Weightloss...

In two days it will be the one year anniversary that I started on this journey of weight loss.  And guess what I found out, it doesn't get easier, it gets harder to keep losing.  After losing continuously for the last couple of months I had my first gain week and I freaked out!  I know what I did to gain, and knew what I was doing while I was doing it, but I did it anyway.  It was all in the line of my thoughts... I wish I could just eat like a normal person.

Truth is, I am not "normal," I am extraordinary in both good and bad ways.  I have never had a "normal person" metabolism, nor been a "normal person" weight at any point in my life.  Even child birth I was over 10 pounds coming out of my momma's C-section (yep I was too big to come out the "normal" way).

Fortunately I figured out a way that even I could lose weight despite my abnormalities (LOL). I'm happy to report, that although the last two weeks have been rocky and not as productive as the last two months, I am

66 pounds 

less than I was this time a year ago. 

66 pounds down = 4 dress sizes smaller = quite a few bra sizes down (none-ya as to how many) = rings falling off my fingers = longer looks in the mirror while winking at myself

I am still quite a distance from the goal.  I haven't quite decided what the goal is, but I feel like I'll know when I get there.  I have already hit the original goal and surpassed it back in October.


Natalie, how did you do it?

Well it's a long story, but to put it short first I feared for my life when the obesity was getting so morbid it was destroying other areas of my health, then I got passionate about my health, then I went to the fitness camp for two weeks and learned how to eat right, how to find healthy food in a super market, ideas to cook healthy, and that my body could take a lot more exercise in a day then I originally thought so 3-5 days a week should be a piece of cake.  I took all white carbohydrates out of my diet, and most sources of sugar as well and replaced it with Truvia (the natural stevia sweetener). I started playing flag football, dancing Zumba, tried Tennis (that failed), but just tried to mix it up so I stayed moving. That worked for about the first 45 pounds then I plateaued when I started working a very sedentary job. 

When the exercise is minimized, the diet has to be adjusted to continue weight loss.  I talked to a friend on facebook about how they lost 60-70 pounds in a quick time and they introduced me to Medifast, take shape for life www.tsfl.com.  I got a free coach and invested in their meal replacement products which I ate 5 times a day every 2.5-3 hours along with a 6th "lean and green" meal of my choice and I dropped another 20 pounds in a month or month and a half. 

I could continue to lose weight on Medifast if I would stick to it, but I've recently come to a slow.  So now I'm looking at which way I will turn now, all the while knowing that whichever way it is, it will continue to be a forward motion, because I'm never going back to where I used to be.  That's the plan.

The New Intervention

September 2012 post (can't remember when I wrote this one)

Situation:

So, I have managed to lose over 40 pounds and keep it off since I started this journey back in December.  I recently started a new, very sedantary, job with a crazy travel schedule and lots of money for expensing food.  I got a little too excited for not having to pay for my meals for half of the week anymore, and started buying more than  I could chew.  I stayed conscious of they types of food  I was eating, so no crazy fast food binges.  I frequent trader joe's and whole foods with the corp. credit card. I've come to realize, that even though I'm still eating a majority of healthy food, I'm eating more healthy food than I was before.  In short, too much of anything does not produce the desired results (even if its healthy).  I also came off of a high of working out 2-3 hours per day for 4-5 days a week when I finished school in May and didn't have to work until August.  I dropped a lot of my pounds in those few months while I was cooking for myself and burning fat because I had lots of free time.  All of a sudden, I have no free time, or very limited free time as a full time employee of someones company.  My workouts have moved to more like 2-3 times per week if I'm lucky.  And some of those are only 20 mins, while some are 60 mins.  So what do you get when you increase food and reduce exercise....drum roll....weight gain!  I gained back 3 pounds since I started working.  I also hurt my shoulder lifting weights so my muscle mass in my upper body is dwindling given the reduction in weights and pushups. 

