Wanna know a secret?

Okay so there's not some big, huge reveal coming.  Whoops, did I just ruin the entire post?

Sorry.  I just didn't want you to be disappointed.  :)

I've had a lot of people ask me what I've been doing, eating, etc. in order to get the weight off.  Instead of trying to explain it all over and over again, I thought I'd just write about it here!  These are my "secrets." Besides, I tend to be pretty long-winded and maybe, just maybe, I can be more concise in writing. 

But I doubt that. Grab some coffee.  Or wine.  Or both. Here we go!

When my daughter was seven months old, I was given to go-ahead to begin exercising.  I'd gained 50 pounds during my pregnancy and only lost about 10 after I had her. I started slowly, just walking on the treadmill, then I built up to my regular Firm workouts.  Some weeks I'd be really good and pop in a DVD every day before work; other weeks I'd exercise once or twice.

Before I got pregnant, I'd gotten down to a size 5.  I did that by doing The Firm workouts in the mornings, but I didn't really pay much attention to what I was eating.  After my daughter was born, I figured as long as I was working out I should be able to lose the weight.  Well, that didn't really happen.  I became really frustrated.  I tried to make better choices, eat smaller portions.  I tried to follow the Weight Watchers plan for a few weeks but I still didn't see my weight budge even a single pound.  My next trick was to do only fruits, veggies and whole grains for a few weeks.  Still nothing.  I was so annoyed. 

I had a sleep study done because I thought maybe my sleep wasn't productive, since I know that sleep affects your weight.  However...not so much.  Although I felt like I was waking up several times throughout the night and wasn't sleeping well at all, the doctor said that they didn't notice anything unusual in my sleep patterns.

Well, okay.

Next up was a trip to a good ole family MD.  I had blood work done, a full physical (that wasn't fun), the whole nine yards. 

His response?  "Well, there's nothing medically wrong with you but hey, we're starting a new medical weight loss treatment in a month that's only $1500!  Wanna sign up?"

Um.  No.  But thanks.  REALLY.

Then I saw the advertisement on the Moms At Work blog for the Moms Get Fit Giveaway. I figured I had to do something.  Sure, if I won it would be a drastic thing to do but I've never won anything in my life.  Seemed highly unlikely.  The idea of winning the contest scared me and yet it gave me hope that maybe, just maybe, I would win and finally get myself back in shape. 

And holy cow - I WON! I blogged about that happiness here. 

Now that you know what I won (if you read that other blog post), I'll tell you what I've been doing. 

I told you I was long winded.  :)

We had 20 free sessions with James of Taylor's Fitness Club.  While I wasn't too sure about it at first, I grew to love it and really looked forward to my sessions.  James is the absolute BEST trainer available.  My last session with him was December 29th and I miss him!  He was our best encourager, not to mention the reason we all have muscles now.  I give him full credit for my biceps.  I do like my arms. 

Since then, I've been going to the Fitness Center in my building because it's free for those of us that work in Diabetes.  I'm trying to duplicate my "James" workout as best I can.  It's not the same, I know I'm not working as hard, but I learned a lot from James and I'm using as much of that knowledge as I can to continue training and toning my muscles.

On day 1 of the giveaway, I also started walking in the Fitness Center on my lunch breaks.  We only have half an hour but I take the entire 30 minutes to walk.  I started out wanting only to supplement my James workouts with some light exercise, I didn't want to get sweaty because I had the rest of the workday to get through.  Then I decided I really did want to get the weight off quickly.  I upped the pace and eventually got to the point where I would do intervals of jogging at 5.0mph for two minutes then walk at 4.0mph for two minutes so my total distance ended up around 2.04 miles in 30 minutes.  I now bring clothes to change into when I exercise because I WANT to get sweaty!  Yes, I do also bring and use deodorant afterward.

Today I decided to change it up a little and instead of doing jogging intervals, I did intervals of inclines.  I started out at a 4.0 and ended up at an 11.0 incline for a minute and a half during my last interval.  That was fun! 

I've also been doing one of The Firm DVDs on Sunday mornings.  Can't hurt, right? 

There's also the matter of eating.  We won 12 weeks with Medi Weightloss Clinics.  No, this is not Medi-Fast.  I don't know what they do. 

I LOVE Medi.  I love the people.  I love the support.  I love the encouragement, the tracking, the hints, tips and recipes...I just love it. 

With that said...it's hard.  I don't want to scare anyone, but here's my deal with Medi.

Week One is trying to get your body into ketosis, which essentially is fat-burning mode.  You eat 500 calories from protein.  And that's it.  Before you get all freaked out and tell me how unsafe that is, please know that Medi is medically supervised by an M.D. I see a doctor every single week.

Once you're in ketosis, you can add in two cups of vegetables per day, or one cup of veggies and one cup of fruit.  You can also add certain kinds of yogurt and string cheese. 

Now, being the vegetarian that I am, getting 500 calories from protein only and staying under 25-30 grams of carbs was no easy task.  The first couple of weeks, I did actually eat some chicken.  I ate chicken breast.  I'm not doing that anymore. 

I'll give you examples of two of my days.

Day One - walking workout only, no weights
Breakfast: Pure Protein Vanilla Creme powder mixed with iced coffee
Two pieces of Morningstar Farms bacon

Lunch: Pure Protein Cookies and Cream shake

Snacks (usually two of these, not all): Publix brand light string cheese
Dannon Light 'n Fit Carb/Sugar Control yogurt
Fat Free cottage cheese
12 almonds

Dinner: Morningstar Farms Grillers Chick'n or Veggie Hot Dogs, maybe with a salad

Day Two - walking at lunch, weight training after work
Breakfast: Pure Protein Vanilla Creme powder mixed with iced coffee

Two pieces of Morningstar Farms bacon

Snacks (right after my walk): string cheese, cottage cheese or yogurt

Lunch (30-60 minutes before my weight training): Morningstar Farms Black Bean burger

Dinner: Pure Protein Cookies and Cream shake, maybe with a salad

And that's how I roll.  I've allowed myself the occassional splurge and have kicked myself out of ketosis a couple of times but for the most part, I'm really doing this! As of last Friday, I've lost 32 pounds and I'm 3-5 pounds away from my goal.  Or rather, from the goal weight that the doctor is setting.  I'd like to lose more, but I'm sure I'll continue losing as long as I'm eating well and exercising well. 

The closer I get to my goal weight, the more difficult it is for me to stick to the diet.  So it might take a little bit longer, another couple of weeks, rather than just one more week if I hadn't splurged at all lately.  I know that I'm getting there and I know that I've made some HUGE changes in how I view eating and food. I know that I can go to a restaurant and pick better choices and limit myself to good things, but I can also have a piece of cake every now and then.  I've made the choice to make exercise a priority.  I drink my shake at my desk so that I don't have to use my lunch time eating; I can use that time to exercise since I don't want to wake up earlier to work out in the morning. 

And if I can do this...so can YOU.