Hello readers! Happy New Year! In honor of 2016 I have written a special poem that only can be found on my blog! It is a celebration of the opportunity all of us have to start the New Year with new, healthy habits that will lead to a beautiful and healthy figure.
This picture was taken a few months prior to the start of my weight-loss program. I weighed 281 pounds at that time.
As many of you know, I started a weight-loss program in January of 2013 that lead to my losing 159 pounds in fourteen months. It was a lot of work, but I am VERY glad I took that first step, because without a beginning I would not have been able to have the results I wanted so much.
For those of you who want to know more about how I lost the weight, I have written a book that explains the program I designed and followed, and also includes poems, humor, recipes, suggested meals, advice on exercise and everything else you would want from a weight-loss book. It’s called No Salads Required! How I Lost 159 pounds WITHOUT Salads, Celery, Sit-Ups, or Surgery, and How YOU Can Too! You can order it from http://www.westbowpress.com, Amazon.com, and anywhere else books are sold!
And now, here is the special weight-loss poem that I wrote for YOUR enjoyment:
Poem for 2016
A New Year is beginning
A chance to start afresh
And usher in new habits
That lead to happiness!
And when you take the first step
And the next one after that
Never stop believing
That one day you won’t be fat!
You CAN change your eating
But do it on your terms.
Pick heathy foods that you enjoy
Not ones that make you squirm!
And when it’s time for exercise
Do something that you like.
Some people go out walking
While others ride their bike.
The trick is to choose something
You want to do each day
Something that burns calories,
But also feels like play.
And as you get stronger
You can also try new sports
This is not only healthy
It’s so you won’t get bored!
And while you’re at it
Invite a friend or two
To join you when you exercise
That’s lots of fun to do!
And soon you will discover
You all are looking better
And that you really do enjoy
The time you spend together.
And before you know it
The months will disappear
Taking your fat with them
That will make you cheer!
And when the New Year comes again
You and your friends will pose
For a smiling photo
In your new small clothes.
New Year’s Eve is coming soon and with it is coming a golden opportunity to reevaluate the way we are living our lives and to resolve to make changes in our habits so that we can be happier and healthier. One of the most popular resolutions people make is to lose weight. Of course, resolving to lose weight and actually losing it are two very different things!
This photo of me was taken shortly before I started my weight-loss program. I weighed 281 pounds at the time.
As a person who has lost 159 pounds in fourteen months after 32 years of being extremely overweight, I definitely know the difference between just talking about weight loss and taking the necessary steps to reinvent myself into the slender person I really wanted to be. For years I would talk about “doing something about my weight”, but it wasn’t until recently that I figured out exactly how much weight I needed to lose to get the figure I really wanted. It was at that point that I also made a specific plan to change my eating, start an exercise program, and begin taking some weight-loss and nutrition products that my friend encouraged me to try. The result was a healthy “new me” that my doctor was very pleased to see at my next appointment.
Of course, when a person is as successful in losing weight as I have been, a lot of people are interested in how I did it, so I have written a book for the purpose of both answering that question and entertaining you at the same time! The book is called No Salads Required! How I Lost 159 Pounds WITHOUT Salads, Celery, Sit-Ups, or Surgery, and How YOU Can Too! You can order this book from my publisher at westbowpress.com and anywhere else books are sold. It’s available in hardcover and softcover and also as an e-book. I encourage all of you to order it, but while you are waiting for your book to arrive, here are some tips from my weight-loss program to help you get started:
1) Set up a realistic food plan you can live with!
At the beginning of my weight-loss program , I made a list of the healthy foods I wanted to live on and I also decided what I did not plan to eat no matter how healthy it was. For example, I don’t like celery at all and I am not much of a salad eater, so I decided not to bother with those foods and create a menu for myself based on healthy foods I did enjoy eating.
2) Pick an exercise you really like and do it every day!
I love fitness walking, so that is what I selected for my exercise program. It was simple, enjoyable for me, and I already knew how to do it. I do understand however that a walking program isn’t the right thing for everyone. The key is to pick an exercise that is right for you and to do it consistently. For those of you with injuries, I recommend a visit with your doctor or a physical therapist, so you can get help selecting an exercise appropriate for your personal situation.
3) Make weight loss a big priority!
This means planning healthy meals and exercise every single day no matter what else is going on. It may also mean making some hard choices and setting aside some favorite hobbies, TV shows and movies for a while, but I guarantee you that the results will definitely be worth it!
