My Journey From The Couch

For as long as I can remember, I've struggled with my weight. 20-30 pounds overweight as been a norm for me since college, and it's been a growing problem (insert bad pun here, right?). A few months after I got married in late 2002, I found myself carrying the most weight of my life - I was 192 and 5'4" - not a good combination. I was working as a police officer, and I hated the way I looked in a uniform, not to mention GOOD LUCK if I ever had to get into a foot chase or fight anyone during an arrest. The point where I hit bottom was a day I was checking out a patrol car at the beginning of the shift, bent down to pick something up, and my uniform pants split. Luckily no one else saw this, so I quickly went to the locker room to change to a new pair of pants. I think my self esteem dropped about ten points that day. It was time to take a very real look at myself - I was not physically active, ate poorly and didn't care about being healthy. I needed to do more than just lose a few pounds - I needed to make a lifestyle change.

That day I called Jenny Craig, because I knew I needed to get in-person help in changing my eating habits and developing better food and exercise habits. I committed to the program and lost 40 lbs over the next year. I'll admit, I got lazy about eating here and there, and wasn't always committed to continual exercise, so I didn't lose as much as I wanted. At least my health was improving and I definitely was noticing a looser uniform. But I wasn't as active as I still hoped to be, and suffered from regular migraine headaches which affected my work and personal life. The migraines kept me reliant on prescription medication and gave me the occasional trip to the ER when the migraine would get totally out of control.

In 2005 I gave birth to my son, Jake. Afterward, I gained a bit back and found myself up to 164 due to a lack of exercise and a bad snacking habit. Yoyoing weight was a norm for me at that point. Something I learned from all this was you can't half-ass things if you want to accomplish a serious weight loss and maintain that loss.

In early 2007 I was finally ready to do this right. I went to Jenny Craig with a vengence. On top of adhering to a 1200 calorie per day diet, I surprised myself by getting up at 4am to get to a 5:15am spin class at the gym across the street from my work. This is a 45 minute class meeting 3 times a week. The thing I did different this time was I allowed myself no excuses to not work out, by getting my workouts done early (I'm typically not motivated for after-work workouts) and showering at the gym. I found that when I worked out regulary, I had a tendency to want to eat better. I also don't feel as good when I miss regular workouts.

I stuck to it and am now 5 pounds from my final goal (125). Since my heaviest weight in 2002, I've lost 62 pounds and have learned to maintain my weight within the 130's for over 6 months. And the best thing, I learned that a regular cardio program helps prevent my migraines - I've been off the prescription meds for over a year and only had one ER migraine, and that was after I took a little over a month off of my workouts when I had bronchitis.

I look at diet and exercise so differently now. My weight doesn't not limit me anymore. I always had interests in mountain biking, kyacking and martial arts, but I had never been in good enough physical shape to enjoy them. Now I can engage in so much more without fear of not having the physical ability or stamina to last through the activity. One of my long-term goals is to be at the best shape of my life when I turn 40, and that includes living an active healthy lifestyle with my family. My advice to anyone wishing to lose weight and keep it off:

- If you want to lose weight once and for all, really commit to it mind, body and soul. Losing weight not only requires physical work, but also requires a psychological commitment to stay with it.
- Don't allow yourself any excuses to eat poorly or not work out. It's too easy to let yourself quit by saying "I'm skipping the gym today because I'm too busy", etc. When you want to skip a workout with an excuse, ask yourself if a serious athleate would accept that excuse or shake their head at you in disgust.
- Stay away from the fat burner pills and fad diets (yes, Mr. Atkins, that means you). There are thousands of weight loss products and programs out there, but not all of them are made for long term use or creating good healthy habits. THE BEST WAY for weight loss is proper diet and exercise, period! It's so important to make habits out of proper eating and exercise, so you can maintain your healthy weight throughout your life.
- Find your triggers for what makes you eat poorly and not want to be active. Depression, stress or even boredom are common. Also, for me, if I have one bad day where I pull out the stops and eat poorly, I find that I will continue to crave those foods and want to snack for days afterwards. If you have a bad eating day, make sure the next day you get back on track.

So folks, if I can do it you can do it. Anything is possible at any age, so no more excuses!