by Trish Adams | Dec 16, 2014 | Metabolism Reset, Strength Training, Testimonials, The Journey
How long have you been on this journey?
I discovered EM2WL in May 2012. It’s been a long journey with both ups and downs, but there is no turning back for me. It took me a while to trust the process and I’m so happy that I stuck in there. Luckily for me, I have a lot of patience, which is key with this lifestyle. Yes, lifestyle. It is not a quick fix or a diet. It’s a way of life. If you like food, like most people do, then you will like EM2WL.
When did you first learn that you needed to eat more to reach your goals?
Well my story is a bit of a lengthy one, but I think it’s one that most people can relate to. I did Weight Watchers to lose weight after both of my pregnancies. After my first pregnancy it worked great. I had lost all the weight and then some. I was also doing a lot of cardio. I was running 5 days a week and doing some light weight lifting.
After my second pregnancy, however, the weight did not come off nearly as fast with Weight Watchers. I also was not able to do my usual 5 days of running because I was diagnosed with pelvic girdle pain. It is something that I deal with to this day. I came within 8 pounds of my pre-pregnancy weight but my clothes just didn’t fit the same. I was fatter! My body composition was completely different. All of that cardio and low calorie eating came back to bite me.
A few months later I stumbled across MyfitnessPal and the EM2WL group. I watched Kiki’s and Lucia’s videos about TDEE. I was intrigued to say the least and I decided to jump right in by doing a 3 month reset. I figured if the low calorie/cardio way wasn’t working, then eating more certainly couldn’t hurt.
What was your original response?
My initial response to EM2WL was disbelief. I was shocked. How could I not have known about this? How could someone eat so much food and lose fat? I just could not wrap my head around it.
How did others around you react about your decision to discard the usual low calorie methods for weight loss?
I think there was some hesitation from family members, except my brother. He is a personal trainer and knew exactly what I was doing. Most people didn’t understand, but I knew it was the right thing for me and that’s what matters.
How did your body react to the initial increase in cals?
Well, I gained! I ended up doing 2 resets and gained 25 pounds in a period of about one year. Yes, I know it sounds scary but I came to the realization that I had to gain before I could lose. Most people think they lose weight because they are eating LESS, but we need to realize that you’re losing weight because at one point you ate MORE. I now tell people that I actually gained weight on purpose.
I also noticed that my nails were stronger, my hair wouldn’t fall out as much, and I wasn’t cold all the time. I also saw that even though the number on the scale was either staying the same or going up, that my inches were going down.
Did your family notice or comment on any changes once you upped your calories for a period of time?
I think it sparked some curiosity in my family members. I am definitely more muscular now than I have ever been my entire life. My husband felt my arms earlier today and was impressed with my progress.
Can you describe your typical workout schedule prior to EM2WL and today?
Prior to EM2WL I was doing an insane amount of cardio. I would run 5 days a week and do light weight lifting. By that I mean lifting no more than 5-10 pound dumbbells. And to be honest, I don’t think I could lift more than that anyway because I wasn’t eating enough.
Today I do cardio maybe once a week. Again, I suffer from pelvic girdle pain and cardio tends to aggravate that, which is actually a good thing because that means that strength training is my primary form of exercise. It helps with my pelvis. So it’s a win-win!
I lift weights 3 days a week and lift heavy. I’m midway through The New Rules of Lifting for Women and have experienced great results thus far. I am also a huge Cathe fan. I’ve done 1.5 rounds of STS before spraining my wrist this summer.
I really look forward to my workouts because I love seeing my progress. I’m at the point now where I enjoy focusing more on what my body can do versus how much weight I have lost. That stupid number on the scale doesn’t mean anything to me anymore.
In conclusion…
In conclusion, I’d like to thank Kiki, Lucia and the entire EM2WL family for the constant support. I’m so thankful that I have adopted this lifestyle. Not only for myself, but for my daughters too. They know when they see me exercising that I’m doing it so I can be strong, not so I can be skinny.
by | Dec 9, 2014 | Consistency, Metabolism Reset, Strength Training, Testimonials
The Two Year Plan
Hi. I’m Liane and I’m one year into a plan. I was never good at the small details but great at the big picture. This is why I came up with a two year plan but ended up flying by the seat of my pants and still, to some extent, am. But let me start at the beginning (see, flying by seat of pants).