Action:

The intervention...
When the time reduces and the exercise does too, there is only one way to continue weight loss, the diet.  In order to allow me to not have to think to hard about food prep, or reduce my need to cook but still be able to be healthy, I'm trying a new program.  It is called Take Shape for Life.  It is comprised of 5 meal replacements and 1 lean and green meal.  It was referred to me by a brother who lost 60 pounds on the program.  Today is my first day.  I thought that I could use the blog to write about what I'm feeling with this foreign food.  It's apparently piled with a lot of nutrition, but the portions are tiny.  The good thing is only 2-3 hours can go by before you eat again, so albeit small amounts, the eating is frequent which may curve hunger eventually.

It is lunch hour at my job now.  A lot of people eat at their desk.  I can smell soup and possibly Indian food.  It's a little painful, but I will reach about 2.75 hours shortly and I will be able to pull out my lunch as well.  Medifast Chili.  I hope it tastes good.  I'm starting to get hungry, but I'm trying to stretch it out since I spend so many hours awake. 

Ok, this was an unfinished post, but I decided to publish anyway...

Back Home Maintaining

As of last Monday, I have reached the 20 pounds down mark since I left 12/18/2011.  I am eating better, cooking more and exercising 4-5 times per week.  I feel better, people are starting to notice.  This is exciting, and continuing to succeed is keeping me moving forward and working hard.

I've learned from my fitness camp experience that this race is not for the swift, but for those who can endureth to the end.  And in the case of health and fitness, enduring is a lifestyle change, and the end is till the end of life.

Day Nine through Eleven

Day Nine


I had originally signed up for one week, but I extended into week two because results have been great, and I am getting so much stronger.

I had been dreading the hike up Elfin Forest, which had been really difficult last week for me.  It is only 1.6 miles up or so, however it is very rocky and almost entirely steep uphill.

I made much better time this week, got up there with fewer breaks and respits, and even went an additional steep hill to get to the overlook.  It was an even greater view than before!  I was quite proud of myself.

Then we came back and did another boot camp, and I survived that as well.

There were only 3.5 workouts today.  I don't consider yoga a full workout because its not the biggest calorie burner out there, but it helps to increase the flexibility for all the workouts to come later in the week.

This experience is still challenging, no doubt... but I find it a lot easier to get through each exercise in week two.  I guess my body is changing.  And that is what I signed up for right?

Day Ten


Wednesday of course is one of the days with five workouts.  Wednesday's toughest feat is the stairs on the beach.  The plus of the activity was that we saw wails while we were doing chest presses with the resistance band.  The challenge of the activity was the quadricep burn of running up and down the stairs.

Just as last week we had stations at each level of the stair case and we would run them in between.  I was doing one leg triceps dips















One of my trainers, Johnny, was cheering me on through oblique twists

But the greatest part was just taking in the fresh ocean air and the waves while working out
















At the end of the day we jammed to the sweet sounds and moves of Zumba.  This time, the class ended with Soca music.  And as tired as I was (really about to fall over) the fresh swift rhythms of the socalypso music gave me a second wind and recharged me.   Johnny played an old school jam, the one that goes "Moving to the left, moving to the left everybody..." (I know my soca fanatics will remember that one).  And when the song said jump and wave, I was jumping the highest, somehow.  What a fun time!

Day Eleven


Today we had a different hike along the beach;  Torrey Pines beach.











                                                                            Last week I did not make it to the top because of a lack of time, but this week I did.  And I took lots of pictures along the way of the climb.

I saw another whale while I was high up there.

And this trip would be incomplete without a dip in the ocean water.

Johnny and I kicked off our shoes and made the 2 mile trek back to the vans on the beach.  The water was so freezing, I really could only let my feet touch.

The group soon returned to home base for another workout for building muscle and boxing cardio.

Another fulfilling day.  The days are going by extremely fast now, I can't believe tomorrow is my second to last full day here.  I will miss this place.

