But what about now? What keeps you going when the times get tough? And for most of us, they will. It is the rare person who sails through their weight loss or weight maintenance experience with no difficult life situations popping up. I know that’s true for me.

When I was losing weight we had several family issues come up that required a lot of my time and energy. In past weight loss attempts I would have found it easy to quit “dieting” and revert back to my old habits, but I didn’t.

In thinking back over the last twelve plus years of maintenance, I can’t think of a single year where we didn’t have something difficult happen, whether it was financial challenges or other issues. Dealing with those things also took a lot of time and energy, but I still took the time to take care of my health.

In fact, I found it easier to deal with the big issues when I was in better health. It could be because I wasn’t turning to my previous soother of chocolate which made me feel better temporarily, but did nothing to improve whatever situation I was dealing with at the time. Even when I was actively losing weight, I realized that by taking the time to exercise and prepare healthy meals, I was able to handle those stressful times a little easier.

The exercise helped me during those times because it got me out of the house for 30 minutes by myself, and exercise in and of itself is a stress reliever. Eating healthy was a good thing because healthy foods provide our bodies with good fuel – not cloggy fuel like my chocolate did. I’m not perfect, and there were times where everything fell apart! BUT, the more I worked at it, the more I appreciated the benefits of taking time for myself during challenging life situations.

What about you? When work, or family, or other obligations start gobbling up your time and energy more than normal what do you do? Do you find it hard to stay on track?  Diane

Last year I was walking in my yard, minding my own business when a brick appeared out of nowhere and I banged my toe. Sadly, my foot had no shoe on, and reacted very poorly to being banged. I had broken my toe.

I was in pain.

My toe was swollen.

I was mad.

I was mad not just because I broke my toe, but because I knew that breaking my toe was going to severely limit the amount of exercise I was going to be able to do. No more brisk walking/occasional jogging for me. I was seriously annoyed. This wasn’t the first time in my 12 years of maintaining my 150 pound weight loss that I had been injured. Every time I hurt myself one of my first thoughts were, “What am I going to do about exercising and moving my body?”

Such a different response from when I was morbidly obese. At 300 pounds, injuries weren’t fun either-but I back then I wasn’t active at all, so I didn’t mind sitting on the couch even more than I normally did! I’d just load up on the treats and wait for the injury to go away. Not so after I lost my weight.

Now when I injure myself I check with my doctor and follow her recommendations. When I broke my toe, walking and running were out, but because my doctor didn’t cast my toe (thank goodness) there were other exercises I could still do-and I did them.

I checked out our local university’s swimming pool and started swimming. I pulled my son’s bicycle out of the garage and started biking again. And I didn’t stop strength training. During the month that it took my foot to start feeling better I was still able to exercise and move my body and I learned, once again, that sometimes in this journey to lose or maintain weight we have to be creative and patient.

If you have ever been injured you know what I’m talking about. Sometimes you can’t do any type of physical activity and then you really have to work through those frustrations and emotions. But there are other times, like I experienced, where I could do alternate training. Just so you know, I have had times where I injured my back so badly I could do no exercise for months. During those times I didn’t exercise or do much of anything, but I didn’t gain weight. How? I didn’t gain because I cut back on my calories enough to still maintain my weight. That wasn’t easy, but it worked for me.

So if you are injured, or get injured I wanted to encourage you that your journey doesn’t have to end. It may stall for a time and that’s okay. Take the time you need to heal, and when you can, add back some activity into your life.

Have you been injured? What did you do?  Diane

Always check with your doctor about any injury!

Today I wanted to focus on one aspect of my weight loss journey that is vitally important – Portion Control.

Portion control was one of my “Big Three” when I was losing weight. I watched portions, controlled the fat percentage in my overall diet, and exercised. Of those three, portion size was the easiest to deceive myself over. It was easy to watch the fat content in foods, exercise was either a “did” or “didn’t,” but portions could be tricky.

I would often try and justify having a second or third piece of bread because I didn’t put butter on it.

