Losing weight does not have to be boring and neither does reading about it! That’s one of the reasons I like to write weight-loss poetry. It’s great to take a subject that has traditionally been written about in a rather drab, dry way and insert some entertainment into it!
This picture was taken prior to the start of my weight-loss program. As you can see, I spent way too much time on the couch! I weighed about 281 pounds at that time.
In my upcoming weight-loss book, No Salads Required! How I Lost 159 Pounds without Salads, Celery, Sit-Ups or Surgery and How You Can Too! I have included seventeen poems just for the fun of it! I put in some humor too! Of course, I also have included a step by step explanation of my weight-loss program, suggested meals, and all sorts of practical advice on how to reach your weight-loss goals. I really worked hard to make the book so much fun to read that people will enjoy it whether they need to lose weight or not!
The book will be available from Amazon.com and other stores in late summer or early fall of 2015, but in the meantime I have decided to occasionally include some special weight-loss poems in my blog that my readers will only get to see here, and today is one of those days! In light of my mission to make fitness much more fun I have written a poem on that very topic just for you. Here it is:
Over the years I have heard numerous reasons why people are waiting to start a weight-loss program and some of the most creative ones were mine! I was obese for 32 years before I lost 159 pounds in fourteen months and now I wonder why I waited so long! I love being at a healthy weight!
Of course, there will always be difficulties to overcome when you are starting a weight-loss program. Life is never free of problems no matter what you are involved in! The answer is to work your way through them and to keep losing weight anyway!
This is my mother, Gail, on the left, my sister, Cherie, in the center and me on the right. This was taken just a few months before I started losing weight. I weighed about 281 pounds.
I think the saddest part about putting off taking the first step on a weight-loss journey is that you are also putting off the joy of reaching your goal weight. In my case, I also made my goal a lot harder to reach because during all the years I was putting off getting started I was also getting bigger! By the time I began losing weight, I was five foot two inches tall with hips that measured 5 feet around! I realize now that I waited far longer than necessary and if I could live my life over again, I would certainly would have taken my first steps a lot sooner. However, I do know the main reason I was waiting and even though it was more of an excuse than a reason, I know I am not the only person who has used it. Here it is:
My main reason for putting off starting a weight-loss program was that I was worrying about all the foods and relaxing activities I would have to either give up or put on the back burner in order to lose weight instead of considering the wonderful prospect of having a whole new figure and the exciting opportunities that would come with one. The good news is that once I did make weight loss my priority and started some good habits, I actually found my weight-loss journey to be a very pleasant one. I also have been successful at maintaining my new figure. All I really needed to do was just get started and keep going in the right direction!
I have shared my whole weight-loss story, including complete information about the successful program I designed for myself in an upcoming book entitled 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 at the end of summer or early fall of 2015. The following is an excerpt from chapter 5:
“I also have learned that you can’t wait for the “perfect time” to start a weight-loss program, to exercise, or to work toward any goal for that matter. Start where you are, make a list of what you can do toward that goal at the moment, and then figure out what steps you can take toward that goal in the near and distant future. This will be an ongoing list, but the most important items on it are the things you can start immediately.”
Of course, once you get going on your program, you also have to stick with it faithfully no matter what distractions or challenges pop up. I did a lot of fitness walking in my neighborhood while I was losing weight and that led to some interesting discussions with my friends who watched me walk by their houses every day. Here is another quote from that same chapter of No Salads Required!:
“When I was walking around my neighborhood, my neighbors would often ask why I was walking when it was so hot, cold, rainy, or “too nice a day to exercise.” I would always laugh and say, “If I waited for the perfect time, I would never lose any weight at all.” I realized at the beginning of my weight-loss plan that if I was going to be serious about losing all the weight, I would have to commit to eating right and exercising every day no matter what else was going on. On Easter Sunday, I took my mom and sister with me to do some walking around the neighborhood after dinner and one of my neighbors said, “Wow! You even walk on Easter?”
I said, “You bet! I do this every day!”
I do want to mention here that I did also attend church on that Easter Sunday I was referring to in the book, just like I do every week, I enjoyed a wonderful Easter dinner with my family, and ate some delicious hard boiled Easter eggs. I did not give up on all happiness in order to lose weight, I just made my weight-loss journey part of an ongoing happy experience!