When I was in high school, I was a serious athlete. I played three seasons of sport (field hockey, basketball and softball) and had the body that went with this. In the 80s, the muscular with some body fat body wasn’t something to have as a teen (then again, it seems to never have been the body to have). I thought my butt was too large, my tummy too large and I hated my muscular calves. I wanted my best friend’s tall lithe body. I look back on those pictures and wish I had that body again! I was so cute and fit (my tummy was just lightly rounded but I couldn’t see it). BUT, I didn’t diet. It wasn’t big in my group of friends who all seemed to just eat.
The summer after I graduated I went and worked as a pool-side cocktail waitress in a bathing suit at a resort. Talk about horrible. I was a late bloomer and working with these college women who were much more developed. At the same time I started drinking alcohol and eating to deal with the emotions I was feeling, being away from home. I gained 20 lbs in that summer. Yup, the freshmen 15+ before even becoming a university freshmen. Ugh. I began to play Division 1 field hockey at university and along with eating less meat and more veg, I lost the entire 20 lbs during that year. I felt good about myself. I hadn’t starved myself but cut out a few small things. And then my sophomore year came and a new coach. She made us all get our body fat taken by caliper. I was told that at 22%, I would have to lose a lot of weight – I was fat. Yup, not just asking me to eat a bit less to get a lower body fat percentage but that I was fat and to lose weight. All my insecurities came back. And so I began to starve myself. I probably ate between 800-1000 calories most days, though more on weekends. As you can imagine, in the next three years I did lose a lot of weight but my hockey performance declined a lot. My coach had ruined me. But I was skinny.
Throughout my 20s, I was constantly trying to keep that very skinny body shape. I would under eat, workout for hours and smoke. Yuck. But I was skinny for the most part.
When I wasn’t doing these things, my weight would balloon. And as I got older it got harder to go between heavier and skinnier. The worst was when I ended up tearing my ACL while playing rugby. I couldn’t exercise for months in the same way and I ate because I was unhappy. So I gained again.
Up, down, up down, never actually learning how to eat the right way. But I kept around a decent body weight and I doubt anyone would have ever called me ‘fat’ (though I felt that way). In 2004, I moved to London for a job. In the first few months, I lost weight despite drinking lots of beer with my new field hockey teammates and felt fantastic at my dad and stepmom’s wedding. I didn’t really eat a lot because I was a bit broke and I was walking everywhere as the transportation was expensive (and I didn’t have a paycheck right away). I then met my to be husband. He is a born and bred Londoner. And he loves food. He was the first guy I met who told me to eat more, that I was too skinny and that he couldn’t understand women who ate salads only. He loved my bum and hoped that I would get curvier.
That led to the two of us sharing our love of food and cooking. He taught me Indian dishes (as that was his background) and I showed him how to barbecue. Over the next couple of years, we both slowly gained weight, though I did more so due to eating his size portions. I called it my boyfriend weight. But I was happy. I didn’t even care about losing weight before I got married though I was sad to have a tummy in my wedding pics (Indian style wedding so tummy showed!) Eventually, I actually weighed myself and saw that I was 170 lbs. Holy cow. This was by far the heaviest I had been at 5’6″. I found MFP and lost 20 lbs quite quickly (I put myself in for a 2 lb a week weight loss). I ate very little, which felt natural to me. A few years later (and a year ago), I saw pics of myself looking quite fat faced and decided to weight myself. 165. Darn it. Gained weight again! Back to MFP where I quickly lost 5 lbs.
But then I began to read more in the forums. Some women were posting about eating more, especially as they didn’t have a lot of weight to lose, which I didn’t. I wanted to get to 145 minimally, so I went with 1 lb a week. Lost some weight and then went to 1/2 lb weight loss goals. I was doing some weight lifting on the machines which made me feel like I was getting a bit stronger. My input of calories slowly went up to 1900. And then I just stayed there. It was frustrating. I wasn’t really losing a lot of weight, but the ladies I friended encouraged me to read more and take my time. I eventually got to the EM2WL group on MFP and it was there that I finally figured out how to do this. I didn’t want to lose weight only to gain it again. I was 45, darn it, and I wanted to start eating for my lifestyle while also losing some body fat.
I joined the website forums and began to post. I started doing Stronglifts 5×5 as it seemed like a great programme. I lost those final few pounds to get to 145 as I was eating more (who knew?) and I decided that I would try to figure out my true TDEE so I could do a healthy cut to get to my final goal weight of 140.
