Can you share your journey & history with your weight & eating habits?
I started gaining weight slowly after I was married at 21-- maybe 5
pounds a year that I didn't notice much until it was 40 pounds. At that
point, I was uncomfortable, and began to work-out on an elliptical and
eat smaller portions. I'm married to a large man and I honestly think
that I felt I could eat larger portions because he was, even though he's
a foot taller than I am. I've found that you tend to eat like the
people you are around -- the same foods and the same portions. It's
harder to resist the chips when your friend is munching on them. I was
always active on the weekends as my husband and I would go on weekend
hikes and canoeing treks, but those calories burned were often consumed
while I sat during the week (I sat at a desk at work and then sat while
studying for school).
My weight stayed stable once I began working
out during the weekdays, until I, in the same month, landed a new
grueling teaching job and became pregnant with my first child. I was so
stressed and busy that I would eat to calm myself and gained at least
50 pounds during that school year. I lost a little weight after that
baby, maybe 20 pounds on my own through weight watchers and walking with
friends at the park, when I became pregnant with my second son, which
lead to me gaining yet another 50 pounds. After my second son, I was a
tight sz 16, 200 pounds on a 5'5" frame. I had always had a figure,
even with the extra weight I put on right after being married. It was
devastating to me.
The blow to my self esteem hurt my marriage and
tainted my friendships (because of jealousy). I had turned 29 just
before having my second son and decided that I wouldn't waste another
decade feeling uncomfortable in my own body. I was going to look
amazing on my 30th birthday. I had decided.
Unfortunately losing
weight on your own, and keeping it off on your own, is next to
impossible. I lost 20 that year with Weight Watchers, walking, and
working out at Wilson's, but found myself wasting my hard work during
the week by eating like my husband on the weekends. Or eating too many
servings of a "treat" just because I had made it. I mean -- what do you
DO with an entire cake or loaf of beer bread? I am still proud of
those 20 pounds, mostly because losing weight after a baby seems to be
difficult for me, but I turned 30 and was still in between a sz16 and 14
dress size. Nowhere near the sz 8 that had been my goal.
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| A few weeks before Emily started Jazzercise |
Literally
within a week a friend told me about an Ad Sheet coupon for Jazzercise
and wanted me to go with her and Sarah was in the room. When I found
out Sarah was an instructor I wanted to go with my other friend to try it
out. I had a miscommunication with that friend and missed going to my
first class with her (Sarah's class) and that friend left to go home.
To keep me from feeling alone, Sarah worked out next to me even though
she had just taught a class. I felt incredibly awkward, but I still
came back. It took me at least three months to really feel like I could
do most of the moves (the side touch still gives me problems), but I
noticed immediately that although I felt like I was going to fall over, the group setting and motivating music were like magic. Working out
alone is awful! I'm convinced that exercising with friendly competition
plus caloric management is the magic bullet of weight loss. There is
nothing else in my mind that is healthy or sustainable. So, of course,
my weight began to melt off of me and my husband was delighted. He has
always thought I was beautiful, but who doesn't want a healthy spouse?
I started to hit plateaus after the baby weight came off -- the older
weight didn't want to budge, but I kept at it. And, here is what saved
me from staying stagnant, I gained a partner in my lifestyle goals. One
day (after a Halloween candy binge) my husband realized he was
over-weight. Tall big-boned men can hide a lot of weight and he was
impressed with my sustained success. All he has done since that day is
count calories (and lost 60 pounds in 6 months). But now I have someone
who is in this fight with me and my plateaus didn't hang around for
long. By the following summer I was buying a whole new wardrobe of cute
sz 6 clothes (my saved "skinny clothes" were now too big) and my
penny-pinching husband didn't even bat an eye. We were so tickled at
how worth it is to feel healthy.
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| Andy & Emily "now" (pre-pregnancy) |
What size were you when you started this journey with Jazzercise & healthy eating?
Before kids a 10, after second son a 16, when I started Jazzercise a sz
14 (195lbs) -- after 2 months of Jazzercise sz 10, after a total of 15
months of Jazzercise I was a sz 6 (147lbs), and toned.
What was one of the biggest things you've learned about your eating/habits that has made the biggest difference?
That I'm prone to ruin my diet at 3 pm
when I'm exhausted. If I drink decaf coffee or ice tea and have a
small snack (apple and popcorn) I can make it through the rest of the
day.
