Here’s your chance to be part of a show that has inspired a nation.   The Biggest Loser is teaming up with the United States Postal Service to give you a chance to win a one-week vacation – Biggest Loser style.  All you have to do to enter is write a letter of support to your favorite contestant from this season.   With each letter you send throughout the sweepstakes period, you will be entered to win the grand prize of one week at The Biggest Loser Resort.  During your stay you will get meals, fitness training, and education classes.

The sweepstakes period runs from February 14, 2012 thru May 1, 2012.   On May 3, 2012 a random drawing will be held and three winners will be selected; winners will be notified on or about May 4, 2012.  The first-place winner gets the grand prize (one week at The Biggest Loser Resort).  The location of the resort will be up to the sponsor.  There are three locations listed on the website.  The second-place winner gets a one-month supply of The Biggest Loser meal plan, which includes breakfast, lunch, dinner, and a snack for four weeks.  The third-place winner gets two tickets to the 2013 Grand Finale show, in addition to money ($700) for travel expenses.  Grand Finale tickets are not available for purchase to the public.

Is your heart thumping with excitement yet?!  All three prizes sound awesome, so it is definitely worth a shot.  Even though the official rules give the standard “no purchase necessary” hype, you do actually have to buy something: a stamp.  And if you want to submit multiple letters to improve your odds of winning, you will need a stamp for each letter.

So while you may have been waiting for me to give you a link of where you could submit your letter to, all I can give you is an address.  This sweepstakes is being sponsored by the U.S. Postal Service after all!  And they want you to mail a letter the old-fashioned way.  Since it is possible that it has been so long since you’ve mailed a letter that you may have forgotten how to do it, they have put together step-by-step instructions on how to address an envelope.  (Feel free to laugh as it burns calories).  They have even provided you with custom stationary to write your letter on.

Once you write your letter, mail your entry to:

ATTN: [Name of Contestant]
Watch It. Write It. Win It. Sweepstakes
PO Box 923
Plainview, NY 11803-0923

In my last post, I shared with you my convictions regarding meat and dairy foods that resulted from the movie I watched called Forks Over Knives.  Armed with my first book dedicated to a whole-foods plant-based diet, I set out to learn and eat like a vegan.  So far, the experience has been an interesting – and challenging – one.  I am grappling with all kinds of emotions right now – from feeling great because I have been eating well, to the frustration of being overwhelmed with everything there is to learn, to sorrow from missing foods that I love… and the guilt that comes with that when I now know that those foods are the culprit behind diseases I have always feared like Alzheimer’s and Multiple Sclerosis.

Eating meat became troublesome for me about a couple of weeks before I watched Forks Over Knives.  I was watching the show 30 Days (created by the totally cool Morgan Spurlock) on Netflix in which a deer-hunting, steak-loving guy goes and lives for 30 days with a Vegan family whose members work for PETA.  Watching how the animals are abused was hard to swallow.  The conditions they live in, the mistreatment they suffer, the cruel death that ends their life…. it is safe to say that heinous criminals have it better in prison than these innocent creatures do.

So eliminating meat has not been a problem for me.  That is, until I drove by a construction site that is the future home of Chick-fil-A, my favorite restaurant!  I have lived here over a decade missing Chik-fil-A because there has not been one here.   Now they are opening up a restaurant just a mile from my house.  Life does not seem fair at all, does it?  There is a part of me that wants to be one of the first people to eat at the newly opened restaurant.  Then there’s the other part that vividly recounts meeting my meat.  As if that weren’t enough, there’s yet another part of me that knows that animal products are responsible for the majority of diseases we have in this country.  So much for my chicken sandwich.  And Cookies & Cream milkshake.

I can relate to the statement in Ecclesiastes 1:18 that with much wisdom comes much sorrow; the more knowledge, the more grief.  This is not to say that I would rather “eat and be merry” and live in ignorance of what I am putting into my body.  I am very grateful that I have learned this information, but I have also been in a tug-of-war with my newfound knowledge because I have been craving – and fondly thinking of – foods that I have always loved.

Honestly, eating meat just is not the same for me anymore.  Dairy products seem a lot harder to cut out of my diet.  Animal-free cheese, yogurt, butter, mayonnaise, sour cream, and milk – all of it is pretty darn expensive.  Some books I looked at have you save on costs by making your own sour cream and mayonnaise using tofu as the main ingredient.  Let’s just say that after my experience with tofu, I likely will not be utilizing it to make anything.

I dived into The Engine 2 Diet: The Texas Firefighter’s 28-Day Save-Your-Life Plan that Lowers Cholesterol and Burns Away the Pounds by Rip Esselstyn and started trying recipes from the book.  The  more I read, the more I found that just about every food in my diet was in contrast to a whole-foods plant-based diet.  All of the bread and rice I had in the house did not meet the standard.  Bread is supposed to have the word “whole” as the first ingredient listed rather than “refined.”  Brown rice is supposed to replace white rice.  Since the diet is also low in sodium, an alternative soy sauce is used instead of regular soy sauce.

Here are the recipes I tried:

* Mushroom Stroganoff -  I made this meal in a hurry, and accidentally read the amount wrong that I was supposed to use of one ingredient: balsamic vinegar.  I do not cook with balsamic vinegar because I think it has such a putrid smell.  But I tried it out for this recipe, and ended up pouring in way more than I was supposed to.  The kids took one bite and refused to eat anymore.  I took several bites, equivalent to about 1/4 cup before I could no longer eat anymore.  I put the entire failed batch onto a plate for our dog, Raja, and after he took a whiff, he would not go near it.

I assumed my ill encounter with this ruined dish was over after I took the last bite.  Unfortunately, that balsamic vinegar had all night to wreak havoc in my body, and the next morning I started having very peculiar symptoms.  I got very dizzy and had to catch myself to keep from falling.  My body temperature felt like it rose thirty degrees.  And then I felt it.  A wave of nausea so strong that I ran to the bathroom in pain.  After that was over, I had to lie down and sleep.  I could not function for half of the day.

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* Baby Field Greens Salad – I figured a salad would be a safe option, so I went with this recipe next.  I had never had a salad with butter beans and grapes in it.  Although the recipe called for blackstrap molasses, I could not find that at the grocery store so I made the salad without it.  My husband and I loved this salad!  I was surprised with how tasty it was.

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* Sloppy Joes – I was very curious to see how you could have meatless sloppy joes, so I definitely wanted to try this recipe.  I had never heard of veggie crumbles, but they are supposed to be similar to ground beef – only in bigger chunks.  And they sure are expensive, compared to what I would pay for a pound of ground beef on sale.  I got one package, and knew that it was not going to be enough to make sloppy joes for my family of six, so I added in a can of pinto beans to the mixture and that did the trick.  These sloppy joes were a hit.  Everybody ate them without a complaint.  They were the perfect dinner right before we went walking through a corn maze… in the dark…

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* Tofu Steaks & Mushrooms with Mashed Potatoes & Green Beans – I had never tried tofu.  I did, however, have images of Mike Rowe from Dirty Jobs making tofu, so I was already grossed out before I ever tasted it.  Not that Mike grosses me out… it was the process of making tofu that was less than appetizing.  Still, I knew I needed to try it because so many vegan recipes use tofu in them.