So what do you think needs to happen before you are going to be ready to lose weight? Are you waiting to finish college? Are you waiting to get married? Are you waiting for your kids to grow up? Are you waiting for retirement? Are you waiting for all the problems in the world to be resolved? Never mind all that! Start losing weight today and become the person you want to be. Then, when you reach those various stages in life you will be thinner and enjoy them more! As for solving all the problems in the world, well, weight loss won’t do much about that, but at least you will feel better while you are dealing with them. So take that first step on your journey today! An exciting future awaits!
Almost everyone knows that doing regular exercise will help you lose weight, feel better and maintain a healthy figure. Unfortunately however, a lot of people either don’t exercise at all or exercise so seldom that they are unable to reap any benefits. The good news is that once you change your approach to exercise and do a little strategic planning, you can get to the point where you love exercise and wouldn’t want to miss it.
In my upcoming weight-loss book, No Salads Required! How I Lost 159 Pounds without Salads, Celery, Sit-Ups or Surgery and How You Can Too! I explain all about the importance of choosing the right exercise program and making it both helpful and enjoyable. My book will be available to order from Amazon.com and other retailers in late summer or early fall of 2015.
As you can tell from my book’s subtitle, I did not do a single sit-up while I was losing weight, because they made me nauseous, but that does not mean that I didn’t exercise at all. Quite the opposite! I actually devoted quite a bit of time to exercise and I still do today, but I have learned to do it on my own terms and that makes a big difference in my willingness to do it. I also got quite a bit of exercise experience during my fourteen months of intensive weight loss and learned several things by trial and error that I would have liked to have known from day one.
The following are some tips that I hope will help you both start a successful exercise program and also enjoy it:
Choose an exercise you like! This may sound obvious, but it’s amazing how many people choose an exercise program based on the latest fashion in fitness instead of choosing something they feel happy doing. In my case, fitness walking was perfect for me. I loved it! Walking was especially advantageous for me because I already know how to do it and it was gentle on my extremely heavy, out of shape body. I was 5 foot two inches tall and weighed 281 pounds at the beginning of my weight-loss program and I wanted to be careful not to hurt myself. I started out walking quite slowly at first, but as the weeks went by and I got leaner and stronger I was able to speed up and cover more ground in less time
This photo of me was taken shortly before I started my weight-loss program. I weighed 281 pounds at the time.
Schedule exercise into your day. All of us do some scheduling every day to make sure we don’t miss out on doing things that are important to us like going to work, lunch with friends, and appointments with a doctor or dentist. Exercise should be no different. Give it the priority it deserves and select a time to do it. I have a part time job with a schedule that is different every day and changes from week to week, so taking some time to plan exercise into my day takes some effort, but I find the benefits of exercise to be well worth it.
Stick to your program no matter what else happens. My father once told me that he had heard or read some statistics that showed that most people who start an exercise program abandon it during the first eight weeks. This does not have to happen to you! Taking care of yourself is extremely important, because we all only get one body in this life and it’s better to take care of it now than to wish you had in the future.
Dress for the occasion. Wearing exercise clothing makes a great fashion statement and helps you prove to yourself that you are serious about what you are doing, but there is also another good reason to wear fitness attire. Many fitness clothing items are made from fabrics designed to make exercise more comfortable and easier to do! I particularly like the way walking and running shoes are made today. It’s true that some shoes with advanced technology incorporated into their design cost a bit more than the ordinary shoes, but I still encourage you to try some on. You may find they are well worth the money.
Bring a few things with you. When I do outdoor fitness walking I usually bring a small tote bag containing a bottle of water, a small notebook and a pen to record how much exercise I am doing, sunglasses, lip balm, sunscreen, my keys and my phone. If I am going out in the evening I bring a bright battery operated lantern so that I can be easily seen as the sun is going down. If I am exercising alone, I sometimes also bring a small portable stereo with headphones so that I can listen to music or the radio as I walk.
Have a talk with your doctor. It’s always a good idea to have a visit with your doctor before starting a new fitness program, especially if you have a history of health problems such a heart condition, diabetes, or various injuries that need to be taken into account when making decisions concerning exercise. If you have problems that are especially troublesome you may want to ask your doctor to refer you to a physical therapist. There are all kinds of creative techniques for exercise that a therapist would know that you may have never thought of, but would help you immensely.