I’m still in the midst of doing this. I’ve slowly added 100-200 calories and held at that level for a month at a time. I’ve had setbacks such as breaking a rib and getting a major chest infection which has influenced how much and what I could do as workouts. But I’ve held strong. I’m now eating the way I hope to for life – I haven’t given up a single food but I’m trying to keep my protein intake a bit higher (to keep my muscles) and watch my portion size. Amazingly enough, I’m eating almost at dinner some nights what I used to eat all day (around 1200 calories). I’m still in the midst of figuring out my TDEE (I’m at 2400 calories currently) and once I get to the point where I am gaining weight steadily, then I’ll know it’s time for a small cut of 10-15%.
I’m one year into my two year plan. I didn’t know how to get to where I was going, but now, I have more of an idea of what I need to do. I’m no longer really listening to the scale in the same way I used to. For me, it’s a tool to figure out my TDEE but not to figure out if my body is where it needs to be. I’m using measurements and my mirror as my guides. I’ll never been a fitness model, nor do I want to be one, so I’ll always carry a bit more body fat than others. I want to be able to have pizza and beer while still feeling fit. I want to still be playing field hockey at age 50 (I’m almost 46 and going strong on a team in London). And, if I live to my 90s like my grandmothers did, I want to be in the best health that I can, with strong bones from lifting and eating well. Yeah, those are good goals.
by EM2WL | Dec 2, 2014 | Self Acceptance, The Journey
Finally letting go feeling free.
I have been around the EM2WL group for two and a half years now. My journey has been a very long road, filled with dozens of ups and downs, frustrations, anger, tears and joy. It has not been an easy road and I have almost walked away from it a few times..
Almost.
But I knew that wasn’t going to help me. I knew the answer to my eventual success at sustaining fat loss was with EM2WL. I just couldn’t understand why my journey has not been a tremendous success as many of the other stories you read on here. I did everything I was supposed to. I did the metabolism reset, I did the 10% cut, I did TDEE breaks, I worked hard at keeping my diary clean but still enjoying myself. I hit the weights hard, I gave up on most of my cardio activities. Yet, the scale wasn’t budging a single pound. My inches didn’t seem to be changing much either. All I seemed to be doing was spinning my heels, getting frustrated and angry at myself and at those who were helping me and not being able to let go. I was told to ditch the scale. I was told to relax, and focus on something else. I was told to trust the process and believe in Myself.
Two long years of not listening. Two years of spinning wheels, self doubt and hatred, two years of crying almost daily about how nothing was happening and how I was still not seeing any sort of losses.
It was exhausting. It was debilitating. It was not how I wanted to spend the rest of my life, constantly angry and upset over not being a size “Average”, not enjoying myself or my family.
So I finally decided to listen. Really listen. And that meant the first thing I did was throw my scale away.
It took about two weeks to get over the urge to jump on the scale every morning and see if anything was happening. I was finally starting to see that my happiness that day was not decided by what a number on the scale said. Another stressor for me was tracking. I had been tracking my food intake for virtually 15 years with Weight Watchers and with MFP. I needed to let it go and try on my own for a while. I didn’t want to stress over numbers anymore. I wanted to enjoy my life and try to find a healthy balance. It was then that I realized what stress had been doing to me.
Once I eliminated two major stressors for me, I was starting to see a shift in my head towards this whole process. I was able to finally “trust the process” and really focus on what my end result wanted to be. I wanted fat loss, not a number on a scale. I wanted strength gains in the gym, not to be the gym cardio bunny. I wanted to be able to go out to dinner and not worry about how many calories or fat or carbs was in something. Above all, I was able to start loving myself. I was sleeping again, I was taking time out to do things for myself, I could feel a light in my heart again. Even friends were commenting on how happy I had seemed lately.
I had finally let go.
Its been 5 months since I stepped foot on a scale. I have no idea what my weight is, nor do I care. I track sporadically and this of course is still a huge work in progress, but I feel much more comfortable about my eating now than I did three years ago. I’m still working on calorie increases and keeping my macros in check. I’m not perfect, but I’m still learning.
This past 5 months has been a huge mental shift. And its one that has finally let me see the big picture and not focus on short term issues. I now know the scale is a hindrance to my success. I don’t need that in my life anymore. I have learned to accept who I am and not dwell on what I look like. I may not be anywhere near my end goal right now, but I am finally in the right mindset and the (physical) shifts are finally happening! Not everyone can figure this out right from the start. So if this sounds like you, let me be the one to tell you, Stick with it. Let go of the scale, learn to love yourself for YOU and trust the process.
