How I “myth busted” my way to 85 pounds lighter ! Pics included

CJBasque1977 wrote: »

Hi Fitness Pals! I’ve recently hit the 85 lbs lost mark. I’ve gone from a size 22 to a size 10 in the last year. I’ve lost 12 inches around my hips, waist and chest areas. I still have some work to do. But I’ve decided the scale is no longer the main concern.

My new goal is exercise – I need to be more consistent with strength training.
As I focus on new goals, I thought I would share some of my lessons learned from the first part of my journey. I’m no expert – but I hope that some of these thoughts will help anyone else kickstart their journey.

I can’t eat carbs – Sure some carbs are bad for you. But avoiding them completely kept me on the perpetual yo-yo diet hamster wheel. I wouldn’t eat carrots because they had too much “sugar”.
Here’s what I’ve learned –
• Eat fruit and whole grains – just watch the portion size
• Stay away from over processed white flour most of the time
• Does the food have any nutritional value? No? Then don’t eat it
• Eat them before 4pm
• Quinoa is awesome

I don’t have any willpower – I used to believe that my problem was that I didn’t have enough willpower to avoid overeating or “bad” foods. This meant restricting my calories so much during the day and then being so famished at dinner that I would probably eat twice my daily calories! And then I would continue to snack at night while watching tv. Turns out, when I allow myself to eat something of substance at breakfast and lunch, it’s incredibly easy not to overeat at dinner. And I never snack at night anymore! I had it backwards for so many years!

I can eat as much as I want as long as I exercise – No, that’s called maintaining! Yes, exercise is important. For many, many reasons. But nutrition is 80% of the battle. I may have days where work and life get in the way of exercising, but I can always control what I consume. If I don’t overeat, then I don’t have to worry about burning it off.

I can’t do that – I said that about so many things. But that’s because I wanted to do everything perfectly from the beginning. The best example is: I can’t run! Well of course, I couldn’t run 5k my first time out. I needed to work at it. The important thing was to start. C25K is awesome by the way!

I can do this on my own – That may have been true. I had the knowledge but couldn’t stick with it. If I could have done it on my own, I would have. Asking for help and signing out for a weight loss program held me accountable so I would make smatter choices when faced with an obstacle – whether emotional or physical.

I’m always looking for supportive friends and would love to support you with your goals! Feel free to add me.

2009 vs 2015


My wedding dress - August 2010 vs August 2015



My first meeting with my weight loss counsellor - August 19 2014


Just climbed a mountain - September 2015