nana4

  I have spent a lot of time reflecting on my weight loss journey the past few days!  When I first joined Buddyslim, I was at my wits end! I had been overweight most of my adult life. I knew I was overweight, but I was still shocked when I saw the pictures from my oldest son’s wedding. When I looked at those pictures of me, I was like who is that fat woman? I was like is that me? That woman was not the person I wanted to be.  The next process for me was to figure out how I was going to lose weight. I had tried so many diets over the years. With most of them I had lost weight, but then gained it all back plus!  I was horrified when I stepped on the scales and saw my weight was 310 pounds. I knew in order for me to lose weight I needed some support. I knew that I was not going to get the support I needed from my family. I Googled, weight loss and support, and I found many weight loss sites, but I decided to join Buddyslim.  At first I decided to just cut back and see how that would work. Then I found a book called the Carb Addicts Diet. I lost weight very well with that for a long time. With the knowledge I was obtaining, as I was on this journey, I realized in order to obtain good health, I needed to eat more nutritionally. I counted calories for a while trying to stay within 1200-1500 calories a day. I then realized I needed to actually measure my food. My perception of a serving was not right. Then I found out that journaling my food was the only way I actually could stick to my plan.  I have always been an emotional eater, and I could use anything for an excuse to over eat! I would eat if I were happy, sad or mad! You name it was an excuse! Although I am no longer the Queen of excuses, I still do it more than I would like. Lately I have found although I am under a lot of stress, I have been managing my emotional eating better. I think it is because while a lot of the things causing me stress are beyond my control eating right is something I can control! Right now I am using the Zig Zag Diet (one of my buddies gave me the information for this one). I journal my food, and most days I journal my thoughts too, this helps me to understand if I slip up why I did it. When I began this journey 2 ½ years ago, I thought I would have reached my goal by now. I am not disappointed that I didn’t. It has been a learning experience for me. I think if I had lost the weight faster I would have just gained it all back, like my past diet days! I have learned this is not a quick fix! This is a lifestyle change. I think I can realistically lose the rest of my weight and reach my goal this year. It is baby steps! Slow and steady wins the race! I am not saying I won’t slip and fall, what I am saying is, if I do I will forgive myself and get up dust myself off and begin again!It is because of the love, support, motivation and inspiration of my buddies that I am still here! It is because I have friends who understand me, and what I am trying to accomplish! We are in this together, and we will succeed! Big HUGS!