4) Keep reminding yourself why you are losing weight in the first place!
One of the most important things I did daily was to remind myself what my new life would be like after I reached my goal weight. For example, I would think about the beautiful clothing items and boots designed for thin women only that I wanted to be able to wear some day. I also looked forward to career and relationship opportunities that are available only to women who have reached a healthy weight. Another thing I would reminded myself of was my desire to be able to comfortably sit in a restaurant booth and airplane seats without a hassle and my dream of looking in the mirror and at recent photos of myself and being happy with the woman I saw there.
It was actually passionately wanting all these things more than anything else that helped me stick to my weight-loss program. Yes, I would sometimes be tempted by foods that I had decided not to eat anymore, but when I compared a few minutes of enjoying eating those foods with all the happiness I hoped to experience when I reached my healthy new weight, the decision not to eat those foods instantly became much easier!
5) Ask God for help!
You may never have prayed for help to lose weight, but I encourage you to do so. God loves every one of us and is able and willing to help with every problem in our lives if we ask for his help.
6) Surround yourself with supportive people!
You will find weight loss much easier if you surround yourself with supportive people who will cheer you on, pray for you and do practical things to help you, so that you have more time to exercise and do the other things you need to do to lose weight.
You may even decide to buy some copies of my book for your friends and start a No Salads Required! support group. You and your friends can read a chapter every week and then meet together on a regular basis to discuss what you have been reading. I wrote the reader’s discussion guide in the back of the book especially for such groups. There are plenty of questions designed to promote stimulating conversations and even a special poem I wrote for the enjoyment of the people that will be using the guide.
7) Don’t let discouraging people upset you!
I did have a friend who thought my weight-loss program wouldn’t work unless I had a weight-loss surgery. Well, I knew that a surgery wasn’t the right thing for me, so I just set out to prove him wrong and I was very successful in doing that! I also decided to ignore people who said I had “lost enough weight” when I became the same size as they were even though I was nowhere near my goal. Just because my friends were not ready to lose their own extra weight didn’t mean I had to stop losing mine. If anyone told me it was “time to stop” I just said that my doctor was watching over me and that they had nothing to worry about. That usually solved the problem.
8) Never stop believing in yourself!
No matter how unsuccessful you may have been with weight-loss in the past, 2016 can still be your year to succeed! I was extremely overweight for 32 years before I lost 159 pounds and if I could do it, you can too!
9) Be sure to have lots of fun along the way!
Eat healthy foods you like, always look at the bright side of life, and make sure you keep yourself entertained while you exercise. When I first started exercising on my treadmill, I made it a point to listen to my favorite music, so I wouldn’t get bored. Recently, I have set up my TV and DVD player in front of my treadmill, so I can watch TV while I exercise. This really helps me stick to my program!
10) Write journals of your weight-loss journey!
From the first day of my weight-loss program clear up until today, I have been weighing myself every day and keeping track of my weight and body fat percentage, so I could see my progress, keep track of my ups and downs, and remind myself to get back on track if I find I have made some bad food or exercise choices.
I also keep track of the various things that happen as the days go by, especially the funny stuff and the heart touching moments. I eventually used my early journals to help me write No Salads Required! You may want to write a book someday too and the notes in your journals will really help. I even used those notes as inspiration for the weight-loss poems I wrote for every chapter of my book and those poems really have made my book unusual and fun to read!
I hope to continue to use my journals for future blog post ideas and for things I haven’t tried yet, but would like to do such as writing lyrics for a weight-loss song that could become famous. If that dream comes true all my blog readers will be among the first to know!
Well, I hope the tips I listed will give you some encouragement. For more encouragement read my book! I think you will really enjoy it!
It is with great joy that I am able to announce that my brand new weight-loss book is now for sale online! The title and subtitle of the book is No Salads Required! How I Lost 159 Pounds WITHOUT Salads, Celery, Sit-Ups, or Surgery, and How YOU Can Too! and, you can currently buy the hardcover and softcover versions of the book from my publisher’s website, westbowpress.com, and also from Amazon.com. The e-book will be available soon and I also look forward to announcing when the book will be available from other stores.
This is the “before” photo from the cover of my book. I weighed 281 pounds when this was taken.
