My husband had just started law school. We had relocated back to Los Angeles. I had a new teaching position. There was a high level of stress in our lives.
During the first month of school I was starting to have chest pains, severe heart burn, acid reflux, etc. I ended up in the emergency room one day after teaching classes because I thought I was having a heart attack. I wasn't, thank goodness, well actually what the doctor said was I could have been having a minor heart attack that wasn't showing up on the EKG machine they had hooked me up to. They gave me some drug cocktail to see if the pain would go away, and it did. Then they sent me on my way with a prescription for some heavy duty heart burn meds and one of my favorites: Xanax.
So, why am I telling you all of this? It explains the moment that I realized something had to change. It wasn't the climax of this journey. You would think it was, but it wasn't. Though, it did get me to buy one of my most beloved of kitchen appliances of all time, The Vitamix Blender.
This blog is about my weight loss journey. I am changing my life one pound at a time. One meal at a time. One hour of exercise at a time. One day at a time. I am not a writer. Please forgive me if my grammar, punctuation, etc. is terrible. For those of you who know me you must be thinking, but you're an English teacher!?! Yup, I am. I love teaching. I'm quite passionate about it. I love teaching literature. But I hate teaching writing and grammar. If you are a former student of mine reading this you must be thinking: What!?! You hate teaching writing? But that's what you taught us the most! Yes, because I knew you would need it. Whether I did a good job teaching you how to write is debatable, but I tried.
Again, forgive my writing, and I'm also not a nutritionist. I'm not a health expert, exercise expert, any type of expert in anything related to health and exercise. This blog is a documentation of my journey and what is working for me.
So, what is working for me? Currently I am on the Eat To Live plan by Dr. Joel Fuhrman:
What does the plan consist of? I eat a diet of vegetables (primarily leafy greens), fruit, beans, up to an ounce of nuts a day, and water. No meat, No dairy, No carbs, No oil, No salt, No junk. For 6 weeks. After 6 weeks 90% of a person's diet is the above and then 10% of the time you can eat whatever you want.
Why this plan? Because it made the most sense to me. It is to the point, clear, and simple. And it is for people who want to lose at least 20 pounds, but really geared for people who have a lot of weight to lose. I am one of those people. I have a minimum of 90 pounds to lose. I have currently lost 52 pounds. Now did I lose 52 pounds on this plan alone? No, I started with Weight Watchers in June (3 months ago) and then once I got comfortable I incorporated a meal plan structure that was created by a nutritionist that one of my girlfriends had used last year to lose a substantial amount of weight. But I knew I wanted something more. I went to my local bookstore and flipped through stacks of nutrition and diet books and this is the book that spoke to me.
What else am I doing? I exercise. Every day. Every single morning. I do a 5-10 minute warm-up. Usually a jog on the treadmill, or 5 minutes on the stair master. Then I do 30 minutes of lifting. I rotate through different body parts every day. One day is arms, one day is legs, etc. Then I complete 30 minutes of cardio. My current favorite is the Stair Master.
So, how do I know how to do this? Two people in my life taught me this concept. One is a girlfriend I met through mommy groups in the OC, the same wonderful person who gave me her nutrition plan and the other is a recent former student of mine who is putting up with me through the goodness of his heart. Between the two of them, I have learned how to exercise. I have adjusted their concepts to fit my current level of fitness and my needs.
What has this all resulted in? 52 pounds in 3 months.
Obviously, I have to give you more details. There is a lot more to this story. But I think what I have given in this first post covers the basics. Until next time, xoxo.
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