The time is going to pass anyways, you might as well enjoy it rather than hating it.
by | Nov 11, 2014 | Building Muscle, Consistency, Fat Loss / Cutting, Metabolism Reset, Testimonials
Kiki has been bugging me for a while now to write about my weight loss and fitness journey, so here I am finally getting the courage up to writing it. I say courage because in the past year I have come to realize quite a few things about myself that I was ashamed about for a long time and have finally come to be able to face the truth. Yes, I too (as many women do), suffer from binge eating disorder (BED), but let me start at the beginning of my journey, because I couldn’t always admit, or understood that this was going on.
Upon turning 40 (4.5 years ago), I was very unhappy with my body and weight and the fact that hiking was getting hard for me. I live in Arizona and hiking is one of my husband and my passions, especially at the Grand Canyon. Well, it was a trip to the canyon that finally snapped me into reality and made me make the decision to do something about my weight that had ballooned to 185. I am 5’7” and 195 was the highest weight that I had gotten to in the past, so I was closing in on that number again! I decided to give online weight watchers a try and had (what I thought) was great success, after all I dropped 45 pounds in about 4 months! Of course, I quickly hit a plateau and continued to increase my exercise, while sticking to the very low “points” that weight watchers was allowing me; rarely to never eating back my exercise calories that continued to increase with my cardio/calorie burn obsession!
After about a year of weight watchers, I decided not to renew my contract and to switch over to MFP, where I discovered that there was a whole group of Cathe Friedrich obsessed women out there. For those of you unfamiliar with Cathe, she is a workout DVD genius and my guru! I had been lifting weights with her DVD’s along with her cardio DVD’s during the whole weight watchers process. It was a breath of fresh air to meet all of these women with the same workout commitment that I had. Well, long story short, I got hooked up with Kiki through other mutual Cathe/MFP ladies and started to read her blog posts and watched her YouTube videos. This is where I first got hooked up with EM2WL and started to realize that the health industry has steered us women in the wrong direction when it comes to “losing” weight.
After many conversations with Kiki, I was convinced and finally understood that eating really low restricted calories was always going to set someone up for failure, especially when it comes to losing weight and keeping it off and that the healthiest route was to eat to fuel your body and to lift weights, heavy weights! As I mentioned, I had been lifting weights all this time, but never understood why I was never able to make any progress in muscle development and that I had actually lost much of my muscle. Oh, and I should mention that during this plateau, I didn’t understand why every time I would feel like I made some progress I would fall into a binge tailspin. For 9 months, it was 2 steps forward and 1 huge binge step back. Every time this would happen I would absolutely loath myself and shame myself etc, but never understanding that it was partly my body’s way of telling me to “feed me”! (Of course there are also psychological reasons for the binging as well).
I finally let her convince me to do a metabolism reset after being at the plateau for a good 9-12 months and losing and gaining the same 5#. Silly me, I thought that I would reset my metabolism for 6 weeks and then start cutting again. I didn’t understand why after that 6 weeks I had gained a good 10# back and why when I started cutting it didn’t just fall right off!? After more conversations with Kiki and more research, she finally got me to understand that it wasn’t a number that I could assign to my reset, that it could and would take time, quite possibly a LONG time. She also convinced me to join a group of ladies who were starting STS (a 3-6 month Cathe weight lifting program), while bulking (eating above calorie requirement). She did warn me that I would gain weight and boy did I. I gained about 20# back, bringing me back to around 160. I was a little scared, as was my husband starting this process but new it was going to be for my good. After STS was finished I decided to try a cut. I lost some of that weight, but I could tell that my metabolism still wasn’t healed, so I started to eat at what I thought was maintenance and stayed there for a long time.
I should mention, that after I lost all the weight with weight watchers, I told my husband that I thought I wanted to someday compete in a figure competition. I had an unwritten goal of competing before I was 45. Well, I talked about this goal for about 4 years and finally, a (very devout Christian) friend of mine finally pointed out that maybe the fact that I kept bringing this topic up every few months, that maybe, just maybe God was directing me to actually go for my goal. I should mention that within all this time of weight loss and resets, I was born again (which is why she felt it was God calling me to this goal, for whatever reason). We both figured the reason was not because he wanted me to compete, but one much more deeply.
