Lessons From The Zoo

April 5, 2010 By

Last Friday my family and I took a trip to the zoo. I realized how sheltered my two year old is when during the entire one hour drive there he kept saying, “Animals – pantry – cookie?” Because, yes – we occasionally have animal cookies and he thought that’s where animals like giraffes and elephants lived – in the pantry. But enough two year old stories or I may bore you to tears!

Once we got there, we had a great time walking around and looking at all the animals. No matter how many times I see the monkeys flying around on their ropes, or the majesty of the elephants I’m amazed.

Two funny things happened that made me think of you – my blogging friends.

First we saw the hippos doing this:

And then we saw the monkey doing this:

I immediately thought of a blog post. The hippo lays or floats around most of the day – rarely moving except to eat. The monkey is in constant motion, and even seems to eat on the run.

I realized in my morbidly obese days that I was the hippo. I not only kinda had the shape of a hippo, but more importantly, I had the attitude of the hippo. I didn’t lounge in my pool, but rather on my couch. If something needed attending to I waited until I absolutely had to move to do it. I sat, rolled around, and ate.

Once I lost weight I was much more like the monkey. I got busy, and active, and looked for ways to move. And my body changed drastically. Not only did my appearance change, but my outlook on life changed as well.

I felt strong, I felt capable, I felt like I could do or try anything – and I did. The great thing was I didn’t just feel those things after I lost all 158 pounds, but rather I felt stronger and more capable even after I lost just a few pounds. It was an incredibly uplifting feeling! I never want to go back to being a hippo!

Have you had that feeling? How does it make you feel as you change from being less active to more?  Diane

Filed Under: Exercise, obesity, Weight Loss Tagged With: , ,

If the suit doesn’t fit. . .

March 26, 2010 By

People are generally kind.  and John is one of the kindest I know.   There was one time when his kindness turned into an embarrassing moment.  He used to love buying me clothes.  I wore a size 10 pretty consistently, so clothes shopping easy.  However, problems began during the 2nd year of our marriage.  Because we went out to eat constantly, and I never exercised, I had beenslowly and steadily gaining weight.  He never seemed to notice that I kept buying new jeans, suits, and dresses.  I guess he just thought I didn’t like my old clothes. 

The third year of our marriage was going wonderfully and Christmas coming.  One day I showed him a picture of a white suit I really liked.  He said, “It’s nice.”  I forgot about the suit and Christmas came and went.  For Valentine’s Day we out-of-town relatives visiting, and John brought out a beautifully wrapped present and said, “I’ve had this and was waiting for Valentine’s Day to give it to you.”  I eagerly opened the package and was delighted to find the suit I had admired inside.  My delight quickly turned to concern when I noticed that the size of the suit was “10“.   Unbeknownst to him, I hadn’t worn a size 10 in over a year.  I could fudge sizes in shirts and sweaters, but a suit was a different story.  I held it up to myself and said, “Thank you.” 

Here’s where the big problem started.  He said, “Try it on.”  I shook my head, no.  He insisted, and I reluctantly headed into a different room to change clothes.

I stepped into the skirt and started to pull it up.  It wouldn’t go above my knees.  I tugged and checked to make sure the zipper was fully opened.  It was, and the skirt wasn’t budging.  From the living room I heard them call, “Are you ready?”  Ready?!  Not quite.  I stepped back out of the skirt and tried to put it on over my head.  After all, it was a slim skirt.  I tugged and pulled, yanked and wiggled until I had it partially on.  I yanked the skirt hem down until it was kind of in the right place.  There would be no buttoning the skirt as it was about 4 inches too small.  The hips were so tight I could hardly walk. 

I put the jacket on as best as I could and pulled it down as far as possible.  I opened the door three inches and stuck my face out.  “It’s good,” I said.  They all chorused – “Let us see.”  I opened the door a bit further and stood in the doorway with my hands in front of my hips.  Without thinking, my husband said, “It looks a little tight.”  My relatives echoed his sentiment and I turned red from embarrassment.  I just laughed and said, “Oh, I’m sure it’s just cut small.”  But inside I was mortified.  Now everyone in the family knew I had gotten fat.

