing the weight. I eat healthy and little but unfortunately can't do much exercise so haven't been able to loose the weight. I have severe arthritis everywhere, fybromyalgia, and torn cartlidge in the knees and hip. I do walk a short distance to the post box each day and walk around the house as much as possible, but that is even very painful. I was thin before I married but gained weight with each child and then they took my lymph glands when I had the operation for cancer in the womb in 2007 and I have put more weight on since then. Someone told me that the tablets I am on for the fybromyalgia to help ease the pain at night make you put on weight. She put on 12 kg. I am very careful what I eat as I don't want to put on any more weight. I was working until this year when my position was made redundant. I am too old at 68 to look for another job. I am enjoying being at home and able to join in more groups and blogs.
    If you have a look at my blog granmargaret.blogspot.com.au you will see what we did over the weekend. First time I have been out for a while except for doctors, chiropractors, optometrists, scans and xrays etc.
    I hope you have a good week. It is Monday 13 May 9.40 pm here in Sydney Australia and Tony has just arrived home from work.

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  14. 80 pounds is amazing! Good job. I'm with you and need to add in a consistent exercise routine. I eat fairly well, but with out the movement nothing is going to change!

    Thank you for spreading JOY and sharing at the Oh What a HAPPY Day party.

    Holly at Not Done Growing

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  15. That's awesome! When I know I can't workout, I know that I have to eat well. It's the only way that I don't put on more weight. Thank you for sharing!

    Stopping by from Raising Reagan.

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  16. Thank you for sharing this post on Fitness Friday! Pinned to my new board: http://pinterest.com/spiritedlife/fitness-friday-spotlights/

    Come back for the new linky! http://www.100lbcountdown.com/health-and-wellness/fitness-fridayskeep-going-strong-2/

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