A Weighty Issue Part 2: The Results

When I left off, I mentioned it took me a year to get into the whole weight loss idea.

At my current job I joined the gym in the basement, using the treadmill and elliptical for 45 minutes to an hour for four or five times a week. I started eating smaller portions and better food. I started cooking with a lot less fat and a lot more low-fat ingredients. I also stopped a lot of the mindless snacking I did. It took me a year to shed 20 pounds. Since I’m short it was significant enough.

What I can recommend, which has worked for me (keep in mind I have NO dietary knowledge. This is just that works for my metabolism):

• Stop drinking soda. Even diet soda. I was a HUGE Coca Cola freak before I cut it out back in high school. Within a week you will feel SO different. Within a month you will completely lose your taste for it. 
• Eat more whole grain/wheat products and less white flour foods. It took me awhile, but I now like whole-grain pasta and breads (an occasional bagel in moderation is necessary though).
• Cut your portions down. Check out a guide to portions here at WebMD. Not going to lie, it SUCKS sometimes, but slowly but surely what it takes to get you feeling full will shrink down.
• Exercise. I hate exercising, but I’ve learned that I am not the type of person who can get away with not doing any. I’m down to 30 minutes three or four times a week on the elliptical or treadmill. When I first started exercising I only saw significant weight loss when I did 45 minutes to an hour at least four times a week. I also lift five pound weights three to four times a week while watching TV. How everyone’s body reacts though is different.
• Cut down your use of full fat products. I hate fat free cheese/sour cream/butter/etc., but I see little to no taste difference in reduced fat versions.
• Eat small, lighter meals throughout the day instead of three big heavy ones.
• Don’t base your happiness on the scale. It’s how you feel in your clothing and in every day life that matters. If your pants are falling down, but the scale won’t budge- throw the scale out the window!

I still hold true to many of those tips, but sometimes my daily eating gets off course and my desire to work out weans away. Winter makes me want to do things like eat giant bowls of chili and baked potatoes smothered in cheese while wearing oversized sweaters on my couch.

I don't expect to lose more than the five pounds I've recently put on before the wedding, but I'd like to eat better and exercise more just for the sake of feeling better. Exercising and eating better/lighter just makes me feel more awake and energized. My biggest goal is to tone up my arms before the wedding. I also need to stop the mindless snacking I've been doing at night, the weekend Wendy's runs, and full fat beer drinking (Blue Moon being my new go-to).

What are your tips for getting into shape? Anyone have good arm toning workouts? Getting my arms toned has always been a tough battle for me.

A Weighty Issue Part 1: The Backstory

Today I signed into my registry to replace something that went discontinued (no worries- I've only had to do this 80 times already) and my jaw almost hit the floor when I noticed I am ALMOST at 100 days out. Crazy little registry countdown clock!

What the hell? I don't think I ever took into consideration that all this planning would lead to the big day, because my mind feels boggled by the concept of me walking down the aisle and getting married. And, with my first dress fitting looming a few weeks away I realized I better stop slacking at getting my arse to the gym, and I better stop eating all those damn tacos (well except for Taco Tuesdays...)

Okay, a disclaimer. I know I am not a plus-size bride and I am not here to whine that my size 2s are just TOO DARN TIGHT (because I will never be a size 2 and um, eat a potato!). But, my desire to be in shape for my wedding stems from my past. I was a chubster! Baby fat, chubby, chunky, however you want to put it I was overweight and unhealthy. I like food and I like to eat. I grew up in a clean your plate(s) family. I was the polar opposite of an active child. My hobbies consisted of doing things like poking out all the chocolate chips in my Chips Ahoys, eating the cookie, and saving the chocolate chips for dessert (yes, I really did this). So, Hive for you only (and I guess whoever else stumbles upon this blog post) I am revealing a teenage awkward photo of myself to prove that I am not BSing you. Here goes:

Yes, I am aware I had oddly un-proportional legs

I can tell you one thing, Junior High was NOT fun. I had great girlfriends my whole life, but kids in general are really terrible. I survived Junior Hellschool and during the summer before High School I remember clearly thinking, “I should lose weight.” That summer I lost maybe 5 lbs. I wasn’t weighing myself at the time so I don’t know, but it wasn’t a significant loss.

My High School was great. I can honestly say there was no teasing or cruelty that I ever witnessed. But, I still felt like I should just lose the weight already. My mom had joined Weight Watchers sometime during my freshman year, and even though I didn’t want to go to the meetings (mostly my lazy ass did not want to wake up early on a Sunday morning) I used all her books and points calculator to do the old school Points system on my own, and it worked! Again, I wasn’t weighing myself then, but I went from chubby to “average.”

Our Senior Year trip to the Jersey Shore before it was a household name... yes, I'm wearing too much bronzer in hopes of blending in with my Italian best friends

I know the Points program has changed somewhat, but I can not talk-up Weight Watchers enough. Their “diets” make sense. They don’t make you eat stupid crap that you will soon give up on. The program honestly changes your life and how you think about food. By my senior prom I was down to a size 6, and then college came around….

Like most people I ate like PURE SHIT in college. I gained the freshmen 15 and then some. I would go through spurts of “I am going to be good,” where I would occasionally hit the gym and eat more salads. However, beer + late night eating + more beer + horrible food choices for weeks on end = blubbery. By the time I graduated I was really unhealthy and felt like garbage.  I looked extremely swollen.

I could barely hustle downstairs to the subway to catch a train I heard pulling in (mind you this was running DOWN stairs, not up). The scale was telling me I was almost 160 lbs and I’m only 5’3.’’ My BMI put me as overweight, and my size 12s were telling me “ha ha you fool!” It still took me about a year after this knowledge set in to cut out the excessive vanilla lattes, bacon, egg and cheese breakfast sandwiches, and craptastic snacking.

Losing weight isn't something to do on a whim to fit in a dress, but it can definitely be a great motivator. Even though my initial motivator came before our engagement, I’m not sure that my bride brain could have handled one more task. Are you trying to lose weight before your big day?