Losing It

Back in July I decided I was fed up with how much weight I've gained over the past few years and frustrated that I couldn't stop gaining weight, no matter what I did. I started running last summer and after a sprained ankle (from wearing strappy high-heeled sandals, NOT running), I only continued to run once in awhile. So I'd say I was running 2-3 times a month. I tried reducing the amount of food I ate, eating smaller portions. I also started only eating half of some of my splurge foods - donuts, cookies, etc. I don't drink sugar pop and do a lot of walking just by nature of where I work and where I park. I followed a lot of these "rules" and didn't shed a pound - in fact, gained a few pounds. Very frustrating!

Haven't we heard that if you decrease what you eat and increase your activity level that the weight would come off? That formula works, I guess, but when you're only reducing 200 calories and burning an extra 200 calories and you're taking in 3,000-4,000 calories, you're still NOT going to lose weight. I had the right idea, but not enough effort. I think a lot of us fall into this category.

3,000-4,000 calories a day? You betcha. I could list all the articles that show that if you eat out, most meals are around 1,000, if not more. Tasty - yes. Fresh foods - yes. Drenched in butter, creamy sauces, or fried - yes. And there's those calories that you weren't expecting. I'm not just talking about ice cream and cake, I'm talking about your vegetables and lean meats! Yes you're getting your nutrition but getting so much more.

So Jason and I decided to try Take Shape For Life (TSFL) which uses the Medifast food. We had to sign up with TSFL and then order our Medifast food. The food costs about $300/person/month. This might seem a lot but our food spending each month was at least $800 between groceries and eating out. It hasn't exactly saved us money, but we're definitely not spending any money on fast food or empty calories any more.

A friend from Ohio University is a TSFL Health Coach and got us going and followed-up regularly to make sure we were doing okay. With this diet you go down to 800-1,000 calories per day. At first we were a little grumpy and craving everything we couldn't eat anymore and we had some energy loss and headaches. But after a day or two the headaches were gone and the positive attitude started to kick in. Each Monday we'd get on the scale and each Monday we had lost weight. It took discipline to stay on the diet and not cheat when we were out with friends, but it got easier every week.

After a few weeks we weren't craving pizza and cheeseburgers anymore. In fact, the idea of fried food seems disgusting now and I worry about what it would do to my digestive system after not eating it for so long. I worry about not getting enough nutrition or over-eating if we filled up on empty calories. We've notice that family and friends eat healthier around us and we've heard "your food looks better than mine" a few times. We learned that there ARE healthy choices at almost every restaurant, you just have to know how to find them. (We didn't know how to before.)

I must say that we discovered the most difficult food to eat healthy when eating out is vegetables. If you get a salad, trying to get a low-fat, low-calorie dressing is near impossible. We went to a Subway in another city and they didn't have any "diet" dressings at all. We couldn't believe it. So we would try to choose broccoli, green beans or asparagus, but we'd have to ask how they're prepared and served. With butter or a creamy sauce a lot of times. A few places said they're steamed or cooked in olive oil, thankfully. It seemed easier to get grilled chicken and then eat a vegetable when we got home.

So now we've been on the TSFL program for three months. I've lost 32 pounds and Jason has lost 40 pounds. We've back to the weights we were before we met. (My wedding dress would be too big at this point.) ;)

I've had friends ask what our secret is. Of course we could tell you that our secret is the Take Shape For Life program. Though I've had friends lose 40+ pounds without signing up for TSFL, Weight Watchers or any of the others. What's the secret? I'll tell you what I think...

• Pick a plan and stick with it. Don't just think "I'll eat less" or "I'll walk more." That's not a weight loss plan. Do research and find a plan with structure and accountability that works for you.
• NO CHEATING! If you cheat, you go back to day 1 and start all over again. And if you do cheat, pick yourself up and don't give up!
• Drink lots of water! The weeks that I'd lose only a pound were the weeks where I didn't drink enough water.
• Don't give up if you haven't lost the weight you were hoping for after the first few weeks. Stick with it! (This is where I failed so many times in the past. I had a lot of success with TSFL after the first couple of weeks, so I finally found a plan I wasn't going to give up on.)

I think the hardest part of being on a diet was going to public places where you eat whenever you feel like it - an amusement park, a ball game, vacation, etc. I'd look around at all I would see is the fattening food that wasn't on our diet (nachos, pizzas, burgers, hot dogs, ice cream, etc.). I found something that works for me. I look at the person eating the above mentioned foods and I would think "I want to be thinner than the person who is eating that food." With a large percentage of the population being overweight, this worked every single time. (The phrase "consider the source" comes to mind.)

Lastly I have to thank Jason for doing this diet with me. Without him being part of this I would never have stuck with the diet. I appreciate all the cooking he's done and Medifast meal preparations. I appreciate his willingness to try new recipes and doctor the Medifast meals into something I would prefer to eat. Thank you hon, I love you. :)