I think anyone with a weight problem knows how hard it is to get it under control. The most important thing is that you eventually do it. At my highest weight, which was 494 lbs (not a typo), I made all kinds of excuses for not taking control of my health and resigned myself to being fat for the rest of my life...however long that would be. I was way too young to be giving up on myself like that and unfortunately, my husband was in the same boat.
Tired of sitting outside the stadium, we wanted to be part of the game of life and we realized we were worth more. We stopped making excuses and while we both knew we'd more than qualify for weight loss surgery, that was absolutely not the route we wanted to take. We knew that there were far too many lessons we needed to learn for our long term success that WLS would not teach us. We chose a plan that would work for us and that plan had to include eating well 85% of the time and 15% of the time eating what we chose with no restriction. Deprivation in the past had left us unsatisfied, resentful and spite eating. ("I'll show you!" *insert Swiss Cake Roll*) We knew the way we ate would have to be a way we could eat for the rest of our lives. Some people may not agree with it and that's fine for them but we're doing what works for us. That also includes exercising 5x week doing things like Turbo Fire, Tae Bo, Power and Body Strike by Ilaria Montagnani, rowing/treadmill, Total Trainer, ChaLean Extreme and other at-home DVD's. Not a single pound has been lost by paying to go to a gym; everything has been done in the comfort of our home. (In 2019, we got our Beachbody on Demand subscription and LOVE it! LIIFT4, Shift Shop, Insanity30/Transform 20 and 21Day Fix/80 Day Obsession are some of our favorites!) We also took up skiing/snowshoeing and stand up paddle boarding/kayaking which is something we never thought we'd do but it's nice to have options!
I try to schedule our workouts a month in advance and we treat them like appointments. There is never an excuse to miss them even if that means we start at 11pm at night due to unforeseen circumstances. As more weight comes off, it comes off slower and that is extremely frustrating as we're nowhere near the point where it should slow down extensively so we tweak and re-tweak until we find what works for us.
The only rule? Quitting is NOT an option!
My husband and I are worth this journey as are you. I'll say this, I tend to cut to the chase. Sometimes things come easy, sometimes it's so frustrating I could spit and when I'm frustrated, I'll probably curse a little. I don't believe in sugar-coating my journey because I don't think it helps me or anyone else to do so. I keep it real, yo. Some people can take my attitude, some can't. For those who can't, luckily there are MILLIONS of blogs out there if you don't like my style.