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TOTAL BODY WORLD
Work Out - Feel Good!
My Story:
I'm a 44-year old Oklahoma native. I've lived in Weatherford, Ada, Tulsa and now reside in Edmond. Getting and staying fit has been a challenging and interesting journey for me. My story starts as a naturally tall, thin girl. I was that way in high school and stayed that way until my mid 30s. Around that time, I was going through some difficult challenges and my health and appearance were put on the back burner to say the least. I gained weight steadily for several years, not even realizing how much I'd gained or how I really looked. I wasn't really that unhealthy but I was definitely overweight, probably about 55 pounds heavier than I had been.
These pictures are from about 2005.
  
Sometime shortly after that I was watching The Biggest Loser and became inspired by the stories on the show. Secretly, I wanted to look as fit as Jillian Michaels. I decided that if I could lose 20 pounds on my own, I would get a gym membership to really work on getting in better shape and lose the rest of the weight I wanted to lose.
I lost 20 pounds in about 6 weeks. I merely changed my diet to exclude fast food, fried food and sweets. I didn't even exercise during that time. My reward was joining a local gym.
I was enthusiastic and quite dedicated to start out with. I started going to the gym 4-5 times a week. I remember getting on an elliptical for the first time. I spent 3 minutes on the machine and thought I was going to die. My cardiovascular fitness was very poor. I'd always had strong abs naturally but had minimal muscularity overall. I familiarized myself with a few machines, mostly legs. My normal workout would be 20 minutes on the elliptical, 10-15 minutes of ab work and scattered work on weight machines.
I continued losing weight and feeling better. I think I lost about 20 more pounds over the next 2-3 months. I felt great! I wasn't in the best shape but I felt much better about myself and had dropped 3 or 4 pants sizes.
My dedication waned after that. I did keep better tabs on my diet but only went to the gym about once or twice a week after that. Very slowly, over the next 2 years, 20 pounds crept back on.
In the summer of 2007, I once again decided to put more emphasis into getting and staying fit. I made some drastic changes in my diet. My "new" diet consisted of yogurt, light frozen meals with rice or noodles and vegetables mostly and some fruit. I also started walking about 2 miles a day at that time and wasn't going to the gym.
The weight started dropping fairly easily. I lost about 15 pounds in the first 6 weeks of my new diet and exercise plan. This time, I was more than determined. I wanted to be thin again and had all the dedication I needed to get there.
By March of 2008 I had lost a grand total of 68 pounds. I had friends tell me I looked malnourished.
I'd taken the new plan too far. I'm 5'11" and size 2 pants were too big. My diet hardly had any fats or protein. I didn't have any understanding that I needed the protein and fats to be strong. I had a lot to learn.
Lucky for me, I met someone with the answers and workout experience I needed. Kelly told me I needed to eat peanut butter. That still makes me laugh. BUT, she explained to me that my body needed good fats to strengthen tissue like tendons and ligaments and that I needed the protein to feed my muscles. That made complete sense to me...so - I started eating peanut butter, lots of it. I added eggs to my diet as well. One of my challenges was that I didn't really like meat that much but I found meat substitutes that I liked plus protein bars and protein shakes to supplement with.
I moved twice over the next few months and wasn't going to a gym regularly. I was trying to put some of the weight back on with the diet changes. By January of 2009, I had gained back about 26 pounds. Once again, I'd experienced the yo-yo effect. I gained more than I wanted to, but not by that much.
I was more focused and confident about getting the body I'd wanted this time...so back to the gym. Kelly and I joined a new gym together and started going every single day. We would do 30 minutes of cardio either on a recumbent bike or elliptical mostly. We would work abs about 3 times a week. We divided our weight-training into 4 different workout days, back and biceps, chest and triceps, shoulders, and legs.
I increased protein intake to 1 gram of protein per pound of body weight daily. I tried to keep sugars to 2 grams or less per meal and kept complex carbohydrates at a reasonably low level. Results came quickly. I lost the weight I wanted to, gained muscle, increased my cardio fitness and have never felt better.
I even decided to try jogging. About a month ago, I decided to attempt a 1.5 mile jog in my neighborhood. I'd never jogged or ran more than a mile at once in my life! I did it and was exhausted but felt great! I'm still working out about 3-4 times a week and walk/jog 3-6 miles a day about 5 or 6 days out of the week. My weight has been balanced for about 6 months now.
I know that many people struggle with weight, fitness, body image, feeling good about themselves and wellbeing in general. I understand. I've been there.
One of the most important things for me was to put a picture in my mind of what I wanted my end result to look like. I held that picture of Jillian Michaels there for a very long time before I got to my current level of fitness but I strongly desired to get there and believe that was a very important key in doing so. Wanting to feel good and feel good about myself was something else that was important. I'd raised 4 children and didn't focus much at all on taking care of myself. Once I decided it was important to feel good and that I deserved it, I really made some great gains.
There are many other factors in my journey but I'll stop here. Please send me your stories of success or inspiration. I'd love to hear from you.
 
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