I've been (or was) a big girl ever since the 2nd grade. it's been quite the roller coaster ride.. from childhood diet programs, to shakes, to weight watchers in my college years. i was at my heaviest during my third year in college. (2002) 264 lbs. (i'll post some scanned pics at my heavest, just gotta scan them at work) that's when i went to weight watchers and dropped a lot. i dropped to 207 but then gained about 15 of that back and supported the 220something weight for a few years... I found that i just couldn't do weight watchers anymore. using that stupid slider and making everything have points was just to exhausting to think about. Was this how the rest of my life was going to be lived? By marking point values on boxes of food? I quit going.
Around April/March 2007 I started visiting a chiropractor (Dr. Snyman) because of back pain. This pain was all caused by sitting in an uncomfortable chair at work 8-10 hours a day. Usually after 8 or so sessions it was explained to me that most people feel a noticeable difference in their pain. After my sessions they would conduct a Bioelectrical Impedance Analysis (BIA). Basically you get hooked up to a machine and it's one of the most exact and accessible methods of screening body fat. It was just something the office provided for free and you can do what you will with it.
Basically Dr. Snyman's office takes on a holistic approach to health... treating the entire person, not just the symptoms. They want to see people happy and healthy.
Well after my 8 sessions I felt like a new person. Back pain was drastically reduced and i became a firm believer in chiropractic. Would be awesome if my insurance, United Healthcare, allowed you to use your visits as a preventative, but we'll get to that at a later date. So BIA day came and we discussed the results. I already knew the grim outcome. I knew i was a fat ass. let's face it. i knew i was unhealthy. let's face it... know wha i mean?... I really didn’t want to hear my results but i knew i needed to. this could or would maybe be the day that i decided to do something about this...again...for the umpteenth time.
well, yeah the results blew. it was the first time anyone said to me that i was on the roadway to diabetes. It was something i never thought about and that no other doctor's ever brought up to me... but i knew it was truly possible, having seen other doctor's talk about it on those tv weight loss shows.
So after that day i decided i would do a free consultation w/ the holistic health councilor that rented an office in their space. Yes yes i know. they (chiropractic) totally up sold me and i fell for it... but i fell for it cause i needed it. i needed someone to reach out. i need that extra nudge and dose of reality. i needed that care. I needed to stop hoping and praying that it would just magically go away and that one day I'd be an average weight.
I visited Jillian Bird (www.jillianbird.com) for my free consultation and a few days later I decided it was worth it to me to pay to see a holistic health councilor. I signed up for a 3 month program. It was a big decision for me because i was fronting out large sums of money that I wasn't used to doing... but the way i looked at was this is an investment into myself. So, with all the other investments out there and considering the ROI, it's pretty much a no brainer. This is virtually pennies in the grand scheme of things.
I started in may of 07 and have lost 55 lbs since then. It's been a very slow process (with many highs and lows and ups and downs) since I did and am still doing it the healthy way. I remembered losing more and quicker when i did weight watchers. I've learned so many things in such a short time frame even though i felt like i've already been super knowledgeable about food. And from doing so, i want to teach and show others that it can be done, so I'm attending the Institute for Integrative Nutrition in NYC to become a certified holistic health counselor. I registered early in 2008 even though classes don't start until Jan 2009. I am that sure of myself that this is my calling.
W/ my own personal weight loss goals...i'm trying to get down to the 130s. Right now i'm in the 160s. It's been quite the struggle for the summer months as well as a few months before it.. I would have to say that i've been between 169-176 for 5 months. it's been rough. but i look back at all the progress that i've made. It took me a long time to put this weight on (all my life), it's going to take me a little while to take it off. You just gotta keep on trucking. You fall off and you get back on again. and every day is a great new day in becoming a better person.
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