I would take a couple of extra crackers, instead of stopping at the 5 per the serving size.

I would dish out a bit more casserole than I knew was the right amount.

If I ate baked chips, instead of counting out the correct amount I’d just reach my hand in a few times in a row.

I would eat more pasta even though I knew what a serving looked like because I had measured it before.

I’d eat 3 pieces of diet whole wheat bread because it was diet, and had less calories.

Along my weight loss year I stopped fooling myself over portion sizes, and made myself be honest about what a portion really was and wasn’t. Sometimes it was hard because sometimes I wanted more of something, but I knew I had had enough. Here are seven tips that might help you when dealing with the temptation to eat a little bigger portion than you really intend.

Seven Tips for Portion Control

1. Per Dr. Oz - Use a smaller plate, bowl, or cup. I do this all the time and it really helps – both now in maintenance, and during my weight loss. If I ever eat ice cream I use one of those tiny custard cups and just put a small spoonful in. It’s not a lot of ice cream, but it is enough.

2. Learn what the proper portions of food are. Here’s a great resource. For example, a baked potato shouldn’t be bigger than your computer mouse. In other words, it shouldn’t be as big as your head like you see in some restaurants!

3. Read the serving size on the package. Sometimes you may be surprised at how small a serving really is. Crackers anyone? How about stopping at five.

4. Think before you eat. Really think about what you are about to eat, and resolve to enjoy each bite.

5. Stick with one helping of the main dish. If you are still hungry, fill up on veggies or salad and leave the entree alone.

6. Don’t be a member of the Clean Plate Club. It’s okay to leave things on your plate. For me, it’s the rare meal where I eat everything on my plate. Ask John!

7. When in doubt – measure. The value of measuring and weighing your food is proven. Do you want to measure forever? No – and you don’t have to. But if you aren’t sure or aren’t confident in your ability to use visual cues, then measure.

Portion control really is the key to weight loss and weight maintenance. You can exercise, you can eat healthy food, but without eating the right AMOUNT of food, you will have a hard time achieving your goals!!

Question: I’d love to hear your thoughts on portions and how you control them!  Diane

I’ve done a lot of speaking on weight loss over the years, but it’s usually been to smallish groups of people. Of course I talk in front of people when I teach my class and have spoken to various other groups. So when an organization in my hometown called me and asked me to do a 10-minute motivational talk before their 3-mile wellness walk I said, “Sure.” Then the gentleman on the other end of the line then told me they usually had about 1,500 people in attendance. I gulped. “No problem,” I said.

I hung up and took a deep breath. It was only 10 minutes – surely I could do that. So over the course of the next week I wrote my speech and practiced every time I went walking or riding my bike. Fortunately I don’t run into anyone while I’m exercising so no one was there to laugh at me or wonder why I was quietly talking to myself!

Due to strong storms and flooding here in Tennessee the event was rescheduled twice. I thought for sure it would be cancelled altogether, but the weather cleared and the event was held this past Saturday.

I loved the purpose of the event – to promote wellness among the children and youth of our community. I believe this is so important, because childhood obesity is a very serious problem. It makes me so sad when I see overweight children who are already struggling with the emotional and physical side effects of obesity related diseases. It’s just wrong.

I hope that events like this will stir up the grassroots communities that made our country strong. I know the government wants to regulate fast food companies, food manufacturers, and more – but without the common every day moms and dads leading the way – all the regulations in the world will have a hard time changing individual choices on a daily basis.

The JumpStart Walk was led off by our mayor and school superintendent and then I did my talk.  As you can see from the picture the wind was very strong. I had my notes in my hand, but because of the wind I knew they’d fly right off the podium. So I did my talk from memory. And I didn’t forget any of my points, which made me very happy. And after I talked the crowd dispersed and headed off on their 3 mile walk!

