I asked my good friend Candace if she'd be interested in writing as a guest on our blog because she has conquered her flab and I'm so proud of her for it. I thought it would be great if she shared her story so here it is:
Hey guys, this is Candace here. Heather asked me if I would like to do a guest post on this awesome blog of theirs so while the wit may not be up to par I will do my best. Let’s take this back in time to January 2009. I was fat ok? I’d gained the freshman 15 and then some after I moved out and 5 years later it’s still there plus some interest. I’d weighed more than this, but at this time I was at 184lbs and only 5’4. I was the cute (or so I was told) little chunky friend and I had kind of resigned to myself that I was always going to be this way. I’d tried diets, they would last 2 weeks tops and then I’d be so hungry and deprived I’d find myself going through five fast food drive throughs in under 30 minutes. Needless to say, I hadn’t had much luck. I can’t really tell you what inspired me that day, I just decided, shit, Candace, you need to take better care of yourself. I realized I needed to get into better shape and just be more healthy. It really was so much about my attitude, I never let myself say if, I always said, well when I lose the weight…. This is seriously key to losing weight, if you don’t believe you can do it or that it will happen, it won’t.
I set a 50lb weight loss goal for myself, but spread it out, like in 2 months by my cousins wedding lose 20lbs and by my birthday in May 40lbs, you get the idea. That made it seem a little less daunting as I was working towards shorter term easier goals one at a time. I started drinking only water (I did have a diet coke every so often, you have to let yourself have something sometimes!) and made sure I got the full amount every day. I also started keeping a food journal just so I could get a feel for how big portions should be and how many calories were in things. I didn’t keep that for very long, but it really helped make me think about my food and made calorie counting and portion control second nature. I didn’t have a gym pass yet so I just started doing whatever I could. I made my boyfriend at the time go on walks with me or I would dance around my apartment every day, I’d lost over 10 pounds by the time I got a gym pass about a month later. After that Heather and I would go every day after work and brutalize ourselves. Man we were dedicated! I wish we hadn’t of let that go, but the summer got busy and we let it slide. Diet wise I always made sure I ate breakfast, then a snack a couple hours later, lunch, another snack and then dinner. I also tried not to eat after 7pm. Not to say I didn’t let myself indulge every so often. That’s where I always had trouble dieting before, I totally denied myself of everything I liked. This time I wanted it to be a lifestyle change not another crash diet. So I let myself have whatever I wanted for a meal on the weekends. So whether that was beer and cheese pull a-parts from the pie or cheese fries or whatever else and not feel guilty about it. Also if I knew we were going out to eat or have drinks a certain day I would make sure I got a little more exercise in and not eat quite as much during the day. Not very long after I started doing these things I noticed a change, I wasn’t so tired all the time, I had more energy, I wanted to exercise, my skin was even better than it had been. I stopped eating fast food, I was a fast food junkie before this, I loved Taco Bell. Now over a year later I can honestly say I haven’t eaten there since. I don’t even have the desire to anymore. I let the people around me know what I was doing. I told my family and friends about my goal, so not only were they supportive of me, it gave me that little extra push to not want to let them down or be a quitter. It also really helped to have a weight loss buddy. Heather was mine, we worked out together and ate together, we helped push each other, helped motivate each other, and helped each other make good food choices. Thank you Heather!
The pounds dropped off very fast in the beginning, because I had a lot to lose, it was so encouraging. I watched my clothes get bigger and bigger on me. I always had loved to shop, but now I could go into a store and everything fit me! I didn’t have to try on the extra large and still have it look like shit. As I got closer to my end goal it wasn’t going as fast and that got a little frustrating, but I knew where I wanted to be, so I kept going. I switched up what I was doing for exercise or what I was eating to kind of shock my body back into weight loss mode. Mentally it was kind of a weird transition. It was hard to let go of the fat girl mentality, I’d kind of used my fat as a barrier between myself and the world. It was like my fat was an insulation of insecurities, if I lost that buffer and people still didn’t like me or weren’t attracted to me then there would be nothing to blame it on, they just plain didn’t like me. It’s kind of a weird thing to describe. But those things started to melt off with my fat, I started gaining so much confidence and really coming into my own. It didn’t have so much to do with the actual part of losing weight, but that I had set goals and accomplished them. It made me realize I could do anything I set my mind to and that was so empowering!
I had one of the best summers of my life last year as well. I hadn’t really been a huge fan of summer before that because I hated summer clothes, I didn’t want to wear a swimsuit or submit people to my jiggly thighs in shorts. So I wore more clothes and quite frankly it was really hot. After I lost the weight and let go of what people thought of my body, I ran around all summer in shorts, dresses, and swimsuits and was free to not constantly think about how embarrassed I was or if I looked ok. I just didn’t care anymore. I also was single and carefree which was so nice. Realizing I was worth so much more gave me the strength to break up with my boyfriend at the time. He was a fun kid, my best friend, but there just wasn’t a future there with us and I had been letting it drag on for too long making both of us unhappy. I wasn’t looking for anything and just wanted to enjoy being by myself and having a good time being single. The new self worth and confidence that I had acquired wouldn’t let me be single for long though. At the end of the summer I suddenly started dating an old friend I’d had known for years and everything just clicked. We are still together now and plan on being so for a very long time ;).
I lost the 50 lbs by August ’09 and have maintained it since, I currently weigh 130 lbs, still exercising and watching what I eat. Not to say I don’t eat what I want to, but the lifestyle changes have kept with. While I eat within reason, when I get a craving for something I eat it and I still indulge on the weekends. I love food and don’t have to sacrifice living my life fully to be thin, I just am more mindful of what I eat and being active now. I would like to lose 10 more pounds ideally, but I am overall happy with myself, I feel good, I like the way I look (for the most part, haha), I love how clothes fit me now, and I enjoy my life. People ask me all the time how I did it, how I lost all that weight. When I tell them it was just through diet and exercise they look disappointed. They want an easy way out a magic solution, but there isn’t one. It takes work and changing habits, but it is so worth it! I want to say to everyone who is trying to lose weight or keep it off, don’t give up! It takes hard work, but doing little things everyday help so much in the long run. Work on developing good habits and those will stick with you for the rest of your life. Don’t beat yourself up if you have those couple extra beers, or that slice of cake every once in a while, just make sure you get back on track the next day. If I can do it, you totally can! No matter what weight you are though, it’s important that you like yourself and are healthy. Losing weight doesn’t solve all your problems, but confidence and being secure with yourself really help! Good luck everyone! If you have any questions for me feel free to ask!
Sue 50 lbs ago.
Sue now! YAY!