This conversation occurred in December of 2013 and around the same time, my husband got fed up with my talk and said that I needed to just do it! After much discussion with him and other women who had competed and a TON of prayer, God led me to an online trainer who came highly recommended and who was also a Christian. I signed a yearlong contract that began on January 27 2014 that included a nutrition and training plan, with the intention of competing on November 1, 2014. You are probably wondering how did it go!? It didn’t.
After starting with my trainer, I quickly started seeing results, not only in fat loss, but overall improvement in my cardio ability as well as muscle development. I couldn’t and still can’t believe the amount of muscle that I have been able to develop. So why did I not compete? As I said, I felt God had me on this journey for a much bigger reason than simply competing and as it turned out, it has been a journey of healing and learning about nutrition and coming to a place where I can finally admit that I do suffer from BED. Do I still struggle with BED? Constantly! Have I binged during this new goal phase of my life? Sadly yes, but with God’s help I am working on it and have only had 2 major occurrences in the last 9 months, which is a great improvement from binging every few weeks.
So, the reason I didn’t compete? Twelve weeks out from the competition date, when true contest prep would normally take place, I got a response from my trainer that I was not expecting. She felt that with my BED issues, that she could not get me to competition readiness without restricting my calories too much and with my ED, she knew it was the wrong thing to do. After much discussion with my husband, we both agreed that this is why I hired her and I should heed her advice.
We have now moved into a muscle building phase and the new goal is to compete in spring of 2015 and if I am still not ready, than winter 2015. Needless to say, I now know this is a journey of not only physical health, but mental and spiritual as well and I will take as long as I need to get to the point of competing. My mindset has changed from “I just want to be able to say that I did it”, to “I did it and I won!”
I guess I should add my stats for those of you who are wondering (I started tracking in July of 2012 and unfortunately don’t have pictures for the earlier dates):
July 2012: 158 (end of my second reset)
September 2012 (the start of STS and after a short cut): 152
March 2013 (end of my first official bulk): 164
June 2013 (end of my first cut): 150
December 2013 (during my second bulk): 154
January 27, 2014 (the start of my figure training) 25% bf and 154.5
August 11, 2014 (12 weeks out from competition) 18.8% bf and 134
October 27, 2014 (last check in with my trainer) 17.7% bf and 132
by | Oct 7, 2014 | Consistency, Increasing calories, Motivation, Testimonials, Transformations
Hey there!
My name is Jeannetta! I have no idea where to start my transformation story, and I can’t give exact times and dates. What I can tell you is that finding this group on MFP is the best thing that could have ever happened to me. So, I think I’ll start on the topic of MFP.
I’d done MFP haphazardly in my mid 20’s. I’d always had weight issues. At a very young age, I was considered chunky. I was always bigger than my peers. In retrospect, I ate horribly as a child and teenager. The truth is, I didn’t know any better. We ate plenty of junk. Canned foods, fried foods, refined carbs, you name it. I don’t remember a balance of foods. Everything I learned about food and proper eating habits came to me in my early 20’s. At that point in time, I came home from college tipping the scales way over 200 lbs and about a size 22. I had horrible acne. I couldn’t fit into the latest fashions. I was fat, and I was over it.
When I moved home (Chicago) two things changed. I walked a hundred percent more. I took public transpo everywhere. That meant walking to and from the bus/L stops, walking from those stops to wherever I was going. Then back around again. Running to those stops sometimes. I mean, to go up and down L stairs and ramps, just commuting I had to be climbing a minimum of 13 flights of stairs in a day. If I wanted to go to the corner store/ bar/ most restaurants, I walked.
The second thing that changed were my eating habits. I was eating better and didn’t technically realize it until later. I had more variety in my diet because of our food culture in Chicago (fresh foods, etc). One year later, I weighed in out of curiosity one day. My pants were falling off. I’d lost 30 lbs. That’s when I made the connection between activity and food. Soon after the weigh in, I went and got a gym membership. I not only was doing my daily commute walking, I was doing an hour of interval sprints or the elliptical, and weights maybe twice a week. I’d also started dabbling with that 1200 calorie number on MFP. Cleanses, psyllium tablets, senna tablets, and green tea became a huge part of my diet. I ate but was very restrictive. I was one of those, I don’t eat this and that people, but in private would max a pint of Hagen Daz half the fat vanilla ice cream. I would then justify it by the all the activity, and all the chicken, salmon, broccoli, and sweet potatoes one would enjoy. I would feel guilty for eating out with my girls. When I look back, I had an ED like a mug. I’d lost 60+ pounds, but was obsessed with losing more and getting smaller.
