Where It All Began

In 2012 I had done like everyone else and made a resolution to lose weight.  January of 2012 I was at my heaviest I had ever been in my life at 255lbs. At that moment I began a lifestyle change.  I began by eating out less.  I only went out to eat twice a month with my family and only when I absolutely had to with work.  Then I slowly weaned myself off of sodas.  I was drinking one soda a day. Then I subtracted one a week until I was not drinking a single soda.  I also figured out it doesn't matter what kind of sugar you have.  Your body processes the fake stuff the same as the real deal.  I increased my water intake and there ya go. From January to May I was so proud at how well I was doing with my lifestyle change.  Except I didn't have energy to do physical activities when I was home.  I was still wanting to take naps after lunch.  Well I got on the scale in January and then again in May. WOW! I lost 5 pounds. WHAT????..... 5 pounds!!!  I said this can't be right.  Well during that time my niece Kristen was also working on her resolution to lose weight had lost 40 pounds and in the same amount of time.  I had a consultation with her when the kids got out of school.  Kristen introduced me to Plexus Products.  I was hooked on the idea that this product has all natural ingredients and is not necessarily a diet product.  It has vitamins and minerals that give you the energy to move.  A side effect of the product was weight loss.  So I made my first order the first week of June and began my Plexus regimen.  Well this is how Plexus worked for me.  I lost a few pounds and then nothing.  I felt my pants were loose. I thought nothing of it.  Then I started to lose a few more pounds.  Then nothing. I felt disgusted.  One day I was walking up the stairs while holding something and my pants fell down to my ankles.  I said darn these damn things are all stretched out and need to be thrown away.  Well the next week or two this kept happening. I went to look in the closet and I had no more pants. Oh my gosh, it hit me! I'm losing inches.  The fat was melting away.  Then the weight began to come off some more.  By November 2012 I had lost 39 pounds. Yea a pound or two a week and it added up to 39 pounds.  Well I am so excited about my weight loss that I wanted more, a lot more! So on January 3, 2013 I was fixing my bath water that morning and saw on Facebook a poll question for Channel 5 News.  The first person to answer the question correctly would win this book "Seven Years Younger".  Guess who won? Yea me! I went to the TV station to pick up the book.  Crystal Whitman meet me in the lobby.  She began a conversation with me about her wanting to get physical and follow the book.  We began texting and messaging each other. Crystal put an idea in my head for the both of us to join the local gym. I thought about it and with encouragement from friends I enrolled at the "Louisiana Athletic Club" on January 28th.  Well this is where my real challenge had begun. Oh what a ride it was.

Well I started my gym regimen on January 28, 2013.  I wanted to have an physical assessment before I started. The lady said I was 79lbs over my target weight.  On day one I walked at a real fast pace on the treadmill for 50 minutes.  When I got off I couldn't even walk.  I leaned up against the wall for a few minutes and I was fine.  On day 2 I said well I can try the elliptical.  Let say for the same 50 minutes.  Yea, right! by 15 minutes I was hanging on the machine and felt like I was about to keel over and die.  I found out that working out at the gym is totally different than at home.  In the first month I really struggled with a couple of the cardio and weight machines. 

After 3 months I went back to the lady for my follow up physical assessment.  She measured my neck, arms, chest, waist, legs etc...  She said I had lost 1" in every spot.  Wow!! I was an inch smaller all over.  This was my photo collage I had done at that time.



In 2013 I had lost enough weight to get me down to 205 lbs.   For the next year I maintained my 205lbs.  I had quit the gym to save money with the rising cost of living and no raises by the late 2014.  By August of 2015 I had gained 30 pounds back.  I really couldn't let that happen.  So I found out that through my work I could go to the local hospital gym for a lot less than I was paying at the fancy gym.  I began working out again faithfully. 

I made more lifestyle changes at that point.  I only eat out every pay day, no junk food and I incorporated more fruits and vegetables in my diet.  From August 2015 to June of 1016 I had only lost 10 pounds.  I was ready to give up.  Everyone kept saying that muscle weighs more than fat.  Bull crap I said.  Something else is wrong.  I went on my summer vacation and when I returned I expressed concern to my coworker Isaac about my plateau.  We were discussing how we both started exercising at the hospital gyms at the same time.  We both had plateaued with no weight loss.  On July 1, 2016 we made a vow to begin following the My Fitness Pal dietary recommended food intake regimen. We set up our accounts and began following the recommended calories for the day.  My daily allowance is 1330 calories per day.  This was rough as I felt I was starving all day, every day.

I had went to a Venturing meeting with my daughter to discuss the 2017 National Jamboree trip to West Virginia.   We did a weigh in and I went from 225 to 222.  I was told to be a chaperone for the trip I have to loose 40 more pounds.  I was like "OMG I'm starving I don't know  how long I can go with this."  Then it hit me.  Maybe I need to portion and weigh my food to see how much food I was really getting.  I put on my plate what I though was 3 oz of meat, 1 cup of this and a teaspoon of that.  I had it all wrong.  I was underestimating my food, that's why I was so hungry.  Since I have started measuring everything, I am no longer hungry.  As of August 12, 2016 I weighed in at 208 lbs.  Yea I feel I can do this now.  The picture of the cups and scale is all you will need to get your portions right.

Starting tomorrow I will try to blog my daily menu to give us southern people here in Louisiana an idea how to eat great food without feeling like your dieting.  Yea, I don't do skim milk, no fake sugar for me, diet prepackaged food has too much salt and just doesn't taste very good.  Heck it's not the way we eat here in Louisiana.  I eat what I'm hungry for, I portion my meals accordingly and design meal plans around what I have.  For example this weeks menu plan is grilled tuna, pizza, eggplant lasagna, fajita's, BLT and grilled flank steak.  So as you see this will be a great week for meals.  Remember, I will try and post my blog by the next morning. I say a crucial part of everyone's dieting is will power. The second part is portion control with good choices and third is physical activity.

It's how southern women diet!

Happy Eating
Angell