Consider joining a gym.Joining a gym can be a very cost effective way to try out and use a wide variety of fitness equipment for one monthly or annual fee. Gyms also offer the benefit of getting away from distractions so you can focus on exercising for a set period of time. Some gyms even offer trial memberships at a very reasonable cost so you can see how you like what they are offering before signing on the dotted line. This is perfect for both beginners and people who may not be new to exercise, but are new to exercising at a gym and are not sure if they will like it.
Be sure to also ask if your gym offers classes that might interest you. Many gyms offer a wide variety of classes such as water aerobics, Pilates, Zumba, and even classes set up like a military boot camp complete with an instructor who yells at you and pushes you to do more than you ever thought possible. (I would sooner die than sign up for a class like that, but a lot of gyms offer them so some people must find them helpful.) Recently I saw a news story on TV about a gym that offered a class where the participants were doing various exercises on little trampolines while following an instructor and listening to music. It looked like a whole lot of fun. If my gym ever offers a class like that I plan to be the first member to sign up!
Consider hiring a personal trainer. I realize that using the services of personal trainer on a regular basis might be too costly for many of my readers, but many trainers offer the option of hiring them for just one or two sessions to help you set up an exercise routine that you can do on your own once you have learned it. They also are a wonderful resource for suggestions on types of exercise activities that would be suitable for your fitness level and personal interests.
Dust off your treadmill or other fitness equipment you already have and get back on it.Many people already own one or more pieces of fitness equipment that they have never actually used or have stopped using for one reason or another. The good news is that it’s not too late start using it now. I don’t know what brought on your decision to stop using it before, but I do have a suggestion for this time. Be sure to plan for some entertainment! I have a both a treadmill and an exercise bike in my house, and I can tell you from personal experience that using exercise equipment without entertainment is really boring! I love listening to music or the radio while I walk on the treadmill or ride the bike, because it occupies my imagination and helps me stay on the machine as long as I need to be there. I also know people who like to watch TV or use their smartphones to keep their minds occupied while they bike, walk, run or whatever they are doing on their fitness equipment. Just choose the method that works for you and get going!
I think one of the best things to understand about exercise is that it is a good habit that can be started at any age! I didn’t start my current exercise program until I was in my forties and I know people who were much older than that when they started exercising and they still reaped many benefits. Of course, if I could go back in a time and start my fitness program sooner I certainly would do it, but since that is not an option I just do my best one day at a time at the age I am. You can do that too! I wish you the best of success.
The world is exploding with weight-loss products today and it seems like every time I turn around I hear about a new one! Now some of these products are excellent and some are filled with empty promises, but there is one weight-loss product that most people overlook even though it’s one of the least expensive and most effective! It’s water!
Yes, I said water! One of the things I included in my weight-loss program when I recently lost 159 pounds in fourteen months was a focused plan to start hydrating myself properly. In, my upcoming weight-loss book, No Salads Required! How I lost 159 Pounds without Salads, Celery, Sit-Ups or Surgery and How You Can Too! which will be available in late summer or early fall of 2015, I share some insights on this, much of which, I learned from Don, Colbert, M.D.
In his helpful and interesting book, The Seven Pillars of Health, Dr. Colbert states:
“New research also shows that being dehydrated can cause your body’s fat deposits to increase. Dehydration can contribute to an inefficient metabolism by affecting body temperature. When you are dehydrated, your body temperature drops slightly and causes your body to store fat as a way to maintain the temperature. Also, as some savvy dieters know, drinking water reduces your appetite by giving you a full feeling.[1]”
Obviously the remedy for dehydration is to drink more water, but the question is, “How much?” Fortunately, Dr. Colbert included this easy formula in his book:
“Take your weight in pounds and divide it by two. The result is how many ounces of water you should drink daily.[2]”
I believe so strongly in the above advice that I both lived by it while I was intensely working at losing weight and currently live by it as part of my maintenance program. Of course, now that I weigh a lot less it’s easier to meet my daily water drinking goals. When I first began my weight-loss program I weighed 281 pounds and needed to drink 140.5 ounces of water per day! To make this more fun I did make some of that clean, filtered water into unsweetened caffeine-free tea. I used a water filter attached to my kitchen sink to make an endless supply of the water I needed. This is what I said about that in Chapter 2 of No Salads Required!:
This is me prior to my weight-loss program. I weighed about 281 pounds at that time.