Days Six through Eight

Day Six

On Christmas Eve and we got to sleep in for 30 minutes.  Our first workout started at 6:45 AM instead of 6:15!  Isn't that wonderful!?

Our first workout was Zumba again, back by special request (from me).  A great kickstart to the morning.

After that we had breakfast, an egg & mushroom fritata with guacamole and salsa.  Delicious!

After breakfast we had a super circuit session, where we mixed cardio and weight training.  I did a bit of elliptical, and a bit of treadmill mixed with upper and lower body strengthening.

After our snack we had an aquaerobics workout to soothe muscles and keep the heart rate pumping.  

That was our last workout for the day and after lunch I went to visit Ms. Miriam and her family and stayed with them for Christmas eve and Christmas.  

We partied hard the whole night into the next day, and somehow I managed to stick to my plan.  I drank no alcohol, and didn't eat after 7pm.  That's how I managed to lose the 7 pounds.  Before I left on Saturday I was weighed a little early, just so I could see how I would do on my own.  On Saturday morning, I had lost 5 pounds.  On Monday it was up to 7 pounds.  So exciting!

It amazed me a little bit since I didn't do as much Cardio over the weekend.  I walked to the supermarket from Miriam's house, and broke out in a sweat from dancing at the club on Christmas eve, but nothing like I've been doing for the last eight days.  And I still lost two pounds!  It makes me hopeful for the future when I leave here at the beginning of next week.

Given that I was the only person at the party not drinking, I was also the designated driver.  So I had the lovely treat of speeding a Benz down the highway in San Diego, such an adrenalin rush... I bet that burned some calories too.  ;) 

Day Seven

We got back on Christmas day in time for dinner.  We had a special Christmas dinner of Surf and Turf with a lobster tail, small steak, mixed veggies and mashed sweet potatoes.  It was delicious.  And we had our first dessert of the week, Buche de Noel (Christmas Log), it had no sugar and was fat free.  Imagine a dessert like that, it tasted exactly like it sounded, less, but it was still a treat given that my tongue has not tasted dessert this whole week.  

Day Eight

It's Monday today, and we are officially in week 2!  7 new people arrived, and we are now officially veterans at the camp.  Today was still challenging, but it wasn't so bad because we new what to expect.  I'm still recovering from the weekend sleep schedule (or lack thereof), but I've managed to stay up on everything.  I had such great weight loss results that I'm really going to have to push myself even harder to match the same results next week.  The body really gets used to the level of exertion, so if you don't keep pushing a little past the limit, the calorie burn won't turn into weight loss as effectively. 

This morning we went on a Lagoon walk, about 3.2 miles long.  It took me 55 minutes to complete at a slight speed walk.  The second workout was a band burn, using resistance bands to strengthen the muscles, with a focus on the arms.  I graduated from the pink bands to the blue bands this week with more resistance.

The third workout was beach boot camp, similar to day one (part two).  And we ended with a 50 minute walk along the beach for extra cardio.  

My body is still sore, but it is getting stronger day after day.  I will have to work to maintain my new muscles.

Today was another good day and I am looking forward to pushing again tomorrow.

7 pounds this week, GONE!

More updates later but that's the most exciting thing of today, my weigh in after 7 days.

Day Five

Today I felt stronger than yesterday.  I was a bit fatigued, but I just kept it slow and steady and I reached another mountain top.  This is my second mountain top this week!

We started out today with cardio as usual.  This morning's cardio was Cardio Kick Boxing.  Another circuit cardio training and strengthening workout.  It was fun, I can really punch hard!  We had a shadow boxing, abs and the works.

Then we had breakfast, yogurt and granola parfait.

Immediately following we had an exercise design class and talked about how to maintain our fitness level after this experience.  I learned the importance of continuing to shock your body.  Exercise design should include a mixture of aerobic, anaerobic, circuit/cross-training, and flexibility.  What do each of those mean?