It became harder and harder to maintain. Even though I was doing all the “right” things. The moment I would take a break from working out, I swear 10 lbs would show up so quick!!!!! Even still, I maintained the weight loss, give or take the ten lbs, for almost four years. When I look back, my actions were crazy. I’d started eating more fresh foods, and less prepared/processed foods, which was great, but that all came with binges.
Here I am, covering myself with my children’s bodies.
Fast Forward.
I got pregnant, and had two babies between 2008 and 2010. Yeah I know, my lifestyle changed. I began driving everywhere because I didn’t want to be on public transpo with two kids under two. I ate when I could. I had very little time to work out. The weight piiiiiiled on. I cried and cried. I was miserable. I didn’t want to take pictures. I didn’t want to be intimate with my husband. I was tired all the time. Depressed. Ashamed. I became the mom who let herself go. I’d promised myself I’d never be overweight again, and there I was, fat and ashamed with no self-love —constantly feeling sorry for myself.
My husband, he got me right together one day. He said to me, “I love you no matter how big or small you are, but I am soooo tired of you crying about it. If you want to change it, I’ll take the kids to school so you can get up and work out”. I started working out at home in the basement with a friend of mine to a Beach Body program that was sooooo fun! I was burning like 7-800 cals a session. But, I was also following a 1200 calorie schedule. I wasn’t losing a lb! I did feel better cardiovascular wise, but I was Hangry and I wasn’t losing any weight! That was the day I decided to utilize MFP to its fullest potential. I was going to go through profiles, see who was the fittest in their pictures and friend them.
That’s how I found Lucia. Call it luck or whatever, but I really believe I found her by the grace and mercy of The Lord. I’d started down the supplement trail again. I was doing the BB shake, protein shakes, green tea extract, enzymes, etc! I really, I mean in my gut knew I was not supposed to be taking all this crap. I was desperate again. Upon stumbling on her profile, I remember admiring her gun show. I remember doing a double read of her “About Me”. I remember reading she ate over 2500 calories a day. I remember looking back at her picture and thinking WTF? She is LYING!!! I remember going to her diary and reading her log, and my mouth dropping open. I remember being confused. So I friended her, I started going through her friends list and noticing all the EM2WL peeps, and I went on to friend others. I remember sending her the most desperate message. All I remember from that reply was metabolism reset, and Scooby’s Calculator. That’s when the research began. I felt bamboozled. All these years of starvation and excess cardio???? Even though I thought these ideas were crazy, you know, like the idea of EATING. I done everything else crazy, so I took my cals up from 1200 to 2500 in one day. By the end of the week, I’d lost 9lbs. It wasn’t a great 2500 calories. I ate whatever I wanted for about six months. I leveled out at about a 15 lb loss over the next year and a half.
I was still doing a massive amount of cardio and very little lifting. I’d eased up on the supps. Our family moved to Georgia. I didn’t work for 6 months. I worked out an hour a day, but was sedentary the rest of the day. I was still eating 2500 or more cals, not making adjustments for my activity levels. I gained 30 lbs.
I followed a few other eating more groups and found that weight lifting, building your metabolism, moderation, and eating for your individual activity levels were all these groups had in common. By this time though, I’d started feeling really crummy. I was tired all the time, depressed/anxious, low libido, bloating, constipation, rapid stomach fat gain etc. I had a laundry list of things going on. I’d started cutting cals slowly, cutting some of my cardio and replacing with weight training like I’d learned from the groups, and eating moderately, but even still, I wasn’t losing, and I wasn’t physically feeling well. I went to the doctor. I found out I was insulin resistant. Yep, I was on my way to having diabetes. I sigh even typing this. I never thought I’d be here. I had a cry fest for a couple of days, mostly because my doctor prescribed me the Atkins or South Beach DIET. I was so over diets at this point. I’d been on a diet my whole adult life. I did not want to go on a DIET. I was tired of restricting. I was at a place where I’d started to accept my body for the way it was, and appreciate what it could do. And now, the doctor wants me to go on another restrictive diet. A diet I knew I would fail miserably at, again. I’d already been on both previously and hated every minute of it.
