There is such a thing as quick weight loss diets. But those are probably best for those who want to lose a quick 30 pounds or less.

In fact, when I think of the term diet… I think of quick weight loss. I don’t really see that it could be long term (although I am sure it is a long term solution for some).

I remember my first quick-diet was the so-called Mayo Clinic diet. I could only drink coffee, tea or water (doesn’t sound bad). I remember being really limited with food choices (peanut butter toast, boiled eggs, beets..etc.). I did it for a week and lost 15 pounds. I was 16. I gained the 15 pounds back plus. But people noticed the weight loss and it felt good (even if the diet felt like torture).

The second quick-diet I tried was the apple-diet. I ate apples all day long with the exception for dinner. I also loaded up on water. I lost about 10 pounds and gained it back. I was too hungry to stay on that diet.

And then there was the cabbage soup diet. Who could forget that? Awful (at least in my opinion) tasting soup that you were *allowed* to eat as much as possible of on all of the given days. Oh joy. I remember being gassy on that one and quit after just a few days. However, many (in my family) who were on that diet lost between 30 and 50 pounds. But of course… the weight came back with a vengeance.

I am not on a quick-diet now. I am on a long-term weight loss plan. And you know what? I am rarely ever hungry.

What are some quick diets that you have tried? How did they make you feel?

We ingest all of this and sometimes, our bodies fail to dispose of it all. Those traces of undisposed toxins can build-up and wreak havoc on our health.

That’s why, colonix (the name of the procedure for cleansing the colon) is so helpful and good for our bodies. It is recommended that everyone get their colon cleansed at least once a year.

Another thing that has come back is acne. I am forever trying to find the best acne treatment. My hormones are constantly up and down. So sometimes my skin is dry, sometimes it’s oily and other times I find it is oily in spots and dry in spots. I feel like I need a whole slew of products just to combat the different issues.

Has your weight loss affected your hormones or your body in other ways (aside from getting smaller)?

I will be the first to admit that I don’t have a great skincare routine. And as I am getting older, I realize that having a good skincare routine is just as essential for me as diet and exercise. So, I went to skinid.com and answered questions about my current skincare conditions. They took an in-depth look at everything from the current condition of my skin to my stress level. I got my results rather quickly and am pretty satisfied with them!

Do you spend much time on a skincare routine? Why or why not?

I also used my pregnancy as a way to eat whatever I wanted. During my first pregnancy, I gained 85 pounds. I lost 65 pounds very quickly (I retained a lot of water) but the last 40 never came off. Not only that but subsequent pregnancies later and I gained another 100 pounds. That’s where I am at now… trying to lose the weight I gained during my pregnancies and then some.

So I want to take this opportunity to caution all of you who are currently pregnant or thinking of becoming pregnant, do yourself a favor and take care of your body during your pregnancy. You will handle delivery better and you will have more energy after the baby is born.

On a good week, I would push for fast food dinners (and lunches) about 2-3 out of 7 days.  So that still means that almost half of those weeks were filled with weight climbing, heart-attack and stroke inducing foods.  I would see my kids eat it and my heart would break.  But I felt like I just couldn’t stop.

This next thing I mention… I would like to hammer home.  Because everytime I think of this… my determination for good health for not only myself but for my family as well, grows.

With all of the fast food that we were consuming…. there came a point where I felt like I was killing my kids.  I felt like I was handing them an invisible cloth with all of my failures and weight-humiliation on it and forced them to wear it.  They’re kids.  They eat what we eat.  They mirror the patterns that we set.  The risks for obesity for them is that much greater because I am obese and because my family has obesity issues.  If they see me eating crap food and couch-potato-ing it up… they are going to think that it is acceptable.

Of course, the reality is that they may not find it acceptable and may try desperately not to live that life.  But still.  Why put them through that if I don’t have to?  Why make them try to undo the mistakes that I handed to them on a platter?  Their psychs are so delicate right now.  And parents, we are the best teachers our children have.

On this whole journey, that is the one thing I keep reminding myself.  I’m not just doing it for me and for my future…. i’m doing it for them and for their futures too.

We are learning to eat differently as a family.  It hasn’t been easy.  My oldest is really kind of resisting the food changes.  I let him pick out a couple of meals a week.  I actually found a great book by Jessica Seinfeld called; Deceptively Delicious: Simple Secrets to Get Your Kids Eating Good Food.    So, instead of McDonalds Chicken Nuggets, I actually make the book’s recipe for chicken nuggets.  This involves chicken breast strips, pureed broccoli and a sesame seed/cornflake coating on the outside.   I dip the chicken breast in the broccoli puree and then roll it in the cornflake crumb mixture and bake them.  They love them!  Most importantly, my son feels empowered because he gets to pick a favorite meal and I don’t have to freak out about the meal being unhealthy.