Later that night he apologized.  He told me he hadn’t realized I really didn’t want to try on the suit.  I finally admitted to him that I hadn’t worn a size 10 in some time and was sorry.  He said he didn’t care, but I cared.  I knew I was getting bigger and bigger but I couldn’t seem to do anything about it.  Now my problem was out in the open.  Instead of doing something about it, I began talking nonstop about my weight, looking for reassurance that I wasn’t really as big as I knew I was.  He was reassuring, but everytime he reassured me the words rang false.  I knew he was just being kind.  I didn’t look okay and I was quickly moving towards being embarassingly large. 

After this story took place, I gained another 100 pounds.  If I had just gotten things under control then my life would have been a lot easier.  And there would have been many less embarrassing clothing moments.

Ever had something like this happen to you?  Diane

Filed Under: Appearance, embarassing moments, Weight Loss Tagged With: , ,

Thoughts on Airplane Seating

March 15, 2010 By

I’ve flown on and off my whole life. I always enjoyed flying until I became an adult, and then all of a sudden it made me really, really nervous. I fly when I need to, but don’t love it like my husband does. Every time I fly I  grip the armrests willing the plane up in the air and then just as fervently willing it down again. Fortunately, every time I’ve flown it has been a safe flight. Unfortunately, it wasn’t always the most enjoyable flight.

I successfully avoided flying for a long time while I was obese. I had an opportunity or two to fly somewhere but always managed to get out of it. There was one time where I absolutely had to get on an airplane, so I did.

I had been morbidly obese long enough that I knew it wasn’t going to be a lot of fun sitting squished in a seat several sizes too small for several hours. I had already experienced the humiliation of breaking chairs, getting stuck in booths at restaurants, and getting winded just walking up a few steps to understand that my obesity was a huge problem.

Once I arrived at the airport that morning I went directly to my gate. I looked around at the other passengers and – as expected – I was by far the biggest person there. I felt like everyone was looking at me – secretly hoping they weren’t seated next to me. If I had been them I would have secretly been hoping the same thing. More and more people came to the gate and I heard the attendant announce that the flight was full. “Great,” I thought. “Now I will have to sit next to someone for sure.” And sure enough, a few minutes later there I was.

I was in the window seat, a medium largish man was next to me, and a skinny man was occupying the aisle seat, hanging onto his armrest for dear life. I wished I could just suck in my girth but no matter how hard I tried I couldn’t make myself any smaller. I struggled with the seat belt after reassuring the flight attendant that I definitely did not need a seat belt extender. I really needed one, but with a lot of tugging I managed to get the belt buckled. I knew that belt wasn’t getting unbuckled until we reached our destination. I was afraid I might not get it fastened again.

The whole flight was exceedingly uncomfortable – both for me and my poor seat mates. Not surprisingly, neither one of them spoke to me during the flight. Fortunately, my flight home was better as I had a seat to myself.

I’ve read a lot of stories in the newspaper lately about Southwest Airlines requiring passengers as big as I was to purchase two seats. Having lived both sides of this situation I am torn on what is the right way to handle an obese passenger. I understand the airlines’ concern, but I also know that sometimes obese people need to fly and they can’t always afford two tickets. It’s a bad Catch-22.

What’s your take on airline flights? Have you ever felt uncomfortable on a flight, and do you think obese passengers should be required to purchase an extra ticket?  Diane

Filed Under: Appearance, embarassing moments, obesity, Weight Loss Tagged With: , ,

Working Out At Home (Gym In A Bag Giveaway!)

March 1, 2010 By

A few weeks ago I hosted a giveaway for a Gym In A Bag, and guess what? Jerry at Gym in a Bag was so impressed by your comments that he wanted to give another one away! Thanks Jerry! I’ve been using it consistently since I got mine and have enjoyed feeling stronger and more toned. As I told Jerry on the phone the other day, not only can I tell a difference in my shoulders and arms, but I feel that I’m standing up straighter, making me a little taller – which I love.

If you don’t remember what Gym In A Bag is all about, let me remind you. Instead of the traditional rubber bands, or round resistance bands that you just grab onto, the Gym in a Bag uses a patented system utilizing cuffs. Why cuffs? Because as Jerry said, “Using bands was never supposed to be about the grip, but rather about isolating and strengthening muscles. Whenever you grip something, part of your energy is going to the grip and forearm, taking away some of the effectiveness of whatever exercise you are doing.”

