Meet Angie

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Today I want to introduce you to Angie as the person I’d like to highlight in the series “Stronger Together“.

Angie is someone who I’ve known for awhile from the Facebook page.

She is very supportive and often ready to offer encouragement to myself and others.

I just love her attitude and willingness to share her journey with us all. I am SO looking forward to watching her achieve her goals and milestones along the way.

Angie has responded to a series of questions that more or less correspond to the steps I’ve taken in my own journey as outlined in the “How to Lose 100 Pounds” book series.

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1. YOUR Journey and Plan for Weight Loss Success: Please tell us a little bit about your own journey with weight loss and getting healthy?

From the beginning, I was always a heavy-ish child. Even my uncle liked to playfully call me bubble-butt (Grrr…I hated that).

As I entered high school , I started looking at myself differently, probably like every other teenage girl. I met this guy and my self-esteem changed. (Isn’t it that how it all starts?) He constantly compared me to his ex and bragged about her being a size 5 and blah, blah, blah. Jerk. I showed him! I went from 135 pounds down to 107 pounds! AND I became a size 3! WOW!!! TAKE THAT!!! And now I will be dumping you…

Shortly after that, at age 16, I got pregnant. (I know, very young but this is my life and I would never change that part!)

Well in those very terrifying months I gained 52 pounds!! I heard you are supposed to eat for two so I did! Even after I had my baby girl, I still gained even more weight. I could never take off the weight.

In that time, I was introduced to the cabbage soup diet, the grapefruit diet (AND I HATE GRAPEFRUIT WITH A PASSION BUT I DID IT TO LOSE WEIGHT!), a plethora of diet pills that made me nervous and jittery, Slimfast and a few others including the NO FOOD diet. That one wasn’t so fun. I took some weight off with most of these. But never for long.

At 23, I got pregnant with my second child. I learned that you do not eat for two but I thought it was still “acceptable” to eat more. Like for one and a half, maybe?? So I ended up gaining about 35 pounds.

After my first son was born, I was determined to take that extra weight off and aim for more since I had climbed over 200 pounds at this point. (I believe I was around 215 pounds then.) This time I got a bit smarter though. Just a bit… I reduced my calories and ate regular meals and filled up on veggies and fruit and ate low fat and all the things you think are “good for you”. I pretty much ate the same thing every single day though. I kept a food diary which seemed to be the greatest help in that journey.

I exercised a fair amount. There was a “mini” gym of sorts at the hotel I worked at so I utilized that about 3-4 times a week. (And by mini gym, I mean a treadmill that I never used, a stationary bike that I used maybe twice, a “Gazelle” that I used every time with the Tony Little DVD and a Bowflex that I didn’t even know how to use but sure as hell tried.) In 3 months time, I lost 40 pounds!! I was down to 175 pounds!

This was great!! I had this. I was going to keep going and going and uh, oh…

Gall stones. (This is somewhat common for people that lose a bunch of weight in a short amount of time.) I had no idea until they were scheduling me for emergency gall bladder removal surgery. So really, that was pretty much the end of the real physical activity for me for a while.

Fast forward then to age 30. (I didn’t do much for those 7 years as far as losing or gaining.) I got pregnant with my third and this time literally only gained 12 pounds which was 7 pound baby and all the “fluids”. So I learned by my third child that you continue to eat “normal”. But ironically I was still the heaviest I had ever been. Until…

ENTER THE LAST SIX MONTHS….

I have been unemployed since February. I became a stay at home mom for my youngest. This is when I put myself into “vacation mode” FULL TIME! Soda, snacking, more soda, heavy calorie-laden foods. No physical activity short of coming downstairs in the morning and going upstairs at night and trips to the kitchen. And oh yeah, showering every couple days. My life was quite sad…

So here I was. A 32 year old mother of 3. Now I know 32 is not old but I was starting to see “middle age” coming quicker than I expected and wanted. And even the possibility of premature death was more real than I was comfortable with.

April 1, 2012 was the day I decided I would try to quit smoking. Being that I was a pack a day (sometimes more) smoker for 15 years I knew this was going to be tough. It was a routine. A habit. An escape. A reward. A reason for a break. A tension reliever. Heck, even a social activity. Point is, it was a very important part of my life. And it was going to be THE hardest thing I have ever had to do. With the help of Chantix, I smoked my very last cigarette on April 13, 2012. I was quite proud of myself. Marking the hours to the days to the weeks to the months. I thought I am going to be so healthy now.