I opened the package of tofu and already thought “Ewwww.”  It has a rather rancid smell, in addition to looking like a square concoction of jiggly white muck.  I followed the instructions in the recipe and then served up our dinner.  When I cut a piece of tofu and put it on my fork, I suddenly felt like Andrew Zimmern from Bizarre Foods.  Curtis loves this show, and I normally watch just to see what next odd thing Andrew is going to put in his mouth.  I find him humorous and one of his favorite words that he uses to describe a new food is “gelatinous.”

That is the same word that came to mind when I tried tofu.  Very gelatinous.  And gross.  I had one of Andrew’s rare moments where he thinks the food is so terrible that he cannot take another bite.  I felt like I was going to dry heave.  Just the smell of that stuff is enough to make me suffer.  Curtis smiled with a “You don’t like it, do you?” look on his face.  No, I don’t.   I was disappointed because now I have eliminated a staple from vegan cuisine.  I am not going to give up though.  I may try it again.  I am also going to try seitan and tempeh.

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* Savory Lentils & Greens – (not available on the Engine 2 website; it is in the book).  This soup was so good, that we all ate it and the kids were asking me to make it again.  It had lentils, carrots, celery, tomatoes,  homemade vegetable broth, and two greens of my choice.  I used two that I had never tried before: Mustard Greens and Dandelion Greens.  This soup really was savory!

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* Candle Cafe Brown Rice & Lentil Burgers – we have tried store bought veggie burgers, which we like a lot.  But they are expensive, so I was really looking forward to making my own.  Curtis and I loved these!  They tasted so good, and they are so inexpensive to make that I will definitely be making them again.  One thing I did do differently was season them how I wanted.  I just used my blend of spices as if they were hamburger patties, and they ended up tasting a lot like meat.

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* Pasta Primavera –   This was like spaghetti, only so much better.  Since I normally make spaghetti with ground beef, I seasoned it like I would if there was meat in there, and this dish was so delicious that we all ate it and had seconds!  The kids raved about how much they liked it.  I did not have kale so I made it with spinach instead.  I can’t tell you how pleased I was that the kids loved it.  To see my two-year-old daughter ask me for seconds for such an incredibly healthy dish just warmed my heart.  She is a really picky eater to begin with, so you’d better believe I’ll be making this a lot in the future.

The past few weeks have been void of exercise in part because I suffered an injury, and boy did it hurt.  It sill hurts occasionally.  Hopefully though, I can start with some yoga this week to help get me back on track.  I do not like going this long without exercising.  It makes me feel like a failure in so many ways.  I have been down this road before, so I know I need to just move on and start exercising again.  So I am going to set a goal for myself.  To make it something I can reasonably accomplish, I am going to set an appointment with myself to exercise at least two days this week.

What about you?  Can you make an appointment with yourself too?  How about exercising at least one day this week, for whatever amount of time you can, even if it is only five minutes?  Something is better than nothing!

You and I can probably agree that processed foods are not healthy for you.  Popular processed foods like chips, cookies, and “fruit” bars are commonly referred to as junk food, with good reason.  But what about meat and dairy foods?  Like you, I have always believed these foods to not only be healthy, but a necessary component of my diet.  A documentary that I watched on Netflix suddenly has me questioning everything I ever believed about food.  Aside from being fascinating and compelling, this documentary is the only movie ever to keep me awake at night, because I felt betrayed, fooled, and suddenly… very unhealthy.

I have not stopped thinking about what I saw in Forks Over Knives – the documentary that chronicles the research of two food scientists and exposes the propaganda that goes on in this country regarding how our food policies are developed.  Like practically every other policy, those policies are constructed for the financial well-being of particular industries: in this case, meat and dairy.  I’ll go more into detail about how that is the case a little later, but for now, let me introduce you to the two food scientists whose revolutionary research has cured diseases like diabetes, heart disease, high blood pressure, arthritis, and even cancer in hundreds of patients.

The doctor of the future will give no medicine but will interest his patients in the care of the human frame, in diet, and in the cause and prevention of disease.  -Thomas Edison

Dr. Colin Campbell and Dr. Caldwell Esselstyn have spent decades studying how diet directly affects the body and many of the illnesses we have today.  Their startling revelations were made when they studied populations in different countries, and began questioning why certain populations had very low incidences of cancer, heart disease, diabetes, high blood pressure, etc.  For example, in the United States, a woman had more than an 80 times higher chance of getting breast cancer than a woman in Kenya did.  And while over 14,000 people were dying in the U.S. every year from prostate cancer, only 18 people in Japan died in one year.

With these strikingly different comparisons came the questions.  Why are so many more people dying in our country from these diseases – a country that is so advanced, and with so many resources – than people in other countries?  Many of these individuals will never have access to the medical treatment we have, yet we are the ones dying in record numbers.  WHY?  Their research led to the discovery that diet can prevent, cure, and even reverse cancer, diabetes, heart disease, arthritis, and just about every other ailment we have.

The diet itself is based on foods that grow naturally on earth.  Here, in the words of the writer and director of this profound documentary, Lee Fulkerson:

This diet is a whole-foods, plant-based diet.  It consists of foods from whole, minimally refined plants like fruits, vegetables, grains, and legumes.  It also means avoiding animal-based foods such as meat, dairy, and eggs, as well as processed foods like bleached flour, refined sugars, and oil.  

Naturally, these statements appear to contradict what he have been taught about nutritionally balanced diets.  When you look at who is responsible for coming up with these guidelines, however, things start to be exposed for what they really are.  The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) formulates dietary guidelines for Americans every five years.  When the Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine investigated the board that formulates these guidelines, they found that six out of eleven of them had financial relationships – obvious conflicts of interest – with big companies in the food industry like Kraft, National Cattlemen’s Beef Association, Mead Johnson, Slim Fast, Nestle, and even pharmaceutical company Bristol-Myers Squibb.

Consider how dairy foods are marketed.  We are told to eat dairy because it provides an excellent source of calcium to prevent osteoporosis.  Why is it then that nations with high levels of calcium intake (such as ours) have high levels of hip fractures, a common result of osteoporosis?  The logical conclusion -which has been supported by research – is that dairy is not necessary for good health and it is a causal agent for disease.  The following graph (from an article by the Culinary Institute of America ) shows how hip fractures increase as calcium intake goes up.

Meat is considered to be a primary source of protein, a nutrient that is classified as vital to our health.  But just like with dairy, this is what we believe about meat because that is how it is marketed.  The research done on animal protein by Dr. Colin Campbell was perhaps the most fascinating part of this documentary.  A diet consisting of 20% animal protein was found to cause cancer in rats.  Due to copyright laws, I cannot reproduce a particular chart that shows the correlation between per capita meat consumption and incidence of colon cancer in women.  As you would expect, the USA has a very high daily meat consumption AND is also the nation with the second highest incidence of colon cancer.  To view the chart, go here.

Interestingly, Dr. Campbell’s studies further showed that when a diet consisted of 20% plant protein, no cancer was found.  Why aren’t plants marketed as a healthier source of protein?  Decisions that are made regarding how food is marketed continue to be made more so for financial reasons – mainly, the profit of certain powerful industries – than they are for the health of the people.  It has been said that if everyone were to get on a whole-foods, plant-based diet, we would see a health epidemic.  We would also see the stock market crash.  The meat and dairy industries would plummet, and the pharmaceutical industry would undoubtedly suffer losses of astronomical proportions.  As long as you keep feeding your body toxins, as long as you are sick, you keep the meat, dairy, and pharmaceutical industries enormously profitable.

