I had heard so much about atkins, I had thought ok, I will go home and get on that. But, I had no money to buy the books needed for that "diet". And knew being a diabetic that it would be highly important to do things right.
I remembered my mom had sent me Richard Simmons Gold Foodmover cause it was on sale at Walgreens, and I was going to use it for keeping track of how much water I was drinking. I decided to drag it out of the closet and start using it for my food.
I had tried Richard Simmons Deal A Meal in the past. And had always had a real problem sticking to the first week 1000 calorie Blast Off Week. So this time I decided it was more important to just get to eating healthier, and a big weight loss the first week wasn't worth me not being able to stick to it. So I just started at the calorie card that would be right for me after blast off week.
On May 5th, 2003 I began my weight loss journey.
First I invested in a good scale, I bought at Walmart. I kept weighing my self on the scales there, till I found one that my feet fit on-I only wear a size four, I don't know how women with real feet fit on these things! And I wanted one to weigh me the same as the Doctors scale did. The one I chose did both. That same day I bought some of Richards Videos that came with cool weights. I was on my way!
The first couple of weeks, I just worked on getting in 6 meals a day and closing all my windows. And getting a good schedule going. Then I soon added exercising. At first I just would do 5 minutes of one of Richards videos, every day. Then each month I added another 5 minutes. Then I was soon doing whole videos! Then I added walking to my daily work outs.
Not long after starting my new healthy life style, with Richard Simmons program, a friend emailed me that at BJ's and Costco was this really good crock pot book, with easy recipes from a lady that many of her weight watchers group highly reccomended, it was JoAnna Lund's Potful cookbook. I went right out and bought it. I looked through it and thought, mmmmmmm these sound good!
But, at the time I was still in the beginning stages and not strong enough to stand long enough even to make Healthy Exchanges recipes, and do dishes too? No way! I also seen the ad for the newsletter in the back but thought that was way too expensive for a newsletter! Little did I know it wasn't some 4 page flyer, but a 12 page full of 30+ brand new recipes each month!
At that point I was only eating sandwiches mainly, and a few soups. And still eating off paper plates! And using plastic utensils. Because I did not have the energy to even wash my own dishes.
Well, summer passed and fall came, and I was getting strong enough I was tired of paper plates and plastic utensils I had used for years because I just didn't have the stamina to stand and wash dishes. BUT, by now I was able to do almost 30 minutes of aerobics! I could stand and do dishes! And now I was also getting tired of sandwiches, and one skillet meals I was throwing together. I had tried a few of Richard Simmons recipes, but they were getting to be the same thing every week!
I needed more! So I went online and was doing some searches for "healthy" recipes. THEN, I remembered JoAnna Lund, however, I still didn't want to drag out my HUGE crock pot, so I decided to go to her site. I seen the sample newsletter on the site, and knew it would be WELL worth the cost, and immediately subscribed, then I went about collecting every book and newsletter I could get my hands on! I was even able to purchase every single newsletter ever printed! lol
At first I just started with a recipe or two. And we relied heavily upon Salisbury Steak and Cowboy Chicken Fried Steak since those were my husbands favorites!
A year later I was trying at least one and sometimes up to 8 new recipes a week! And I've been hooked ever since.
In January 2005, I joined TOPS to have a person to person support group and I love it!
A few years ago, I started getting terrible knee pain though while exercising, and it made it very hard to get my daily one hour of exercise I had been used to. I invested in a Tony Little Glider, and have not been disappointed. I had a little calf muscle pain at first, but only from using muscles I hadn't ever used before. Other then that there is NO pain what so ever! My knees do better on it then any other machine I have ever tried, including stationary bikes or elliptical.
My only regret is I didn't "get it" before, I didn't get that I didn't have to do Richard's program perfectly! Not to beat myself up and totally go off plan for one miseaten meal or serving! And that eating healthy could be as yummy and easy as JoAnna's recipes!
I still have a lot of weight to lose. But, with Richard Simmons, TOPS programs, and Joanna M. Lund's recipes. I know I will make it! And I know I am getting healthier every day!
Update 2016
I had a miscarriage in February 2009. And I kind of lost my zest for health. I had two more children,and gained back a lot of weight. Not all of it, but more then I would like. Earlier this year my diabetes got more out of control. I am a type 1 diabetic. I worked on having better blood sugar control, but not as much my weight loss. Although I did lose some weight from the high blood glucose I had for a little bit. Then October 2016, I went to Silver Dollar City, for homeschool weekend with my children. And we went on the cave tour, it was over 500 feet down walk, with a 100 stair steps straight up to come back out, before getting on a trolley to go up the rest of the way. Down was not so bad, coming up those 100 stairs though... wow! It was hard! I did this back several years ago and it wasn't hard at all... So I came home and KNEW I had to get back on track with exercise and food, and every thing. That was October 2016. We are now at the end of November 2016 and thankfully I have lost 15 lbs. I would really like to just get back to 150-160 again. I probably will never get down to a perfect weight. (low 100's) but I know I was extremely happy at 152. And that would be awesome to get back to. I have mentally and emotionally finally healed from my miscarriage in 2009, and also my last miscarriage in 2014 as well. And I am finally back in the right frame of mine I had before! :)
