120 pound weight loss "light bulb" moment story
mandiemma
Posts: 128 Member
My friend, who is 5' tall and was 275 pounds, lost over 120 pounds so i asked her how she did it and this is her story...
Her Story:
March 27th, 2008: a student looked me dead in the face and said, "you're fat, you're getting fatter, and you're going to die".
March 28th, 2008: sign up to the gym.
This was an incredibly hectic time for me, with working like 50 - 60 hours / week. However, something just went "off" in my head, and I started make more time for preparing my food, which I did twice a week. I prepared 2 cooked dishes, made 3 or 4 sandwiches, had healthy yogurts, made 5 fruit and 5 veggie bags cut up, and had on hand boiled eggs and fruit and nuts packages. I made sure to spend between 3 - 4 hours a week making sure I had food ready at all times. I made this time by watching less tv and wasting less time. For me, i wasted an incredible amount of time.
I also decided to not only start going to the gym 5 - 6 times a week, but to start walking places. On days I didn't go to the gym, I walked from my house to the University. It took me 1 hour and 15 minutes. I then walked between all of my private after-work lessons. On average, I was walking between 1.5 - 3 hours a day. That first year, I lost 75 lbs. As you can remember, my social life took a big hit. It was a sacrifice I was willing to make.
Since leaving Vancouver in August 2009 until today, February 2012, I've only lost 25 pounds. These past 3 years have revolved around a psychotic gaining and losing of 10 lbs here and 10 lbs there. I became (and still sometimes am) manic about food. I'll eat so ****ty for 30 days and then feel so guilty that I go on a total clean kick for 60 days, then fall off the wagon again. The one thing I have continued to do, which I see as my big help, was joining exercise classes I really love. I've been doing bootcamp-circuit type classes since march 2008 and the level of social fun and support they provide have kept me returning back to trying to be healthy.
Living in Korea has been an endless mind f***. I came in Jan. 2010 and went from 155lbs - 175 lbs in one year. I hated myself. It was made even worse by frequently being told that i'm pretty but fat. I gained a much healthier attitude towards my body when i moved out of the small city and into Seoul, where there is a lot more cultural / size diversity. I noticed that, when among other people who were fat, skinny, black, asian, white, I wasn't as obsessed with being imperfect because there was more than 1 definition of perfect. Yet, I have to say that I also struggled with my weight this past year because with Seoul came a lot more partying, drinking, and eating.
Jan. 11th, I had liposuction surgery on my legs. The amount of weight they removed was only 2.5 kgs. Nothing, right? Yet, I've noticed that I've been getting skinnier. Why?
a) to be frank, the 10 days after surgery was total and complete hell. It was a pain that I was neither informed about, nor prepared for. Remember the pain has caused me to seriously consider what I'm putting into my mouth.
b) the cost of $7000 dollars is a bitter pill to swallow. When I want to eat, I remember how hard I had to work for that money
c) I watched the documentary "FOOD MATTERS" (you can find it on youtube easily) and I decided that changing my food choices to healthy, mostly veggie / fruit based diet is the best option for me. I try to eat fish twice a week and meat twice a week, but in very small quantities - at most 2-3 ounces per meal. In addition, I've switched to organic fruits and veggies and dairies. I know this sounds crazy, but the psychotic yearning for processed **** is no longer there. I dont know if it's a placebo, if I'm convincing myself, but for the past 3 week, since i've started to eat mostly organic and high fiber / fruit / veggie diet, i've noticed that so much has changed.
- cravings for crap food is virtually gone (a student brought 8 donuts yesterday. They each had 2. There were 2 sitting in front of me. I didnt' even want one. THe katina of december would have eaten them without even thinking about it).
- my hair / skin is brighter
- my energy is higher
- i haven't smoked for almost 50 days
- my toilet adventures are less smelly and generally look healthier (crazy, right?)
- my sleeping is consistent
I dont know what to say except, March 28th was a pivotal day for me. I made a commitment to myself - - I told myself that I got this way because of social factors that have contributed to my weight gain, and that I would stop blaming myself, hating myself, punishing myself and start being healthy. It has been a 4 year struggle, with the middle 2.5 years being a psychotic mess. The only secret is time - - you must make time to exercise every day and you must make time to prepare whole, healthy foods that your body needs. You must also look at all that emotional stuff that has caused you to gain weight.
I truly believe that, yes, people who are fat are responsible and should take responsibility, but I also think there is an industry that purposefully keeps us fat, and there are social / familial / cultural / media factors that are equally as responsible for keeping us fat.
**End**
I don't know if this will help anyone or will start an MFP war, but I thought I would share her story in the hopes that maybe this will help someone with their "light bulb" moment....
Her Story:
March 27th, 2008: a student looked me dead in the face and said, "you're fat, you're getting fatter, and you're going to die".
March 28th, 2008: sign up to the gym.
