This first blog may be the longest since I feel the need to give an introduction. This is Beth, by the way. My husband, Tom, and I started a "healthy lifestyle change" two months ago. We decided (for the last time) to do something about our weight and health. We have both been on diets and exercise programs before, but this time is different. It finally clicked in our minds that being overweight shouldn't be the norm for us. We realized that we wanted to be healthy, active, and to enjoy life instead of just getting through it. Tom's journey is different from mine, so I'll let him explain his own and I'll share mine.
(Beth)
When I was born, my parents lived on a farm and ate healthy foods that were raised and grown on our land. When I was young, we moved to the city for better opportunities. My mom's job was at home so we ate meals that were homemade and healthy. My favorite dessert was frozen yogurt topped with wheat germ. I was an active kid and played outside with neighborhood friends any chance I got. During the summer, I only came inside when my mom called us in for meals and when the street lights came on in the evening. When I was old enough, I started playing basketball in the winter months. I played basketball until high school, when I switched to ice hockey. So needless to say, I was a healthy and active child.
I had a healthy view of myself until I started puberty ahead of everyone else. When I started getting curvy and all the other girls were still boyish, I mistakingly thought I was fat. Like most teenage girls, I had a poor image of myself. In reality, I was a healthy weight and size, but just blossomed earlier than the rest.
I stayed about the same weight for my teenage years and early 20s. My sophomore year, I lost weight and become too thin when we got a new coach who worked us out 3-4 hours per day. After that season, I went back to my normal weight. My body seemed to know what was healthy for me.
When I was twenty years old, I moved to a new city with a new job. I didn't know a single person, so I befriended my co-workers. (One of them became my husband.) Every day we went out to lunch at a fast food restaurant. I would work late and not feel like making a healthy dinner for myself, so I'd buy something to eat on my way home. So (un)naturally, I started gaining weight.
I worked a lot and spent all my spare time with my new boyfriend. My unhealthy eating habits left me without the energy to do anything active. I kept gaining weight and must have been too in love to notice, that when we got married, the seamstress had to do some gifted sewing to make my dress fit.
As a young married woman, I wasn't the greatest cook and tried making meals that would please my new husband. He grew up with traditional Southern meals, so I tried my hardest to learn how to fix chicken-fried steak, fried porkchops, and barbecue chicken. In the South, even vegetables are cooked with butter, salt, and bacon fat. So we put on some more weight together.
After a few years of shopping at the plus size women's stores, I finally realized this was not healthy. I didn't know this fat girl I had become and I was unhappy. I tried diets and exercise programs and nothing worked. I would lose a few pounds very slowly and then give up and gain it back. I did manage to change our food choices to healthier ones like ground turkey, chicken, and eating whole grains. But I still made unhealthy choices when eating out at restaurants and always ate too much. My weight stopped increasing for the most part, but eating healthier by itself wasn't helping me lose any fat.
Earlier this year something finally clicked for me. I realized it shouldn't be normal to worry about fitting into a booth at a restaurant. I shouldn't have to avoid Southwest Airlines because I'm afraid they'd make me buy an extra seat. I should be able to ride roller coasters. I shouldn't feel so tired after walking around at the mall. I should be able to do ANYthing I want and NOT be inhibited by my weight!
Someone we had known for a long time had lost 90 pounds in less than a year. When I heard he lost the weight with a program, I was very skeptical. I read information online about it and agreed to try it for three months. I was sure, like everything else, it wasn't going to work for me. I have been doing TSFL since February 2 and I've lost 31 pounds so far. I know that I will reach my goal weight and keep it off for life. But even better than that, my life will be enjoyed and lived to the fullest.
(Tom)
Unlike my wife I have been overweight for as long as I can remember. I have always struggled with my weight and my image of myself. Throughout my childhood I dealt with this by making jokes and pretending that it didn't bother me when people would make fun of my weight. I have continued this throughout my adult years.
In my almost 39 years of living, I have probably lost 1,000 pounds. The problem is I never really learned how to eat. I could lose weight better than anyone but could never keep it off. I would lose a bunch of weight and then gain it back plus 20 to 30 pounds more. It has been a roller coaster ride for my whole life.
For the past eight years, life has been a little crazy with going back to college and working odd hours. With this crazy lifestyle I began to look for ways to make life easier. The biggest change came in my eating. I went out to eat at least 2 times a day and a lot of those places were fast food. This almost became like an addiction to me. Even if I knew my wife was cooking dinner I had to have my fast food fix. I would order 3 things off the dollar menu and then 15 minutes later I would have a huge dinner. My weight and health were spiraling out of control.
Things got pretty bad. I could hardly do anything physical. I couldn't stand up for more than 10 minutes without my back hurting and I had no energy. I became really depressed and medicated myself with food. I was literally killing myself with the way I ate. My life had become a mess and and no matter what I did to change it I couldn't get out of this destructive cycle.
I had to do something and do it quickly. I could tell my body was struggling to survive and I was really killing myself slowly. I have seen the effects of this unhealthy lifestyle on both of my parents. They have both had weight loss surgery because their life was at risk. Even though the surgery caused them to lose weight, it didn't cure the real problem of an unhealthy lifestyle. It was like spraying on cologne after you haven't showered for a few days. It just covered up the problem rather than fix it.
I knew I had to do something. Now this is hard for me to say because I am embarrassed, but I think it help people change their life. I had gotten up to 406 pounds. My life was a mess and I was fed up. I started seeing Facebook statuses from a friend about how he had lost 93 pounds and was keeping it off. His goal was to help others in their quest to become healthy. I called him up and he explained what he was doing and I just had to try it. I wasn't really convinced that it would work, because nothing had in the past but it was my last chance before I considered surgery.
Beth and I have been doing the Take Shape For Life program for 11 weeks now and I have lost 75 pounds. I really feel like this has saved my life. Now, my journey has just begun, but I now have the confidence that I am going to get healthy and live the life I want to live. I believe that if my friend had not made himself available to help I would still be in the same downward spiral. That is the purpose of this blog. We want to share this with everyone who needs help. Just as my friend was there to save my life, I hope I can be that helping hand to someone else.