You may disagree with me, but the research regarding this is overwhelmingly compelling.  I have yet to hear a person say that they cured their cancer, diabetes, or heart disease by eating a diet of meat and dairy.  But there are hundreds of people who are alive and well today who can emphatically say that they are disease and pill-free, and have their weight under control, all because of a whole-foods, plant-based diet.

If you want to lose weight, but are dealing with medical issues, you already know that it is an uphill battle.  What amazes me is how quickly you start to reap the benefits from this diet.  The sooner you can get healthy, the sooner you can focus on getting your dream body.  Take a look at this incredible video of a diabetic woman who has suffered for years because of her diabetes.  In just three days on a whole-foods, plant-based diet (an immersion program by Rip Esselstyn), her body thanked her by lowering her blood sugar and blood pressure to normal levels.  In just three days!

Once you watch the Forks Over Knives movie, head on over to their cast and crew page to see the names of the professionals who practice this diet (not everyone listed on the cast and crew page supports this diet, but after watching the movie, you will know exactly who does).  Because many of the doctors and experts in this documentary practice this diet themselves and prescribe it as their treatment of choice, it would behoove you to know where they are – in case you happen to be close by.  These physicians truly work with their patients to get them healthy and off of their medication(s), including teaching them how to shop for the right foods and how to cook them.

I have already reserved a handful of books from the library about this topic.  This documentary really convicted my husband and I, and we are going to start learning how to eat a whole-foods, plant-based diet.  Here are some books you can look at to begin your journey to health.  All of them (except for The China Study) have recipes in them:

• Forks Over Knives: The Plant-Based Way to Health by Gene Stone. 

• The China Study: The Most Comprehensive Study of Nutrition Ever Conducted And the Startling Implications for Diet, Weight Loss, And Long-term Health by T. Colin Campbell and Thomas M. Campbell II

• Prevent and Reverse Heart Disease: The Revolutionary, Scientifically Proven, Nutrition-Based Cure by Caldwell B. Esselstyn, Jr. 

• Dr. Neal Barnard’s Program for Reversing Diabetes: The Scientifically Proven System for Reversing Diabetes without Drugs by Neal Barnard

• The Engine 2 Diet: The Texas Firefighter’s 28-Day Save-Your-Life Plan that Lowers Cholesterol and Burns Away the Pounds by Rip Esselstyn

• The McDougall Quick and Easy Cookbook: Over 300 Delicious Low-Fat Recipes You Can Prepare in Fifteen Minutes or Less by John and Mary McDougall

• Keep It Simple, Keep It Whole: Your Guide To Optimum Health by Alona Pulde and Matthew Leaderman

• 21-Day Weight Loss Kickstart: Boost Metabolism, Lower Cholesterol, and Dramatically Improve Your Health by Neal Barnard

Wouldn’t it be nice if you could get healthy and lose weight?  How wonderful would it be to save money from the medicines you take every month (and spare your body of the unavoidable side effects from those medications), and drop clothes sizes at the same time?  How freeing would it be to rid your body of the illness that plagues you and the excess weight that keeps you from living life to the fullest?

The beauty of a whole-foods, plant-based diet is that it not only is the healthiest way to eat on the planet, it also will speed up the process of getting in shape.  The more research I do into this topic, the more surprised I am at the number of athletes, body builders, and martial arts champions on this diet.  Since this way of eating is so foreign to us, we are taking baby steps to embrace this diet.  Honestly, we are excited, curious, and scared all at the same time.  But the more informed we become, the easier it will be to make this change a normal part of our life.

There used to be a time when I loved running at night.  When I began my weight-loss journey in college, I would run three times a week for 3o minutes each.  More often than not, I did this after midnight.  There were a couple of reasons I waited to run that late:  (1)  I had a ton of homework in college, and I always did that first before I exercised and (2)  Once midnight came around, I did not have to worry about traffic or the sweltering heat.  It was cool and quiet outside.

I should add that this was before 9/11 happened, and I felt relatively safe in my parent’s neighborhood.  So I would run as much as I could for 30 minutes straight.  If I had to slow down to walking, I would.  But as soon as I was able to, I would run again.  I made sure to keep at it until my 30 minutes was up.  Last week, I decided to run at night with my husband Curtis.  My experience was drastically different than my running experiences in college.

Other than running outside, I also did a yoga workout which came from Netflix.  Here is what I did last week:

Day 1 – Yoga

The title of this DVD sounded like a perfect fit.  Healing Yoga for Aches and Pains was beautifully done by husband and wife team Charles and Lisa Matkin.  The scenery of this video was absolutely stunning with a beach and mountain backdrop.  Even though I taught yoga briefly a couple of years ago, this was my first time utilizing a chair with poses.  The gym I taught at did not have rooms equipped with chairs…. but with this video, you do just that.  All of the poses are done using a chair, except for the final winding down poses.

I did not think using a chair would provide adequate stretching, but I was surprised with how great the poses felt.  This workout would have been perfect had I not done it when the kids were awake.  They were fine until the moment I hit “Play.”  Then they decided it was the perfect opportunity to be loud and rambunctious.  It was a little harder to enjoy the clarity and relaxation that comes from deep breathing.  One thing is certain:  I will do this workout again!  And next time, I’ll make sure the house is quiet.

Day 2 – Cardio

At 9pm, after the babysitter arrived, my husband and I headed out the door for a run along a major street near our house.  Before he left, he told me that he would likely run ahead of me.  I felt that this would be fine, as I did not think that he would end up that far ahead of me.  I was wrong.

I could not keep up with Curtis for the life of me.  He is much taller than I am, and has the advantage of long legs that produce greater strides than what my short legs can.  He also used to be a competitive long-distance runner- with a slew of medals to his name.  He can run very fast.  Too fast.  I got a cramp trying to keep up with him.  I slowed down, but he kept going.  So I trailed behind him in the dark.  I lost sight of him a couple of times, and I was spooked.  As if the horrendous stomach cramp was not bad enough, I felt like I might be having an anxiety attack because… in the eyes of a ruthless criminal, a woman running by herself at night would no doubt be appealing.

I mustered up the strength to stay calm while I  sped up my running, but he was so far ahead of me that there was no way I could catch up with him.  So I finally sent him a heart-warming text message that read, “Slow down!!!!!”  He must not have read it because he did not slow down.  Huffing and puffing, I called him.

“Hello?,” he said without sounding out of breath.

“I’m all by myself,”  I said, gasping for air, “and you cannot see me!  What if I get kidnapped?!”

“Nothing is going to happen to you,” he laughed.  “I’m right here.”

“No you are not,” I stammered.  “I am too far away from you.  You will not be able to rescue me in time if I get snatched.”

He was amused.  He told me to settle down and assured me that everything was going to be okay.  I had no choice but to keep running.  And I prayed.  I claimed God’s verse that He will command His angels concerning you to keep you safe (Psalm 91:11).  And I ran.

