Okay, true confession time. In my first blog I told you that I had started at 200. While that is true, what I failed to mention is that I started at 200 pounds THIS time. Truth is, a little over six years ago I weighed 231 pounds, and it may have been higher except that I stopped weighing myself until I finally went to get help. There are people on The Biggest Loser that start at the ranch with less weight on them than that. What a wake-up call.
Six years ago, I did what I promised myself I would never do…I went on a liquid diet. Most everyone can remember Oprah on her show pulling a wagon of fat behind her after losing 65 pounds on a liquid diet only to gain it back and then some. But I had a different experience. While I did not keep all the weight off, I did learn two valuable lessons from this experience.
First, I learned that I could actually survive on 800 calories a day. I know this seems extreme, but who would have thought you could actually function on so little each day? I could even exercise, go to work, play with my kids, and all on less than 1,000 calories. For the first time I realized how what I had been eating was WAY more than my body needed.
Secondly, I finally learned what people meant by portion size. I had a portion size…it was just ridiculously large. Having been bulimic, I had never learned how much protein, carbohydrates, and veggies and fruits were reasonable. I honestly did not know what that would even look like. And then, knowing that people could live on 800 calories, I could be sure that a reasonable portion size was not going to sap me of energy and kill me in the end.
Now you may be asking yourself, how did she learn portion control from a liquid diet? I guess I should have mentioned it was a modified liquid diet. We had 8 weeks of basically drinking our meals before they introduced one meal back into our plan at a time. As each meal was added, they gave us a variety of healthy options to choose from. These ideas have helped me, even today, to make wiser food choices.
After this experience, I lost a total of 50 pounds, but 20 pounds of this kept coming on and off. This is where the running came into play. I realized I had to do something drastic in order to truly get my life back on track. Can you say half-marathon?
*Join me next time when I share how I went from hardly being able to run non-stop for one minute to running for 13.1 miles.
Six years ago, I did what I promised myself I would never do…I went on a liquid diet. Most everyone can remember Oprah on her show pulling a wagon of fat behind her after losing 65 pounds on a liquid diet only to gain it back and then some. But I had a different experience. While I did not keep all the weight off, I did learn two valuable lessons from this experience.
First, I learned that I could actually survive on 800 calories a day. I know this seems extreme, but who would have thought you could actually function on so little each day? I could even exercise, go to work, play with my kids, and all on less than 1,000 calories. For the first time I realized how what I had been eating was WAY more than my body needed.
Secondly, I finally learned what people meant by portion size. I had a portion size…it was just ridiculously large. Having been bulimic, I had never learned how much protein, carbohydrates, and veggies and fruits were reasonable. I honestly did not know what that would even look like. And then, knowing that people could live on 800 calories, I could be sure that a reasonable portion size was not going to sap me of energy and kill me in the end.
Now you may be asking yourself, how did she learn portion control from a liquid diet? I guess I should have mentioned it was a modified liquid diet. We had 8 weeks of basically drinking our meals before they introduced one meal back into our plan at a time. As each meal was added, they gave us a variety of healthy options to choose from. These ideas have helped me, even today, to make wiser food choices.
After this experience, I lost a total of 50 pounds, but 20 pounds of this kept coming on and off. This is where the running came into play. I realized I had to do something drastic in order to truly get my life back on track. Can you say half-marathon?
*Join me next time when I share how I went from hardly being able to run non-stop for one minute to running for 13.1 miles.
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