No Salads Required! tells the story of how I lost 159 pounds in fourteen months including some of the funny moments that happened along the way. Also included is my easy to understand weight-loss program, so you can try my successful program for yourself! You will be especially happy to know that you can eat bacon, fried chicken and BBQ ribs on my program if you want to! The food part of the program includes lists of fruits, vegetables and protein foods that you can select from and design your own meals. I also have included a chapter with thirty preplanned meals to help you get started and a chapter that features some of our favorite family recipes that I ate while I was losing weight.
No Salads Required! also offers advice on exercise, asking God for help, surrounding yourself with supportive people and making weight loss a priority. I also have included a reader’s discussion guide for people who are reading this book as a group and meeting regularly to discuss it. Whether your group is a book club, a therapy group, a church group, a weight-loss support group or just some friends who enjoy reading books, I believe the questions in the guide will open the door to some thoughtful and stimulating conversations.
I also put something in my book that I think the readers of this blog will especially like! Poetry! There is a poem in every chapter as well as the introduction, the conclusion and the readers discussion guide. The reason I think all of you will enjoy these poems is that every blog post I have written that includes weight-loss poetry has been met with great enthusiasm! You will also be happy to know that I plan to include more poems in future posts.
My readers from all over the world will also be happy to know that westbowpress.com and Amazon.com both ship worldwide, so you can order my book from almost ANYWHERE you happen to live! I also have an update on the topic of where all of you are from. When my book was going to press there were people in 28 different countries that had learned about my weight-loss story. Since then, the list has grown to 35 countries! I want to thank all of you for your ongoing interest and support!
I also would like to share that my publisher has given me a goal that I hope many of you can help me reach during the next twelve months. If I sell 500 or more copies of my book through my publisher’s online bookstore, westbowpress.com, some wonderful doors may open for me that could include more stores carrying my book on their shelves and the opportunity to write more books in the future.
I also would like to invite all of you to share your thoughts on my book in the comment section of this blog and to write reviews for No Salads Required! on the websites where you buy my book. I would love to hear from each and every one of you! May you enjoy my book just as much as I enjoyed writing it!
One of the most helpful things you can do on a weight-loss journey is ask for help! During my recent 159 pound weight loss, I received help and encouragement from God, family, friends, neighbors, coworkers, customers, my doctor, and even our mail man! Some people helped me more than others, but I truly appreciate every single word of encouragement and act of kindness I received along the way. I may have been able to reach my goal alone, but I am sure glad that I didn’t have to!
From left to right: My mother (Gail), my sister (Cherie), Me and my father (Mike). My family has always loved me no matter what size I was. This photo was taken shortly before I started losing weight. I weighed 281 pounds at the time.
In fact, I consider the help I received so important that I included a whole chapter about gathering support in my upcoming weight-loss book. The book is called No Salads Required! How I Lost 159 Pounds without Salads, Celery, Sit-Ups or Surgery and How You Can Too!It will be available from Amazon.com and other stores in late summer or early fall of 2015, but today I am giving all my blog readers a sneak peek! The following is a quote from chapter seven of my book:
“Next to getting help from God, the best help you can find for your weight-loss program can come from the people you already know! The best part of this is that usually they will help you for free! Of course, if you can afford a personal trainer or a nutritionist, feel free to employ them, but even if you do consult with professionals from time to time, there are few things better than the daily encouragement you can get from friends and family members who are committed to love you, pray for you, and cheer you on through all your ups and downs and remind you that your decision to lose weight was a smart one! Ask God to send people to you to support you, as you take your first steps, and as you continue on your journey. This is a prayer he answered for me, and He will answer it for you too.”
I like to refer to all the people who gave me love, help and encouragement during my weight-loss journey as my “support team.” My first team members were my parents. Actually, they were on my team years before I even accepted the fact that I needed to lose weight! I have no idea exactly how long they bombarded heaven with prayers for me before I started my weight-loss program in January of 2013, but I know it was a long time. You can imagine how delighted they were when their prayers were finally answered with “Yes!”
As soon as I announced I was starting a weight-loss program, Mom and Dad immediately volunteered to purchase groceries, prepare healthy meals and clean our house so that I could focus on my daily fitness walking, which took quite a bit of time, especially at first, because I was so out of shape that I had to walk slowly. My sister, Cherie, was also very excited for me and gave me some wonderful encouragement and helpful advice that I still follow today as I maintain my figure.