When I cook at home, I feel empowered and in control of my own health and of my families health.

This friend and I had lost contact many years ago. Still, I never forgot the lesson he taught me. I figured it was an important one. So I have kept it in my back pocket until this very moment. Because I think it’s important to check in with yourself on this journey. Make sure that you are still happy and excited. Make sure that you are persevering and motivating yourself. Make sure that you are creating an environment that spells WIN. And if you aren’t, then figure out what you need to do to get back on track and go for it!

This week has proven to be a difficult week for me to get my fitness in. My baby has pink eye, my oldest son has strep throat and my husband has been working way later due to server outages with certain clients. I haven’t seen the inside of the gym since Monday.

At first, I felt like my train had been driven off of my path. It felt like one of those moments where you throw your hands up and say… “what the F?!” Obviously, there is nothing I can do to change the kids being sick or my husband having to work late. Those are some of the facts of life my friend. Shit happens and sometimes you step in it. Know what I mean? And really in the grand scheme of things, this is only one off-week.

Instead of lolling around the house moping about it, I utilized the extra energy to keep moving. I cleaned and organized things I never thought to clean or organize. Sometimes, I found myself jumping around in the kitchen just for fun. Or if a good song came on the radio, I would dance to it with my daughter. 4 weeks of working out has me craving movement. Any kind of movement. My body wants to move. From couch potato to mover and shaker in 4 weeks… that’s me! I have also been extra careful to watch what I eat. Just because I am unable to get to the gym, doesn’t mean I should throw all of my progress to the wind.

Today, I was pacing around the house wondering what else to clean (I think I have the cleanest home in America now). Then I remembered my old exercise bike in the garage. I found it buried under a whole bunch of stuff. So I moved the stuff and moved the bike back into the house. This was no small feat and took a lot of extra effort but it was totally worth it. I moved it into my living room and got 45 minutes of straight cardio on it! And after I was done I felt this calming sensation flow over my body and soul. That is what exercise does for me. It chills me out and sends me to my happy place.

So this week, when I check in with myself, i’m going to note that I overcame an obstacle and am still managing to keep on track with my goals all while smiling.

I read every single blog on my sidebar, every single day for inspiration.  Because I know that these people are going through what I am going through OR they have already gone through what I am going through and now their blogs sort of act as mentors (of sorts).

Not so long ago there was this stigma that if you weighed over 300 pounds you were well on your way to having to resort to gastric bypass surgery or some other form of weight loss surgery in order to lose weight.  It’s a scary thing.  As a woman who has had 3 c-sections, I can only say that I imagine these surgeries to be 10 times worse (and c-section recovery is no picnic.  Especially after the first few days when you are afraid to cough or poop).  A friend of mine who weighed over 600 pounds had gastric bypass surgery.  It was a Godsend and saved his life.  But even he admitted that a year long recovery and a drastic change to his diet was really extreme and hard.

So i’m on a mission to find other people who have lost half of themselves without surgery.  It’s an obsession really.  For the first time in a long time, I am seeing things with eyes wide open.  I have a picture of *the new me* in my mind (one without dark circles under her eyes. hydrolyze anyone?).  This picture is clear as day, I tell ya.  And I have come to the point where I don’t care if it takes me 1 year or 10 years to get down to 150, I will do it y’all.  I will.

And also… I would like to throw out there that I don’t think there is anything wrong with having weight loss surgery.  Everyone makes a choice as to what will work best for them.  It’s all related to weight loss and it’s all a journey no matter how you choose to get there. And it is definitely NOT the easy way out.  When they take out half of your stomach and re-route your intestines…. it is FAR from the easy way out.

4 weeks of my own journey has brought me to so many wonderful people.  Really.  I am so lucky to have found so many that I relate to in different ways.  And I love that we’re all rooting for each other!

I found a few memoirs that I want to read:

1. Half-Assed
2. The Amazing Adventures of Dietgirl
3. My Other Body: A Memoir of Love, Life, Fat and Death

Has anyone read these?  If so… what did you think?

Lastly, i’m thinking of getting a BodyBugg.  You know, those black things that you attach to your arms as seen on The Biggest Loser?  Right.  That.  I’m not sure though.  There is a sale on them right now for $199.  But from what I have read, the cost doesn’t stop there.  You also have to pay a monthly fee to enter in your stats and upload your caloric burn for the day.  So it seems kind of expensive.

What do you guys think?  Is it worth it?  Is it like a magical piece of equipment or is it just a glorified pedometer?  Is there a better/cheaper alternative?  Basically, I want to track how many calories I burn in one day.

