Uh-Oh... is this really me?

Well... I heard those dreaded words from my doctor... 'You need to lose weight.'

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No one likes to hear those words, and especially not someone like me who for years heard, 'You need to gain weight.'  You see, I was one of those tall, skinny girls in school.  You know, the one everyone made jokes about, such as I would have to run around the shower just to get wet.  At almost 5'10", I never weighed more than 130 pounds, except for a brief time during a bad relationship, when I got up to 140-145.  But that's okay because I went from barely an A to a C, and as soon as we broke up I lost that weight and kept my Cs.

At my wedding, I wore a size 6 wedding gown, and continued wearing 6s and 8s for that first year of marriage.  The weight slowly added on, and I was around 140-145 (a size 12) when I got pregnant with our first child (which, by the way, was actually a 'healthy' weight for me).  By the time I delivered my son, I was a whopping 180 pounds!

I quickly lost a good portion of the weight, but then quickly put it back on while nursing.  Everyone was telling me that I would lose the weight quickly when nursing (did not work for me) and that I would lose all the weight when I started running around after him.  While that made me feel better, I didn't really want to wait that long.

I joined Weight Watchers and the weight started coming off fairly steadily... until I got pregnant again when our boy was 10 months old.  So back to the upward trend.  I was 208 pounds when our first daughter was born.  Back to Weight Watchers I went, and as I started losing weight... yup.  Pregnant again, this time when the baby was 6 months old.  I did not put on quite as much weight with this pregnancy, though.

When our youngest was 3 months old we moved to Tennessee, and I re-joined Weight Watchers somewhere around 200 pounds.  This time, however, the group I joined wasn't as supportive as my group in Texas, and being in a small town, I never felt accepted - everyone here knew everyone and already had their circles of friends full.  So I quit going and a few years later tried again.  It was a little better this time because I had a couple of friends who were sometimes there.  However, I was once asked by the person checking in if I was new... I'd been coming regularly for several months.  Discouraging, but I kept it up, although not very consistently.

During the past five years, I have been feeling like a yo-yo.  Getting down to 185 then back up to 200... Back and forth I've gone, and half the time not even caring any more.  Yes, I have a bad habit of eating when I am stressed out... you know, the good stuff... chocolate, Dr. Pepper, burgers.  And since I am homeschooling three children, that stress level goes up quite often.

My endocrinologist told me I needed to lose weight, and I told her I was doing Weight Watchers plus doing Jazzercise at home.  She requested I go on a Mediterranean style of diet, but I really didn't know what that meant.  I could just envision olives and capers, and those other things I won't eat.  But we did give it a try for a while, in conjunction with my Weight Watchers plan.  But I never did fully understand the Mediterranean way.  She also told me to buy an elliptical or stationary bike in order to add some resistance to my exercise.

I was starting to getting into the whole POINTS thing again, and the plan changed.  Only on the new POINTS Plus plan, I started steadily gaining.  I guess I was eating too many of those 'free' fruits and veggies.  So I quit Weight Watchers.  When I went back to the endocrinologist, I had gained 15 pounds.... up to my highest ever - 229.  (Incidentally, I had broken my foot and had to stop doing Jazzercise).  Oh, and running after three kids... did not take the weight off, either.

Well, the doctor was NOT pleased.  She decided to take drastic measures.  She told me I could have 250 calories for each meal and three snacks of up to 100 calories.  WHAT?! 1,050 calories?!  I thought I would starve!  But at home I did the calculations and discovered on the old POINTS plan that would be equivalent to somewhere around 20 POINTS.  Lower than what Weight Watchers had me on, but, then again, Weight Watchers wasn't threatening to put me on medication.  The doctor also wanted me to spend 30 minutes a day on an exercise bike or an elliptical.

So, here we are.  I've been trying to eat the 1,000 calorie diet, and did well except on some stressful days, and just recently took off the diet while out of town.  How much have I lost?  I don't know.  I feel like those stressful days and vacation have put back on anything I'd lost.  But I am dedicated to keeping on with the diet and exercising 30 minutes a day (yes, I did buy an exercise bike).  And I am going to try to keep you all posted on what I am eating.

Several people have started following what I am eating when I started posting pictures of my meals on Facebook.  For you, and anyone else who wants to follow, I am going to use this post to not only track my progress, but also to give you low-calorie, healthy (all-natural) meal plans.  I will post on here what I ate and how I prepared it.  Perhaps God will allow me to use this journey to motivate and encourage others.  If you want to eat a low-calorie diet, please check with your doctor first.  What my doctor has me on could be considered too low for others.

My goal is to lose at least 8 pounds a month and to be back to 145 pounds within a year.  I plan to do this by eating 1,050 calories on most days (I will be going out of town a few times this year), to exercise 30 minutes a day for 5-6 days each week, and to not give up or feel bad about myself on days I do not succeed.  I know many people want to lose more than 8 pounds a month, but it took a while to put all that weight on, so I figure (and have been told) that it shouldn't come off too quickly.  If we take it slowly, we will change our lifestyles and have an easier time of staying fit in the future.

Whatever may happen on this journey, to God be the Glory!

If you want fast updates on what I'm doing, follow me on Twitter @Sara_Munday.