We all have plateaus in our weight loss. How did you stay motivated? What did you do to bust through your plateau?
Complaining to you about it! Friends are essential during these
periods. You need a group of people who will tell you how great you are
doing and Jazzercise is that place for me. Also, I reminded myself at
each weekly weigh-in that I am proud of no-gain. I don't have to lose
to be proud of myself, maintaining is difficult enough!
What is your favorite "on the go" food that helps you bad eating when busy?
Apples! I love almonds too, but I usually eat too many. If I'm at
home, I adore blueberries, but two cut-up apples in my bag really help
(one for me and one for the boys). I've also adopted Sarah's idea of a spoon in the
car for a quick on-the-go yogurt trick. ;)
What's your trick(s) when eating out so you don't go overboard?
I share my meal with my sons if they are with me. If they aren't, I
just make sure I don't snack on anything before I begin eating and I
drink A LOT of water while I'm waiting for my food. We don't eat out
often -- what is more tempting is keeping myself from finishing my sons'
plates after dinner, which can easily add up to an extra hundred
calories each night. I also don't restrict my calories too much. I've
found that the more restricted I feel the more prone I am to binge.
Smaller caloric deficits are better in the long run and they get your
body used to how you really should eat.
On average, how much do you try to exercise in a week?
Before my second trimester of pregnancy this year I was working out at
Jazzercise 6 times a week (I truly feel like you have to do 5 in order
to lose weight in a week) plus all of the yard work and house cleaning
that I do in addition to that. On my "off" day at Jazzercise we would
go for a family walk. I have found that Jazzercise was easier for me
the more I did it (the less sore I was), but sometimes I would have to
take it easy because of old injuries. It's always worth it to go and do
low-impact than to sit at home and find your day has passed.
You
have kids. How do you balance the meals? Do you cook two different
meals, or do you cook the same for everyone. Do you have junk food
snacks in the house? Anything to share in terms of balancing
mom-life/kids and weight loss?
It's really hard for me to not buy my sons treats, so I make sure that
they are treats that have the calories listed and that we get them out
so they aren't sitting around the house for me to consume while they are
asleep. I don't normally cook separate meals for my sons. Maybe twice
a week they'll have something added to their plate that their parents
don't (like mac and cheese or a corn dog) but they still have all the
vegetables on their plate that we are eating. I do have some junk food
in the house, but I don't buy things that are temptations for me.
Sometimes I'll eat those things, but as long as I keep the things out
that I love (ice cream, muffins, sour cream and onion chips), I don't
have a daily battle with food.
What is your favorite breakfast? Lunch? Dinner recipe?
I swear I have grown to love bran flakes for breakfast. Lunch always
changes, but my snacks do not. I almost always snack on a couple of
servings of fruit (we splurge in our budget here, but that's okay
because we save it elsewhere) and then 200 calories in either popcorn,
nuts, or yogurt. For dinner, when my husband and I are restricting our
calories, we often eat a salad before we eat anything else. We like
Newman's Own light dressings. We always always have a green vegetable,
usually in addition to the salad, and always another non-green vegetable
that we love. We rotate bean dishes (beans and greens or taco salad
with beans instead of beef) with egg dishes (fritattas) and starches are
very limited. We really don't restrict the types of food we eat in any
way, this is just how we've noticed that we should eat so that we
aren't as hungry within our allotted caloric needs. Pitfalls for me are
cheese and peanut butter -- I measure every time because I know I'm
going to give myself too much. We cook really simple things for
dinners. It's easier with children and we can better estimate the
calories. Also, my husband has added our family favorite recipes to myfitnesspal.com so we know how much a serving will cost us.
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| Emily after the Color Dash, 3 months pregnant |
Any Final Thoughts?
I had a lot of hard moments, but I
remind myself that I'm doing this for my life -- not just because I want
to look nice. I want to live as much as possible and I have to be able
to keep up with my outdoor-loving sons. I also want to live as long as
possible! Obesity related illness runs rampant in my family and I want
to give my sons a positive example of healthy living.
It's also
difficult, when you have a significant amount of weight to lose, to
remember that small successes add up to large ones. I often had to
silence the voice in my head that said I couldn't do it, couldn't really
get to that healthy weight goal, because of course I could. A pound is
a pound and if you have lost one you can lose another. I can't wait to
return to Jazzercise after I have my third son. I know how great I'm
going to feel.
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