And then this morning…

I am 311 pounds now!  I weighed in at Weight Watchers this morning and lost another 3.6 pounds!  I did a happy wiggle, gave a fist pump in the air and I think I may have shouted out a woohoo!  And like Thomas the tank engine, the little voice inside of me was on repeat; “you CAN do this!!”

“It’s so nice to have you back where you belong.” — I have the “Hello Dolly” plugin activated on my blog.  While writing my post for today that is what came up.  It seems so fitting.  Thank you.  I am glad to be back where I belong too!

I am not trying to get to my destination at break neck speed.  The fat fairy didn’t bring the weight on overnight and she’s certainly not going to take it away either.  Every pound down feels like one more thing in my life that has been dealt with.  I can’t explain it other than to know that I can do this.  And I will!

Five weeks ago, I was kind of a wreck.  I felt so lost.  I had gained all of this weight, and for the past few years have been in and out of a deep depressive state of mind.  Just the thought of moving off of the couch was almost too much to bear.  Hell, waking up in the morning seemed like a full time job.  I have many things in life to be thankful for and to be proud of but the massive ball of pudge and hair that was me seemed to be like this dark storm cloud always following.  My natural state of being is one made up of happy, cute and optimistic.  I’m sort of a wide-eyed idealist like that.  So this storm cloud thing wasn’t working *at all*.

However, the whole time that I was going through that, I knew that I was on the verge of just going for it.  And then, I did.  The final push came when I realized that I was not living life.  I was merely a bystander in life.  Sitting on the sidelines and watching the whole thing pass me by.  That might as well be 100% true.  I am never the one in the picture, I am the one taking the picture.  Because whenever I would see a picture of myself, I would be faced with the full truth of what I did to myself.

So here I am now.  And I feel good.  I feel better than I have in 3 years.  I’m finally taking control of this beast.  And, i’m turning my troubles over to God.  God and I have had a lot of long talks lately.  When i’m done talking and praying, I feel whole and unburdened.  I am not the most religious person in the world.  I haven’t been to church in so long that I think the last time I did was when my first child was baptized.  Something occurred to me the other night that I couldn’t do this by myself.  I needed help.  I needed something to help unburden my heart.  Because my heart is always filled with all kinds of stuff.   I’m trying to right the wrongs and restore my spiritual self as well as my health.

All in all, it got me to thinking.  There are so many other people out there like me.  They are on their last legs too.  They are on the verge too.

To anyone who has not started their journey yet but happens to be on the verge of it like I was:

Just do it.  There will never be a perfect time or perfect moment to take care of yourself.  There will never be a perfect day of the week or perfect month to start your journey.  All we know is that we have today.  None of us can predict how many tomorrows we will be blessed with.  So just take a chance on you.  Because you are worth it.

What was your turning point?  What made you decide to start getting healthy?

Mine was filled with lots of interesting stuff.

Date night went off without a hitch.  I managed to stay away from alcohol (i’m a mixed-drink girl) and order the right thing on the menu.  I tried to keep in my mind that I was there to spend a few hours of quiet time with my hubby and that I was not there for a few hours of quiet time with food.  Making the defining line between the two really helped me put things into perspective.

On Saturday morning while I was taking a shower, my 18-month old baby sprained his ankle.  According to Dave, B did an awkward Michael Jackson spin move while trying to get from a sitting position into a standing one and twisted his ankle.  I took him to the emergency med center just to make sure that it his injury didn’t involve a fractured bone or break.  To my relief he simply sprained his ankle.  The doctor assured me that he would be back in action in a couple of days.  B figured out that he would have to go back to crawling if he wanted to move around and play.  So crawl he did until yesterday afternoon.  His ankle was all better, the swelling was gone and he was back in the game.  Babies heal so fast!

I stayed on track with my eating but I did not get any gym time in this weekend.  I was worried about B and so I kept rooted to the spot.  The reality of the situation is that he would have been totally fine in his dad’s care while I went to the gym but I just couldn’t leave him.  We all snuggled on the couch and watched Monsters vs. Aliens on Saturday afternoon.

Speaking of no gym time.  I was on pins and needles on Saturday and Sunday.  It’s like I had all of this extra energy and I didn’t know where to put it.  I cleaned a little, did some homework, and took my daughter to see Princess and the Frog.  We also went grocery shopping afterward.  I still felt anxious at bed time.  Weird.

This morning went well unlike last Monday.  The gym was also relatively quiet.  It made me wonder if a mass of people dropped their New Years resolutions already.

I was rocking out to my new workout mix on my iPod.  I finished up the routine with Madonna’s song:  4 minutes.  Instead of ending slow (as in traditional cool down mode), I went as fast as I could for the last 30 seconds.

Want to know a secret?  Sometimes I get so pumped by the music that I feel like any moment i’m going to breakout some dance moves on the treadmill.

How was your weekend and how has your Monday been so far?