Confessions of a Die-Hard Dieter

As you may know, Jason and I recently lost 40+ pounds each. On that journey to lose weight we had to turn our backs on all fried food, all sugary food, and basically anything unhealthy. Gone were the days of pizzas, cheeseburgers, fries, ice cream, mac&cheese, and fast food.

Our eating habits changed, but we still loved eating out with friends. This was a challenge because we had to watch our friends eat the fried food we used to love eating while we ate chicken breasts and salads. We even had friends who said they've always been able to get their friends to cheat on their diets but no, not us. They were impressed. And obviously the determination paid off.

You know what happens to that determination when Christmas hits? Yeah, you guessed it. Down the tube. It was a gradual downfall. First just a bite of cookie, just one chocolate covered pretzel, then a sliver of pie. Ugh. By Christmas day I was eating seconds of stuffing (my mother-in-law's stuffing is amazing!) smothered in gravy. Followed by several cut-out cookies and a couple of buckeyes. Oh what did I do!

The week after Christmas we traveled to Florida to visit my mom and step-dad. We tried to eat healthy, but when you're on the road and don't want to stop for more than 10-15 minutes, fast food is what you have to deal with. Did you know that Burger King has a grilled chicken sandwich on a whole grain ciabatta bun? (I believe 470 calories.) I also got the Chick-fil-a chicken salad sandwich on wheat bread with the fruit cup. Not too bad.

Thankfully my mom is trying to eat healthy and this really helped us get on track. Of course we did more snacking than we should have. Then the last night in Florida we went to a seafood restaurant and I got my usual, garlic butter shrimp and hush puppies. (Oh yummers!!) And I finished dinner with the biggest slice of key lime pie I have ever seen. (No, I didn't finish it.)

I tried to off-set the excess calories with some running in the warm weather. I only ran twice though but I pushed myself more than usual. (I may have gotten a little lost in my mom's neighborhood and went a little further than I intended. In my defense, all the houses look the same down there.) Thankfully my family knows to come looking for me when I've been gone over an hour.

And then I did the unthinkable. On our way back up to Ohio we stopped south of Atlanta in an area with only fast food restaurants. We decided to get Domino's pizza. My first pizza since last July when we started our diets. We got thin crust (less calories) and lots of veggies, does that count for anything? Wow, that pizza tasted SO good. Unfortunately I had stomach issues the rest of the night. (Jason was so glad for that king sized bed.) ;)

So Tuesday morning I decided to step on the scale. I slowly slid the scale out from under the dresser. Checked (twice) to make sure that little pointer was on zero. (Okay, maybe a hair less than zero.) And then I stepped on and waited for the pointer to stop. And then I squinted and bent over, sending the pointer moving again, and waited again.

Holy. Freakin. Cow.

I only gained one pound.

ONE pound.

There's only two things that can happen after an experience like this. You either continue over-eating, snacking, and indulging and it WILL catch up to you. Or you thank God for the chance to indulge a little and jump right back onto the healthy eating.

I'm trying my best to get back on track, but I've got that sweet tooth back and I hate that. I know I have to avoid all sugar for at least two weeks before all the cravings are gone again. That's going to be a rough two weeks. But I've done it before, I can do it again.

You know what kills me though. If I had stayed true to my diet and ran a little more, would I have lost weight over Christmas? Probably. Guess what I'm doing tomorrow? That's right, I'm going running. :)

(Side note, I started typing this an hour ago. I took a break in the middle to surf channels and ended up on Forrest Gump. When I run I think of Forrest saying "I was ruh-ning." So funny that I'd end this blog with Forrest running on the TV. I think that's my motivation right there!) ;)

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. :)