“The reason I decided to drink caffeine-free iced tea was that I was drinking quite a lot of it at times, and while both black tea and green tea with caffeine both do offer health benefits,[3] too much caffeine can keep you up at night when you really want to sleep.[4] Also, caffeine is a diuretic[5] and I did not want to drink it to excess and push all the water I had been drinking right back out of my body before I could enjoy the benefits of being properly hydrated.”
I also have completely given up sodas, both diet and regular, but with all the wonderful teas available I have not missed them. In No Salads Required! I recommended a number of my favorite, black, herbal and green teas that come in caffeine-free versions, but I don’t limit myself to just the favorite teas I mention in the book. Every time I visit the grocery store I enjoy walking down the tea aisle and searching for new flavors I have not tried yet. I find experimenting with new teas to be a fun and healthy hobby.
Now, I do need to tell you that when you first start drinking a healthy amount of water that your body will initially respond by causing you to run to the bathroom a lot the first few days and that this can be somewhat inconvenient, but it’s all for a good cause. Dr. Colbert explains it this way:
“Take heart; it’s really your body’s way of getting rid of excess water and toxins. You are flushing out your system.[6]”
Dr. Colbert also mentioned in the same chapter that drinking enough water can do wonders to help your memory, reverse signs of aging, improve your joints and make your skin look beautiful. I particularly liked a statement from a TV interview he saw with singer Tina Turner, whose skin looked fabulous even though she was well into her sixties at the time. She explained it was because she drank two quarts of water every day! [7]
I hope to use “water therapy” to produce the same results in myself as I mature! I find it ironic that in the midst of a culture that is desperate to find the fountain of youth that few people know that is as close as their kitchen faucet or the bottled water at the grocery store! Give it a try! You will be glad you did.
Book Information: As I mentioned above, No Salads Required! How I Lost 159 Pounds Without Salads Celery, Sit-Ups or Surgery and How You Can Too! will be available in late summer or early fall of 2015. You will be able to order it from Amazon.com and other stores in both paper and electronic formats. As soon as I have an exact release date I will be sure to include it in my blog posts.
[1] Don Colbert, MD. The Seven Pillars of Health. First ed. Lake Mary, Florida: Siloam, 2007, 13
[3] Steven G. Pratt, MD, and Kathy Matthews. Superfoods Rx, Fourteen Foods That Will Change Your Life. Third ed. New York: HarperCollins, 2007, 181–185.
[4] Don Colbert, MD. The Seven Pillars of Health. First ed. Lake Mary, Florida: Siloam, 2007, 3142–43.
This photo is of my mother and me prior to me starting my weight-loss program. I weighed about 281 pounds here.
When people find out that I have recently lost 159 pounds in fourteen months they often ask how I was able to stick to my program so successfully. They usually are also very surprised when I tell them about my method, because it had very little to do with will power and everything to do with setting goals and priorities.
The following is a quote from chapter five of my upcoming book, No Salads Required! How I Lost 159 Pounds without Salads, Celery, Sit-Ups or Surgery and How You Can Too! which will be available from Amazon.com and other stores in late summer or early fall of 2015 :
“The secret to following any dream is to make it a priority. My father was right when he said that I pursued my dream to lose weight like Olympic athletes pursue gold medals. For the first time in my life, I wanted to have all the benefits of slenderness more than the things I would have to give up in order to have them. I knew that if I lost enough weight I would be able to wear prettier clothes, find a better job, and maybe even get married someday, and I wanted all these things with a passion big enough to move heaven and earth to make those dreams possible.
One of the things people often say when they hear about my weight loss is ‘Wow! You must have a lot of will power.’ I smile when they say this, because actually will power is only a small part of it. Walking away from wrong foods and filling your refrigerator and cupboards with the right foods has a lot more to do with focusing on what you want most than resisting what you are not supposed to have. I found that the more I imagined how I would look as a thin person and the things I wanted to do when I reached that goal, the easier it was to eat the right things.”