I hope that you will take every opportunity you can to talk to people you know about healthy living. Rather it’s in front of a large crowd or simply speaking to friends at lunch, sharing your knowledge of nutrition and fitness can begin to make a difference in every life you touch. Even leading by example is a very effective way of showing people how to eat right. Your actions can be very inspiring to other people, even if you don’t say a word.

Question:  Have you ever had a chance to share what you know? How did it feel? Diane

I lost him.

I lost 158 pounds in total and that’s about what he weighs. I could no more pick him up and carry him around on my back all day then I could swim across the Atlantic Ocean. I’m not even sure I could pick him up in an emergency situation.

But when I was morbidly obese, I did figuratively carry him around all day long. No wonder I was tired all the time. All that extra weight didn’t just make me look bad, squishy, and unfit. That extra weight was exhausting. Even the simplest activities were hard for me. I remember having to sit down in the mall after just a half an hour of shopping and rest for awhile. Doing work around the house made me tired. Even a relatively simple activities like cleaning the bathroom or dusting wore me out. No wonder I sat down all the time.

Do you ever think about all the progress you’d made in those terms? If you’ve lost 20 pounds then that’s 20 pounds less you have to carry around. Even 10 pounds makes a difference in terms of how you feel.

Do you ever pick up a 5-lb bag of flour and think, I’ve lost five of these? If you’ve lost 25 pounds that’s what you’ve done. Imagine right now how heavy a 5-lb bag of flour is. If you’ve already lost one, two, or ten of those be thankful you don’t have to haul that weight around any longer.

It can be easy to get discouraged with the amount of weight you are losing, or the rate at which the weight is coming off. I challenge you to do this today:

Find things around your house that represent how much weight you’ve lost and pile them up. Take a picture of them, step back, and allow yourself to feel proud. Use that visual representation as an incentive to keep going when the journey feels hard. And if you’ve lost the equivalent of a person, take a picture of yourself with that person, and be proud of that! For comparison, the little guy in my picture weighs about 55 pounds.

How does it make you feel when you compare how much weight you have lost to another person or object? Is it exciting?  Diane

I think it can be tempting to equate healthy foods with automatic weight loss. I believe that’s a myth. Just because you are eating foods that are good for you, not overly processed, and as close to nature as possible, doesn’t automatically mean you will lose weight.

Agree or disagree?

Foods that are better for your body undoubtedly have a positive impact on your health. Avoiding sodium, added sugars, and all the chemicals processed foods contain is a good idea. I know I still feel like my nutritional status is a work in progress. It has evolved and changed over the years. But while you are watching all those things I previously mentioned it’s really important to not forget one thing:

PORTIONS

Portion control has been one of the three keys to weight maintenance for me. I am always aware of my portion sizes, whether I’m eating a piece of birthday cake or a piece of grilled chicken and vegetables. It’s very easy to overeat either, but most of us realize that eating too much cake isn’t a great idea while trying to lose weight whereas eating chicken is good. And it is good to eat lean protein, you just can’t eat too much of it!

I’ve been out to dinner with friends who boast that they are picking a healthy entree. But when the entree comes out and there is enough food on the plate for three people, I am always interested to see what they will do. Most of the time they eat the entire thing. I’ve seen it happen not only in restaurants, but in my own house. We will have someone over for dinner and I’ll make a healthy meal as usual. Even if my friend is trying to lose weight she will load up her plate and eat it all.

It’s almost like the healthy food trap. I think it’s important to remember that portion control is for 99% of the foods we eat. As you are working through your journey there may be a time where you find the scale stalling. You know you are eating healthy foods, you are exercising, and are annoyed! The first thing I’d look at if I were you is your portions. It’s so easy to let extra food creep into our diets – believe me I know!

Question: Are you always aware of your portion sizes no matter what food you are eating?  Have you ever noticed the tendency to let extra healthy food creep in?  Diane

However, as time went on, and I went from morbidly obese to just plain obese, the weight loss slowed down. I still lost consistently, but it was more like 1 – 2 pounds a week. There were times where I seemed to spike downward and I those spikes made me happy. There were also the occasional jog upward on the scale, and I didn’t like that too much at all. There were also times that I just stayed the same for a while. Honestly, those were hard weeks.