• Aerobic means cardio or anything that is heart rate intensive.  For example: boxing, hiking, biking, Zumba, walking (3.5mph or faster or uphill), running etc.
• Anaerobic means resistance training and strengthening.  For example: resistance band training, weight lifting
• Circuit/Cross training is a combination of aerobic and anaerobic.  For example: bootcamps, interval training, etc. 
• Flexibility is yoga and other forms of stretching that increase your range of movement

It is important to incorporate 2-3 of each type of exercise into your plan every week.  For weight loss, we should be exercising 5 times per week, at least 60 minutes per day.  For more optimal results 80 minutes per day is better.  

Oftentimes men lift too many weights and don't do enough cardio, and women do the opposite and don't include enough strength training.  Both are needed for results.  More muscle burns more fat when you're in the cardio zone.

Okay that's it for my free lesson.

After the class we had another extreme boot camp on the lawn.  There were different stations such as chest pull, punching bag drag, rope lifting, stability ball knee crunches, and pulling your partner across the field with resistance bands.  The last one I mention was a challenging one.  The more your partner pulled back on the resistance, the more you had to push to get across the field.  During my second go round, I asked the trainer to run with me so I could try to push a little harder.  And I ran instead of walked across with him trying to pull me back.  It was really tough, but I felt really good to complete it.  I feel like I'm getting much stronger.

After boot camp we had lunch then went to Whole Foods for healthy grocery shopping tips.  Jessica, the nutritionist, brought us through each isle and talked about the harms of preservatives, what to look for on the label, and many other tips.  For example:

• all natural peanut butter is more healthy than skippy or peter pan.  
• Not all protein bars are created equal, they are often high in sugar.  I.e. Zone bars have 15g of sugar, which is equal to a bowl of frosted flakes.  Think Thin and Jay Bar are some of the healthier protein bars in whole foods.  
• You should not consume more than 7 grams of sugar in one serving of anything, therefore we have to beware of sugar levels in cereals, salad dressing, and lots of other things.  You should have a good protein to carbohydrate ratio in all foods you eat, at the very least 4 carbs to every 1 protein.  We should always add protein to carbs to make us feel full faster.
• In cereal, Kashi is a good choice, but beware of Go Lean brand that is high in sugar, most are over 7g
• Uncured bacon is the most healthy if you can't go for turkey bacon
• Look for food/meat without nitrate, ask for nitrate free deli meat
• The serving size for deli meat is 2 oz. so ask for a precut 2 ounces so you know how many slices per serving before they slab them all on there
• The more orange a cheese is the more processed it is, that is why mozzarella string cheese is one of the healthiest
• Whole grain is best in pastas, breads, pitas, crackers, etc.
• Canned foods are high in sodium, look for low sodium canned foods and soups
• Soda expands the stomach and makes you eat more, if you must have soda have Zevia made with a non-sugar sweetener
• Agave nectar is a nice replacement for maple syrup
• Arrowhead Mills Buckwheat, or other whole wheat pancakes are a good substitute for regular pancakes, and you can add protein powder in the pancake mix to get closer to your carb protein ratio
• Look for yogurt that has less than 12-15 grams of sugar, if you don't like Greek yogurt that has protein, add protein powder to your yogurt.  Avoid flavored yogurt and add Truvia and your own fruit to flavor.  Same with oatmeal, and steel-cut is the best
• Udos Oil and Flaxseed oil are good for arthritis 

Ok that's the end of the second free lesson.

After the supermarket run we went on our final workout of the day, the double peak challenge.  It wasn't  a hike exactly because the road was paved, but it was uphill the entire way.  A steep steep hill!

This is a bad picture of the hill I came up, of what was behind me.

 This is a photo of what was in front of me:

 And this is a picture of the view from up there

It was amazing, I'm starting to see why people love California so much.

And then I reached the mountaintop!  Or the top of the double peak.  And saw this: 

And it was worth the climb.

After this climb, we returned back for dinner of an appetizer salad and turkey, sweet potatoes and mixed vegetables.