Nov
12
I tried to lose too much weight too fast
November 12, 2008 | Leave a Comment
I am a woman who finished high school at a tiny 5’5″ and 105 lbs. I managed to maintain that weight in my freshman year of college, but when I got married, the pounds piled on. At my heaviest, I was 150 lbs.
I knew I could never make it back to 105, especially after I dealt with an eating disorder in college. So I set my goal weight at 135.
After Christmas was over, I decided to do something about my weight. I joined SparkPeople and started tracking my calorie intake. At first I was too ambitious. I tried to lose too much weight too fast, and I couldn’t handle being hungry all the time.
I had stopped exercising but started back up, doing Yoga Booty Ballet, bicycling, jogging and jump rope. I found that as I exercised more, I could eat more and still lose inches.
SparkPeople was less of a “diet” and more of a tracking tool. I found that I was eating to deal with boredom or emotional stress, rather than eating because I was hungry. It was also encouraging to track my exercising and see how many calories I was burning.
After a few months of SparkPeople, I had my portions under control and stopped tracking my daily food intake.
I was eating when I was hungry and exercising at least 30 minutes a day, 5 days a week. I weigh 135lbs and am a healthy size 8.
I still do Yoga Booty Ballet, and I have added Pilates and Shiva Rea’s yoga DVDs to supplement. I’m not an emotional eater any more, I feel stronger, and I am much more toned.