Weight Loss Inspiration

How do you get inspired? I love hearing personal stories of weight loss success. I met“Cleveland Mom”through the blogosphere and asked her to share the story of her journey, which is still in progress, with me.

I hope it inspires you as much as it inspires me.

(image: Cleveland Mom and Baby)

Rebecca: You dropped two dress sizes in two years. How did you do it?

Cleveland Mom: I was at my heaviest when I found out I was pregnant in November of 2005, and knew that I didn’t want to gain more than the 15-20 pounds that are advised for someone who is overweight. Do to the typical first trimester nausea it was easier to maintain some sort of a diet because I couldn’t eat much. Plus I was becoming better aware of what I was eating and started focusing more on eating whole grains and milk and with the exception of the weekly trip to our local ice cream shop I didn’t eat too terribly, and tried to exercise a bit more. I was able to lose 10 pounds by the end of my first trimester. Once it warmed up (since I live in Cleveland) I started going out for walks a lot with friends who lived nearby. So, I was able to keep my weight gain down to 20 pounds above the weight I’d started at when I got pregnant (30 pounds in all) and avoided issues like gestational diabetes.

After having our son in August of 2006, I continued to go for lots of walks, now with our son in a baby sling or his stroller. Since I was home on maternity leave I would walk to the grocery store everyday instead of driving. Breastfeeding also helped me to drop some of the baby weight, but also kept me paying attention to what I was eating. By the time I returned to work 3 months later I was able to wear my pre-pregnancy clothes.

I’ve then probably gained and lost the same five pounds. In December a new doctor I saw had the guts to tell me I needed to try to lose weight and recommended 5 pounds per month. Plus my husband, our son and I were taking a long vacation to Hawaii at the end of January. In about a month I worked out a lot before work and paid attention to my diet, I began eating a large granola bar for breakfast and soup for lunch, and I’d eat whatever for dinner, but since my stomach was getting smaller I had the desire to eat less. I lost 10 pounds prior to leaving for Hawaii, and since then have managed to keep it off. I figure, that’s my ten pounds for this year, if I can maintain that then next year I can work on modifying my lifestyle a small amount to lose 10 more. I continue to walk and am now using the Wii Fit several times a week, so if I lose more weight this year, then that’s great, but I can’t beat myself up about it.

Ultimately for me, it was about small modifications in my lifestyle. Being a little less sedentary, trying to eat more whole grains and paying attention to processed foods and avoiding them when I can…and eating less at the food court near work helps too!

Rebecca: Describe a typical day for you before you lost the weight and then after.

Cleveland Mom: Before, I would come home from sitting at a desk all day and I would sit on the couch either on my computer or watching TV. Now, and it certainly helps that I have a 2 year old to run after, I don’t watch much TV, and the shows that I do watch I typically record and then watch later while I ride an exercise bike that I have in the house.

Rebecca: What is your strongest motivator?

Cleveland Mom: My 2 year old and wanting to be around for him. And I can tell that my husband is happier with my appearance.

Rebecca: What is your weight management philosophy?

Cleveland Mom: It took me 6 years to gain 60 pounds, ten pounds per year, so if it takes me 6 years to lose it, that’s ok.

Rebecca: If you could give someone thinking of losing weight advice, what would it be?

Cleveland Mom: Try little changes in your lifestyle and see if that works. If you are stuck in a cold weather climate part of the year, purposely go out of the house on Saturdays, to the mall, a museum, anywhere you can walk around for awhile without really thinking about it. Look at ingredients in food when you buy them and learn just one or two key ingredients to look for and one or two ingredients to avoid. You don’t have to memorize a whole list of good and bad things, just start with a couple of easy ones to remember. For example, I try to avoid foods with enriched flour and high fructose corn syrup when it’s possible. I look for foods where one of the first ingredients is whole grain flour and those that use fruit juice or other natural sweetener. I also use a lot of olive oil when I can when cooking versus any other type of oil.

Also, if you work in an office where you sit all day, try parking at the other end of the parking lot/garage, especially if it’s in a garage where you aren’t dealing with the elements. Depending on how far you have to walk, that can easily add in two 10-15 minute walks to your day. I think that’s helped me as well to get in a little extra exercise each day.

Rebecca: Is there anything else you would like to share?

Cleveland Mom: People really shouldn’t beat themselves up. In order to lose weight effectively, we need to love ourselves first and examine how and why it is that we gained weight in the first place. And we should do it not in order to look like supermodels, but because it helps us to avoid heart disease, diabetes, some cancers, gall stones, stroke, sleep apnea, and high blood pressure.