My neighbors were the next folks to join my team, because they were the people who saw me walking by their houses every day and getting smaller and smaller. My weight-loss journey became like a reality TV show that all of us were part of! Some people just quietly observed me through their windows, but many others came out of their houses, introduced themselves and asked how my weight-loss program was going! They also gave me wonderful words of encouragement which I will always remember. Some of them even started walking with me!
Friends from church and work were also quick to join my team and I have to say they were really wonderful! Some of the ladies in my church even cleaned out their closets and gave me clothes as I was rapidly changing sizes. I appreciate that more than I can put into words! Those pretty clothes in smaller sizes really inspired me to keep losing weight so that I could fit into them.
As the months rolled by and the pounds rolled off, even more people joined my team. Here is a quote from “No Salads Required” regarding that:
“You will notice that some people had to be asked for help and others just volunteered. This will happen to you too. Never mind how your friends and family get involved in your journey; just thank God they are there for you! Also, the more weight you lose, the more “volunteers” will join your cause—after they get over the shock of seeing your new skinny figure!”
I purposely waited to tell my Facebook friends about my weight-loss journey until I was close to reaching my goal weight, because I wanted to shock them with my Before and After photos! It worked! When I posted those photos people were gasping and jaws were dropping all across the USA! My friends in Canada, Australia and India also got a chance to see my Before and After pictures and so did people in places I don’t even know about, because I gave my friends permission to share my photos with anyone who might be interested. After they all got over the shock of seeing the “new me”, my online friends joined my support team too. They still encourage me to today with their loving words, prayers and interest in both this blog and my upcoming book.
Actually, my support team is still growing! Now that I am in the process of maintaining my figure and getting ready to launch my book I have the privilege of sharing my weight-loss story with new people every day both in person and online. The support and encouragement I continue to receive really does motivate me to both continue my exercise program and make healthy food choices day after day.
I also am now in the position to be a support person to both old friends and new ones who are on their own weight-loss journeys, and I consider that a real privilege. As each of you build your own support team, be sure to put me on your list! I will be praying for all of you and wishing you the best of success!
I love outdoor fitness walking! There is nothing like putting on my sneakers and hitting the sidewalk on a regular basis! I also own a treadmill, and I enjoy using it, but there is something special about walking around my neighborhood in the fresh air, greeting neighbors and finding out if they are up to anything interesting. For example, I am always curious to see which houses are getting a new roof, who is having a garage sale and who is moving in or out. I also find it entertaining to see people doing unexpected things like washing their cars and mowing their lawns after dark. (Yes, my neighbors really do that!) I also enjoy seeing birds, dragonflies, butterflies, sunsets and my neighbor’s beautiful flower beds.
This photo of me was taken shortly before I started my weight-loss program. I weighed 281 pounds at the time.
Recently, when I was in the process of losing 159 pounds, I spent a lot of time walking around outside and I kept a journal of my experiences. Since then I have taken the amusing stories from those journals and the lessons I learned during that time and put them in to a book. The title is No Salads Required! How I Lost 159 pounds without Salads, Celery, Sit-Ups or Surgery and How You Can Too! It will be available from Amazon.com and other stores in either late summer or early fall of 2015. The book also contains a step by step description of the successful weight-loss program I designed for myself, so that my readers can try it. I hope all of you find it both inspiring and helpful.
One of the nice things about fitness walking is that you can easily do it with friends and family members. Both of my parents walked with me occasionally while I was actively losing weight, and we all really enjoyed it, because we never knew what we might see. Here is a quote from chapter two of No Salads Required! concerning those walks:
“Our neighborhood is built around two ponds and a creek, and water is a major draw to many birds of various kinds. My parents and I especially enjoyed seeing the mother ducks with their little ducklings. We would see them in the ponds and the creek and occasionally walking down the sidewalk or crossing the street. Ducks always put a smile on my face, especially when they did something funny and unexpected. For example, Mom and I noticed one male and one female Mallard duck hanging around our neighbor’s yard when we were walking by. We didn’t pay much attention to them at the time, but a few minutes later, when we walked by again, we saw a freshly laid white duck egg in the gutter right in front of our neighbor’s driveway. There was no nest or anything, just an egg! “
Of course, I also had some interesting experiences when I was walking alone. Here is a story from my book regarding one of those:
“While outdoor exercise does offer the opportunity to enjoy fresh breezes, flowers, trees, and wildlife, it does occasionally come with problems. One day a buzzard pooped in my hair and I had to stop by my house and wash it out! Fortunately, I was close to home when it happened. You can bet I put that episode in my journal!”