But I’m a resourceful old bird. I am. I wasn’t going to be defeated by this. I refused the negative thoughts and started to claim my victory. I headed straight to the diabetes association website. This is where I learned the words glycemic index. I learned how foods effect your insulin, and how insulin contributes to fat loss and gain. I’d already won just by having this information. I was ready. After studying for a few days, I’d found that the damage had already been done to my cells, and while I could become less resistant, there was no science to prove you could reverse the damage to your cells. There was overwhelming science that backed the fact that you could control your insulin levels and keep them normal by the foods you eat. Those foods are medium to low glycemic index foods. The best part, was that I could still have carbs. What? Even carbs high on the glycemic index could be eaten sparingly.
I made the commitment to a total lifestyle change. Well really I didn’t have a choice, I could choose to change or live with a disease I didn’t want. So, I incorporated more foods low to medium on the index, weight training five days, and cardio 2-3 days for no more than 30 minutes. I also try not to be so sedentary during the day. I don’t count calories anymore. I eat when I’m hungry and when I’m full I stop. I drink plenty of water, and get my rest. The glycemic index has been the way for me to get my insulin levels under control. I was able to get my numbers back into normal range without the use of diabetes meds. What’s even crazier is that, the moment I got my insulin under control, the weight started flying off. And guess what? I’m not starving anymore.
I’m nowhere near done, but I am on my way. As of four weeks ago I was down 14 lbs, I’m due to go to the doctor this week. I’m averaging about 5-6 lbs a month as far as loss. I’m getting stronger with every lifting session, and I increase my weight every two weeks. I super set a lot, and lift with intensity.
Hang in there! Listen to your body. If you need help, see a physician. But most of all, don’t give up on yourself. Be your biggest cheerleader and your biggest competition. If I can overcome, I know you can too! I hope this helps someone. My story is a “to be continued”.
by | Jul 24, 2014 | Motivation, Testimonials, Transformations
I found EM2WL in January 2014 and it was an answer to my prayers. EM2WL has forever changed my life, health, mind, and my relationship with food and myself. I am still certainly a work in progress, but each day I am closer to reaching my goals. I have lost 40 pounds over the past 7 months, and I credit the last 30 pounds to EM2WL. But more than weight loss, I have gained strength, confidence and a drive to move forward with my life.
A little about me…I am a wife of 10 years (to an incredible husband who has loved me at every size) and currently a stay-home mom to my super active 2 year old boy. I struggled with the cycle of under eating/overeating for as long as I can remember. I was a heavy child and I became aware of diets (food restriction) and followed them from an early age. At age 7, my mom began taking me to a nutritionist weekly. I don’t remember it helping me as I was so young, but I do know that it communicated to me that I had a problem with my weight. My mom, having her own weight issues, was only trying to help me while I was young. At age 11, I remember being weighed at the doctor’s office and I weighed 133 pounds. I asked my mom if I weighed too much and I remember her carefully saying, “You could work on losing a little”. That day began a lifelong struggle of severe dieting and what I now recognize as disordered eating. At age 11, I put myself on a diet and lost 17 pounds. Of course I gained it right back and more as I grew into my teenage years.
Sports and activities filled my high school and college years, but the pressure to weigh less fueled my unhealthy eating cycles. I weighed anywhere from 160-180 and would yo-yo up and down easily. I would severely restrict calories for a few months and then massively binge…over and over and over…all on top of extreme exercise. If I managed to lose any weight, I would regain it all back through the binging…plus more. I tried often to purge, but thankfully, my body would not cooperate. These unhealthy cycles continued through my 20’s and early 30’s, throughout my married years, and through my first pregnancy.
My family went through a series of tragic events and multiple relocations and my weight began quickly increasing from the 170’s upward. In 2013, one year after my son was born, I reached my highest weight of 207 pounds and a size 18 at only 5’3. I had pretty much lost sight of myself and any goals I had once had. I was told I was an emotional eater. I hid stashes of food and sweets in my home and at work. I ate if I was happy and when I was sad. My biggest fear was that I would continue to live the rest of my life in that misery and set a negative example for my children.
