A little history

Another early morning "I'm so excited" post! 194.8 Amazing what a fifth of a pound can do for one's mood and adrenaline :) I can't remember when I last saw 194 it was so long ago - ten years? I was trying to remember. I know I was 174 when I met my honey back in 1997. I had been working out at the gym and taking step classes and was starting to feel like myself again. But several things happened all at once and I started heading up the scale like there was a trophy at the summit. I just kept gaining more and more weight each year, culminating in a spike in '06 all the way up to 230. That's when I turned to Nutrisystem in desperation and lost 20#'s. I tried for a year to copy their nutritional guidelines using my own food and while I kept the weight off for a whole year I couldn't lose any more. One day I realized that it was just impossible to duplicate their 10g of protein dessert and that this wasn't a normal or natural way to eat. That began my foray into the world of food as fuel, and figuring out what it was that my body wanted, what it was I really needed to take care of this 'temple' I was in.

I wanted to feel better, I wanted to know I was nourishing my body, and with the help of my friend (MRS) that led to eating a plant based diet. I was happy with so many results, better skin & nails, no more night time cravings, no more searching endlessly for something (anything) in my kitchen cupboards that would satisfy my eating urges. Out went the meat and cheese and in came the fruits and nuts and seeds. Out with the processed foods and in with the kale and spinach and flax meal. I could open my refrigerator and glory in the abundance of color and variety and started adding more nutritious elements to my standard everyday fare; I learned to count micro nutrients instead of calories. And I lost weight, so slowly that I barely noticed, but I was eating wonderful food and not gaining and it was such a relief. I had joined an online community for weight loss support (see food and exercise link above) and with the support of others who were eating for nutrition I learned a boatload about nutritional density and lost ten pounds between May of 2008 & May of 2009. Ten pounds in a year when others were losing that much in a month? What was I doing wrong? Had my body shut down after 30 years of 'dieting'? Was my 200# set point so strong there was no getting past it?

I felt surrounded by women online who were losing weight eating basically the same way I was and I was getting so frustrated by it all because it wasn't working that way for me. I would celebrate with them online and then go get a bag of Cheetos and feel sorry for myself. Doh! I had tried talking myself into the fact that it might take me five years to lose my weight and justified my slow loss by knowing that I would keep it off this time. But I was seething inside...why not me? Why couldn't I lose faster too? This is when my friend Debbie introduced me to Core4. The timing was perfect. Anyone who has read back to the beginning of this blog knows I did not come quietly. I was the anomaly in the group, losing more inches than pounds, and stressing about it almost daily. I would second guess everything all week long only to be continuously surprised on Mondays by yet more good results. I was getting smaller and it was getting noticeable and I started to believe. Just a glimmer at first, just a small hope that this was real and that the next week wouldn't see it all disappear. But I couldn't deny what I was seeing and feeling, and I kept using the products, and here I am less than two months later having lost almost half of what it took me the previous year to lose. And that's only the pounds - there is no way to compare the inches lost, the sculpting process my body is going through, it is like nothing I have ever experienced before in this body of mine.

And so this morning I am looking back and thinking about all the times I planned to fit into cute jeans for Thanksgiving and didn't, or bought shorts I knew I would fit into later that summer and I didn't. And I am daring to think that this year will be different. This year those things will come true - are already coming true - and instead of waiting with baited breath for Monday's results I am thinking, "Bring it on!" Because I know it's going to be good, this Monday and next Monday and all of the 'for as long as I need to lose' Mondays. ...I wonder which jeans will fit this Thanksgiving :)