A decade of fitness and failures

 

There's really no magical tool for weight loss—nothing that will remove the pounds quickly—at least, not that I know of. Some people might think that having gastric bypass surgery or a gastric sleeve is something quick, a quick fix of sorts. Even if you're going under the knife, you have to work hard to remove enough weight to qualify. 

However, hard work pays, and you can attain your weight loss goals. Sometimes, it just takes a decade of trying different things to realize that you need to change a few things in your daily life. 

After turning 40, I started to have problems with my blood pressure. The weight piled on during the first year back in Florida.  At first, I gained 60 pounds after my active life in Europe suddenly stopped. Walking anywhere felt like I was walking on the sun itself. And then we moved so close to my eldest son's school that I barely walked less than a mile a day to pick him up. Soon, I was in the 250s pounds and reached 300 lbs. without warning. 

I tried a lot of things: I juiced, I watched various popular programs, and I tried to rein in my binging. I would lose a few pounds here and there; my lowest weight was 215 lbs. I, however, couldn't break the two hundred. It didn't matter what I did. My mental health was suffering a lot because of my weight and the fact that I felt so sick. 

Of course, as a mother of two, I felt like I couldn't take care of myself, the kids, the house, and the husband. And the more my husband told me that a walk would help me feel better, the more I pushed against his advice. He never pointed out that I'd gained tons of weight. On the contrary, he was and still is the best person to talk to about my journey because there's never been any criticism from him. He's been in my corner, cheering me on, even when I don't believe in myself. 

What was pivotal on January 1st, 2023, was reaching 300lbs.  I started watching 600lbs Life and started out easy, getting more active once again. This time, I started hula hooping. By the time I saw my doctor in March, I was twenty-three pounds lighter and was doing the hula hoop for an hour every day, listening to my favorite K-pop groups. 

On the days that I didn't feel like exercising, I would watch an episode of 600 lbs. life, and then after scaring myself enough about not changing my ways, I would go back to exercising. My goal was to lose 100 lbs. I gave myself a year, even though my doctor tried to discourage me from having such a big goal. He was kind enough to tell me that not everyone would reach that goal. In fact, he said that only a tiny percentage of people actually lost weight. I was annoyed but not defeated and told him I could do it. 

Unfortunately, he left the doctor's group before I came back to see him. By then, I was very close to my goal, having lost many more pounds. At the end of 2023, I finished the year, losing a whopping 97 lbs. By December, I learned I didn't drink enough water, even when using a water app to remind me to drink. 

I started drinking a glass of water when I woke up before breakfast and coffee and a glass of water before lunch and dinner. That finally helped me portion my food because, after a few days, I started to see how much food was really on the plate. By then, I also walked 2 miles daily and retook jumping rope. As my body was lighter, I could do the jumps without hurting my shins or knees. 

The truth is that I've not banned anything from my diet except for potato chips. I have them occasionally, but never more than once a month because the salt made me retain water like crazy. As for the rest of the food, I still have pizza, burgers, and hot dogs. Most of what I eat, I try to make from scratch, and I try to do a lot of dishes with tons of vegetables. I still bake like crazy, and my mother fondly calls my house Willy Wonka's house. 

Of course, now that I'm in my second year of losing weight, I've noticed that the weight loss has slowed down. So, I continue to take photos and measurements and don't go on the scale as much as I did before because I can see the progress when I look at the photos and measurements. 

According to the scale, my weight has stayed the same since March. However, photos tend to disagree. 

After all, I may have a magical tool or good advice. Drink your water, go for a walk, and take photos and measurements; you'll never see the results with your own eyes. Documenting your journey is the best way of doing that.

Also, whatever you do, don't tell my husband he was right about me just needing to go for a walk. Let's keep that nugget between us. :) 

 

 

@marilynjeulin #jumprope #weightloss ♬ Keep Showing Up (Motivational Speech) - Fearless Motivation