Quite frankly, I really hated the “stay the same” for a while part of weight loss. Really hated it a lot. In past weight loss attempts I quit anytime my weight loss plateaued. I’d throw my hands up in the air, and say, “Well, my body is done losing weight. I’m destined to weigh 300 pounds.”

BUT that last time, I quickly learned that those “stay the same times” were just a part of weight loss and a great practice for future weight maintenance. During my attempt to lose 158 pounds, I experienced several weight loss plateaus. Each time, I tried very hard to pay attention to the other positive changes I saw while the scale was stuck.

One thing I noticed right away was the fact that although the scale seemed stuck at a certain weight, my body shape and fitness level certainly were not. Not stuck at all.

As I stayed stuck in one place scale-wise, I did not allow myself to stay stuck fitness wise. I kept exercising, always working hard to increase the intensity of my exercise, whether that exercise was walking, running, or biking. I continued strength training, utilizing different pieces of equipment and working on different body parts. And I noticed changes in my body even without the scale moving.

I noticed that my pants and skirts fit better. I also noticed that I had more endurance, that my calves had some new definition to them, and most importantly, that I felt stronger.

And those non-scale victories,  changes in my appearance, and my positive feelings about myself kept me motivated and focused. Those changes were real and lasting. Those changes were ones that got me through those times when the scale wouldn’t move.

Question: I was wondering if you notice the same thing, and if you’d share some changes you’ve seen! Diane

Yes, I know you lost a lot of weight, but did you ever gain weight since you’ve hit your goal weight?

It’s a very legitimate question because as we all know – statistics show that about 95% of people who lose weight will regain their “lost” weight within one to two years. That’s sobering.

The answer to the question is two fold: Yes, I did gain weight – but only during pregnancies. So, no – I haven’t gained weight during these maintenance years aside from pregnancy. Of course I had to lose pregnancy weight four times but that’s another post.

I may be weird in this regard, but I found the maintenance part of weight loss much easier than the actual losing weight process. I know a lot of people feel the opposite, and I can certainly understand that – but for me maintenance has been relatively pain-free.

In thinking about why I feel that way I’ve come up with a couple of reasons:

1. I really hated being obese. I hated all the emotions, the struggles, and the embarrassments that came my way as my weight ballooned.
2. I was obese for a long time. Not a lifetime, but long enough to really live and experience the obese life.
3. I lost weight using real life food and reasonable exercise.
4. I changed my relationship to food from 95% emotional to about 15% emotional. (The emotions surrounding food are still there, but under control.)

Those four things helped me maintain my weight without having a regain. It’s been really important to me that I stay at a weight where I feel comfortable, so I do work hard at it – even today. I’d be remiss if I didn’t mention that I do weigh myself every single day, and if the scale goes up above the 3 – 5 pound range I float within, then I immediately take action.

I see a lot of people who lose weight and then promptly begin to regain their weight. I always feel sorry for those folks, because I know how it made me feel when I did the same thing. I remember being embarrassed when I saw the look of “Oh, she got fatter,” on someone’s face. It was terrible. I didn’t want to experience those embarrassed feelings anymore, and thankfully I haven’t. My years of maintenance haven’t been pain free, but they have been weight gain free!

Question: Do you think the weight loss part is easier or the weight maintenance part? Diane

When I lost 158 pounds over 12 years ago, my oldest child was only seven. And as such, she was a little bit aware that I was changing in front of her eyes, but not 100% aware. I’ve asked her what she remembers from that time period and she says she was a little worried I wouldn’t be the same mommy anymore. She also remembers me taking her on lots of long bike rides – something I had never done before that time.

I remember very vividly coming out of the bedroom dressed for church one morning and her saying, “Mommy – that’s the prettiest you have ever looked.” I had lost about 80 – 90 pounds by then and I felt so grateful that she noticed and could articulate the difference she saw in me.

