This time last year I was nearly 300lbs... Not a happy time in my life at all. Somehow I managed to sustain that nasty weight through the holidays. When I would eat I thought my face was going to explode, I just felt the weight everywhere! I was getting really desperate. Desperate for complete transformation right away! I stopped wanting to take pictures and was manipulating my face just to appear thinner than I really was! Life pretty much sucked! Prior to that I started looking into diet pills, quick fixes, and fad diets...
I want to put a disclaimer out there... No, I haven't done all of these nor do I ever want to, but I know people who have (some of them very very close to me).
Diet Pills
I started taking Metabolife when I was right out of High School; they did nothing for me except give me the gitters even if I split them in half!
Later on in life after I was married, I started taking Quick Slim. Yeah, I took nearly a whole bottle and guess what??? I didn't lose not a pound! I'll admit that the side effects weren't that bad.
A friend of mine tried Ali and suffered a pretty nasty side effect: anal seepage... Yeah, I'll pass!
Another friend of mine tried another pill called Zantrax and his blood pressure spiked supper high! I like my blood pressure where it is thank you!
Then I see all these people selling monthly products that are EXPENSIVE I might add... They may help someone lose weight but it will not help sustain the weight. Oftentimes when people get to where they want and stop taking those pills they gain their weight back if not more.
Take note of this: IF you find something out there that promises quick lasting results and it's in the shape of a pill (powder or patch), they are lying! There is only one way to effectively lose and sustain weight loss. More on that later...
Plexus, Ace, Advocare...
I know people who have taken these supplements for a really long time and they look exactly the same... However the people who are successful are not just taking the supplements... You can't just take these supplements, do nothing else, and expect to lose weight successfully and keep it off! These are some of the things I thought about doing, but the monthly cost is just way too much and you still have to buy food!
Gym Membership
They seem realistic enough... But unless you were into exercise before, you probably aren't going to be one that wants to work out all the time now. Those of us who don't like to workout are at a financial disadvantage when we sign up for a gym membership and that is exactly what they're looking. They look for "go getters" like us that will buy into a contract or pay out $50 or more dollars because it's easy money! Don't fall into that scheme... You can exercise at home for not very much, especially if you've already got the minimal equipment necessary. Most of the time you've already got the equipment in household goods and a smart phone or your Internet...
Fad Diets
I'm not going to go into this too much, but I did try one and I wasn't very successful... I tried The 17 Day Diet. This plan is not the most sound plan because you don't eat enough if any protein in the first phase of the plan. I was so hungry... ALL THE TIME! Honestly, this diet just made me more of a ravenous angry lunatic! There are definitely shorter terms to describe me during that time... Rhymes with "itch!" Anyhow, then I knew people who tried the Eat for Your Blood Type. I've never understood how someone could eat helpings of mac-n-cheese and lose weight... But okay... This is probably the nastiest fad diet... The Baby Food Diet. I'll just stop right there. FAD DIETS ARE JUST THAT... FAD DIETS... If it sounds too goo to be true it usually is!
Weight Watchers and All those other places...
Only about 2% of the people using Weight Watchers are successful because of it... The reason I think that is because one can't possibly gauge how many points 2 cups of Orange Chicken is... I don't think that it is realistic. If you give me 12 points for the day plus a few cheat points I'm going to use them up plus some... I tried it for 3 months and lost nothing but my mind with all the counting. I don't want to count carbs, calories, or anything else, I just want to lose weight!
Weight Loss Surgery
It has helped a lot of people... With that said the people it has helped are the ones who made their surgery work for them. They ate the right foods and took their vitamins like they were supposed to. This is also something that I contemplated... My husband was adamant that I not do this. He had good reason for his opinions on it though. In 2009 my mother did the Gastric Bypass. During this surgery they were also taking out her gallbladder and in the process the surgeon accidentally brushed up against her pancreas. She was in the hospital for over a month. My mom almost died. Death is a very serious possibility during weight loss surgery. She has since recovered from all that and has been pretty successful in keeping the weight off! However, there are also people I know who have lost weight but still need to lose a lot of weight but probably won't. Now in the medical world they've come out with other weight loss surgeries that are supposed to help and sometimes they are made successful. However, I don't recommend weight-loss surgery if you can avoid it.
Eating
So after really thinking about trying all of the above, it came down to eating... Could it be that all I needed to do was eat less? I can get with that... Well, as an emotional eater, this was not going to be easy. I'd get mad, I'd eat. I'd get sad, I'd eat. I'd be happy, I'd eat. You get the picture. I did learn to cut back and do portion control for about a 15 days and then I was done. Yeah, I'd lost about 5 pounds but I felt more deprived than anything.
Eating Healthy(ish)
So I knew what some of the healthy food were so I'd buy those. I'd even cook them. However, it's not 100% about what you eat, it's about how you make the meal and what you add to it. Goodness, I could turn a half of a small baked potato into 1500 calories easy! Oh and salads... I love it when people are like, "I'm just eating salad and I haven't lost any weight!" Yeah, it's probably because you're a lot like I was... A salad meant: lettuce, tomatoes, onions, mushrooms, carrots, cucumbers, olives, some peas, chickpeas, sunflower seeds, croutons, cheese, and dressing, oh and a little more dressing on the side just in case. Obviously some salads will vary, but you get the drift. That is not "just" a salad, that is 3 meals and where the heck is the protein? That is not eating healthy!
In Review and Getting Real
So go ahead take diet pills and/or the monthly supplements but know that they don't work miracles. Join a gym if it makes you feel better. Heck even try out a fad diet, it's called "Fad" for a reason; they don't last. You can even pay a monthly membership fee for health programs. Better yet go under the knife and have them make your stomach smaller or put foreign objects around it to make it smaller... None of that will ever work if you don't change one vital organ...
Your Brain (mindset)
You have to decide to change your mind. You also have to give the battle up to God. Decide that you alone cannot do it. With God in the front seat you can do anything! All of those things that I thought about trying or did try would have aided me in my weight loss efforts if I would have embraced a different mindset. I am NOT perfect by any means, but I try daily to focus on what is important, what my goals are, and what I'm putting into my mouth. Sure I have cheat days even cheat weekends, but I know and understand the consequences of those bad habits and can move forward! NONE of the above is going to work if you don't make a choice to get your mind right about what you're putting into your body (food). None of these options are a miracle drug, program, or surgery; they are just weight loss aids. Don't get caught up in the "quick" or "rapid" get caught up in looking at food differently. Look at all food as carbs, calories, and sugars... Is it really worth it?
This is harsh, I know, but I know from experience that you've got to put everything into weight loss; you've got to give it your all or the weight will kill you. I know because the weight almost killed me. I needed realness to get my butt in gear and my head in the game, so I'm giving you the same dose that I got! Now it's your turn!
You can be a new you too!
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