Today I'm writing about a conversation I had with my sister recently. Last week she made a post on Facebook about how she has lost 45 pounds, which is no small feat. I'm so proud of her and she looks amazing, so I thought it would be fun to ask her questions about the path she took to slim down.
Kristen - Gretchen, tell me why you decided to lose weight.
Gretchen - Well, it was during the winter of 2010. I had been living in Kansas City for a while and was working at the clothing store White House Black Market. Every day after work, I would drive through a fast-food restaurant for dinner and head home to eat and drink quite a bit of wine. I didn't really know anyone yet in KC, so I really wasn't going out too much. I'd just go home, eat, drink and just be really bored. One night after drinking a bottle of wine, I started going through my closet and realized the only clothes that fit were quite snug and they were the largest sizes as well. I stood there looking in the mirror, hating my body and feeling just embarrassed. I decided it was time to make a change.
K - What was your first step?
G - I knew of a gal through one of my Wichita friends in the KC area that was a personal trainer. I decided to contact her to get information about her training sessions, because I knew I wouldn't get to the gym on my own. I hated working out! I also decided it was time to give up the fast food. I made a rule for myself, if I was going to get fast food, I couldn't go through the drive-thru. I had to park far away from the restaurant and walk my ass inside to get what I wanted. It worked for me because I was lazy and it was just easier to drive home and make myself dinner.
K - Not everyone has access to a personal trainer. Are your work out sessions expensive?
G - The gal I work with is very reasonable. For a private session I pay about $40 for an hour and for an hour group session I pay around $20. I took the money I was saving by skipping the fast food every day and used it for the workout sessions. Pretty good investment in my health, right!?
K - I couldn't agree more. What about shopping at the grocery store? Was that challenging?
G - It was at first, especially because I was cooking for one and at the time I could only think of meals that would give me massive amounts of leftovers and I felt like I was wasting food.
K - How did you overcome that obstacle and what sources did you use to educate yourself about food and healthy meals?
G - I just started reading. You exposed me to different articles and some of those great TED talks about food and diet. Also, you had some great blog posts about food and it really inspired me to start reading labels and to just really be aware of what I was putting in my body.
K - That's wonderful, I'm glad I could help! I think diet is one of the hardest parts about keeping our weight in balance. Do you treat yourself occasionally or are you pretty consistent with sticking with good, healthy food?
G - Yes, I have what I call a "cheat day". Every Sunday, my boyfriend (Tay) and I go out to breakfast and eat what we want. We also cook and eat whatever we want the rest of the day. It's funny though, because now I recognize that when I eat unhealthy food and in large amounts, I really do feel like crap. So it's kind of a double-edged sword. I'm excited to eat lots of yummy food, but I know I'm going to feel terrible at the same time...
K - Do you guys ever think, um maybe we'll skip cheat day this week because we felt so terrible last time?
G - Sometimes we think about it, but not at this point. We still take part every week, but maybe one day we will get there.
K - I have a professor that says, "Everything in moderation, even moderation" and I love that saying. I think part of a healthy diet is finding a good balance and sometimes darnit, you just need to eat that slice of chocolate cake or drink that big, sugary margarita. Do you contribute your weight loss 100% to diet and exercise or were there any other factors?
G - I contribute the majority of my weight loss by staying committed to exercising and making better choices when it comes to food. However, I do take Adderall (a drug commonly prescribed to treat ADHD) and one of the common side effects is appetite suppression, which sometimes I notice. But I will say I was at my heaviest weight and I was still taking the Adderall, so really I know I still would have lost the weight even if I wasn't on the medication.
K - What advice would you give others who want to lose weight?
G - You have to keep going and not give up. There will be days you want to quit, but if you quit you won't see results. Also, don't try to see things through rose-colored glasses. Getting on that treadmill sucks. Just accept that it does, don't try to convince yourself that you like it. I hate doing pushups and I just tell myself that they suck, I don't try to make myself like them. But I haven't quit and I'm getting better at all of those things. It really is something you have to consciously think about every day.
Once you realize how good those endorphins make you feel at each work out, it's amazing how it affects the rest of your day. I'm in a better mood and I feel more productive. I realized I was eating and drinking so much because I was bored - I wasn't doing anything. We live in a world where people judge others, especially women, based on how skinny and pretty they are and that can be tough when you're looking at yourself in the mirror and you can see you are overweight and unhealthy. I just had to put my pride aside and say, "I'm doing this for myself and no one else." Just do it. You're doing this for you and you have to try and not care what others think. I know I looked terrible my first few weeks when I started working out. I was hot, bright red and sweaty. I remember one of my first workouts with my trainer when I was on a treadmill, breathing heavily after only a few minutes and I told her this was hard. She looked at me and said, "You didn't think this was going to be easy, did you?" She was so right, it's not supposed to be easy and it hasn't been. But I haven't quit yet and I don't plan on it. Sure there are bad days, and I do give myself a break from exercising and with food too. You just have to work on finding a good balance and being honest with yourself. When you do that it's much easier to recover and jump back on the horse after a bad day.
K - What's been the best thing about this choice you made almost two years ago?
G - You know, just standing in front of a mirror and being satisfied with how I look. I was shopping for new sizes because obviously my old stuff became too big for me and the sales lady had to run back and forth multiple times because I wasn't sure what my new size was. When I told her I had recently lost weight, she was so happy for me and so cool about it and that made me feel really good.
K - What has been the hardest thing?
G - To be honest, buying a new wardrobe! It's expensive!
K - Haha, not the hard, sweaty workouts or the food? I suppose that's a good problem to have then!
I can't tell you all how I proud I am of my sister. She set out to not only lose the extra weight, she also set out to make herself a healthier and happier person. And best of all, she did this totally for herself and nobody else. She has truly inspired me and I hope she can inspire you all as well! Way to go Gretch!
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| Summer 2010 |
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| Summer 2012! |