I should also mention here that this same passion motivated me to exercise every single day no matter what! I loved the process of reshaping myself! It was extremely exciting and I really did want to reach my goal much more than I wanted anything else. I was also very curious to see how I would look as a thin person. The last time I was thin I was in the 1980s when I was in high school, so I had no idea how I would look as a mature adult with a nice figure. Watching myself shrink was really fascinating and I have to say I really do like how my figure has turned out, but it has taken some time to get used to being “the new me.”
This is my mother and me holding up the size 4X pants that I no longer wear. Notice how much we look alike!
I particularly like the fact that I look a great deal like my mom and a lot of people commented on the resemblance shortly after I reached my weight-loss goal. At that time Mom and I were wearing our hair in almost the same style, which made our resemblance even more striking. One day when I was exercising at the gym, I was using free weights and was looking in a mirror with the idea of checking my form when for a split second I found myself looking at this short, slim brunette and asking “What’s Mom doing here?” Then I realized I was looking at me! I only remember that happening once, but it was an unforgettable moment!
Even now when I am maintaining my weight, I find good habits and setting priorities to still be really important. I have worked so hard to get my new figure, the last thing in the world I want to do is lose it! I still like high-calorie foods, but not enough to undo all my hard work, so I very seldom eat them.
Now for those of you who still believe will power is the best way to lose weight, I will confess that I have experimented with diets based on will power in the past, but they never worked for me. Every time I saw something I should not eat, but desperately wanted, I would try to pull myself away from the “bad food” and persuade myself not to eat it. That never lasted very long! You see what I used to think of as “will power” could better be described as “won’t power.” I would say to myself, “I won’t eat this and I won’t eat that even though I desperately want to and really don’t know why I am putting myself through all this misery.”
Of course, Sooner or later I would end up eating whatever it was I wanted to eat. You see, if you don’t have big dreams and exciting goals to work toward, all a “will power” plan works out to be is a deprivation program and who wants to feel deprived? I can tell you, I didn’t! That’s one of the reasons I stayed overweight for thirty-two years! It wasn’t until I came up with an entirely new approach that I was finally successful in making my weight-loss dreams come true.
So are you ready to try a new approach to weight loss? All you need to start is a pen, some paper and your wild imagination! Just try the following steps and you will be well on your way:
Imagine “the new you” when you reach your weight-loss goal. What size do you want to wear? How will you look? Who will be surprised and amazed when they see you at your new size? Let your imagination soar and write down a full description of yourself as you wish to be.
List some things you want to do when you reach your new size. They can be as simple as going to a restaurant and sitting comfortably in a booth or as expensive as flying around the world without the need for a seatbelt extender or to buy more than one airplane seat. Something I really enjoy being able to do now that am thinner is to trim my own toenails easily. I also like being able to bend over comfortably and tie my own shoes.
List the new opportunities that might be available if you lost weight. Some examples include new career options, a happier love life and the energy to learn something you always wanted to try such as ballroom dancing, skiing or tennis.
Once you have fully visualized the new life that you could have available to you as a thin person, calculate how much weight you would really need to lose in order to get there. Don’t be afraid even if the result is a big number! Remember I lost 159 pounds! Just figure out what your weight-loss goal would be and write it down.
Now write down how very much you want to achieve your goal! Do you desire it so much that you want to taste success more than any food that would keep you from reaching it? If you do, you have already taken the first step. Just keep going that direction and you will eventually wind up where you want to be!
Losing weight is one of the most popular topics on the planet today. It seems like almost everybody is thinking about it, talking about it, reading about it, blogging about it and tweeting about it, but very few people are actually successfully doing it.
Do you know somebody who both needs to lose weight and has a desire to do it, but can’t quite make any program that they try work? Maybe they need some help and maybe you are just the person to provide it! Now, I know some of you reading this are saying, “But what can I do? I am not a doctor, or a nutritionist or a personal trainer! What could I possibly do to help?” Actually, there are numerous things that can be done to assist a loved one on their weight-loss journey that do not require special training or a college degree! This is especially true if the person who is working toward reaching a weight-loss goal lives with you!
This photo of my father and me was taken before I began my weight-loss program. I weighed about 281 pounds at that time.