This was an incredibly hectic time for me, with working like 50 - 60 hours / week. However, something just went "off" in my head, and I started make more time for preparing my food, which I did twice a week. I prepared 2 cooked dishes, made 3 or 4 sandwiches, had healthy yogurts, made 5 fruit and 5 veggie bags cut up, and had on hand boiled eggs and fruit and nuts packages. I made sure to spend between 3 - 4 hours a week making sure I had food ready at all times. I made this time by watching less tv and wasting less time. For me, i wasted an incredible amount of time.
I also decided to not only start going to the gym 5 - 6 times a week, but to start walking places. On days I didn't go to the gym, I walked from my house to the University. It took me 1 hour and 15 minutes. I then walked between all of my private after-work lessons. On average, I was walking between 1.5 - 3 hours a day. That first year, I lost 75 lbs. As you can remember, my social life took a big hit. It was a sacrifice I was willing to make.
Since leaving Vancouver in August 2009 until today, February 2012, I've only lost 25 pounds. These past 3 years have revolved around a psychotic gaining and losing of 10 lbs here and 10 lbs there. I became (and still sometimes am) manic about food. I'll eat so ****ty for 30 days and then feel so guilty that I go on a total clean kick for 60 days, then fall off the wagon again. The one thing I have continued to do, which I see as my big help, was joining exercise classes I really love. I've been doing bootcamp-circuit type classes since march 2008 and the level of social fun and support they provide have kept me returning back to trying to be healthy.
Living in Korea has been an endless mind f***. I came in Jan. 2010 and went from 155lbs - 175 lbs in one year. I hated myself. It was made even worse by frequently being told that i'm pretty but fat. I gained a much healthier attitude towards my body when i moved out of the small city and into Seoul, where there is a lot more cultural / size diversity. I noticed that, when among other people who were fat, skinny, black, asian, white, I wasn't as obsessed with being imperfect because there was more than 1 definition of perfect. Yet, I have to say that I also struggled with my weight this past year because with Seoul came a lot more partying, drinking, and eating.
Jan. 11th, I had liposuction surgery on my legs. The amount of weight they removed was only 2.5 kgs. Nothing, right? Yet, I've noticed that I've been getting skinnier. Why?
a) to be frank, the 10 days after surgery was total and complete hell. It was a pain that I was neither informed about, nor prepared for. Remember the pain has caused me to seriously consider what I'm putting into my mouth.
b) the cost of $7000 dollars is a bitter pill to swallow. When I want to eat, I remember how hard I had to work for that money
c) I watched the documentary "FOOD MATTERS" (you can find it on youtube easily) and I decided that changing my food choices to healthy, mostly veggie / fruit based diet is the best option for me. I try to eat fish twice a week and meat twice a week, but in very small quantities - at most 2-3 ounces per meal. In addition, I've switched to organic fruits and veggies and dairies. I know this sounds crazy, but the psychotic yearning for processed **** is no longer there. I dont know if it's a placebo, if I'm convincing myself, but for the past 3 week, since i've started to eat mostly organic and high fiber / fruit / veggie diet, i've noticed that so much has changed.
- cravings for crap food is virtually gone (a student brought 8 donuts yesterday. They each had 2. There were 2 sitting in front of me. I didnt' even want one. THe katina of december would have eaten them without even thinking about it).
- my hair / skin is brighter
- my energy is higher
- i haven't smoked for almost 50 days
- my toilet adventures are less smelly and generally look healthier (crazy, right?)
- my sleeping is consistent
I dont know what to say except, March 28th was a pivotal day for me. I made a commitment to myself - - I told myself that I got this way because of social factors that have contributed to my weight gain, and that I would stop blaming myself, hating myself, punishing myself and start being healthy. It has been a 4 year struggle, with the middle 2.5 years being a psychotic mess. The only secret is time - - you must make time to exercise every day and you must make time to prepare whole, healthy foods that your body needs. You must also look at all that emotional stuff that has caused you to gain weight.
I truly believe that, yes, people who are fat are responsible and should take responsibility, but I also think there is an industry that purposefully keeps us fat, and there are social / familial / cultural / media factors that are equally as responsible for keeping us fat.
**End**
I don't know if this will help anyone or will start an MFP war, but I thought I would share her story in the hopes that maybe this will help someone with their "light bulb" moment....
0
Replies
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OH absolutely THERE ARE SOCIAL FACTORS.
sOCIAL CONTAGION.
Google social contagion and Framington. It's something I stumbled onto when I was googling epidemic of obesity. I had seen this social contagion idea mentioned on an irish website (safefood.eu) and I am fascinated with the idea.0 -
ps, the best way to make healthy living 'spread' is to encourage not a FRIEND, but a friend of a friend, as this spreads the effect.0
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ps, the best way to make healthy living 'spread' is to encourage not a FRIEND, but a friend of a friend, as this spreads the effect.
here's a link about the effects of social contagion on obesity levels. it's very interesting stuff (imo)
http://www.fas.harvard.edu/home/content/obesity-rate-will-reach-least-42-say-models-social-contagion0 -
very interesting MaggiePuccini!0
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