Background
For most of junior high, I was about 20 pounds overweight (135). Closer to 30 throughout high school (145). My freshman year of college, I gained an additional 10 (155).
After freshman year, I decided that I had to try something to lose weight. I hadn’t really cared much about it before, but an extra 40 pounds on my small frame was getting out of hand. So throughout the summer I started an exercise program with the original Tae-Bo set. I really didn’t weigh myself at all since it felt so great to have a new active lifestyle. I started to tone up and lost a couple inches around my waist. To celebrate, I bought lots of new clothes.
Tae-Bo became my workout staple, but after a while it quit giving me results. That coupled with a high stress call center job where I worked late nights, I ate a lot of junky snacks and fast food. None of the clothes I had bought in the summer fit anymore. I was feeling very fat, so I decided to finally buy a scale.
My weight had ballooned up to 165! The year I diligently did Tae-Bo 4-5 times a week, was the year I gained the most! I knew that I had to buy a new Tae-Bo workouts since the original Basic and Advanced workouts I had been using weren’t cutting it anymore. With the new workout, I lost 10 of those pounds in a little over a month.
Unfortunately, those 10 pounds came back little by little during the time Jeremy and I moved to Oregon. When the scale hit 168 (all time high) in early September 2000, reality sunk in and I totally freaked out. I finally calculated how much weight I had gained in the past 5 years! I felt gluttonous and disgusting. I had become apathetic about the whole issue and let myself get out of control.
I thought it was a positive thing that I never fixated on my weight, I only thought about it occasionally — mostly when I dared to get on the scale. I knew I couldn’t continue to be so cavalier about my eating habits, because exercise alone wasn’t the answer.
For variety, I dusted off the old aerobic VHS tapes that I had inherited from various people. I had only done most of them a few times each. I knew from the Tae-Bo experience, that I had to start varying my workouts. Tae-Bo alone would not cut it anymore.
I started rotating these workouts doing a different tape seven days a week. One of these workouts happened to be “FIRM Basics – Fat Burning.” It was the beginning of a new era *cue cheesy muzak.*
During the following months, I bought many more tapes to incorporate into my daily routine. Many of which were from The FIRM studios. Their claim to fame (at the time) was being one of the only retail series that incorporated Aerobic Weight Training (AWT). This method gave me amazing results!
The calorie content of the various foods became another focus of mine. I used to only pay attention to the fat grams. So I stopped buying really high calorie treats and replaced my regular soda with diet soda. This was a very gradual process, which helped limit feelings of deprivation.
Skipping breakfast was also a thing of the past. Typically I started the day with serving of high fiber cereal like Fiber One with sliced bananas and skim milk. For a mid-morning snack, I’d usually have a serving of fruit or yogurt. I made my largest meal lunch. The typical lunch I would bring to work would either be a sandwich on whole wheat or a serving of various broth-based soups, baby carrots, and on some days I’d have a treat that I was craving (but no more than 200 calories worth).
Dinner was usually small and always before 8 o’clock. I’d usually have a Garden Burger, a small serving of lean chicken breast, or various other lean meats grilled on the George Foreman grill. I’d also grill fresh veggies along with it. If I was in a rush, I’d microwave a Lean Cuisine meal. Looking back, dinner was mainly low-carb, but in general my meal plan was not low-carb.
On weekends I’d go out to eat for one meal, but I stopped overdoing it. Depending on the restaurant, I’d get something that was on their light menu or was known to be semi-healthy (I usually planned what to get before hand based on my online research of various restaurants). I also would no longer would eat the entire meal but only a correct serving and would take the rest home. That worked really well for me, but I didn’t consider it a “cheat” day. I didn’t want to discount all the work I had done during the week with binging. It just helped me maintain my sanity.
I lost an amazing 20 pounds in the first month from making these dietary changes in conjunction with alternating daily workouts.
My weight loss slowed to a more moderate pace soon after though, about 1-2 lbs. per week on average. Once I hit my first plateau, I decided to do a food log to track everything. Through trial and error, I found that my weight loss was steady at around 1200-1500 calories daily.
Following my personal nutrition guidelines very closely was another step to success. They were based on a 20-20-60 (percent of fat/protein/carbs) diet, my current activity status, age, gender, height, weight, and weight loss goals.
