I woke up this morning, went to the gym , and was inspired to start a blog to share with others my passion for nutrition and wellness. I hope that this will inspire and motivate you to taking better care of your body.
I will start off by answering the question that I get the most after losing 50lbs, which is "How did you do it?" I did a lot of outward changes, such as changing the quality and quantity of food I eat and exercising, but the biggest change took place in my mind. The transformation that took place in my physical body is amazing, but it falls short of the transformation that took place within me.
Anybody can lose weight... it's easy (unless you have certain medical conditions). The hard part is the maintenance. I didn't want to just lose weight, I wanted to keep it off, and to accomplish this I had to change my way of thinking about myself, food, and others. During that time I didn't realize I was doing this, but now I look back and see it.
I had to learn to accept and love myself as I was. When I started taking anatomy and physiology (I miss that class!) I learned how complicated our bodies are. It gave me a sense of admiration and gratitude towards my body and I wanted to give it what it needed in order for it to run the way it was created to. I saw my body as a machine and as an investment. Sure it takes sacrifice to give your body what it needs instead of what you want, but the pay out is amazing... you sleep better, feel better, depression is gone, your energized, you have a sense of well being from within you and I have become sort of addicted to that feeling. "Addicted" may be the wrong word, but an addiction to feeling energized and to having a sense of well being from the inside out is good. That is what keeps me from going back to my old self, I never want to feel or look like I did before!
I learned to see food as something that brings me not only pleasure, but nourishment and life. I no longer use it to comfort me when I am sad, to accompany me when I'm lonely, to make me happy, or to occupy me when I'm bored.
I also learned to see taking care of myself as an extension of my love for those around me. I love my husband and by taking care of myself I am protecting him of losing his wife before her time, I am giving him the gift of a healthy, happy wife, and I am sparing him of the suffering that takes place when a loved one is sick. HIs hard earned money will go towards vacations and other luxuries that would otherwise go towards medical bills for conditions that could be avoided.
It took 3 years to lose the weight and I have kept it off for 2. My biggest advice to those wanting to lose weight, especially those who want to lose a lot of weight is to do it slowly and to exercise. Although what you eat is a whopping 80% and exercise only 20%, it is important because it tones you preventing you from having flabby extra skin and muscle burns fat. Another benefit of doing it slowly is to prevent a plateau. Don't automatically use all your tricks, instead incorporate them one by one over years so that you are always keeping your body surprised. Yet another benefit, is to get used to your new lifestyle and you can lose the weight once and keep it off. Doing it this way will also prevent you from being one of those miserable skinny people who has to count calories, measure everything, and can't skip a day at the gym because they will quickly gain 10lbs the next morning (I"m exaggerating, but you know what I mean).
Two other pieces of advice - be nice to yourself & focus on being healthy instead of losing weight. After all, what is important is being healthy. This will prevent you from the "being on a diet" syndrome. This is a lifestyle not a diet!
I can keep writing and writing, there are so many things I want to say and tips to give you, but I will leave that for another time, if you allow me to. I would like to hear feedback on if I should continue to do this, questions you may have, and whether you found it helpful/inspiring.