Another hazard of walking around outside beneath the blazing Florida sun is sunburn. I have tried all different kinds of sunscreens during the intense phase of my weight-loss program when I was actively losing weight and the maintenance phase of my program that I am in now. Most of them work very well, but there is one factor that can limit their effectiveness. Me! For some reason I really struggle with getting the sunscreen evenly spread on face, neck arms and I have wound up with some very painful red patches from time to time. The good news is that I am getting better at putting on sunscreen and I look forward to the day I can call myself an expert at preventing sunburn and not just an expert at using Solarcaine to treat it!
Uneven sidewalks combined with distractions can be a problem too. Early in my weight-loss program when I was just getting started with regular fitness walking in my neighborhood I was surprised by the bark of a neighbor’s dog and carelessly stepped on a part of the sidewalk that could do with some repair. The result was me falling down quite hard and skinning my knee. You can bet that only happened once! From then on I watched where I was walking no matter what else was going on.
Today, I still do lots of outdoor fitness walking as part of my ongoing program to maintain my weight and I can still honestly say that even though I have tried other forms of exercise, outdoor fitness walking is still my favorite. I especially enjoy walking around the neighborhood with one of my best friends. She lives just up the street and we make it a point to walk together whenever we can. After all, even though outdoor exercise does have a few hazards, they are definitely outweighed by the benefits!
Remember that old expression, “You are what you eat?” Well, whoever came up with that was actually onto something. Now obviously a person does not turn into either an apple or a piece of pizza just because they eat a lot of them, but our good health or lack of it is greatly determined by what we eat, how we exercise and whether or not we drink enough water and get enough sleep. In fact, I think we need a new slogan for good health:
You are what you do!
My mother and I both go to the same doctor and we really appreciate every piece of advice she has given us over the years. Mom just saw her a few days ago and afterword she mentioned to me an especially helpful thing our doctor had told her:
The doctor told my mother that the key to exercise is consistency and that she would be better off doing a little bit of exercise every day than doing a whole lot of exercise on random days when she was in the mood. I actually already knew this, but it was good to be reminded of this helpful fact. Of course, if you have the strength and the time to do a whole lot of exercise on a daily basis that can be a good thing too!
This photo was taken just days before I started my weight loss program. I weighed 281 pounds.
Recently, when I was in the process of losing 159 pounds over a fourteen month period I set aside time to do my fitness walking every single day regardless of the weather, what was on TV, or whether or not it was a holiday and I have to say, that method really worked. I also committed myself to only eating food that was both tasty and good for me and following that plan faithfully really helped me shrink! Another thing my program included was the use of some all natural weight-loss and nutrition products, which did me the most good when I took them daily. Consistency counts!
I have told my whole weight-loss story along with a step by step explanation of the program I created, in my upcoming book, No Salads Required! How I Lost 159 pounds without Salads, Celery, Sit-Ups or Surgery and How You Can Too! This book will be available from Amazon.com and other stores in late summer or early fall of 2015. I wrote it to be both entertaining and helpful and I hope all my readers really enjoy it.
Of course, if you want to be consistent about reaching any goal you set for yourself, whether it be reaching a certain weight, writing a book, learning a new language or taking the steps toward a whole new career, you need to really believe in both yourself and the importance of what you are doing so much that you give it top priority! It’s also smart to select a path toward your goals that allow you to enjoy your journey. For example, as you can tell from the title of my book, I don’t like salads very much, so I did not want to go on a long term weight-loss program that required me to eat them every day. Fortunately, I was able to work up a menu that featured a wide variety of healthy foods I did like and that made it a lot easier to stay on track. I still eat those foods today to help me maintain my weight and I am happy to do so.
I also decided to make fitness walking my primary way to exercise, because I really do love it. However, if that doesn’t sound like fun to you than pick something else such as swimming, Zumba or daily tennis with your best friend. Just make sure it’s something you love so much that you are willing to move heaven and earth to find time to do it and I guarantee you will do it consistently no matter what!
To sum it up, the path to anywhere is made up of faithfully taking little steps every day until you find yourself at the finish line, so make sure the daily steps you are taking today are on the path that will lead to your dreams coming true.
Shelley A. Sonnenberg 