I went to my doctor and agreed to a full battery of tests to check my health. I thought since I quit smoking I’ve got this in the bag! Well…

You want to test my cholesterol? Unnecessary at my age but you would like to anyway? Sure. Why not? Mine should be fine… I was dead wrong. My HDL was high and my LDL was low and my triglycerides (I think that’s what they were called) were something else. Gosh I cannot remember but it was not good! This was in May. It still didn’t “turn me around” yet but I did not sit comfortably with it. So what did I do?

I BOUGHT A BOX OF MULTIGRAIN CHEERIOS. BUT nothing else changed. And guess what? Even though I bought that box of “lower your cholesterol” goodness, that box remained unopened on top of my fridge. But I still felt good that I “was” going to do something about my cholesterol.

Some day. Let me tell you, not from a experience but just a guess… it would be really hard to reach for that box of Cheerios if I was busy gripping my chest and dialing 9-1-1 at the same time. So no, they probably were not going to save my life. Neither was that fish oil. Which I never bought but the store coupon for ” Buy 1 Get 1 FREE” fish oil was held on by a chicken magnet to my fridge. Funny how my life “hangs in the balance” around my fridge, huh? Boy that’s the TRUTH!

2. Finding the Motivation: What is your big WHY for losing weight and getting healthy? How do you stay motivated?

Since becoming unemployed, I spent all day long in my living room, on the couch. I was given a Kindle Fire as a gift from my husband. This is where I was going to make an art out of sitting!! I mastered all the Angry Bird levels and games. I could sit on Facebook all the time (THAT WAS MY SOCIAL LIFE) and I could find countless numbers of E-books online. This was the life!! The fridge and the couch were maybe 20 steps apart from each other so that was my exercise. I didn’t leave the house for three to four days at a time. THEN something happened. Something rather embarrassing…

One day, I tried to go to the bathroom. I did this almost everyday but this day, I couldn’t. As much as I wanted to, I couldn’t. This was scary. Very scary. And painful. I felt so “backed up” that I could barely walk! I took doses and doses of Milk of Magnesia and 48 hours went by and nothing. Oh my goodness!! Would I have to go into the emergency room for help??? This cannot be happening to me!!! This was so devastating and to even think of going to a medical professional and having to explain in real words, I mean, say the ACTUAL words of what was wrong with me… I would rather DIE!!! How would I be able to hold onto any dignity????? On a Saturday, three days later I was able to finally “go”. What a relief! In more ways than one for sure. So that weekend I sat and analyzed what  I was doing wrong (and if I could prevent that from happening ever again!)

So here was me on June 16, 2012: BMI was at 42% and my body fat percentage was 52%!!! Standing at 5’5″ and I weighed the heaviest I have ever weighed. A very unimpressive 257.4 lbs. I didn’t really eat a lot. Well I didn’t think I did. There were many days I only ate one meal a day but would snack snack snack without even realizing what I was shoving in my mouth. And my serving sizes were thru the roof!!! Why did I ever think I should eat just as much as my 300 pound husband?? Frankly the meals I did eat were absolute crap!! And I never, ever drank a drop of water. I was going in a downward spiral with my life. ENOUGH IS ENOUGH!!!!!!!

I was on my Kindle and on a Facebook page that offered free E-books. I ran into this free book titled “Eating For Weight Loss (How to Lose 100 Pounds)”. Hmmmm. Maybe that was the key? I thought, ‘It’s free. Why not?’ So Saturday evening I read it. All the way through. I did not put my Kindle down. And what I read… clicked! It was so common sense but I finally got it! I GOT IT!!

3. Goals and Planning: Are you setting goals for yourself? Please share with us where you are at with your own goal setting and any tips that you might have for this planning process.

I know it is very unrealistic and unhealthy to take off say, 100 pounds in six months. I also know that for me, I have stretched my skin to some overwhelming limits that it would be very wise for my body to lose weight slower in order for my skin to bounce back. And losing weight slowly is fine with me! “Slow and steady wins the race”.

I also know that I will never submit to another “diet” again. I want to learn how to eat for the rest of my life that isn’t going to be impossible to follow and will not bore me to tears. My point is not to get skinny but to get healthy! I know that if I change my ways and do what is good for my body, then the looking “good” will follow.