I knew low calorie and fad diets did not work, but I returned to them because I knew nothing different. I blamed my lack of success on lack of discipline, willpower, and emotional eating. I always felt like a quitter because I could not stick to anything. I had tried everything over the years – Weight Watchers, Medifast, Slimfast, Liquid Amino Diet, Six Week Body Makeover, Nutrisystem, low calorie, juicing, fasting, and starving. I would lose weight at first and then stall for weeks before giving up and overeating to compensate for the low calories and then gain everything back and more. Weight Watchers gave me partial success, but again I stalled after the first few months and couldn’t understand why since I was working out every day and not consuming any extra points or earned exercise points. I thought the weight should be melting off, but it wasn’t, and many weeks I actually gained. When I later did the calculations, I figured I was only eating 1200 calories on Weight Watchers. At one time I even trained for a half marathon and was running 7 miles a day. Little did I know that eating 1200 calories and running 7 miles daily would stall my weight loss for weeks. I felt defeated but I couldn’t give up.
I knew there had to be a different way to approach weight loss and I wanted to find it. I started reading and researching about a different type of weight loss strategy…one that was maintainable. I committed to being happy with a .5 or 1 pound loss a week instead of trying/expecting to lose 3 pounds every week. I joined MFP in January (user name Jennbecca33) and started seeing people talk about how under eating can actually hinder and keep you from losing weight. During this time, I found the EM2WL group and I have not looked back! Something finally made sense and clicked for me.
The wonderful ladies in this group have taught me how to eat properly and eat ENOUGH (way more than I thought I could) so that my body could lose weight more easily. I learned that the low calorie diets in conjunction with working out simply did not give my body enough to lose weight properly, hence the weight loss stalling. Since then, I’ve committed to eating more to weigh less. I actually found that I did not need to do a reset, surprisingly. As I started slowly increasing my calories, my weight immediately decreased by a couple of pounds. I couldn’t believe it. I then increased my calories a little more, and again, I dropped a couple more pounds. I kept increasing until I found my maintenance level which is around 2100-2300.
This concept of eating more, or at a slight deficit, went against everything I had ever been taught about dieting. I now happily eat between 1800-2000 calories daily (-15% TDEE) to lose weight and I do all my workouts from home. When consistent, I average between .5- 1 pound loss per week. I am now incorporating heavier weight training (which I love!) to help reshape my body. I usually work out 4 times a week for about 30 minutes each – 2 or 3 weight lifting sessions and 1-2 workouts on the elliptical. My only permanent success has come from following the EM2WL lifestyle, and the best part is, I’m able to keep going because I’m giving my body enough food so that I’m not hungry, worn out, and irritable all the time. Since I have started allowing myself to eat more, I have not had even one binging episode, or even the desire to binge! Have I overeaten at times? Sure. But even then, I’m able to work it into my calories. I’ve come to terms with losing weight in a responsible and healthy manner and I am so motivated to know that I now have the proper tools to reach my goal.
Before and After
When I started EM2WL in January 2014, I weighed 195 and was a size 16. I had lost about 10 pounds on my own at that point. I have lost the last 30 pounds with EM2WL, for a total of 40 pounds. I still currently weigh 165 pounds and at 5’3 I wear between a size 8 and 10. I don’t really have a “goal” weight in mind anymore and I’m not stressing about it. When I get there, I will know. I still have quite a bit of fat on certain body parts that I want to lose. My hips and legs hold most of my weight, but slowly, even my legs are shaping up. I know I will always have thicker legs, and I’m ok with that. I look better now at 165 than I did at 145 (a weight I never maintained after 3 months on only 800 calories). EM2WL works. It will work for anyone. Eat at a smaller deficit so that it’s maintainable and so that you can keep going! Yes, it’s slower paced weight loss. But in the long run, you are able to keep it off. Keep muscle, build muscle!
The biggest change for me though, has been the mental shift about food. I no longer hate food. I really love food. I am not on a diet. Food is ok to eat and I do not feel guilty for indulging in moderation! There is nothing that I cut out of my diet. I love eating with my family and not having to cook separate meals every night. No more missed birthday dinners. I enjoy eating out and making healthy food choices. I will never again be tempted by low calorie dieting or a fad gimmick diet. EM2WL has given me freedom and it has truly helped me to take back my life.
Thank you to all the EM2WL moderators and members who have been so supportive and helped me and continue to help me through this journey. I have learned so much from you. You truly were an answer to prayer during one of the darkest and heaviest times in my life. I pray my story may help and encourage others now to trust this process as well. I look forward to posting an update when I reach my end goal!
Have you overcome disordered eating? Have an EM2WL transformation to share? Let us know! Be featured on our Transformation/Journey page by submitting your story to Success@EM2WL.com
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