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Struggles with Weight Loss
I, like a lot have moms, have struggled with my weight since having kids.
I have a 12 year old son and a 9 year old son. So needless to say it
has been YEARS since I have been able to fit in anything that I feel
comfortable in. When I got pregnant, with my now 12 year old son, I
weighed about 120ish and wore a size 6. Which was a pretty healthy
weight for me. And I have been trying to get back there for 12 YEARS!!
Things I have tried:
- Adkins Diet
- Low Fat
- South Beach
- Eating mostly veggies and fruit
- exercising while dieting
- exercising while not dieting
- counting calories
- and the list goes on and on and on....you get the picture!
My world was falling apart all around me.
November 2008 I experienced a kind of stress that I have never experienced
before....the kind that made me so sick to my stomach that I could not
eat! I lost 20 pounds from stress alone in a matter of 2 months. Now I
do NOT recommend this kind of weight loss....it is not good for you at
all!! By this point my weight had ballooned up to 181 pounds, the
heaviest I had ever been, so yes, I was very excited about losing the
weight. Because up til then no matter what I had tried I would lose 5
pounds gain 10 pounds.
Keeping the weight off.
I had managed to keep that weight off and loose an additional 5 pounds by
watching what I ate and counting calories. Then Thanksgiving and
Christmas 2009 came around. From November to February I ate what ever I
wanted.......yep, you guessed it.....I gained 4 pounds back! So in
March I decided that I was going to eat healthier. I was trying to eat
more fiber, dairy products for the calcium and whole grain products. I
was eating healthy......or so I thought. After a month of doing this I
had gained 3 pounds!!! WRONG DIRECTION!!! I was so upset and didn’t
know where to go from there. I looked back on that past month and
figured out that my body can not process carbs the way I was eating
them. So I decided to try the low carb thing once again. And I was
also walking 2 miles 4-6 nights a week.
A typical meal for me is:
Breakfast
- Key Lime fiber one yogurt
- egg whites
Morning Snack
- Cheese Stick
Lunch
- Turkey lunch meat
- Celery with cream cheese
- Cucumbers
Afternoon Snack
- Smoked almonds or pecans
Dinner
- Meat, usually something on the grill.....like chicken
- Salad with fresh veggies ie. red peppers, mushrooms, cucumbers, radishes, onions
- cooked veggies like broccoli
Dessert
- Sugar free Jello
5 weeks later.....
I had lost 17 pounds!!! In the beginning it was tough not eating carbs
the way that I wanted and my body craved them. I weighed myself every
Friday and if I lost weight I got to have a small treat on Friday night.
I was also walking 2 miles 4-6 nights a week.
Friday night treats:
- Ice cream
- Sushi
- Pecan Brittle
- Pasta
- Margaritas
Vacation Time
This year we had 2 vacations planned. They were both a the beginning of
summer and I was dreading the eating aspect of vacation.
We Went to New Orleans first to visit my husbands grandparents. I LOVE
the food there and it is SO hard to resist. I went into it knowing that
I was not going to be able to stay completely low carb. We were there
for 2 full days and I did a lot better that I thought I was going to do.
I managed to stay pretty true to my eating habits and didn’t “cheat”
too badly. The biggest thing that I couldn’t resist was a shrimp po boy
but I didn’t eat the bread or the french fries that came with it. YAY
ME!
Our next vacation was Disney for 8 days and 7 nights. My only saving grace
this vacation was we had decided months before we went that we were not
going to eat out this trip to save money.....a “normal” Disney trip for
us we only eat breakfast in the room and eat every other meal out. I
had also decided since we were on vacation and there were so many treats
that I wanted while we were down there I would let myself have a treat
everyday. I had popcorn, mickey rice crispy ears dipped in chocolate,
pizza and more popcorn! I love their popcorn!! Because of all the
walking(probably 3-5 miles a day) and swimming we did I managed to not
gain any weight.
Almost 5 months later
I am still sticking with it. And I am now down 30 pounds from April and
48 pounds from November 2008. I now realize that this is something
that I am always going to have to work on. That it is OK to treat
myself and I know that I can have a treat and get right back to what I
need to do in order to continue losing the weight. Now I am only 13
pounds away from my next weight goal. I am now trying to work on
fitness goals to continue turning fat into muscle. The fun part....is
all the new clothes and shoes that I get to buy!
~Kim
Atlantamoms.com Events and Newsletter Editor
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by Kim - Atlanta Moms on -
It's about discipline and having the support that you need at home is really important. This time around I had the support I needed to help me stay on track and my kids understand that this is a life style change and I need to do this to get healthy and stay healthy. In the past month I have also given up diet coke. I think that was harder than going low carb!!
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Permalink Reply by Tameka Williamson on -
You are so right about making the right food choices. This is so hard for me sometimes. I haven't been in the gym since August due to my busy lifestyle that I somehow need to balance. I lost about 10 lbs in 3 months. It was great because my clothes fit better and I felt awesome with a lot of energy. I gained 5 of those lbs back by eating whatever I wanted and drinking sprites and root beer soda. I am going to get back in the swing of things. I know that I can do it...we can do it!! Good Luck to you all!
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Permalink Reply by Kim - Atlanta Moms on
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Tameka,
You're right..we can do it! My weight is a daily struggle. I know what I need to do. I just don't always want to do it. We too have very busy lives, with 2 kids and all their activities and all of mine and my husbands volunteer work there never seems to be time to go to the gym. I know that I need to exercise and know how much better I feel and how much more energy I have when I work out, but I always find an excuse to not go to the gym. I have decided that I am going to go to the gym starting this Sunday..no excuses. My kids don't care if I go, my husband understands my need to go, I need to get over the "mom guilt" that I feel when I go to the gym. I need to remember that I spend SO much of my time giving to others that I do DESERVE time for myself to decompress and going to the gym does that for me.
Can you tell I am trying to still convince myself that it is OK for me to go to the gym and that my family understands! lol :-)
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Permalink Reply by Kellie Harding on -
You seem to be doing the right thing. At least you have figured out what put on the weight. I am working to get some of the pounds off. My daughter the last of 4 children is now 5 I have no excuses. I started walking and stopped. Why? I have no idea just running around taking care of everything and everyone except me. I figure this has got to stop. You have motivated me to start doing my 2 miles again. Thanks so much. I resided in Gwinnett County in Lawrenceville and I walk at Rhodes Jordan Park less than 2 miles from my home. Ok...I'm starting waling tomorrow and will post my progress.
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Permalink Reply by Kim - Atlanta Moms on
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Good for you!!
My boys are in Scouts and we are doing a biggest loser competition right now. Everyone that wanted to join the competition paid $10.00. We weigh in weekly and at the end whoever lost the most weight % wise wins all the money. Right now I am in 3rd place and I REALLY want to win that money!! I think it is $110.00 or somewhere around that. I am just thinking about all the new clothes I could buy with that money! lol
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