The Little Wins of Working Out and Losing SOME Weight!

I’ve never been known as a “skinny” person. I have always been fine with not being stick thin. I like pizza, I like craft beer, I like soft pretzels and cheese, I like ice cream, I like fat and carbs. Just call me Oprah, minus the TV network, magazine, political influence, and billionaire bank account.

In high school, I was an athlete (cheerleading and softball). I was able to eat what I wanted and maintain an athletic/fit body without being stick thin. Though I was athletic, I still had a booty. People in my high school used to call me names like “Badonkadonk“. I didn’t really let it get to me because I knew I wouldn’t see these people again after high school, such a small time in my life! I still looked good.

In college, I did gain the Freshman 15 (maybe 20). I was in a residential college and all of my classes were in the same building that I lived in. This caused me to not walk out of my dorm too much.. Then my junior and senior year, my life expanded! I got a house off-campus and had to walk to classes and work. I quickly dropped that Freshman/Sophomore weight to get back to my high school weight…

My sophomore year of college… Nov 2006

4 months in on being 21 in my senior year of college January 2009. Look at that jawline!

Fast forward 9 years later… years of not being satisfied with my body, but also enjoying beer and bar food. I’ve tried countless amount of times trying to lose weight. It would work typically for a month, then i’d fall off after a “vacation” weekend or having some sort of plan with friends. I always said “one meal won’t hurt”, but that turned in to two meals, a week, a year!

Over the years, I found that low carb diets worked well for me. I got instant gratification from them. I could lose 7 pounds in a week, and I felt successful. That gave me some wiggle room to eat a “bad” meal. “I lost 7 pounds, this one meal won’t make me get back to my old weight.” Little did I know that one bad meal, turned in to multiple… then BOOM there was that awful number on the scale again.

I have never been a runner, a treadmill person, or enjoyed the elliptical. All of those were too boring and monotonous for me. All I can think about when I’m doing any of those activities is “when am I going to be done? Oh, 20 minutes… Ok, make it 5 minutes more and you only have 15 minutes left…” That went on until I was done with my cardio work out. I’ve tried listening to music, watching tv, and even reading! Anything to get my mind away from the countdown, but nothing has ever worked to help me enjoy those activities. I once faked  falling down the stairs and hurting my ankle so I didn’t have to go to the gym with Anthony. Sadly, he saw right through it. True story.

My favorite types of workouts involve doing some sort of dance routing involving counting. I have a dance and cheerleading background, so the counting is natural to me. It allows me to think about what moves are next, not how bad my legs hurt and when am I going to be done? Zumba and TurboJam have been friends of mine when I did my few weeks of diets. I don’t have to pay the price of the gym, just the price of the DVD.

The best results I ever had from watching what I ate and working out was right before my wedding. I lost about 20 pounds and toned up a little bit. I didn’t hit my “goal weight” because I never gave myself enough time. I got married in November 2016, and I started working out in August of 2016 and really started watching what I ate in “oh shit!” mode in September of 2016. I still think I looked damn fine in my wedding dress though! I lost this weight doing a low carb plan, plus eating a granola bar after work. This gave me energy to go on our 11 mile/45 minute bike ride. I could handle this bike ride and it wasn’t boring! I was outside with my love in nature, taking different paths to keep the scenery interesting and different.

Anthony and I went to Aruba for our honeymoon. Quite possibly, the best week I have ever had in my entire life! This is definitely a plug for Aruba, I recommend anyone who is going on a vacation, to go there! Aruba was safe, beautiful, fun, and everyone was friendly! We stayed at an all-inclusive, Barcelo Aruba. This is where my two previous months of working out and watching what I ate before my wedding went down hill, FAST! I had to get the most for our money while I was living in this tropical paradise. We would wake up, eat the breakfast buffet, go to the pool with fruity drinks, grab the lunch buffet, go on some sort of adventure, come back and get ready for dinner reservations at one of the 6 restaurants, go to dinner reservations, drink alcoholic beverages, then go to the casino and eat snacks all night… Needless to say, I gained a few pounds in Aruba. I didn’t even try to lose them until a year and half later… after gaining some more!

I was living the blissful married life. We just enjoyed each other’s company after the wedding. Eating feel good foods filled with carbs, grease, and fat. We LOVE tacos and could easily eat multiple flour shell tacos with rice and beans. Mmmm, homemade mac and cheese with smoked gouda and chorizo… Rissotto! Pizza! We loooove it all!

All of this talk of the comfort foods are just making my mouth water! Sooo good! But then… I turned 30! Yes, it’s true what they say, once you turn 30, your body does not bounce back like it used to! I noticed the weight starting to gain faster and in different places than it has! I started to look like the old middle-aged woman in pictures! I don’t feel like an old middle aged woman, though!

The middle of January 2018, my brain just switched. I started doing a low carb diet and TurboJam 4-5 days a week and one night of WERQ Dance Fitness at the local library (try it, it’s great). I also bought Beachbody OnDemand, only a 6 month subscription. (Realistically thinking from my history, am I going to keep up with this?) I tried different work outs on Beachbody… I kept on coming back to TurboJam with Chalene Johnson. ( I tried her TurboFire program, and think it’s great, but I do not have enough space in my living for all of the kicks). I’ve had a major girl crush on Chalene for years. She is a great motivator and great instructor. I just recently found out that she is from my hometown and is a Michigan State Alumn, as well! An even bigger girl crush formed!

