Alyice on June 27th, 2008

My Weight Issue

These Friday Weigh-Ins sure do come by fast! I’ve been giving a lot of thought to my weight this past week. I am 5 feet, 5 inches tall and I weigh 179 pounds. Before having kids, I weighed 125 pounds.

And before you go thinking that my weight is a result of overeating, it’s not. Each time I got pregnant, I gained weight and that weight increased when I breastfed. When the breastfeeding was done, I’d begin to lose the weight. But after the last pregnancy, I just gave up on eating right, exercising, or doing anything remotely healthy for me. The more sedentary my lifestyle became, the more weight I gained.

And due to some emotional issues, I had actually gone to eating only one meal a day for a couple of years—which I later discovered actually adds weight because it puts your body into starvation/storage mode. My body stored every ounce of food I ate for fear it wasn’t going to get anything later. And it stored all those sugary treats and simple carbs as fat because I NEVER burned them off.

Once I dealt with my emotional baggage, I was able to get back on a regular eating schedule: breakfast, lunch, and dinner. And now, I can’t skip a meal without getting ornery.

Today, I am consciously making an effort to pick healthier foods, to eat at regular times throughout the day and if I get off schedule to eat when I begin to feel hungry instead of waiting until my body is shaking and needs something NOW—which always results in poor food choices. But it’s not easy. I don’t like having to think about food so much. Sometimes, thinking about what I am going to eat or where I’m going to eat based on healthier food choices or planning meals makes me feel like I have an eating disorder.

But I realize, NOW, that choosing healthier foods is not only important for losing weight, but for my overall health and how I feel as a human being. The healthier the foods I choose, the better my body feels—which means less indigestion, heart burn, gassy build up, burning sensations, sluggishness, etc.

And as far as exercising goes…

I think it’s always easier to come up with a list of things that NEED to get done first, then stopping long enough to do a physical activity. But I’ve decided to change that this year because the reality is that I am overweight and I have high cholesterol because of it.

My overall cholesterol level is 260 which is high risk—partly genetic, partly lifestyle. And my good cholesterol level was under 40 (which is bad) until I started bike riding this summer. Now it barely hits 40, but with a little more exercising, I am positive I can get it higher. (And yes, I am now on cholesterol meds.)

The reality is that I’ve been fluctuating between 170 and 180 pounds for the past ten years. And every year I’d tell myself that I was going to lose the weight and get physically fit but every year I’d come up with one excuse after another as to why I didn’t need to lose the weight or why I didn’t have the time or why I was okay the way I am.

This year, I’ve run out of excuses.

What about you? Run out of excuses too? Ready to share this journey with me? To encourage and inspire one another to make some healthy changes so that we can truly live our lives to their fullest potentials?

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Comments (4)

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ME says:

Wow! Mom, that doesn’t even look like you! Are you sure that’s you? Really? How come we don’t see you that way? Wow!
Posted at 7:06 pm June 28th, 2008
Alyice says:

Yes, baby. That’s me. Why do you think I hate photos of myself. You can’t see it because you love me. You aren’t looking at size, you are looking with your heart.
Posted at 7:09 pm June 28th, 2008
Kelly H. says:

Alyice,

I have a cousin who removed wheat and dairy from her diet over a year ago. She looks amazing! She’s almost at her wedding weight. Although I’ve not removed those things completely, I’m trying to consciously cut back on them. I think it’s making a difference. I’m feeling better, and my clothes are fitting better, but it’s only been a month. Give me a few more months and I’ll know better if it’s working. Now, if I could just give up my Mt Dew… {sigh}
Posted at 7:09 pm June 29th, 2008
Alyice says:

I can’t imagine giving up dairy completely. But I have learned to choose wisely and I rarely drink milk because it doesn’t agree with me anymore. As for the wheat, wow! Never thought of that, but then again, I only ate refined white stuff which is definitely a “no no” healthwise. Why did she choose to give up wheat? Allergies?
Posted at 11:04 pm June 29th, 2008