That makes a lot of sense to me. And although I’m not Kim Lyons, (who demonstrates their product) I think I’m looking better than I did before!

Here’s Kim demonstrating the cuffs – you can see she’s not gripping the cuffs with her hands, but rather letting them rest on her wrists. This is the big difference between this system and all other bands.

kim lyons start example

kim lyons finish exampleSo do you think you have to join a gym to workout? And how would you use Gym In A Bag if you won?

I have to admit a bias here, because I have never joined a gym in my life. I’ve visited them several times with friends who invited me along to see their favorite gyms, but I’ve never actually had my own gym card. I also have to admit that I’m not fit in the same way as MizFit or Jody, but I still want to improve.

I’ve known many people throughout the years who have had that gym card in their wallets but it never saw the light of day. They paid their fees, went a couple of times, and stopped going. And these weren’t obese friends, but rather average sized men and women who just thought that the financial commitment to a gym membership would make them exercise on a more consistent basis. For them, it didn’t. I have also had friends who joined a gym, loved it, and go very consistently.

What if you can’t afford a gym membership, or don’t feel comfortable in a gym, or just don’t want to join a gym. Can you still get a decent workout at home without all the fancy gym equipment. Of course you know what my answer is: YES! You just have to DO IT, and Gym In A Bag is a great way to start!

I’ve done a little bit of everything during my weight loss years and the 12 years since I’ve hit maintenance. I’ve gotten weights, rubber bands, stability balls, and kitchen chairs and I’ve used them all at different times. I’d encourage you not to let lack of gym membership funds stop you from working out and strength training. I’d also encourage you to visit the Gym in a Bag website and check out their product.

How can you win a Gym In A Bag of your own this week? Well, leave me a comment letting me know how you will use the Gym In A Bag, twitter this post using @fittothefinish, or write a little blurb on your site, linking back. For each entry, please leave a separate comment so I will be able to count you properly!! The contest will end Wednesday at midnight, CST, and is only open to US residents. Sorry to my foreign readers!!  Diane

Disclosure: I received a Gym in a Bag to try and now you can win one!

Filed Under: Exercise, Weight Loss Tagged With: , ,

My Trip To Meet Dr. Oz

February 15, 2010 By

Added this morning: I forgot to mention that the show is on tomorrow, February 16th. Here’s a promo for the show – you can see me and lots of other people!!  http://www.doctoroz.com/videos/tuesday-dr-oz

I returned from the trip to New York two days later than expected due to the huge blizzard in New York City. I got home at 2:20 on Friday morning exhausted but really happy I had the opportunity to go. The trip started out a day earlier than planned.

On Monday morning it began snowing at the airport I needed to fly out of. We live about 1 1/2 hours from there, so I began to get concerned about whether or not I’d be able to get to there on Tuesday morning, because believe it or not, there aren’t that many snow plows around here! So John and I drove to down there on Monday afternoon in some very scary weather conditions and I stayed in a hotel. The next morning I barely made my flight as the hotel shuttle was waaaay slow and late leaving the hotel. Lesson learned there.

I arrived in New York City at 12:30 and was met by a limo driver who was holding a sign with my name on it. My friend Evelyn met me there and took our picture!

limo driver

We arrived at the hotel and unpacked. The Hilton was just a few blocks away from Times Square so after walking to the Dr. Oz studio for a voice-over and a coaching session from one of the producers, my friend and I went to Times Square, had dinner at a New York deli, and saw Phantom of the Opera. It was pretty fabulous.

The next morning, the show sent a bus to pick up all the show participants. There I got to meet Sarah, Lori, and Ann. I didn’t see Dawn until later, but never got a chance to meet her. I was sad. I also met Janelle. It was neat to meet people in real life that I already felt like I knew but hadn’t actually met! Once we arrived at the studio the whirlwind began.