I recently lost 159 pounds during a fourteen month period and one of the things that really contributed to my success was the ongoing help of my family and friends during the whole journey and even beyond that, as I have been working to maintain my weight.
Here are some things you can do that would definitely be appreciated:
Start a support group. This group can be comprised of friends, family or both. My parents and I formed a support group the day I began my program and we still support each other now! The best part about supporting each other is that everyone wins. Not only did I lose weight, but they did too!
Listen to the person who is on a weight-loss program and discuss what is going one in their lives. Many people eat as a form of comfort and in order to stop doing that they need to develop relationships with people they can confide in, discuss positive solutions to problems and also just have fun!
Volunteer to help your loved one with some of their daily chores such as house cleaning, grocery shopping and cooking for them so they can have time to exercise. You don’t have to help them every single day to be appreciated. Just do what you can!
If the person who is working at losing weight has children, you can really do a great deal to assist them by helping with child care. Many parents, especially single mothers find a starting an exercise program practically impossible because of the needs of their kids. You can volunteer to care for the children yourself so the parent can go to the gym alone or you can pay for a babysitter so they can go to the gym with you. Either way, this can be extremely helpful!
Speaking of gyms, you can also help pay for your loved one’s membership if they are facing financial difficulties. If they want to go to the same gym that you do, ask about what it would cost to add the person trying to lose weight to your membership. Sometimes you can get a discount this way.
Help your rapidly shrinking loved one with acquiring new clothes! One of the biggest challenges during a weight-loss program, especially a successful one is figuring out what you are going to wear when you are changing sizes so often. Buying new clothing all the time can be really expensive and before you know it, whatever you just bought is already too big! One of the really wonderful things my Mom and several ladies I know from church did was to clean out their closets and give me free gently used clothes in the size I was wearing at the time. They took turns doing this as the need arose and I can’t begin to tell you how thankful I am for that! Not only did they save me a tremendous amount of money, but I was also reminded how much I was loved and supported every time I opened my closet! I especially appreciated help with acquiring exercise cloths. It was nice to feel well dressed while I was working out!
If the person you are supporting lives with you, volunteer to keep tempting foods that they are trying to abstain from like ice cream out of the house while they are actively trying to lose weight. This does not mean that you can’t sneak out for an ice-cream cone or other sweet treat at a restaurant when they are not with you. Just don’t wave the tempting foods under their nose!
If you really want to be a hero, volunteer to follow the same food plan your loved one on the weight-loss program is following! This is especially effective if you are living together, because you will find it’s easier to shop and cook meals when everyone in your house is eating the same things and also your loved one will feel really cared for and supported. This works just as well whether you are following a pre-planned program from a weight-loss book or designing you own program. In my case, I designed my own weight-loss program and then wrote a book about it after my program was successful. The title 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 it will be available to order from Amazon.com and other places in either late summer or early fall of 2015.
Gather your support group together at least once a week to discuss how your weight-loss program is going and what you can do to help each other. If you are all following a program from the same weight-loss book, it might be helpful to discuss one chapter of the book every week. This not only will give you something interesting to discuss, but it will help you keep motivated to stay on the program and to read the whole book! Some weight-loss books, including mine have a discussion guide in the back designed to stimulate thoughtful conversations about the information the book covers. These talks can be both and helpful and entertaining!
Think of your own ways to help! The ideas I have listed here are just the tip of the iceberg! Use your creativity and extend your hand of help in whatever way is needed! If you are not sure what the person needs, ask them! You are not only offering love and support by doing so, you could also be helping to save their life!
There are many names for a cheerful outlook. Norman Vincent Peale called it “positive thinking”, my parents called it a “good attitude” and a famous song referred to it as “the sunny side of life.” The truth is that whatever name you give it, a positive attitude can do wonders for any weight-loss program and often makes the difference in whether or not a person is successful in reaching their weight-loss goals.
Recently I lost 159 pounds in fourteen months and I have to say that one of the most important things I did to lose the weight was to believe that my goals, though large, were completely possible to attain. I actually think this attitude was even more important than the food I ate, the exercise I did or the weight-loss and nutrition products I used, because even though all those things made a huge difference, I would not have made it through one day of my program if I wasn’t enjoying it!
