That was me 2 years ago on vacation in Mexico in my "miracle suit" that supposedly makes you look 15 lbs. lighter. I guess looking like 225 is somehow better than looking like 240. When people would try to pay me a compliment and ask if I had lost weight I would always think to myself "how fat did you think I was!?" While this was not the most I have ever weighed, it certainly was the most uncomfortable and unhappiest I had ever been. As I was approaching my 40th birthday the following July, I made a decision that I did not want to spend the next 40 years (if I would have even lived that long) of my life obese. The thing is that I ate what I felt was a good diet. No fast food. No partially hydrogenated oils. No high fructose corn syrup. Organic meat. Organic sugar. Organic flour. And organic anything else that could justify eating a high sugar, high carbohydrate diet. Lets just say that most of my fat was organic. Over the years, I would exercise for a few months, quit for a few years and then start all over again. I could never understand why I had such a love/hate relationship with exercise. It would always make me feel so good but it is very hard to exercise carrying around the weight equivalent to a couple of large bags of dog food. Being obese is hard, physically, emotionally and psychologically. You can only imagine how hard it was for me to tell strangers when they asked what I do for a living that I own a health food store. I would always get a look as if they had just met a Mormon bishop in a bar. I had tried every diet plan from slimming patches to the Master Cleanse which is a 10 day fast drinking nothing but maple syrup, lemon juice and cayenne pepper that I would usually end with hot wings and beer. I would stay on other diets for a few days or a week, say it did not work and then quit. I lived on the "I'll start Monday" diet of gorging on the weekend, dieting on Monday and maybe lasting until Tuesday wing special at Buffalo Wild Wings. I always had a good excuse. It was time to make drastic changes. After doing some research, I decided to go on homeopathic HCG drops we sell at the store. Going on a 500-calorie diet for 3 or even 6 weeks was not going to kill me. I figured that feeling hungry for a few weeks was a lot better than my clothes cutting off my circulation and my back hurting all of the time. It is a big daily commitment to lose weight. You have to have tremendous willpower. You have to learn to say no to the people that want you to eat and drink with them. Your belly will feel hungry. Your mind will tell you that you must eat chips! You have to make yourself and your health your number one priority. I lost 8 lbs the first 4 days of my hcg. I was so excited! I was going to lose 90 pounds in only 6 weeks! Reality quickly set in, setting off a roller coaster of emotions that I would experience over the next 6 weeks. There were many days (especially the days I didn't lose) that my hunger and emotional need to eat would have a continuous power struggle with my desire to become healthy. By the second week, I had lost 20 pounds and my clothes were not cutting off my circulation anymore. Riding those, positive highs were just as important to my success as having my mom and my niece doing the diet along with me. Having someone or a group of people to share your daily experience with is very important. It is probably what got me through my 4th week of only a 2-pound loss. I ended up losing 34 lbs. in 6 weeks and another 10 in the following 3 weeks of maintenance. That seemed to be the catalyst to start me on the road to healthy habits and a new lifestyle. I have since done several rounds of hcg, some successful and some not so much. The rounds of hcg were certainly a sacrifice in my life but well worth every second of pain. I am now down to my last 20ish pounds. To be completely honest, it feels weird. I have carried around all of this extra weight almost my entire life and I am hoping to be done with it for good by next month. For the first time in my life, I feel like I am living the life I want to live. I am happy to offer any help and support if going on hcg is something you feel is right for you. Wishing you health and happiness in 2013, Kris Wear
2 Comments
|
Kris WearMaster of WON! Archives
August 2015
Categories |