I met Bill, Taisha, and Meryl – all of whom were going to featured on the show. Like Lori said in her post, they could have picked anyone of the “Oz 100″ to feature because everyone had a fabulous story. Bill lost 175 pounds and has maintained for a year, Taisha lost 130 pounds and maintained a year, and of course me. Meryl lost 175 pounds and has maintained a little less than a year. It was amazing to meet all of them. Here’s a picture of  Bill, Taisha, and me. Not the best picture I’ve ever taken. :)

Bill, Taisha and me

After we met and were briefed by the producer, they took us onto the Dr. Oz set for a walk through. It was very exciting to be behind the scenes and then walk onto the stage. It was FREEZING in there! They told us what tape mark to land on, what camera to look at, and where to sit. I asked the camera guy, “What if we mess up – do we get a do-over?” He just looked at me like, “You will not mess up!”  So I tried my best! We weren’t allowed to take pictures in the studio, but if you’ve seen the show it looks just like that – only smaller.

Once we knew what we were doing they took us to hair and makeup. I have never seen so much makeup in one place in my entire life. Melanie, in the first picture did my hair, and Gil, in the second picture, did my makeup. He said I was scheduled for the “full face.” I soon found out that that meant a LOT of makeup – false eyelashes and all. Here’s me getting my hair and makeup done. I felt like a movie star, but was glad I didn’t have to have that much makeup on every day! (That’s my friend Evelyn in the pink!)

hair done

 Lots of Hair Spray & Makeup After hair and makeup were complete we all got on our fancy clothes. The producers liked my dress and boots but I had forgotten a necklace. One magically appeared and here’s a funny thing. It was a beaded necklace, so the sound person pinned it right to my dress so it wouldn’t move and mess up the microphone that she had painstakingly taped on me! I think she used about 20 tiny pins. Tricks of the trade I suppose. Then, hair and makeup done, it was show time.

As we were standing backstage waiting to go on, we could see on the monitor what was happening on stage. We saw Dr. Oz give the welcome and for the first time I saw all the amazing people who, like myself, had lost 100 pounds or more. It was very moving. I thought, “Every one of these people has changed their life for the better.” I knew not to cry because I might have lost my eyelashes, but I had to fight back tears.

Finally, the stage director person said, “Diane – step up here. It’s almost your turn.” Then the doors opened and I went on the stage. It was an experience like I’ve never had. I felt a variety of emotions, from excitement to humbleness that I was there. Then I turned, shook Dr. Oz’s hand and sat down in the stool. Then Bill and Taisha came out. How fun! Dr. Oz asked each of us a few questions and then we got to share some of our favorite weight loss secrets. It went by so fast.

The next segments were Meryl, Richard Simmons (very fun), and the segment where he takes questions and has an audience volunteer. To see all the work that went into taping an hour show was amazing. But it seemed like everything just ran like clockwork. Then they had as many of us that could fit on the stage come back on and do a dance segment with Richard Simmons and Dr. Oz leading! It was a blast.

After the show, I got to meet Richard Simmons and have my picture taken with him. Here you can see how much makeup I had on. Richard in real life is exactly like you see him on television. He cries, he laughs, he sings! Dr. Oz was very nice and I liked that he is so sincere and caring. You can tell that helping people get healthy through maintaining a healthy body weight is a passion of his.

With Richard Simmons

So there you have my New York experience. It was a once in a lifetime opportunity and one I’ll never ever forget. If you want to see more pictures, you can check out the New York trip photo gallery. Thank you for all your well wishes and safe traveling thoughts. The whole time I was there I thought - ”I can’t wait to tell my blogging friends about this experience!”   Diane

Filed Under: Appearance, Weight Loss Tagged With: , ,

Non-Scale Victory When I Was Losing

February 11, 2010 By

 

It’s funny, but as I gained weight slowly over the years, none of my friends ever commented on the increase in my size.  No one ever said, “Diane, that weight gain looks good on you!”    Or, “I sure wish I could wear a size 24 pair of pants!”  And definitely no one said, “I hope I look like you one day!”  No, my friends and family were polite, encouraging and often pretended like my weight was the imaginary elephant in the room.  You know – the one everyone knows is there, but no one mentions.

 

Living as an obese person was a challenge physically, socially and emotionally.  The social aspect is possibly one of the least talked about of the three.   As my weight ballooned, I felt more and more shunned by friends and acquaintances.  I know that some of them were embarrassed by my weight, and slowly those friendships fell by the wayside, probably as much by my desire as theirs. 