Now, I do admit that when I first considered starting a weight-loss program I was a bit unsure if I wanted to undertake such a big project, but once I embraced the idea I did so wholeheartedly and never looked back! One of the first things I did to inspire myself to think positively was to write a simple, but powerful slogan that I said over and over to myself and anyone else who would listen. It was: “I am going to eat and exercise like a skinny person until my body figures it out!” I knew that if I was going to lose weight, my lifestyle that had caused me to become morbidly obese had to be abandoned and what better way to do that than to adopt the type of lifestyle that millions of skinny people were practicing successfully?
I also committed myself to the idea that my weight-loss program was exciting and that it was going to be lots of fun to watch myself transform into a healthy woman with a new figure. My program was in no way a punishment for eating unwisely in the past or a deprivation program that somebody else was forcing me into. Quite the opposite!
In fact, as I have mentioned in a previous blog post, I designed my weight-loss program to include only healthy foods that I liked to eat and exercise that I enjoyed doing! For example, I really am not much of a salad eater and I don’t like celery at all, so I decided not to put either of those items on my daily weight-loss menu. Instead, I ate foods like barbequed spare ribs, corn on the cob, apples and grapes! If you think that sounds like a whole lot of fun, you are right! It was! I was watching myself shrink and also was walking around with a big smile on my face. I had never enjoyed trying to lose weight before, but fortunately there is a first time for everything!
I tell my whole story about my weight loss and the specific details of exactly what I did to lose the weight in my upcoming book, No Salads Required! How I Lost 159 Pounds without Salads, Celery, Sit-Ups or Surgery and How You Can Too! The book will be available to order from Amazon.com and other stores at either the end of August or the beginning of September 2015. I hope that everyone who buys it and tries my program has as much fun as I did!
A positive attitude is also a very important part of keeping a healthy figure once you get one! I have been maintaining my new weight for over a year now and one of the ways I do it is to remind myself of all the good things I enjoy about being thin like being able to easily cut my own toenails, tie my own shoes, bend over without getting nauseous and fit into any restaurant booth or airplane seat I want to sit in without a problem.
This photo of my mother and I was taken just a few months before I started my weight-loss program. I weighed 281 pounds here.
Now for those of my readers who have never been extremely overweight these little blessings may not sound like much, but trust me when I say that I am thrilled every day to be able to do these things again. I am 5’2” with very tiny bones, yet I weighed 281 pounds when I started my weight-loss program and my hips measured 5 feet around. I understand what it’s like to have a serious weight problem and I also understand that if I don’t keep up a good attitude about living a healthy lifestyle I could end up in that position again.
Fortunately, I am having a wonderful time eating the healthy foods I came to love while I was losing weight and I am also enjoying learning to prepare new healthy recipes. My exercise program is a delight too. In our house, we have both a treadmill and an exercise bike and I enjoy using both of them, but recently I have returned to outdoor fitness walking. I have a neighbor who I walk with several times a week and we really enjoy both taking care of ourselves and having someone to talk to while we do it. Sometimes her husband joins us and we often see neighbors who are outside walking dogs or working in their yards and we talk to them too. We also often see other neighbors who are fitness walking, jogging or riding bicycles and several of them have told us that watching my transformation and seeing my friend and me walking regularly has given them the hope and inspiration to begin their own exercise program. If this keeps up soon everyone in our neighborhood will have a weight-loss story to tell!
So now I have a question for you: Are you considering starting a weight-loss program? If you are I want to encourage you to make sure it’s a program that is both based on the principles of healthy living and also one that you can enjoy every day that you are following it If you choose a program like that and stick to it cheerfully, before you know it, you will not only have achieved your weight-loss goals, but you will find yourself following other exciting dreams as well! What’s next for you after weight-loss? There are all kinds of opportunities that you could use your newly acquired positive attitude to attain. All you have to do is pick the ones you want and go after them until positive thinking and living becomes a regular part of your life. Once that happens you will be able to join my friends and me as we joyfully shout, “My future is so bright, I have to wear shades!”
This photo was taken just days before I started my weight loss program. I weighed 281 pounds.
