Real Talk: Weight Loss, Pt. 1

I’ve already declared I’m not one to make resolutions, but I do want to talk about something that burns through minds at the beginning of every year: weight loss. Now for those that just twisted their faces at me thinking I’m just tall and slim and here to judge (negative; not my style), I do have a story to tell about it. I had a heavy weight round bout with it in 2011 and I feel it’s worth sharing.

The Rundown
I’ve always been pretty fit and never had a huge issue with my weight. I know when I gain weight and when I lose. I’ve never owned (or wanted to own) a scale. I would just eat whatever, even though certain foods made me feel horrible. Water was always nasty, but I didn’t drink sodas.

When I got engaged, I maintained my weight well and started going to the gym more. It didn’t take a new year to jumpstart that. I just know I like to 1) be healthy, 2) feel good about myself, and 3) look hot for my man.

One day after watching Alicia Silverstone on Oprah, I decided to read her book The Kind Diet. She shared insight on what it’s like be be a vegan and how it’s changed her life forever. After reading her book, I begin to become more in tune with how I felt after eating a cheeseburger or a rack of ribs. I realized that my body wasn’t consistently feeling horrible after eating certain things, if something wasn’t right. My body needed a change! Understanding how the body works and how food is supposed to work for you and not against you, I starting flirting with a vegetarian lifestyle. Here’s a snippet from the book:

“Our intestines tell a story too. A carnivore’s intestines (she references a True carnivore, like a cheetah) are only about 6 feet long, because meat isn’t meant to hang out in the gut forever. Our intestines (humans) are 20 feet long; when we eat meat, it takes a full 72 hours to pass through us. That’s 3 days, and your body, my friend, is 98.6 degrees inside! It’s like having a steak sit out in the hot sun for 3 days straight. Eventually it will start to rot and putrefy.”

I cut out all beef and red meats to start with. At first this was pretty difficult. With a McDonald’s on every corner, how can I not grab a burger when I need to eat?! What about being invited to a barbecue? Over the time, I got over it and stuck with it. Just from doing that alone, I dropped from a size 6 to 4. My skin was a lot smoother and clearer and I felt lighter. I did continue to eat leaner meats (chicken, turkey, or fish). When it rolled around to order my wedding dress, I was nice and slim and very happy with my body. Then my downfall occurred.

“Since I’m slim, I can eat whatever I want!”
So the end of 2010, I got into the holiday spirit and ate. Cookies. Cake. Pies. I made pans of macaroni and cheese every other week. Burgers. Fries. You name it. I ate it! Then when the colder weather hit, I got really lazy and didn’t work out. Did I mention I moved into a new apartment during this time that had an elevator? Since I was on the 6th floor, there was NO WAY I was walking down stairs everyday. No no. I’ll just use the elevator.

2011 came and I knew I had packed a few pounds. Remember: I’m very in tune with my body. When my birthday rolled around, I knew I had messed up. My body did not look like it did when I ordered my wedding dress 4 months before. I started (gasps) grabbing more inches than I had ever had before. My hourglass shape was out of time. There was none, to be honest. Not to worry! The wedding dress wouldn’t be in for another month, so I’d have time to work it off.

I got a phone call the day of my birthday to tell me my dress had arrived. I had so many days to come in, inspect it, and claim it or they’d sell the dress. This is humor to some, but me, not so much.

“It won’t zip”
That Saturday, I went to try on my beautiful gown. It was perfect. My body, however, was not. No let me be real: the darn thing didn’t even zip up past the small of my back. I had gained so much weight by reverting back to what I used to eat that I could not fit my dress. My salesgirl gave me two options: 1) have the seamstress “let out” my dress and take out the boning, which would cost more money or 2) lose weight. “Excuse me? Lose weight! (scoffs) I’ve never had a weight problem.” Well to fit in that size 4 dress that was worth a few stacks out the pocket, I had to or I’d be rearranging a my dress to fit me but look different.

Facing the truth & getting it together
I had to go to the doctor for an appointment thereafter and I had to be put on that horrible device called a “scale”. Folks, I gained 14 lbs. Not a cute quick 3 or 5…FOURTEEN. I knew that it was my own fault why I look and felt this way, but instead of loathing, I jumped in head first and took action.

The first thing I did was detox my body. I did a 7-day system that rid my entire body (kidneys, liver, and insides – LOL) of all the gunk that was trapped. The reason: I had to start with my insides. I didn’t want to delve into putting a band-aid on the situation. I knew that I was “holding” a lot within that needed to be cleared out. My advice: a colonic is much more effective and faster than to detox. Moving on. Then I learned how and what to properly eat again.

Part 2: How I Ate, The Results, & Some Advice…stay tuned

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*Silverstone, Alicia. The Kind Diet. A Simple Guide to Feeling Great, Losing Weight, and Saving the Planet. New York, NY: Rodale, Inc., 2009.