Back in 2008, I bought this beautiful, purple cocktail dress. At the time I managed to zip it up, but could not breathe! Ha! It was one of those dresses I bought telling myself, I will just lose a couple of pounds and I will fit! Well needless to say I didn’t lose no couple of pounds! As a matter of fact, I gained quite a few. So much so that earlier this year when I tried on the dress the zip would not go all the way up! It was stuck just above my waist. There was no deep inhaling and sucking in the stomach here…That would have been a feat against science…And my body was not ready to perform that miracle. (sad face)
Every now and then, I try on clothes…Clothes I used to fit in…with the hope that I would be able to fit in it again. That dress has been my “marker” for the past 3 years…I have tried on that dress several times a year, every year, with the hope of fitting into the dress…And each time I put it on, it gets tighter and tighter…This year I was on the brink of giving it away…BUT then I set my 30 pound challenge after turning 30. And with that, I set out to lose 30 pounds (as of April 2011). I also had a short term goal of being able to fit into that dress for my friend’s wedding in Oct 2011. Well my friend’s wedding got postponed, but it just so happened that another friend was getting married…A couple weeks before the wedding, I did my usual and tried on the dress…
As I pulled out the dress out of the closet and dress bag, I told my husband that I think that even though the dress says it’s a size 12, it must really be a size 10…Cause how else could I not fit into it since I wear size 12…I had one of those feelings, I usually have…knowing that when I put on the dress it would not fit..I could not believe what happened…The dress fit!! Not only did it fit but I could breathe!!! It fitted even better than when I actually bought it back in 2008! It was a jumping for joy, screaming moment for me!
People are starting to notice and have been asking me what I have been doing…To sum it up – lifestyle change…Nothing beats the old fashion way to losing weight and simply being healthy. Eat right and exercise. I am seeing a nutritionist and that has been helping in terms of learning that milk is a carb, and that 15 grams of carbs is one serving of carbs…And you should have no more than 3-4 carbs on your plate at any given time. This education has been really helpful in making me more aware…Now I must confess that I have not been able to apply these principles perfectly on a day to day…But I am allowing myself to be human and cutting myself some slack. I gave myself a year to lose 30 pounds…And the reason I gave myself a year is because I wanted to lose weight slowly through my lifestyle change…And not through a crash diet (though I have been tempted many a times to do one of those). I am half way through and I have lost half of my goal weight without really “working hard.” In the beginning I struggled to develop an exercise routine…In my earlier blogs I talked about how hard it was to motivate myself to go to the gym…Laziness, and tiredness would kick in and I could never be consistent. I kept my goal at the forefront…knowing that my main goal was a LIFESTYLE change…and as a result of that lifestyle change I would lose weight….And so said, so done!
I am still trying to make my way to working out 5 times a week and eating healthy at least 6 out of the 7 days of the week. I realize that eating healthy requires a lot of advance recipe planning, and of course grocery shopping to reflect the planned healthy recipes…And that requires researching healthy recipes that taste GOOD…which simply involves more planning!! And so the saga begins…I have these lofty goals, but I need to take the time to do the small steps in between so I can get to the big goal – eating healthy. So my next challenge is to cook (or find) one HEALTHY recipe per week. I am going to label it “52 week healthy recipe challenge.” I am looking for recipes that are first low in carbs (because carbs turn into sugar and diabetes is real) and low fat (cause you don’t want to save your heart – cause heart disease is also real).
I found my first recipe on pinterest.com! I can’t wait to make it!!
In the mean time, I want to encourage you, as we encourage each other to live healthy lifestyles. God gave us our body and it is our duty to take care of what He has given to us.
Live and be healthy and be happy!
Peace and blessings!
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