Finally, I saw him running toward me.  He had made it to the turning point – a stoplight 1.1 miles from our driveway.  Thank God, I thought.  We’re headed home.  I ran with him as long as I could keep up, but again, he was much faster than me.  When he passed me, I ran along and got honked at by a truck full of guys.  I could not make out what they yelled, but I suspect it was not a coach-like repertoire encouraging me to stick with it and not give up.

When Curtis made it close to home – the two-mile mark – he turned around and came back for me.  How sweet.  He came back for me, I thought.  I tried to make him feel guilty about me getting honked at and yelled at, using that as evidence that I came THISCLOSE to disappearing.  He wasn’t buying it.

It is not that Curtis cannot run next to me.  He would just have to slow down tremendously to do it.  And he wants a good workout in too, so I cannot blame him for that.  Honestly, I would much rather run on a treadmill anyway.  It is safe.  I am indoors away from inclement weather, so I spare my skin from being exposed to the elements, and I can do intervals on a treadmill – something I cannot do outside.  You can see the intervals I like to do on my FAQ page under the exercise question.  I do not own a treadmill, though, and I do not currently have a gym membership where I can use one.

In the meantime, I am going to devise a secret plan to convince my husband to slow down and run beside me next time.  At sunset.

How far would you go to lose weight?  Would you go a year without eating?  What if you had tried a commercial weight loss program, medication, and surgery to lose weight, only to find yourself gaining it all back?  The following story is that of Christina Zaaijer, whose struggle to lose weight kept her and her husband from attempting to have a child.  Christina knew that to be obese and pregnant would only put her and her future child in danger.  So she went to see a doctor who introduced her to a weight-loss method that would completely change her life.  Here is my interview with her.

IN THE BEGINNING

VT:  When did you start experiencing problems with your weight?
CZ:  Ever since childhood, my weight has been an issue.  It progressively got worse as I got older.  By the time I was married in my twenties, I reached my highest weight of 380 pounds.  I always used to say that my weight never bothered me.  But at that weight, I was starting to notice the limitations even though I probably ignored them.

VT:  Do you see any part of your childhood that contributed to your weight gain?
CZ:  Yeah, and it is something that I definitely will not carry on with my own children.  The biggest mistake my family made was using food as a reward.  It was always, “after you do this, we’ll get an ice cream,” or something along those lines.  Food was always a reward in our house, and you never left the table without eating everything on your plate.  After dinner you got dessert, which was usually ice cream – which is my biggest downfall even to this day.  We did not eat a whole lot of fast food because my parents did not have a lot of money, but we ate a lot of casseroles, a lot of things with cheese in it, and dessert.

VT:  I remember growing up too where we could not leave the table if we did not eat everything.  It was really hard for me to break that habit.  It was hard for me to leave food on my plate when I was done eating and not feel guilty about it. 
CZ:  To this day, my grandmother’s mentality is that you eat her food to show her love.  And if you don’t, then you obviously do not love her.  That mentality carried on to my mother, who does not know any better either.  I am not blaming them.  That is just the way I grew up.  After getting married, more fast food came into the picture because my husband and I commute long distances for work and come home late at night.  The easiest thing to do is pick up something quick and easy to eat.

VT:  How long did you stay at 380 pounds before you did something about your weight?
CZ:  I would say between seven and eight years.

VT:  What kinds of weight-loss methods did you try?
CZ:  I tried Weight Watchers several times.  I also was on an awful prescription pill called Xenical which works by removing the fat out of your diet.  The side effects were just too horrible to continue on that.  I had also tried joining the gym on my own, but nothing I tried stuck.

VT:  After those methods failed to help you lose weight, did you try anything else?
CZ:  Yes.  I had lap band surgery as a final resort.  And with that, I was able to lose 100 pounds.  Then I started having issues with the lap band.  It shifted a little bit, and I was having really bad acid reflux.  My doctor loosened the tightness of it, and as soon as she did that, I gained the 100 pounds right back in less than a year.  Shortly after that, I lost my job.  Defeated about the weight gain and my unemployment, I became depressed and ashamed of myself.  Over the next couple of years, I went right back up to 380 pounds.

VT:  Did you try anything else at that point to lose the weight again?
CZ:  I went back onto Weight Watchers and lost 60 pounds.  Then I gained nearly 20 pounds of it back.  A short time later, my husband and I decided that we wanted to have children.  As it turned out, Discovery Health had a show going on about obese women and pregnancy.  I remember watching the story of this poor woman who was pregnant and they had to tape her stomach up so that they could get to her baby.  It was absolutely humiliating for her.  And I’m sitting there going, “That could be me.  And I am not going to have my first pregnancy be something that humiliates me.”   When I saw the complications that those babies were having as a result of being in obese mothers, I was scared.  I do not want my baby to have any of that!  I do not want something that is supposed to be the most joyous time in a woman’s life be overshadowed by my weight that I have control over.

GOING ON A LIQUID DIET

VT:  Since you had already tried a commercial weight-loss program, medication, and even surgery, were you willing to try any of these methods again?
CZ:  Yes.  I went back to see my doctor that did the lap band surgery and I asked her to readjust my lap band, by tightening the restriction of the band so I would be full with a lot less food.  She started telling me about a seminar she had attended where another doctor shared about the success he was having with patients (that had had the lap band surgery and gained the weight back) that were on this liquid diet.  She gave me his information and I set an appointment the next week.

VT:  Is this liquid diet only for people that have not had success with lap band surgery?
CZ:  No.

VT:  What is the name of the liquid diet?
CZ:  It’s called Metabolic Nutrition First Step.  The doctor that my surgeon referred me to is a family practice doctor and cosmetic surgeon that does this in addition to his normal practice.  I commute an hour-and-a-half to see him, and he is worth every mile.  He is so supportive.  He is the first doctor to treat me like a person rather than a patient.

VT:  What was your first visit with your new doctor like?  What did he tell you in terms of what you could expect?
CZ:  Looking back, I did not leave my first appointment ever thinking in my wildest dreams that I would be on a full liquid diet for a year.  My doctor told me that he had had success with patients that were on it, and he asked me what I wanted.  I told him that I wanted to get pregnant and be healthy.  I told him that I wanted to be 230 pounds by the end of the year because I thought 230 pounds was realistic enough and healthy enough to have a decent pregnancy.  And he said that we could accomplish that together.  First he took a whole panel of blood work and then an EKG to make sure that I was healthy enough to do this liquid fast.

VT:  How often did you meet with your doctor?
CZ:  In the beginning, it was every other week.  I had my blood drawn.  He went over how I was feeling and how I was doing on the diet.  He inquired about any concerns I had.  He checked my weight, did my body measurements, and checked my body mass index. I would pick up my next two weeks of shakes at each visit.

VT:  I am curious to know more about this diet.  Can you give me some details? 
CZ:  I went down to 525 calories a day.  The shakes have all of my nutrition in them that I need.  You have five soy-based shakes a day in the flavors chocolate, vanilla, and strawberry.  The only thing you add to the shakes is eight ounces of water.  You can add ice and sugar-free Torani syrup if you want.  There were also some broths, which were powder as well that you add hot water to instead of cold water.  They weren’t my favorite.  I had a shake at 8am, 11am, 1pm, 3pm, and 5pm because that was closer to the times my husband ate.  After 5pm, I had nothing else except for water or any other non-caloric beverage.  I love those zero-calorie Sobe drinks.