  

However, as I lost weight and began to look more average in size, there were some very funny situations that arose.  One week day, when the kids were all at friend’s houses playing, John and I went to lunch at our favorite Mexican restaurant.  Walking into the cool restaurant, John noticed a table full of his former co-workers.  We walked over to their table and John chatted with them for a moment.  I knew all of the people at the table, but no one spoke to me.  I just stood there, waiting for John to finish his conversation.  We went on to sit at our table and enjoyed our date time.  Later that afternoon, upon returning to work, John got a phone call from one of his former co-workers.  She told John that when he and I left their table, the table erupted with speculation over who John was having an affair with, and did anyone think they should call me and let me know!  Brenda was the only one who had seen me during the weight loss process, and quickly set the record straight.  John couldn’t believe that his coworkers would think he would have an affair, or that they failed to recognize me.  It made me feel good that no one associated the obese size 28 woman they all previously knew with the woman John was having lunch with. 

 

Another awkward situation occurred repeatedly after I had reached my goal.  The first time was in the grocery store.  As I was walking down the aisle, I saw an acquaintance coming towards me.  As we neared each other, I said, “Hi, Kathy.”  She looked blankly at me, her face showing no signs of recognition.  I hastily explained, “Remember me, it’s Diane from church.”  Amazement and astonishment registered on her face before she quickly recovered.  The conversation that followed was always the same – “How, How, How?!”  Once we parted company,  I could sense her staring after me.  I knew how she felt, for I often felt astonishment when I looked in the mirror.

 

This particular episode occurred time after time, with varying characters and questions.  The more it happened, the more I realized that I wasn’t heavy anymore, nor did I remotely resemble the overweight, lumbering friend people previously knew. It was a great feeling!

 

These kinds of non-scale victories are a wonderful side effect of getting healthier and more fit. No matter where you are in your journey I’d wager that you’ve had a non-scale victory or two! What’s one that makes you smile when you think about it?  Diane

 

 

 

Filed Under: Appearance Tagged With: ,

If You Give Diane A Cookie. . .

December 21, 2009 By

There’s this children’s book series, the first of which is If You Give A Mouse A Cookie. The book details what happens between a little boy and a mouse when the mouse appears in his life asking for a cookie. They quickly dissolve into bedlam, but have a lot of fun along the way. When I was reading that book the other day it made me think about my life. Here’s what happened to me when I started to eat too many cookies.

If you give me a cookie, then my size 10 pants won’t fit and I’ll need new ones in size 16.

 New Size 16 Pants

And once I outgrow those pants I’m going to have to start making some really sad looking jumpers.

 Family Picture

 I’ll live in those jumpers for a while, but in the meantime my self esteem sinks lower and lower.

  Squatting

 Until one day, while standing on my doctor’s scale, I realize I’ve got to clean up my life and get healthy and quit putting bows on my head.

Christmas Bow

So I start walking, and little by little I feel stronger, more confident and healthier.

Diane walking

 Until the day arrived and I said, “I’m done.” And I’ve been done for 12 years now. Not with eating cookies of course, but with losing weight.

 All Done!!

And then just like the story of the little mouse who wanted a cookie, I might still have a cookie every now and then, but I never have so many that I have to repeat the book’s lessons over and over again.

Just think – once you get stronger, healthier, and more fit – you will never have to let cookies or choices pull you down. You can have your cookies (occasionally) and love life at the same time! What’s your story?  Diane

Filed Under: Appearance Tagged With: , , ,

Obese and Selling Pampered Chef

December 11, 2009 By

First let me say that I love Pampered Chef products but do not sell them (anymore). That’s right, I used to be a consultant with Pampered Chef. And it wasn’t after I lost my 150 pounds, but rather right smack in the middle of my struggle with extreme obesity.

This was one of those experiences where I stepped right outside my comfort zone due to some financial needs in our family. John was working many hours and I really wanted to help supplement the family income. So when a friend introduced me to Pampered Chef I signed up to be a consultant under her. Fortunately for me, I was one of the first consultants in my town, so found booking parties and selling the products rather easy. What wasn’t so easy was standing up in front of people talking and cooking.

I don’t know if you’ve ever been to a Pampered Chef party, but the way it works is this: The hostess invites her friends over, the consultant comes with all his/her product, and makes several recipes in front of the guests. The guests get to see the products in action, taste the delicious results, and hopefully, if everything goes well, order some stuff.