My other two children were only 3 and 1 at the time, so they weren’t aware of the changes.

Now, with seven children, the youngest four being born after I lost all the weight, they have no concept of what I used to look like, or act like! When they see pictures like this one below they say, “Who is that lady?”

I laugh and tell them it is me in the picture and then silently thank God that I don’t look like that lady anymore.

My kids are very proud of my accomplishments, but more important than that, I think they take to heart the message of good health and healthy living that I try and model for them.

They were one of my primary motivators to get healthy. I didn’t want to die from a complication of obesity and leave them motherless when I could change my health status. I wanted to be around for a long time. And I wanted to be an active part of their life – not just sitting on the couch trying to muster up enough energy to get up and see something they had made in another room.

I look back and am so thankful that I lost the weight, got healthy, and have kept it off. My kids think it’s great to have a mom who blogs, speaks about weight loss, and interacts with them. I think it’s great to have kids who are fun, active, and full of life!

So there you have it – an answer to one of the many questions I get through email, etc.

Do you have someone in your life who thinks you are doing a great job? Or someone who motivates you to never give up?  Diane

Messy at work

Messy at home

Messy in the car

Messy pretty much everywhere!

It’s funny to think about because it was only John and I. Honestly – why was it so hard to be neat and organized? I’m not really certain, but I’m pretty sure it’s because I was lazy. After work I didn’t want to spend time cleaning the house or cooking so we’d just go out to eat and then see a movie. On the weekends vacuuming seemed like such a waste of time, and it was much more fun to go shopping or visiting with friends.

Once the children started coming along my organization skills picked up considerably, and by the time we brought baby number 5 home from the hospital I finally had my act together.

Why am I mentioning organizational skills on a weight loss/maintenance blog? I am mentioning it because I think it is important when working on such an important area of your life like losing weight to get healthy, it’s also important to think about other areas of your life that could help you in your endeavor to get healthy and fit.

And I believe that being organized in general can be helpful when attacking a weight issue. At least it has been for me.

Here are some things I do to stay organized, even with seven kids: (And although I TRY, I’m definitely not saying I’ve got it all together!! Definitely not!)

I try and only touch papers once. Whether it’s mail or papers the kids drag in, I look at it, file it, toss it, or handle it.

I loved the FlyLady website and daily emails. For a time I followed her plans and it really helped teach me how to keep my house cleaning without cleaning all day long! (And by the way – I don’t like cleaning!)

I have a set schedule for the big jobs – like cleaning windows, the garage, the game closet. That way if it gets messy I know that it will get clean shortly.

I involve the family. Even though I have a large family who can help, I don’t want them to feel as though they are constantly cleaning. So we have small things to do each day, and then have a Friday cleaning time, where I make a list of everything that needs doing and they pick what they want to do. We can clean our whole big house in about an hour. Then we are done!  Here’s what a list may look like:

• dust everything
• sweep all the wood floors
• mop the kitchen
• general straighten
• organize library books
• clean all bathrooms
• vacuum house
• straighten up pantry
• clean your own room

As a reward, after we are done, we have homemade pizza and watch a little kid movie. It’s amazing how fast cleaning happens when something good is waiting at the end.

I make daily to-do lists. This helps a lot – even if I don’t get it all done.

I look at a room as I’m leaving it. When I leave the bathroom I take a quick glance over my shoulder and see if there is anything I need to take out with me, or something I should put away before I walk out. Training myself to do this has helped a lot. Now if only the kids did this too!

Being organized around the house has helped me with my weight maintenance. Because I don’t have to spend a lot of time and/or energy with the household chores I find it enjoyable to plan meals, precook foods, and fix healthy snacks for everyone. It also frees up exercise time without guilt.

How do you feel? Do you think that trying to be organized can help you in achieving your goals? Diane

One place I still don’t have any good organizational skills is the car. If you have any “keep the car clean” tips I’d love to hear them!