VT:  525 calories?!  That’s really low.  That’s less than half of the caloric intake I need a day.  That’s really surprising that you were able to do it.
CZ:  The shakes were between 120 and 130 calories each.  I felt great.  I did not feel tired or lightheaded.  Now that I am off of the liquid diet, my calories have increased to about 1,200-1,500 a day.  My doctor did a test that told me how my metabolism was working.  He was able to tell me how many calories my metabolism is burning at a resting state.  I learned that in a resting state, my body will burn between 1,200-1,500 calories on its own.

VT:  That sounds like a fascinating test.  What is it called?   
CZ:  I believe it’s called a metabolic test.  My doctor hooked me up to a breathing machine and put some electrodes on me and he was able to tell me how fast my metabolism was working.  And it gave me a number that I had never had before.  I can safely eat that amount of calories and not gain any weight.

VT:  You really did not have any food for an entire year?  Not even once?
CZ:  No, in fact I went on a cruise a few months after I started the diet and I still continued it.  But three months before I got off of the diet, I wanted to quit.  The shakes made me want to puke.  I wanted to know what other people on this diet were doing to continue.  So I created a Facebook page for people doing this diet, called Dr. Riopelle Metabolic Nutrition Diet.  I told my doctor and the office about my group and asked them to inform the other patients that I had created a support group, but sadly, I have not had any other patients join.  I don’t know if it had to do with patient confidentiality, but I really wanted to have the support of others that were doing the same thing I was.  In the end, my doctor encouraged me to stick with it because I was almost at my goal.  It was not easy.  But I did not come all of this way to not complete it.

VT:  That’s incredible.  I am sure I would have given in at least a few times.  How did you not cave in?  What about your husband?  Surely he was eating food in front of you.
CZ:  He was eating food, but I absolutely refused to stay away from the dining table just because I could not eat.  I used the time to have wonderful conversations.  The shakes have an appetite suppressant in them, so I was not hungry.  I did chew a lot of gum because I missed the chewing factor of eating.  I’d be lying if I said that I did not want a bite of food, but I was and still am very determined.  My goal in starting this whole thing was to have a baby.  Every other time that I tried to lose weight was for myself.  I always failed because I never thought I was worth it.  Having the hopes of getting pregnant and having a baby was what I needed to make the whole thing work.

VT:  It sounds like your husband was a great encouragement to you.  Who you live with can be a problem if that person wants to eat junk all day and they influence you to eat the same way. That can be really tough if you are trying to lose weight. 
CZ:  My husband has never tried to sabotage me.  He is by no means obese, but he is a little overweight.  We do Weight Watchers together now and he has already lost 50 pounds.  When I was on the liquid diet, he came home and cooked every night for himself.  He packed his own lunches.  I never had to worry about cooking.  I never had to worry about grocery shopping.  He took care of himself and was very supportive. In the beginning, I think he was concerned with the dramatic diet and the small amount of calories, and whether I was going to be tired all of the time.  He quietly observed me, and fortunately, never had a need to express any of his concerns.

VT:  I have to ask.  Is this an expensive program?
CZ:  Absolutely not.  I was unemployed at the time that I started.  My husband and I are by no means rich.  My husband being the accounts payable person that he is has everything budgeted right down to the cent.  We were not spending any more than we were when we were buying groceries for the both of us.  It ended up being $175 a month for the shakes.  We weren’t going to any restaurants because I was on this diet.  He just calculated my shakes as part of our food budget and it actually went down.  I did not do the entire program that they advertise with behavioral health sessions, fasting workbook, counseling, etc.  My doctor never tried to sell me any of that.  He was strictly there to help me lose weight.  The only other costs I had on top of the shakes were the costs associated with the doctor visits.  So I had a co-pay for each visit, and for every 50 pounds that I lost, my doctor did an EKG. I also got blood work done every two weeks.  So I had the bills from that, minus what the insurance did not pay.

VT:  If other people are interested in doing this diet, how can they get more information? 
CZ:  My doctor, Dr. Riopelle, gave me his website, and said that anyone that is interested in doing the diet can contact him and he will try to find a doctor in their area that can work with them.  His website is www.mdwtloss.com.  My doctor has never said that this program would not be good for certain individuals, but rather anyone that wants to lose weight and is having trouble losing it might benefit from this program.

THE RESULTS

VT:  How quickly did you notice the weight start to fall off when you started the liquid diet?
CZ:  In the beginning, I was losing 10-15 pounds every two weeks.  Then the weight loss slowed down to 14 pounds every six weeks.  It was not until I lost 100 pounds that I started to notice a difference in myself.  Of course, I had dropped clothing sizes, but I still felt huge.  I think my biggest milestone is when I was able to get off of my blood pressure and cholesterol medication.  Five months into the program, I got to come off of all of the mediations I was on as a result of being overweight.

VT:  Did you exercise while you did this liquid diet?
CZ:  When I started, the only thing I could do was walk.  I walked a block around the house.  I was eventually able to do some of The Biggest Loser DVDs, which I loved.  Then my husband and I decided to invest in a good treadmill.  So I walked on a treadmill with an incline three days a week.  We did join a gym where I could try different machines and classes to add strength training so that I could build up my endurance.  Now I’m at the gym four to five times a week.  I love trying new things.  I want to try indoor rock climbing.  I eventually tried to run, but there is the issue I have with excess skin.  So it’s a bit uncomfortable for me with the bouncing.

VT:  How were the results of the blood work and EKG’s?  Did you notice an improvement in the results?
CZ:  Yes! Once my cholesterol went down, I was able to get off of that medication. Then my doctor tested my thyroid and found that I had hypothyroidism, so I got on medication for that.  He told me that treating this condition is one of the things that helped me lose the weight.  Now that my weight is under control we are still working on having a family.  We have hit a few fertility road blocks but my determination has gotten me this far and I am not giving up.

VT:  How much total weight did you lose?
CZ:  195 pounds total from my highest weight of 380 pounds.  I did Weight Watchers before I did the liquid diet.  But on the liquid diet, I lost an additional 153 pounds.

VT:  One year is a long time to be on a liquid diet.  How did your doctor work with you to safely get you off of it?
CZ:  Once you get to your target weight, he slowly weans you off the diet and introduces food again.  So I continued with three shakes a day, but did 30 days of a lean and green dinner.  After the 30 days, we added lunch, which was basically lean protein and vegetables.  I did that for four weeks.  Then we added breakfast.  His goal is for me to eat five small meals a day.  He wanted me to continue to have some accountability, so he agreed that I could join Weight Watchers again, and that is what I have been doing since.

VT:  What was it like the first time you got to eat again?
CZ:  It was great!  I took a picture and posted it on Facebook.  I had four ounces of chicken breast and broccoli without butter or anything.  It was absolutely fabulous.  I ate slowly and enjoyed every bite.  It was a little scary to be honest.  There has been a switch in my brain where I see and perceive food differently now.  I am terrified of gaining the weight back, so I am very cautious of what I put in my mouth.  Now I like snacking on strawberries, blueberries, and raw almonds.

