And the Metamorphosis Begins...

I will always remember July 14, 2010 as the day the metamorphosis began.

Not the most important transformation...that occurred in my early 20s when I began a life-long relationship with the God who knows me completely and loves me anyway. That day truly changed my life...not just changed my life, but saved my life.

But on July 14th, the physical metamorphosis toward health and a commitment to treat this temple that God has given me with the respect and love that it deserves was born.

When I got up that day, I really didn't intend on taking this on.  Believe me, there have been countless Mondays over the last couple of decades that I declared "this is the day!"  This day in July wasn't even a Monday...it was Wednesday.

I logged on to my computer when I got up to check my email and see what occured in the world while I was sleeping.  As I logged onto AIM, the AOL homepage popped up and I saw a headline about a guy who lost over 200 lbs. and never ate a salad.  I'm not sure why I was so intrigued because I happen to love salad, but something made me click on that link.

That's when I met Sean Anderson. He's become a very good friend even though we've never met.  The article related his journey from 505 lbs. to where he is today...just 13 lbs. away from his goal of 230 lbs.  It was an inspiring story and the article included a link to Sean's blog and I decided I needed to learn more about this guy.

And that's when my life changed.  Sean is a real down-to-earth guy who decided to do something radical before his obesity killed him.  He had this unbelieveable diet plan.  You're really not going to believe it.  Are you ready?  He decided he was going to eat less and exercise more.  You read it here, friends!  Eat less and exercise more!

I know...that's crazy sauce, right?  People need more than that to lose weight.  You have to have some kind of master plan...a meal replacement plan, or prepared meals plan, or low carb, high protein plan, or some kind of magic pill plan, or a lapband, stomach stapling plan.  Eat less and exercise more?  Come on!

But it's genius, really.  And it's changing my life.  Sean decided that he had to live in a world full of food.  And any diet plan that required you to do anything other than eat like a normal, regular person was doomed to fail.  Because you can't stay on something like that forever. It's unsustainable.  Invariably, people gain back what they've lost and then some because eventually they have to face food.  Believe me...I speak from experience!

So the idea is to allow yourself 1500 calories per day, and you can spend them however you want.  No special food...no forbidden food. If you want 1500 calories in Snickers bars, that's your choice to make.  But that's all you get for the day.  When you've emptied your calorie bank, you're done for the day.

I've been doing this since July 14th and it's been beyond amazing.  I've already learned so much about portion control and good calorie values.  I can honestly say that I have been very rarely hungry and more often than not, I leave calories on the table at the end of the day. I set up my food journal in an excel spreadsheet and it calculates for me automatically.  I've researched the calorie content of many of my favorite things and have entered those in my spreadsheet, as well. Even restaurants are not off limits.  So many of them make their nutrition available online...it's awesome!  Bill and I went to Red Lobster for lunch on Sunday after enjoying a fantastic movie.  Because I did a little research beforehand, I was able to enjoy a fantastic, filling Broiled Seafood Platter for only 280 calories. Without that research, though, there were many things on that menu with HUGE portions and ridiculous calorie counts that no one should be eating!

The other part of my metamorphosis is to move.  Exercise has not been a part of my life because, frankly, moving with all this extra weight is pretty difficult. My knees hurt on stairs and I wouldn't have to do much before I would become out of breath. But I've made a commitment to move, and while I know it will take time to undue all these years of abusing this temple, I will take it one day at a time and move. I'm walking more and my fantastic husband will be assembling my new recumbent bike very soon.

Two other things...I'm drinking lots and lots of water and am actually enjoying it.  Who knew?  And I'm also trying to understand myself and my relationship with food because I do believe that so much of this struggle is between me, myself, and I.

I am reading my buddy Sean's blog from the beginning of his journey and I'm finding him to be beyond inspiring.  Sean began his blog as a way to understand himself and to keep himself accountable.  It's a fabulous idea, and it's why I'm doing it, too.  Whether anyone reads this or not, I believe I'll learn something new about myself with every post.

I'm not too big on photos, but I may be sorry later if I don't post some here.  I really despise looking at pictures of myself, and for that reason, very few exist.  I'll think about that and we'll see.  And I'm pretty sure I don't want to post my weight here.  Can't quite face that.  It was hard enough to weigh myself...I really didn't want to know.  But it's just a number, and it's already one that I'll never see again.  I'm not going to set a goal.  I'm going to lose weight until I know I've lost enough.  I'm weighing every Monday, and to date, I've lost 15.5 lbs.  I am beyond thrilled because I know I've been making healthy choices and I feel great!

So thanks for reading!!  If you want to be inspired by Sean's success and his beautiful outlook on life, you can check him out at http://losingweighteveryday.blogspot.com/. 

God bless you...