I didn’t mind the public speaking part of it as I was accustomed to that from my banking days, but I did mind the flailing of my upper arms as I manhandled the chopper. I had to use the chopper for several recipes to cut up peppers, onions, tomatoes, etc. The chopper looked something like this:

 
You chop by slamming your hand down on top of the plunger repeatedly until you get the veggies to the desired size. Since I had very few long sleeved items of clothing, I was always self conscious of my arms flapping around in the wind as I chopped away. There was no way to camouflage them. It was the worst part of the demonstration. That, and how big I felt in comparison to the card table I used to perform my demos. I was wider than the table.

Those things bothered me a lot, but I continued selling the product lines for several years. One thing I never did was eat with the guests. I would make delicious apple crisps, brownie pizzas, and beautiful chicken rings, but the food never passed through my lips. When the hostess asked me if I’d like any I always said, “Oh, goodness no. That’s for your guests!” The real reason I refused was that I didn’t want anyone thinking of me as someone who ate too much food. How silly.

When I look back on those three years I have mixed emotions. I’m proud that I stepped outside of my isolationist tendencies and met people I would never have met otherwise. I’m proud that I did make a little bit of money to help us through a rough patch. But I regret that I always felt so self conscious of my appearance but never took any steps to correct my bad habits.

In some ways it was like there were two Dianes. The successful confident consultant, and the shy, reclusive fat girl. I wish I had married the two with some sort of compromise. It’s one of those lost opportunities that I will never have again.  I’ve long since come to terms with those feelings of regret, but I still remember that time well.

It’s just another event in my life that serves as a reminder of why I never want to go back to living that life again. There were great moments but there were a lot of moments that were filled with pain.

Where are you today? Do you have something specific that you hope you never have to experience again? Or is there something you’ve achieved that you are proud of, whatever your weight?  Diane

Filed Under: Appearance, cooking Tagged With: , ,

No New Clothes

November 16, 2009 By

“I don’t want any new clothes,” I’d tell John when he asked if I’d like to go shopping. “Why not?” he’d ask. “I’m losing weight,” I’d say. Then he’d try and encourage me to get a few things just to tide me over until that magical day when I finally lost weight would arrive but I staunchly refused. I did not want to buy new clothes and there was no way he was going to make me!

So instead of buying some new jumpers to “tide me over” until the weight magically fell off I’d continue wearing my old, faded, too small tunic tops which I paired with an unattractive pair of stretch knit pants.

Why didn’t I want to buy new clothes? And when I say buy new clothes I don’t mean an entire new wardrobe, but perhaps a top or two, and maybe another pair of larger stretch pants. We wouldn’t blow our budget by spending $25 dollars on some fresh plus sized clothing. John was trying to gently encourage me to look my best at the weight I currently was.

What held me back? There were a few things.

  • I honestly desired to lose weight
  • I felt embarrassed shopping in the plus sized departments
  • I hated the clothing styles
  • It felt like I was giving up

Buying new, bigger clothes made me feel as though I was giving up. So I desperately hung onto my old faded, bleached out articles of clothing just hoping I would magically be able to buy a regular sized pair of pants again before I died. That’s really how I felt. My poor clothes began looking worse and worse. They got too tight, they were unflattering, and because I hung onto my extra 150 pounds for 10 years, went out of style. I often had to resort to wearing big men’s t-shirts which, believe it or not, were tight. Here’s one of them. (It’s one of three articles of clothing I saved after I lost weight.)

Really Big T-Shirt

Unfortunately, no matter how hard I resisted, I eventually would have to give in and buy a few new items of clothing. But then the unthinkable happened. I couldn’t fit into the clothes in the store anymore. Oh, the 3X and 4X shirts would fit (barely) but there were no pants that were carried in department stores that fit. So I stopped buying pants at all and made jumpers. It was hard.

Now I really didn’t need to go shopping because I couldn’t. When I outgrew a jumper I just sewed another one. Here’s a shirt I used to wear under many of my jumpers – whether it looked good with them or not.

