Before And After

Before (June 08)

After (July 09)

(These aren't the best before and after pictures, but they will have to do-- you can mainly see the difference in my face, which is what I was struck by when my friends and I snapped the bottom picture on Wednesday night. These lovely ladies are Kimberly and April-- some of my best friends from high school.)

In honor of Independence Day, I am going to finally blog about my freedom from the extra weight I had been carrying for years...

"Why haven't you written on your blog about losing weight?" my friend asked me.

"Because I'm not ready," I replied.

My friend has been chronicling her weight loss journey on her blog from the get-go, so my not talking about it here was odd to her. A great deal of who I am and what I do is here, but I can't share everything. Especially something that is very difficult. Especially something that at first you feel like is going to be the death of you... take for example, my efforts to finally shed the weight that had crept on with six pregnancies.

For years, every day I woke up thinking, today will be the day my metabolism is going to wake up and get back on track! And every night I went to bed thinking, ok maybe tomorrow?

Then one day I finally decided, enough was enough. It was time to do whatever it took to get rid of the weight. I had tried not eating. I had tried running. Nothing seemed to help. The most I lost was 5 pounds and I needed to lose a whole lot more than that.

A friend of mine had shed 42 pounds doing this diet that involved going to a naturopath and being put on a strict diet. (And when I say strict, think Nazi-strict.) But seeing the difference in her and knowing the similarity in our situations, I knew that if it worked so well for her, it might be worth the suffering I would have to go through. So, I talked it over with my husband and on February 3rd, I took the plunge.

I know you are going to ask what I ate, so I will tell you. I ate three meals a day and no snacks. The meals were weighed on a food scale, which I stuck to very closely. This was a huge wakeup call because my portions were definitely out of whack! I also drank a drink made up of a protein powder and water, 4 times a day. This did help to curb hunger between meals.

Typically, here's what I ate each day:

Breakfast: two pieces of turkey bacon or 2 poached eggs, cantaloupe or grapefruit

Lunch: a salad made with lettuce, cut up deli turkey, strawberries and a balsamic vinegar/olive oil dressing I made with fresh ground pepper and sea salt. This salad is so good I could eat it every day!

Dinner: a piece of meat-- a hamburger (without the bun of course), a chicken breast, or a piece of fish-- and a side of either watermelon or broccoli or small salad.

Yes, I got tired of the lack of variety. Yes, I daydreamed about lots of other foods. Yes, I nearly fell off the wagon tons of times. But inevitably I would get a fresh vision for what I was doing and why and get back on track. This happened sometimes many times a day!! One woman I know who is now on the diet has named it the "Jesus Help Me" diet. And that is the truth!!

I did the diet until May 3rd (3 months total). At that point I had lost 32 pounds and 35 inches. Even though I have taken a break, I still do the diet in moderation, and probably will for life. I gave up caffeine on the diet (required) and sugar. I added back sugar in moderation but don't plan to ever add back caffeine. I found I don't need it like I thought I did! Once I detoxed from it (and that was truly what it was like-- detox), I didn't ever want to go back on it. I had a serious coffee and sweet tea habit, so that was HUGE for me to kick! Now I start my mornings with my Zen green tea sweetened with Stevia. And I am just fine without my giant mugs of coffee and creamer.

Another thing I will not change is working out daily. Part of the diet requires that you work out 30 minutes a day, 7 days a week. And I still do. I am on the treadmill every day for 30-40 minutes and I also do 100 situps. It has become part of my routine and the day doesn't feel complete without it. I know... I used to dislike people who talked like that, too

I am so glad I did the diet. Yet, I am still not where I want to be. I would like to lose 5-10 more pounds. (My goal is what I was when I got married (5 lbs.) or what I was when we dated (10 lbs.). That's kind of lofty, I realize, but I am so close I figure... why not? At the same time I can honestly say that I am very happy with where I am at, too. Happy enough to eat two freshly baked oatmeal chocolate chip cookies last night! Just keepin it real...

I am so glad I did what it took to shed the weight. I would have told you that it was impossible, that those extra pounds were just the sacrifice I made to bring 6 people into the world. I am glad I learned that it didn't have to be that way. I feel more like me again.

And that is a very good thing.