Over the past eight months (which was about when my weight loss really started to
show) I’ve received many emails, Facebook messages, Tweets, Instagram
comments, and questions at book signings all concerning my weight loss. To
everyone else it appeared to be a quick thing. Like I had a secret and they wanted in
on it.
There was no secret. This is exactly what happened…
On January 5, 2015 I went to my annual doctor’s appointment. I was one
hundred pounds over a healthy weight for my height and age. My blood pressure
was high and I was showing signs of other illnesses like diabetes. My doctor
informed me that if I continued on like I was, I’d die early and it would be a hard
death. My body was falling apart.
I was terrified.
I left that doctor’s appointment and went directly to a walking track in town.
I began walking that day. Two miles just about killed me. I was so out of shape. I
didn’t let that get me down though. I had a life to save and kids I wanted to raise.
I then went to the grocery store and bought healthy food. Snack items that
weren’t chocolate candies, or cookies. My now ex-husband told me I’d never stick
with it because I was going too hardcore. I couldn’t keep that up. If there is one thing
I can thank him for (other than my children) it is for telling me I couldn’t do
something…. because I am very competitive.
When I got home I took all the hidden snacks out of my office desk and tossed
them in the trash. We are talking Hershey’s kisses, Tim Tam’s, Twizzlers, and sadly
many more. I seriously had an issue.
Starting that day I got up every morning, saw the kids off to school, and went
to the track to walk. I built up to walking five miles a day on that track during the
month of January. I also purchased a FitBit and began to compete against friends
and readers. Again, I am very competitive, and I would walk until I had beaten
everyone I was in challenges with for that day. I walked rain or shine. Even pouring
rain. I was determined. However, after I walked in the first bad rain I went home, got
on Amazon and ordered myself a treadmill. Things got real then.
Since I had a treadmill set up in my office, whenever I got stumped in a scene
instead of eating a cookie I walked it out. By the end of February I was walking ten
miles a day. I had also lost fifty pounds.
March rolled around and my weekly weight loss almost completely stopped. I
was still walking ten miles a day and eating really healthy but I wasn’t losing. So I
got mad one day and ate all the stuff I’d been craving…. which, let me tell you, was a
lot of stuff.
The bad side is that made me sick at my stomach. The upside was I had just
found a trick. At the end of that week I’d lost five pounds. I realized that if I let
myself have a cheat day during the week it helped to jump start my metabolism.
To this day I still have a cheat day. I normally only cheat one meal now. The
stomach pains, that a big cheat day can cause, hurt. I don’t like that. And I don’t get
that hungry anymore. I don’t know if this is healthy so please don’t go jumping all
over me if you believe otherwise. My health is fantastic now and when I was one
hundred pounds overweight I had one foot in the grave. That’s all I need to know.
June 2015 I went back to my doctor because he was giving me time to lose
some weight before he put me on blood pressure medicine. I asked him to let me
attempt to get my number down before he put me on it. If my high blood pressure
was weight related I was going to fix it.
And I did.
I weighed in that day having lost ninety pounds. He walked into the room
shaking his head and accusing me of having surgery to lose the weight. I swore to
him I hadn’t. So he made me show him my stomach. He was amazed and gave me a
high five. I was incredibly proud of myself.
As of January 5, 2016 I’ve officially lost one hundred and twenty five pounds.
I now just maintain. I have a curvy build and I like it. I don’t want to lose my bottom
or my hips. I’m completely good with them. As long as they’re firm.
I walk four miles (sometimes more) a day and three days a week I add
weights, lunges, squats, crunches, and a few others. I think about everything I put in
my mouth and mentally tally the calories I intake a day. I keep it at a healthy number
and make sure they aren’t empty calories. My empty calories come once a week
when I cheat. I also drink at least one hundred ounces of water a day. I won’t lie this
is a newer thing for me but I wish I’d done it from the start. I’ve only been doing this
about two months now and I don’t know how I lived without all my water. I think it
would have been a tremendous help in my weight loss journey if I’d added it.
There you have it. That’s my “secret”.