VT:  You mentioned earlier that you had excess skin.  Is there anything you’ll be able to do about that?
CZ:   I do have a hard time looking at myself and giving myself the credit for the accomplishment because I see what’s left over from being overweight.  It needs to be addressed because it’s not going to go anywhere.  I do not know where to start with that.  I don’t know how much it costs or if I can afford it.  From what I’ve seen on TV shows from people that have had excess skin removed, it can cost upwards of $30,000, so I am thinking I am just going to have to live with the skin.

WHAT OTHERS ARE SAYING

VT:  How did people react when you shared your before and after pictures on Extreme Makeover Weight Loss Edition’s Facebook page?
CZ:  I have been amazed at the number of people that have been wishing me well and asking for my story.  It has been kind of overwhelming, as well as a surprise, because I never would have thought that I had a story to tell.  I’m a very quiet person that has hid in myself because I was ashamed of my weight.  I never looked anybody in the eye.  I thought if I did not look at them, they did not see me.  So it has been different for me to have this attention.  Everybody wants to chat with me and know what I’m eating, what I’m doing, etc.  And I want to help every one of them!  But I am no expert.  You have to go to a doctor to do what I did.

VT:  Did you receive criticism from other people when they learned how you were able to lose the weight?
CZ:  Some people have questioned what I have done.  There have been comments that I did this the unhealthy way.  Unhealthy was 380 pounds.  I was a heart attack waiting to happen.  I did this completely supervised by a wonderful doctor.  There was never a moment where I felt lightheaded or I felt like I needed to have something to eat.  I never felt malnourished.  I was able to lead an active lifestyle without feeling faint.  Those were the signs that would have told me that what I was doing was unhealthy.  What confirmed that what I was doing was healthy was getting off of the blood pressure medication, being able to step up my exercise, losing the weight and feeling great.  Those were the positive signals.  This may not be for everybody.  Not everybody may have to or need to or be able to handle an all-liquid diet for this long.  But it worked for me.

VT:  Let’s talk about the opposition for a moment, because my guess is that once your relatives, friends, and coworkers started seeing dramatic changes in your weight, some of them may have questioned your method of doing it. 
CZ:  There were comments made like, “How long are you going to continue this?  This can’t be good for you,” or “You need to start eating.  You’re getting too thin.”  I also heard people tell me that I needed to stop now.  Those things were really hard for me to hear because on one hand they were critical about me being fat, but here I had lost all of this weight and they were still expressing disapproval.  I feel like I’ve come this far, I have this goal in mind that I’m not giving up on.  Even though I lost the weight, I am going to continue going.  I’m healthy and I am happy.  I have to get to a point where I can’t let those comments bother me anymore, even though they are hurtful.  I feel like I have to defend myself and defend what I have done instead of people just being happy for me.

VT:  There will always be naysayers out there and people that think it is necessary to dump their negativity on you.  When I shared my goal of wanting to get to a size zero, people laughed in my face and told me that it would be impossible.  They said that my hips were too wide, and that I would never be able to get to that size regardless of how much weight I lost.  That just gave me more determination to prove them wrong.  And I did.  I had never looked that good in my entire life.  And people were still negative!  But at that point, I just let their negativity fall off of me and land right back on them where it belonged.  There is no sense in letting someone make you feel bad for the goals that you have accomplished.  Keep doing what you are doing, and enjoy how fit you are becoming.
CZ:  I try to concentrate on the things I am able to do now that I have never been able to do, as small as being able to cross my legs to being able to walk into any shop and buy a piece of clothing off the rack instead of having to go to the back of the department store where they hide all of the plus sizes.  I was able to go on a roller coaster ride for the first time since I was an adolescent.  When I was overweight, I could not fit in the seats; I could not even go through a turn-style.  I could never fit in a chair with arms.  Anytime my husband and I went to a restaurant, I would have a little panic attack if the chairs had arms on them.  And those things are still hard to get over because I still find myself prescreening a restaurant according to their chairs!  And I have no problem fitting in a chair now.

VT:  Do you have any words of advice for anyone wanting to lose weight?
CZ:  I would just encourage people to find a support group, find a doctor, find something that is going to help them with the push that they need to start their weight loss.  When you have over 100 pounds to lose, it is not easy to do it on your own.  It is very important to have a doctor on your side.  To have family or friends that you can fall back on when you are at your weakest moments.  If I did not have such a terrific doctor, I would have stopped the liquid diet a long time ago.  But he helped me stick to it.  I would just encourage people to find what works for them and find their own worth to do it for them.  That was something that was hard for me to do.  And you know, it is not a lost cause.

Christina Zaaijer is 34-years-old and happily married to her wonderful husband of 15 years.  She works as an administrative assistant for a soy and almond milk manufacturing company.  She enjoys knitting, taking cruises to the Caribbean, and shopping for new (smaller) clothes.

Want to continue getting inspired?  Read another Success Story here.

Last week turned out to be much more vigorous than I thought it would be.  And I wish I was referring to the amount of exercise I did, but I am not.  I was completely overwhelmed with our new homeschool curriculum.  My boys – ages five and seven – had more work to do than I ever remember having at that age.  We completed less than half of the material that was scheduled for that week.

After the first day, I got in touch with a school administrator to explain my concerns about the amount of course work.  She helped to calm me down, explaining that if I follow the schedule to a tee, we’ll be finished with the school year in April.  That made me feel a lot better because I also plan on doing school lessons on days that kids in a brick and mortar school normally would not, like spring break and holiday breaks.

This is what I did for exercise this week.  The following workout came from Netflix.

Day 1 – Strength Training

Crunch – Pick Your Spot Pilates was just the workout I needed to start off my week.  Ellen Barrett stars in this, and she is one of my favorite exercise instructors.  The title of the workout – Pick Your Spot Pilates – is named so because the workout is divided into three sections:  core, butt, and thighs.  In each section, you do Pilates exercises targeting each of those areas.  The core and thigh segments were great!  I felt the butt segment could have been better, but all three segments combined made for a great Pilates workout.  The core segment had my favorite Pilates exercise:  the hundred.

Have you seen the hundred before?  If you haven’t, you’ll definitely want to check it out:

Near the end of the week, I was making another one of my protein smoothies and afterward I placed the blender in the sink to wash it at a later time.  When I went to wash my hands sometime later, I accidentally knocked the blender over and it shattered!  Whatever will I do without my protein smoothies?!

I have no choice but to buy a new blender.  Do you have any recommendations?  Just a little research on the Internet led me to a site where someone was raving about how much they loved their Vita-Mix.  I had never heard of it.  Then I looked up the price and nearly fell out of my chair.  $380?!  For a blender?!  It does claim to be “virtually unbreakable,” which would certainly be a plus for me, but for that kind of money, that thing had better get the smoothie ingredients prepared all by itself, mix them to perfection, and then pour my freshly made smoothie into a glass.

Don’t miss out on this series! You can read all of the posts in Losing the Baby Weight right here.

Recommended Reading:

Can You Do a Handstand Pushup?  Watch the video of my friend doing handstand pushups, and then see what happens when I try to do them.

Pilates, Dancing, & Yoga, Oh My! – Three great exercises.  Three less-than-great workouts.  No wonder I wanted to run away!