Things were going great. I started weighing myself once a week on Fridays.  I was losing 3 pounds a week for two weeks. Down six pounds, some think that’s great… Me? I’m used to my 7 pounds a week on low-carb? WTH. I should be down 14 pounds already! Week 3 comes along. I am on a strict low carb plan working out 5/6 days a week now. SAME WEIGHT! Hm… a little unmotivated, but I kept it up another week… SAME WEIGHT! Really unmotivated, but didn’t want to give up. I have been working so hard! Why am I not losing weight? Am I eating too many fats? Too much cheese? I didn’t to give up because I would be so upset that I’ve been working out so hard for nothing if I gain a pound the next week… So the next Friday rolls around… SAME WEIGHT! F***! I got in the shower and teared up a bit. I did not understand why I wasn’t losing weight.

I researched the hell out of this shit. I had to figure out what I was doing wrong while I was working so hard. Was I getting enough sleep? Do I need to eat less? Was my carb count too high? Do I need to work out more? Do I need to walk more during the day at work? Friends and family were telling me, “you know, muscle weighs more than fat”… Yes, I know… Muscle is more dense… BUT I DO NOT WANT TO BE THIS WEIGHT! Sure, I know my clothes were fitting a little bit better, but the scale was not moving… the most frustrating feeling in the world.

During my research, I read that I may not be eating enough! What, that’s crazy! Eat more to lose weight? That can’t be true. I wasn’t hungry. I already forced myself to eat dinner after my nightly cardio. (Low carb diet plans typically suppress my appetite big time). I decided to get my Fitbit out and really start tracking my activities and calories to see exactly what my intake/outtake was. The next week I ate what I “normally” did and tracked my cardio calorie burn…. Turns out, I was eating around 750-950 calories a day… Oops! That’s less than what Jennifer Aniston told Cosmo that she ate when I was in high school in the early 2000’s. I just wasn’t hungry though.

I decided that a true low carb diet wasn’t right for me anymore. No, I wasn’t going to regularly eat potatoes, bread, and pasta… I was going to add “healthier” carbs back in to my diet; like berries, corn tortilla shells, brown rice (occasionally), a slice of whole wheat bread, and even Skinny Cow ice cream for days that I need to get a few more calories in.

The next Friday came and it was truth time… It was time to step on the scale…

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I WAS DOWN 2 WHOLE POUNDS! 2 POUNDS!!!!!!

This was the biggest win for me, yet. I worked so hard and I figured it out. Here we are 7 weeks in, and I’m down a total 8 pounds. No where near what I was used to with low carb diets, but it’s still a success. This is the day I realized I have made a “lifestyle change”, especially as my body efficiency is changing since I turned 30. I got in the the routine of working out 5 days a week, eating healthy while watching calories, and enjoying it! What else I also found out is that working out with carbohydrates in your system makes the work out easier! Who would have thunk?! Ha!

Now I am officially 11 weeks in to my work out plan since mid-January. I have lost roughly 14 pounds and many inches (not sure how many inches, I never officially measured myself, the plan just sort of happened). 14 pounds may seem minimal to people… which in the long run it is… but I keep my head up and think about the things that keep me going as “WINS”.

1- I’m not quite a size down yet, I am at the weird in-between size, but I am now able to dry my jeans all the way and have them still fit when I put them on.

2- I can only wear my jeans 1 or 2 times before I have to wash them again because my butt gets too saggy. (Normally I could wear the same pair for weeks!)

3- I had to tie my work out pants up because they kept on falling down and got annoying during my work out.

4- I can take selfies and make it look like I have killer guns.

5- I am no longer fearful of opening the camera and having the selfie mode be on, looking like Ursula.

6- My bra clasp is no longer on the loosest fitting. It is now on the tightest!

7- It’s like I have a whole new wardrobe as my old clothes that were getting a tad bit too tight are almost too loose on me.

8- I am more confident and want to put on more make up to “doll myself up” and try new ways to do my hair. I care!

9- A sufficient dessert is now just strawberries with some Reddi-wip on it! I do not crave sweets!

I know I still have a long way to go to get to my goal weight, but I understand that it takes time and this is a lifestyle change. If I keep my head up and my drive going, this will be the best lifestyle change I have ever made! My health will be the best it has been since high school and I’ll be the hottest version of myself! 🙂

I’ll periodically post some progress updates… But don’t expect them weekly! My progress comes in 11 week forms! LOL

Don’t get me wrong, you’ll still see my Instagram posts (@married_without_kids) about craft breweries and soft pretzels. I will still allow myself guilty pleasure here and there on the weekend, right? It’s all about balance!

***I have to give my husband, Anthony, lots of credit! He is going along for the ride and is very supportive! I meal plan weekly, and he is on board every day. There are times when we get done eating a meal and he goes “that was better than I thought it was going to be”. What a keeper! Thinking a meal is going to be bad, but still eating in anyways to be supportive of my goals!

Anthony supports me working out and does household work. He does the dishes and makes a meal during my 50 minute cardio dance parties. And sometimes he even goes to the store to buy dinner! He is learning to pay attention to how much he is putting in to each recipe and how much he is spooning on to each plate for me. Ant may not always be on board during his works day, and may sneak in a McDonald’s burger and fries, but at home he is my #1 fan (well, next to Piston and Duncan). I just love him***

Cheers to getting away from a middle-aged woman’s body and in to a slightly tighter middle-aged woman’s body!