As far as putting a number down, I have done some research and know that a healthy weight for me is around 144-149 pounds. So the end result for me would be 108-113 pounds to lose. As far as writing on the calendar, set in stone goals for weight loss, I have not really set any for myself. What is more important to me is changing how I live and what I eat and getting my bad cholesterol down and my good cholesterol up! If I stick to that plan, I am sure being lighter on the scale will follow! I am also more interested in setting physical goals for myself. This coming from a girl who would avoid any physical exertion further than reaching for the remote and sometimes that was iffy.

I will admit though, it would be great to wear smaller, cuter clothes and to be able to get out of the plus size department!!

4. Eating for Weight Loss: Are you following a specific diet or food plan? Any tips for how you deal with challenges in this area?

“DIET? Diet is a 4 letter word… ??? This is about a new lifestyle! ???” … Quote on MyFitnessPal Profile page

There is no specific diet I am following. If anybody asks me if I am dieting, I am not. This is a life change. Anything had to be better than what I was consuming. At first I was just measuring and weighing food and learning that I had a major problem with portion distortion. I stuck with whatever food we had in the house but just eating smaller portions. As I was doing this and learning about proper nutrition, I found myself making better choices. Forgoing the fast foods and “convenience” foods and purposely eliminating all trans fat from my diet.

I also stopped drinking my calories. No more “juices”, no more soda, no more empty calories! A great majority of my liquids came from pure 100% H2O!!  I was preparing foods fresh for the first time. I was creating recipes for foods I loved and making them healthier. With the food tracking I was doing online, I was learning a lot about the food I was putting into my body. The calories, the difference between saturated fat and unsaturated (good for your cholesterol) fat, the importance of having potassium in your diet and the importance of restricting sodium, the importance of fiber and sugars and finally the balance of fats, carbohydrates and protein and the good things they do for your body.

Mostly I learned that you must “eat to live, NOT live to eat”! I also learned the importance of NOT starving yourself. That is just as bad as over indulging. That is such a common mistake. You must eat to keep your metabolism going but you must eat the right foods. A calorie is still a calorie and in the end its all about creating a calorie deficit to lose.

For me, it’s not about eating to fit into skinny jeans. It is about being fit and healthy and I am using foods to help me!

5. Exercise for Weight Loss: Do you have an exercise plan currently? Please share your own exercise plan and any tips that you think could be useful for others.

You CAN lose weight with diet alone. But this is what I learned… You eat a proper diet to look good in clothes. But if you want to look good naked, you must exercise!

In Paula’s book she mentioned different websites that may be helpful. Some included calorie tracking sites, which is what I was interested in since it worked for me in the past. One that stuck out to me and that I had heard about from former co-workers was My Fitness Pal. So that next morning, I signed up. I wrote out my profile and started tracking calories and my exercises.

I gained fitness pals (like Facebook friends) and read through a bunch of forums. I quit playing games on my Kindle but instead “educated” myself from many resources available on how to get healthy. (There is a lot out there and you cannot believe them all!) And because of Paula’s generosity, I was able to read each one of her books either for free or for a reduced price. (She listed these deals on amazon.com.) So I read them all.

But most importantly, I got off my butt!!!!

I started out getting up early in the morning to go for walks. This was different for me because while I wasn’t working, I slept in until 10:00, sometimes even past 11:00 every morning. But now I was setting my alarm to get up at 6:30 or 7:00 and would go walking every day. I would do a route away from the house and then back. This covered a bit more than a mile. I often would push the stroller with my youngest and my 8 year old walking right along with me. We would do this same route just about every day for 45-50 minutes a day.

Every time I would go though, I would find myself getting a little quicker and my endurance would increase. My 8 year old was less able to keep up with me and didn’t want to go as fast as me so he would push the stroller around the house while I went a little faster. Soon I was doing this walk in 30-40 minutes. So I increased my distance by a bit. And then getting faster and faster.

July 1, 2012, I set a goal to start a program called “Couch to 5k” (c25k). Now this program incorporated running. RUNNING?? Well I tried. I lasted 15 seconds and I wanted to die. I mean it! It was so painful and my body said STOP IT!! The second interval came up and I DID IT!!! A full 60 seconds!! Then the third interval, I lasted about 45 seconds. The final interval I did 35 seconds but I was still reeling from that I could actually run! I completed it and I threw my hands in the air and smiled and said out loud…” I DID IT!” This was the greatest day for me!! The next day I completed all of the 60 second intervals and I have not quit on a run yet. As of today I can run up to 5 minutes!!

