Weight Loss

I've been described as: perfect, strong, athletic, just right.  I've either just had a baby, or I am pregnant.  I've been told: nine months to gain weight, you have nine months to lose it.  But I never did.  I would gain a massive amount of weight while pregnant and then lose a little after my giant babies were born.  I hated pictures of me, but never thought it could be different.  I joked about being fat, yes, I was the funny fat chick.  I didn't bother moderating my diet.  I ate whatever I wanted pretty much whenever I wanted.  I wasn't proud of myself.  I gave up, I didn't care.  I hated shopping for clothes, just looking for something to cover up my body.  But worst of all, I thought I looked good, well o.k. at least.  But then I would see another picture of myself and I would think ugh.  I like to exercise: I love walking and hiking.  I have a love/hate relationship with running. If I had time to play soccer on a team I would.
A couple of my friends started the 17 Day Diet last year: I would watch them last summer at the pool sipping their green tea, talking about turkey burgers.  I was pregnant with my #8, Finny, and I was in the process of eating whatever I wanted: cheese fries, large cokes, chocolate ice cream eclairs.  I watched them lose weight, it worked! Whenever they asked me what I needed for the baby, I would say: just get me that 17 day diet book! I knew this was it.  I had Finny in October and in November I was ready for diet and exercise, or so I thought.  I read the book, got the food, started running.  It didn't click, it was too soon.  I didn't know what to eat, it hurt to run.  What was I doing wrong? Well, I gave up, just in time for Thanksgiving and Christmas.  I just figured I would be fat forever I guess.
On New Year's Day, January 1, 2012 my friend Sam texted me a picture of her breakfast first thing in the morning.   She wanted to re-start the 17 day diet because she gained 10 pounds over the holidays and she had a following.  I told her I would do it with her.  Me and the whole town!  I texted her back a picture of the coffee I was drinking.  She texted back: Is that cream in your coffee??? A no-no on the diet! I weighed myself: 187.  So embarrassed but I texted Sam my start weight.  I finished my coffee and made a breakfast like she did: eggs and fruit. Ryan was a huge support from the beginning. Can I do this? I knew I didn't want to run, just thinking about it made me hurt.  So I did the next best thing: I went for a walk for an hour.  No problem! I brought my iphone and listened to a homily, then some music.  I was already a member on dailymile, so I decided to post my walk: I walked 3.89 miles and I wrote "Great way to start 2012!"  I woke up early every day in January to walk on the treadmill, 3-4 miles every day.  10 days in I had lost weight but not much, so I called Sam.  She told me I needed to start running, just for 10 minutes.  I took it slow, I would do 10-15 minutes of jogging at the end of my walk.  I got a lot of support on dailymile from Katie and all of my dailymile friends (and Ryan!)  Before I knew it, I was walking then jogging the last 20-25-30-35-40-45-50 minutes!!!! Now I  run 3-8 miles every other day.   I lost 16 pounds in January.  9 more pounds lost in February.  14 pounds lost in March and I lost the remaining 8 pounds in April.  47 pounds lost and today I weigh 140.
People ask how I did it.  It wasn't easy.  First, get the book.  Then, read the book.  In the beginning you can eat as much or as many as the foods suggested.  This was helpful so you are never feeling hungry, but your body still craves all the sugar and junk.  It's helpful to have distractions like: exercise, drink water, watch food network, and look on pinterest! I know it seems strange to watch food network while dieting, but for some reason the visual of the food would satisfy an urge to eat.  Also, another strange thing is if I wanted to eat a "bad" food, like cookies, I would smell them and that would satisfy the urge as well.  After a month or so, I hit a weight plateau, so I had to cut back on my portions, but I got used to it.  I had to find my inner competitor and having a health and fitness board on pinterest helped to motivate me when I felt weak.  I still need to look on there when I don't feel like exercising.  And speaking of exercising, I'm sure people wonder how I found the time.  At first, I would wake up early, at 5:30 a.m. to exercise and shower before the kids woke up.  Then I couldn't (wouldn't?) do that anymore, so now I try to run every other day, whenever I can.  Sometimes it's on the treadmill in my garage, and sometimes it's at my kids soccer practices.  On the days I have to run, I get dressed (to my shoes!) in my workout clothes, yes, even my sports bra, so I will be ready when the opportunity arises.  Usually during naptime.  Don't forget, we homeschool, and I have one official babysitter at my service 3 days/week and on week-ends! Don't worry, he gets "paid".  Usually in junk food or clothes (what more could a teenage boy want???)
So a typical day for me on cycle 1 of the 17 day diet goes like this:
Breakfast: hot lemon water, coffee, 1 hard boiled egg or 1 scrambled egg, a cup of fruit, and green tea
Lunch: Turkey burger or turkey tacos or leftovers from dinner, a HUGE salad, no dressing water and green tea
Snack: chobani yogurt and water
Dinner: Chicken, turkey, or fish, with vegetable, water, and green tea
You are supposed to keep drinking water all day!! a ton of water!! Also, I put truvia in my lemon water, coffee, and green tea
A typical day for me on cycle 2:
Breakfast: same as above plus plain oatmeal with truvia and cinnamon
Lunch: Same as above plus either a sweet potato or brown rice
Dinner: Same as above
Lastly, I'd like to thank 3 people: First, my friend Kelly, who was an inspiration to me at the pool last summer and who started the 17 day diet craze in our town and inspired plenty of other people to lose huge amounts of weight.  Thank you Kelly! Second, of course, my friend Sam, who not only texted me on Jan 1 with her breakfast but texted me a picture of every meal or snack she had for 17 days and more (and I texted her, too).  I couldn't have done it without you, Sam, and I love you for it xoxoxo
And of course last but not least my husband Ryan, who also lost weight and is now 210 pounds, for not only shopping with me and cooking for me, but being there for me through the fun highs and sad lows, and for being my running buddy and coach on the week-ends of the past 4 months.  I love you so much and I couldn't have done it without you.
Thanks to all of my family and friends. And of course I owe everything to God's wonderful mercy and grace.  It was never supposed to be in my time, but His.
Questions? I will answer them the best I can at: amyladdbush@gmail.com