What inspires you to lose weight? Do you have an upcoming occasion for which you want to look especially good? Do you want to get the attention of that special someone or to be given opportunities that are usually only given to thin people? Do you just want to feel healthier?
There are many reasons people want to lose weight today, but unfortunately the pervasive myths in our culture concerning weight-loss often discourage people from even getting started. In my upcoming book, No Salads Required! How I Lost 159 Pounds without Salads, Celery, Sit-Ups or Surgery and How You can Too! I address four of the reasons that I was obese for 32 years. I really did not want to live on salads or celery! I had spent too many years eating much more delicious foods and I was unwilling to resign myself to that menu! I also did not want to do sit-ups. I know that some TV fitness trainers swear by them, but honestly when a person is as morbidly obese as I was when I started my weight-loss program, sit-ups were an exercise in nausea!
As for weight-loss surgeries, I knew they were not right for me either. I realize some people may find them helpful, but in my case, the problem was not in my stomach. The problem was in my brain! I was using food as comfort and entertainment and ignoring the obvious fact that somebody as short and fine-boned as I was should not be eating high calorie foods in large quantities. In my book I also mentioned my naturally slow metabolism and said that though God had created my body to work like an economy car, I had spent years fueling myself up like an eighteen wheeler! Obviously l needed to make a change, but how?
The first thing I needed to do was start a weight-loss program and make it a priority. In No Salads Required! I shared how I reached the decision to do this, as well as how I came to the understanding that if I was going to succeed at weight-loss, my program had to be on my own terms. For me, that meant designing my own weight-loss plan that included eating only foods that I enjoyed and doing only exercise that I liked to do and sticking to that program tenaciously until I reached my goals. This may sound wild, but it worked beautifully for me. I lost the 159 pounds I needed to lose in fourteen months!
I think approaching weight-loss on one’s own terms is so important that I encourage my readers to do the same. No Salads Required! contains a chapter with lists of recommended foods and suggestions for readers on how to design their own meals as well as permission to choose only the foods on the lists that they enjoy. I did also put together a chapter full of suggested meal combinations for people who wanted help getting started and who would appreciate specific recommendations. However, even in that chapter, I suggested my readers pick the meals they like and customize them as needed with other foods on the recommended lists according to their own preferences and what they find currently available in the grocery stores.
Fortunately, due to international trade, there are now many more fruits and vegetables available in grocery stores throughout the year than there used to be. This makes shopping much easier. Also, my readers with green thumbs might enjoy planting and growing some of their own fresh produce. Gardening is not only a fun and healthy activity, but it also opens the door for people to enjoy varieties of fruits and vegetables that are not commonly sold in stores. A few years ago one of my friends decided to grow tomatoes, but not just any tomatoes. She planted a type of orange ones that I had never seen or heard of until she told me about them. Once those tomatoes began to ripen they were all she could talk about. I have never talked to anyone so delighted about eating tomatoes in all my life! She really enjoyed them and that made her extra effort to grow them completely worthwhile.
When it comes to exercise, I also encourage my readers to set up a program that is pleasant for them. After all, if a person plans to start doing something on a regular basis it makes sense to be sure they will enjoy it! For readers with problems exercising due to injuries I suggested in No Salads Required! that they seek the guidance of their doctor and possibly a physical therapist as well. It’s amazing how many safe and effective methods there are for injured people to exercise! A few years ago one of my friends was facing serious health problems that were complicated by morbid obesity. While she was in the hospital for treatment of these conditions, her doctor referred her to a specialist, who helped her set up a manageable exercise program with the goal of building her strength. I was completely amazed! What I learned from her story is that if there is a will there is a way! If that woman could find a way to exercise in her extremely difficult circumstances, then all the rest of us can find an exercise plan that will work for us if we seek the right advice and make the effort to follow it.
So now it’s up to you! Are you ready to chase your weight-loss dreams on your terms? No Salads Required! will be available to order from Amazon.com and other stores in late August or early September of 2015 and I encourage you to buy it, read it and it discover how fun and exciting weight-loss can be. In the meantime I will be sharing “sneak previews” on this blog on a regular basis to give you a taste of what’s to come. I also will be sharing entertaining stories about my life as a writer and what I am doing to maintain my new figure now that I have it. Stay tuned!
Shelley A. Sonnenberg 