On August 12, I completed my first “Virtual 5k”. I was able to walk/run 3.11 miles in 37 minutes and 29 seconds. Now remember, my first 1+ mile walk took me almost 50 minutes!!

I incorporate cardio through my walking and running and recently have started Jillian Michael’s 30 Day Shred for cardio, strength and toning. While her video is challenging, I find that it is not impossible. I actually love it and cannot wait to try her other videos!!

One thing I find is I strive to continually challenge myself. My husband and I went for a 10 mile hike in a beautiful scenic area. It took us four hours but it was worth it. I plan to try to find a challenging hiking spot at least once a month. And when racing season starts again next summer, I plan on participating in as many 5k’s as I can in this area. Perhaps work my way up to 10k’s? Half marathon? A MARATHON? Perhaps a triathlon!! Who knows…

All I know is how great physical activity makes me feel. Proud. Exhilarated. Satisfied. Happy. Full of energy. No one has ever regretted exercise!! And I know I could never feel this way sitting on my couch! I have noticed on days when I don’t get some kind of physical activity, I lack energy and feel a little off all day. Sometimes even depressed and emotional.

There was another major milestone for me… Because I was exercising and eating right, I finally, for the first time in my life fell asleep at night in record time! We’re talking in as little as five minutes but usually just under twenty minutes. And not because I am physically exhausted or anything but because I can relax that much now. That never, in my life, happened to me ever. It always took me an hour, sometimes up to three hours to fall asleep. EVERY NIGHT! And stay asleep? Forget it!

But now, I sleep LIKE A ROCK! My doc prescribed me Ambien and muscle relaxers for RLS back in April and that didn’t even help me!! No kidding! It is amazing what exercise can do. It is my new caffeine, my new anti-depressant and my new sleeping pill. I don’t ever want to look back and struggle with these issues ever again! AND I WON’T!!

6. Getting Back on Track (after a gain or just starting out): What words of advice do you have for others who may be struggling to forgive past attempts at weight loss or for those who are just trying to get started? Is there anything else you would like to share?

I don’t have a lot of advice per se seeing as I just started this journey. I am no expert. But I do know what works for me. What is working for me is NOT to be on a “diet” but to change how I eat. I do not plan to deprive myself but I will no longer over indulge. Proportion distortion was my biggest setback. I will not forbid any kind of food but I do find myself making smarter choices. I know that accounting for everything I put in my mouth will help keep me in check.

Connecting with others who have gone thru what I have gone thru and who have the same goals will be as important as anything that will help in my success. This was why I joined My Fitness Pal. It is similar to Facebook in some ways. I also have connected to many others on Facebook that have the same goals in mind- health and fitness. (Paula’s Facebook page was the first FB page I connected with!) It keeps me motivated and also teaches me from others experiences.

One thing that pushes me daily and challenges me too was my Fitbit. It is pricey but it has helped me much like a motivational coach would. It keeps track of everything physical I do and tells me how many calories I burn, consume, and even how long I sleep. I don’t think I could live without it!

When Paula asked me if she could write about me being an “inspiration” to her. I thought, ‘ME? But I haven’t lost a bunch of weight! Why would she want to “highlight” me?’ As I write this, I have lost a little over twenty pounds and still have at least eighty some pounds to go. But now I think I know why! Weight loss is not about the end result. It is about the journey. What it took to get there and especially what it took to get you off your butt in the first place. I read this quote when I first started out and it touched me more than anything! “You don’t have to be great to start but you have to start to be great.” That is exactly it. Just start and you WILL find your greatness!

If anyone is on myfitnesspal, you can find me here. And you can add me on facebook as well.

Thank you for reading this.

Paula tells me that I have inspired her. I am so humbled. In all irony, it was her that got me off my couch and set me on this new, wonderful journey. Thank you my lovely, wonderful, inspiring friend Paula! You have saved my life!!! From the bottom of my heart, I thank you and love you! 🙂

Angie

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A note from Paula…

A BIG thank you to Angie for taking the time to share so much with us all. You are super sweet and I am sending much love back to you my friend! 🙂

I’m so happy she is a part of the Facebook page/community and is an inspiration to me and so many others.

My hope is that you would comment below with words of encouragement for Angie and also share a bit of your own “story” with us all.

Much love,

~ Paula

P.S. Please join us at the Facebook page – I’d love to “meet” you! 🙂