Running Outside and On the Wii – Which do you think was harder?  Running outside or on the Wii?  Read on to find out.

Jillian Michaels, star of the hit reality weight-loss show The Biggest Loser, is giving away her book, The Master Your Metabolism Cookbook.  The book has 125 recipes that are designed to boost your metabolism while still tasting delicious.  With these recipes, you can:

• Flatten your belly
• Burn fat faster
• Feel revitalized
• Build stronger muscles

Among the recipes are things like Fudge Brownies, Spice Mahi-Mahi Tacos, Grilled Skirtsteak with Chimichurri Sauce, and Mediterranean Pizza.  With each recipe, you will get detailed information on calorie counts, carbohydrates, fat, protein, sodium, etc.  I have never heard of fudge brownies that boost your metabolism, so I’m very intrigued by that recipe!  Her book has really good reviews on Amazon, so getting this book for free is a no-brainer.

The Master Your Metabolism Cookbook, which retails for $26, can be yours for only the cost of shipping and handling: $4.95.  Here is how to get your book:

*  Fill out the form on Jillian’s website here.

*  In addition to getting the book, you will also gain access to Jillian’s Online Weight-Loss Program for FREE for one week.

*  After that, it will cost you $4 a week to continue the program.  If you do not want to continue that, just cancel your membership before your free trial ends, and you will not pay any additional costs.  Billing stops immediately when you cancel.

Her website does not state how long this deal is good for, so if you are interested, grab your copy while you can.

Recommended Reading:

The Cost of Fruit:  Making it Work Your Budget – I just read in the paper that a study found that eating healthy costs too much.  These people obviously don’t know how to shop and reduce the cost of their spending!

Jillian Michaels Doesn’t Want to Ruin Her Body With Pregnancy – Jillian caused quite a stir when she stated in an interview in Women’s Health Magazine that she did not want to endure pregnancy because of how she believes it will ruin her figure.  This fear may be more common than you think.  But have no fear, I’ll give you the truth about what to expect for your figure when you’re expecting.

Last week I tried something I had never done before.  I did not even know it was possible until I watched a friend of mine do it in a video.  Read on to find out how that turned out!

As far as workouts go, I only got one day in last week.  That workout came from Netflix.  Other than the fact that I think I might be addicted to protein smoothies, my diet continues to do great.  I did have some pizza slices last week, but I think Papa Murphy’s pizza is pretty healthy, in addition to being delicious!  One slice from our favorite pizza – a large Pepperoni on original crust has just 279 calories.

Here is what I did this week:

Day 1 – Strength Training

This sculpting workout provided a terrific lunge sequence and a challenging arm sequence. Crunch: Total Resculpt was a great workout.   The instructor did a fine job by providing easy-to-follow instructions and being pleasant to workout with.  The workout is split into two parts: one for your upper body; the other for your lower body.  I was hoping there would be an abdominal section in there, but there wasn’t.  Regardless, this workout had me sweating, and there was one arm sequence that I could not even complete because my arms were staring to get fatigued.

Day 2 – Strength Training

After my friend shared a video of her husband doing handstand pushups, I got inspired to try them myself.  Since he was supporting his feet against the wall, I thought, No problem.  I can do this too.

First, let me say that Brian makes it look easy.  He did six of them without a problem.  I tried and tried, and I could not even do one!  Not a measly single one.  After five separate attempts, I felt weak.  I thought I was stronger than that.  After the first two fails, I was starting to get agitated.  I really wanted to be able to do this.  So I tried harder.

I was able to lower myself closer to the floor with the last three attempts, but once I got down there, I could not bring myself back up!  I had to fall over in defeat.  And for the rest of the day, my arms were sore.  Other than the fact that my respect for Brian has just tripled, I think I need to get serious about my arms and start doing something to make them stronger.  What good is it to have nice looking arms if I can’t do anything with them?

After those two days, my body was pretty sore.  My legs hurt from all of the lunges I did.  So I spent the rest of the week daydreaming about doing yoga to help relieve the pain.  I just had other priorities that really demanded my time.

The boys start school in two days, and I’m stressing over that.  They have never been in a school before.  I have homeschooled them since before they could talk.  They are still going to be homeschooled, but instead of using a Christian-based curriculum like I normally would have purchased, I have them enrolled in a virtual school.

I really am impressed with the quality of curriculum that they received.  They got boxes and boxes of everything they will need for the school year, including all of the materials they will need for their science projects.  I still get to be their teacher, but there is some stuff I’ll have to learn using their program.

I may very well need some yoga after this week!

Don’t miss out on this series! You can read all of the posts in Losing the Baby Weight right here.

What makes weight loss so challenging?  Well, there are probably as many answers to that as there are stars in the sky.  So many factors can go into play here.  Rather than focusing on them, however, I want you to see your life from the perspective of a bee.  That’s right.  A bee.  Just like a bee, you work hard.  You are constantly on the go, working, providing for your colony (i.e., your family), and accomplishing as much as you can in a day.  Just like a bee, you know what it means to have to plan for the future, to work your butt off so that your colony does not starve, and to protect them from harm at all costs.

You really are a busy bee!  Another interesting characteristic of a bee is the mere fact that it can fly.  Although we understand now how this works, scientists were not always able to explain the the flight of a bee.  In 1934, a French entomologist (a person that studies insects) named Antoine Magnam concluded, based on the laws of air resistance, that the flight of an insect is impossible.  This led to an inspirational phenomenon, where people concluded that bees did the impossible, that they defied the laws of aerodynamics, and that we could glean from them the same sort of drive to stand up against the seemingly impossible and do it anyway.

In a lecture given by biologist John Maynard Smith, someone in the audience asked the following question:  Is a bumblebee aerodynamically incapable of flying?  John Maynard Smith (who was originally an aeronautical engineer) goes on to explain his studies of insect flight, and found that a bee was getting a hold of ten times more air than you would expect it to.  A bee was sucking in a great mass of air from all around it, and the viscosity of that air is what enables it to fly.

While we now know that a bee is not doing something impossible, it is still fascinating to know that it uses more horsepower than you would expect it to.  It has something to accomplish and it uses the power of air to get its tasks done.  Do you realize how many resources are at your disposal to lose weight?  The weight loss industry is a multibillion dollar one because it offers so many books, seminars, behavior therapy sessions, gyms open to the general public and those catering to specific populations (like Curves, which caters only to women), weight loss centers around the country, programs much like rehab that focus on food addiction, support groups, and on and on the list goes!

Yet the bee has only one resource:  air.  And it figured out a way to use it to its advantage.  It flaps its wings 230 times per second, and lo and behold, it flies!  Even though you are probably aware of the resources that are available around you, I understand that it may be hard to utilize them.  When someone is overwhelmed with the responsibilities or circumstances of their life, sometimes it seems easier not to even try.

Do you know what I want for you?  I want you to not give up.  Please, don’t give up.  Hang in there, even when you cry yourself to sleep because of how much you wish things were different.  If you are looking through mud-covered glasses, it is nearly impossible to see that you have the power to accomplish great things.  How much weight do you want to lose?  10 pounds?  50?  100 or more?