| Personal Recommended Nutrition Facts | |
| Calorie Daily Value 1,290 | Calories from Fat 260 |
| Total Fat 29 g | |
| Saturated Fat 9 g | |
| Cholesterol 300 mg | |
| Sodium 2,400 mg | |
| Potassium 3,500 mg | |
| Total Carbohydrate 193 g | |
| Dietary Fiber 25 g | |
| Sugars 32 g | |
| Protein 64 g | |
| Vitamin A 5,000 IU | Vitamin C 60 mg |
| Calcium 1,000 mg | Iron 18 mg |
| Vitamin D 400 IU | Vitamin E 30 IU |
| Thiamin 1.5 mg | Riboflavin 1.7 mg |
| Niacin 20 mg | Vitamin B-6 2.0 mg |
| Folate 400 mcg | Vitamin B-12 6 mcg |
| Biotin 300 mcg | Pantothenic Acid 10 mg |
| Phosphorus 1,000 mg | Iodine 150 mcg |
| Magnesium 400 mg | Zinc 15 mg |
| Copper 2 mg | |
I also started weighing myself every morning after I woke up. Some experts may say that’s excessive (they usually recommend weighing yourself only once a week or more), but I did it so that I could stay on track and plan my meals correctly (i.e. having a big salad for lunch instead of something high in fat/calories). As long as I charted my weight under the same conditions each day (for example — doing it every morning before breakfast), I saw what my natural fluctuations were and didn’t get discouraged if I was retaining more water one day to the next.
Initially, I started with a smaller weight loss goal of 135 pounds. I rewarded myself with a belly-button piercing when I reached that goal. My second big goal was 123 pounds, but I wasn’t yet fully satisfied. I reached my all-time ultimate goal of 114 lbs. on April 7th, 2001, which made my total loss 55 lbs. in almost exactly 7 months time.
The main downfall to all this is that I had to replace my entire wardrobe which was expensive but worth it, especially since I fit into everything I used to dream about wearing!
When I reached my ultimate goal, I didn’t discard all the good eating and exercise habits I had acquired over those 7 months. I had worked too hard to just gain it all back by slipping back into my old lifestyle.
Most importantly I didn’t immediately drastically up my calorie intake either. I knew that it would be too much of a shock to my metabolism to suddenly increase my calorie intake to my maintenance recommendations (see below). I knew my body wasn’t going to tolerate the instant shock of an extra 500 extra calories a day all at once.
| Personal Recommended Nutrition Facts | |
| Calorie Daily Value 1,820 | Calories from Fat 360 |
| Total Fat 41 g | |
| Saturated Fat 13 g | |
| Cholesterol 300 mg | |
| Sodium 2,400 mg | |
| Potassium 3,500 mg | |
| Total Carbohydrate 273 g | |
| Dietary Fiber 25 g | |
| Sugars 46 g | |
| Protein 91 g | |
| Vitamin A 5,000 IU | Vitamin C 60 mg |
| Calcium 1,000 mg | Iron 18 mg |
| Vitamin D 400 IU | Vitamin E 30 IU |
| Thiamin 1.5 mg | Riboflavin 1.7 mg |
| Niacin 20 mg | Vitamin B-6 2.0 mg |
| Folate 400 mcg | Vitamin B-12 6 mcg |
| Biotin 300 mcg | Pantothenic Acid 10 mg |
| Phosphorus 1,000 mg | Iodine 150 mcg |
| Magnesium 400 mg | Zinc 15 mg |
| Copper 2 mg | |
Over the next few months, I upped my calorie intake very slowly, so that my metabolism could adapt and burn those extra calories efficiently. I would add around 100 extra calories per day for a few weeks, then another 100 the next 3-week cycle. I made sure to do this mostly with healthy foods, and not extra junk food that I stayed away from during my main weight loss. My body adapted very well to this approach, and I didn’t gain any weight back from the increase in calories. My metabolism was running the best it had ever been.
For the next two years, I was still working out daily and accumulating a workout library of dozens of DVD and VHS tapes to alternate. When I was feeling burned out from working out at home, I signed on for short term gym access. But with big life changes (most notably getting married in mid-2003), I started eating more and more junk food with new hubby.
Inevitably my metabolism slowed down, and I gained back around 5 pounds that first year. I’ve been fighting with that gain ever since. Then we moved to Oregon in 2004, and along with that another 5 pounds have slowly come on top of it.
Now I’m fluctuating about 8-10 pounds over my ideal and most comfortable weight of around 114. My healthy eating habits from my initial loss are about 50% intact. Most of my current demons revolve around my love of sugary treats. I also indulge in fast food (esp. Taco Bell) more than I should.
Long story long ;), my quest has begun again. If I can get a handle on these bad habits before the holidays start up again, I should be good to go. If I’m successful with that, it should be no problem to back to goal by Christmas.
I need this support system of readers and commenters to keep me focused. My Oregon (offline) social group is not entirely supportive of my efforts. They definitely aren’t saboteurs, but they think I look fit and fine (which I agree I do look fine fully clothed). Only Jeremy understands my efforts (maybe because he has to see the “thighs of doom”) and when I get on a roll, he usually joins in and ends up dropping more weight than I do (EVIL MEN!)
Are you in for helping me get on a roll? I love to get new low-cal meal ideas that are easy to prepare, because this will limit my laziness and the quick fast food fix I get. I’d really appreciate any tips or encouragement you can offer as well. Just comment or e-mail me. 