I wish I hadn’t been so adamant to wait to spend some time and money on my appearance until I thought I “had it all together.” I look back over those years with embarrassment on how some of my casual clothes looked. I wanted to encourage you to spend a little money and make sure that you look and feel the best you can right where you are. Feeling good about yourself shouldn’t be tied to just your appearance. Feeling good about yourself should come from loving who you are right where you are.  What are your thoughts on the whole clothing issue while losing weight? Buy or wait?  Diane

If you are interested, check out my family blog! Just posted pics/recipe of whole wheat pancakes and what the kids thought!

Filed Under: Appearance, Weight Loss Tagged With: , , , ,

What About Pregnancy?

November 9, 2009 By

I can’t believe I forgot to post this, but if you haven’t heard of Lara of Thinspired please go check out her site and the guest blog I did for her! She is fabulous!

Some of you may not know that I have seven children. Two teenage girls and five younger boys. If you do the math you will realize that I had quite a few of those children after I lost the 150 pounds. Four to be exact. I’ve gotten a few emails recently asking me to talk a bit about pregnancy.

Pregnancy weight gain was what really started me on the path to morbid obesity. I began my first pregnancy at 196 pounds and gained 75 pounds. That’s right – 75 pounds. My doctor was very concerned and sent me to a very nice nutritionist. I listened to her speech, left her office, and went straight through my favorite fast food restaurant drive thru. Obviously, I didn’t follow one bit of her advice. What did she know? She hadn’t had kids, she was skinny, and she was telling me things I didn’t really want to hear. Things like eating more veggies, cutting out the desserts, and foregoing after dinner “dinners.” I thought she was dumb. But alas, she wasn’t so dumb after all because after my first daughter was born, I realized I was in trouble.

The second and third pregnancies didn’t bring as large a weight gain which was a good thing since I started those pregnancies above 250 pounds. In between the first three pregnancies I kept gaining and gaining and gaining. I’d lose a bit of weight after the baby was born and then sail right back up the scale, past my previous starting weight, and into the next decade on the scale. It was scary and depressing.

During the second and third pregnancies I didn’t even really need maternity clothes because the majority of my wardrobe consisted of loose fitting jumpers which easily accommodated my expanding waistline. In fact, with those two pregnancies friends who I didn’t see very often weren’t even sure I was pregnant until I reached about 5 or 6 months. Then they might tentatively ask me if I were expecting.

After my third child was born, I got going on my final weight loss journey. That’s the point where I lost 150 pounds and regained my life. But only two years after reaching my goal weight I became pregnant with my fourth child. I was ecstatic but also quite worried. What if I gained 75 pounds again? What if. . .  What if. . .

With him, I only gained 29 pounds and lost the weight within a few weeks. I couldn’t believe how much easier a pregnancy was at 148 as compared to 275. Huge difference. I wasn’t tired, they could see him clearly on the ultrasound machine, and labor was much easier. And during his pregnancy, I didn’t even exercise because I kept having pre-term contractions.

With the next three pregnancies I gained more than I should have. Between 40 and 45 pounds or so. Those pregnancies too were much easier, even though at that point I was in the “advanced maternal age” category. I was able to continue with my life (except for the occasional back problem). I enjoyed those pregnancies much more than I did the first three. But after the babies were born, I did have quite a bit of extra weight to lose. Here’s a picture of me with my fifth son when he was about 7 weeks. You can see that I was in need of a mommy diet plan.

Fit to the Finish Diet Plan Needed!

And so I went back to what I did to lose weight in the first place. I kept the fat percentage of my overall diet under 30%, I used portion control, and I exercised religiously with my great neighbor Evelyn. And the weight came off again. And it did after baby number six and number seven.

Some things I learned were that pregnancy weight is loseable, but it still takes work. Very few women are blessed with pregnancy weight that magically falls off. Most of us have to go back to the basics of eating well and moving our bodies.

If you’ve had children what has your experience been, or if you haven’t, do you have any worries about pregnancy weight gain?  Diane

My disclaimer for this post: I have a regular disclaimer about seeking medical advice, etc at the bottom of each page, but remember to always follow your doctor’s advice about pregnancy, weight loss, and weight gain. Always.

One more thing! Congratulations to Christieo at Baby Tea Leaves on winning the mug!!

Filed Under: pregnancy, Weight Loss Tagged With: , , , ,
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