Whatever your aspirations are, I am guessing that they are slim in comparison to this phenomenal weight loss story.  David Smith used to weigh 650 pounds!  He contemplated suicide.  But he decided to make one final cry for help, and when he contacted personal trainer Chris Powell, it was the beginning of a new life for him.  Chris Powell made history by helping David lose over 400 pounds in two years – the fastest anyone has ever lost such a large amount of weight.

Consider yourself to have more advantages than a bee does.  Yet even though it utilizes only one resource (air), its species is still responsible for the pollination of millions of flowers every year.  I realize that with everything going on in your life,  you may not feel like you have very many resources available to help you.  But I am willing to bet that there is something you can do to help yourself start losing the weight.  Get encouraged by reading stories of how other people have been able to shed the weight.

I believe you can do it!

Recommended Reading:

Overcoming the Stronghold of Food – Is food a stronghold for you?  Has its grip on you gotten out of control?  Read how you can be set free from this detriment to your life.

No Time to Exercise?  Solution: The 5-Minute Workout - If you think five minutes can’t help you lose weight, think again!

How An ER Doctor Lost 150 Pounds – Meet Dr. Ott, who once topped the scales at 350 pounds.  Read all about his transformation, and how he got himself to look so fit today.

The time has come to give you an update on how I am doing so far.  Here is a recap of the progress I have made.

Three months ago, I shared with you what my goals were.  I did not give a specific goal, like “I want to lose x-number of pounds,” but rather I told you that I wanted to be able to fit into my pre-pregnancy clothes.  I also told you that I wanted to be toned enough where if I stood in front of the mirror naked I would like what I see.

Clothes can hide fat.  You can tuck in cellulite, squeeze the gelatinous flab into a tighter pair of jeans, and even put on some type of garment that makes you look like your overweight rear has evaporated into thin air.  So that is why I say that to really know how I’m doing, I evaluate my body in my birthday suit.  I would rather know the truth than to hide behind something that gives me a false impression.  Because if I can see the reality with my eyes, then I know what needs work.

Back when I started this series, I put a picture up that showed my gut flopping out of my spandex workout shirt.  Trust me, I debated doing that.  But I did it for one reason, and one reason only:  so you could see for yourself my progress.  So you could see exactly what I am doing every week, and then you could see how that has reduced certain problem areas.

And it is important for you to know that I have not been perfect.  Why, I have not even exercised every single week in this series.  My diet has certainly improved, however.  When I started this series, I started drinking water almost exclusively.  Other than the time I gave my review on diet coke products, I did not touch a soda.  And I drank a lot of protein smoothies!  I love those things!  The results that they produce are fantastic.  I have them for snacks regularly, and sometimes, as a meal replacement.

I also started eating more fruit throughout the day.  I ate peaches, apples, oranges, watermelon, cantaloupe, and bananas.  I munched on carrots and cucumber slices.  What you eat is so important to how quickly you lose the weight that I knew I would be okay if I missed a couple of days of exercise here and there.

Here is a summary of all of the posts in this series so far:

How a Natural Birth Contributes to a Speedy Recovery – Just say no to drugs!  After having three children using all of the “managed labor” methods that doctors and hospitals promote – and being less than satisfied with the side effects on me and my children – I decided to have my fourth baby without any of that nonsense.  And I’m so glad I did.

Waiting Six Weeks to Exercise – Do you have to wait six weeks after you have a baby to exercise?  No.  Some women get right back to their vigorous lifestyle within hours of having a baby.  Here’s why I chose to wait.

Too Tired to Exercise -  Between nursing every few hours to keeping up with the household chores, I was simply too tired to do a workout.  And I feared that my tiredness would keep me from accomplishing my goals.

My Weight & My Goals – See pictures of my starting weight along with my goals.

My Protein Shopping Trip – See all of the items I bought to make my protein smoothies and well as the protein bars to snack on.

(Week 1) A Rude Awakening – Talk about a rude awakening!  This is what happens when you go months without exercising! I started to increase my protein intake by making a protein smoothie everyday.

(Week 2) It’s About Progress, Not Perfection – I exercised only one day this week.  And it was a good workout!  My attitude is this:  something is better than nothing.  I got sick near the middle of the week so I did not have much of an appetite.

(Week 3) Taking It Easy – I did not exercise at all because I was sick.  My diet was also still in recovery.  But I did share a picture with you of a fun family outing we went on.

(Week 4) Buns of Steel – Like my second week, I exercised only one day this week!  Getting into the swing of things is hard.  But I snacked on mini carrots, cucumber slices, and celery with peanut butter.

(Week 5) Pilates, Dancing, & Yoga, Oh My! -  I exercised three days this week, and let me tell you, I was irate with the workouts I did.  One of them even left me feeling so uncomfortable that I wanted to run away.

(Week 6) Running Outside and On the Wii – This was a week of totally awesome workouts.  I did a new one on the Wii, ran home from the grocery store, and did my favorite thing in the whole wide world: Pilates.

(Week 7) The Situation I’m In – Another week of exercising three days.  Yes, yoga counts!  I also did a terrific strength training workout that left me pumped up for days.  But the week ended sadly when I tried on my bathing suit…

(Week 8 ) Targeting Abs & My New Protein Shopping Trip – I did three workouts that focused on my abs, and I went shopping for a new protein powder that I absolutely love!  I also got new protein bars that were a huge hit!

(Week 9) I May Regret Telling You This – My most shocking, my suspenseful, most surprising revelation of all.  Make sure you are sitting down when you read this.

(Week 10) How a Broom Can Be a Substitute For Workout Gear -I tried one of those 15-minute express workouts this week, and have gotten more exercise unloading the dryer.  But, at least I got to go swimming.

(Week 11) The Chance Of a Lifetime – I slept a small fraction of what I should have, and ended up hallucinating toward the end of the week.  Exercise was nowhere to be found, and my diet was not a priority either.  I had something very important I had to do.

Here’s what eleven weeks of not-so-perfect work got me.  Note how I am not flexing my abdominal muscles like I am in the picture at the top.  Flexing obviously makes you look fitter, doesn’t it?!  I think it’s good to flex because it is just so encouraging to be able to see the form of a six-pack starting.

So the first piece of good news is that I lost ten pounds!  Here are my body measurements (using these guidelines):

Have I reached my goals?  Well, yes and no.  I fit into the majority of my pre-pregnancy clothes.  I also am pleased with the progress I see when I am in the nude, but I still see areas that need work.

Dare I say that I would love to be a size zero again?  I am a size three right now, and while I am okay with that, I know I can do better.  I know because I have done it.  But I also know that to get to a size zero will require more work and dedication than I can give right now.

So, my new goal is to be able to fit into a pair of short-shorts that I own.  Not just any pair.

These adorable shorts are the kind you can show off in at the beach in your bikini top.  Even though they say they are a size three, I can barely squeeze into them.  And I want to be able to look good in these, so that is my new goal!

Recommended Reading:

Ultimate Weight Loss Drink: Protein Smoothie – It’s quick and easy to make.  It’s delicious.  Best of all, it really works.  Check out my recipe.

5 Surprising Ways to Increase Your Water Intake -  Do your body a favor and start drinking more water!  It helps rid your body of toxins, it helps clear up your skin, and it helps you lose weight.

Just For Today – Learn how the motto for Overeaters Anonymous can help change your life.  Your journey to a dream body starts today!