October 2010

And, you’ve made it back for the third story. Are you missing me yet? Today’s story comes from Ann — here is her story.

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I’m 5’10” and started my weight loss journey at 275 pounds. It’s embarrassing to admit my weight, but I finally feel okay about it, since I’ve already started making changes to live a healthier lifestyle. I’ve yo-yo’ed for years between a 50-pound range – thanks to Weight Watchers, “fad” diet books, and an overall unwillingness to put in the hard work. But eating healthy and being active – it IS hard work! I’m learning that the “hard” way – pun intended.

I have recently developed a deep burning fire and passion within me to be successful, happy, and healthy. Some of the things I’m currently doing to reach those goals are:

1. 12 5ks in 12 Months

Yes, I have set a goal to complete 12 5ks in 12 months. I will be ending that journey in December, and I am looking for a new long-term fitness goal – like running a 10k or even a 10-mile race. I think that setting goals is SO important – Brian Tracy (a Human Resources and Motivational writer and speaker) has said, “If what you are doing is not moving you towards your goals, then it’s moving you away from your goals.”

2. Eating Healthy, Tracking Calories

I had a “fit test” assessment done at my gym and it gave me an EXACT number of calories that my body metabolizes in a day: 2,365. With that number, I can decide how many calories I want to eat (calories in/calories out), and what my daily “deficit” is.  I love to cook and come up with healthy food combinations that maximize my caloric intake – like foods with awesome healthy value that are easily accessible and taste good. I also like to take pictures of that food and share the ideas with others!

3. My Emotional Journey

I’ve had to work through a lot of emotional struggles with weight loss – and I know I’m nowhere near the completion of my journey. I’ve felt de-valued, disrespected, and self-conscious about myself – at my current weight, or at 50 pounds lighter. Losing weight isn’t going to fix the emotional issues I face, but it will help assist me in working through them confidently and successfully.

4. Being Public About My Journey

I’ve been very open and honest with my struggles – not just eating healthy and being active, but dealing with the emotional ties to food. My biggest difficulty right now is the way I think food makes me “feel”, and working through those issues. I’m okay with people knowing where I’m at. I’m not ashamed about who I am, where I’ve been, or where I’m going. The more people who know about my journey, the more people who can help me, hold me accountable, and let me depend on them when I need an extra helping hand. I’m asking you, PFG readers, to be the extra helping hands through this – my weight loss journey!

What being “healthy” means to me – running without discomfort, doing yoga like a pro, looking and feeling like the best Ann I can be. I have about 50-70 pounds to lose, and I anticipate it taking a while. But I’m committed to seeing this weight-loss journey to the end – not just losing the weight, but learning to live this lifestyle that I desire so deeply!

One of the greatest attributes about me is my positive attitude. It’s not about being happy and sunshine and rainbows all the time. Life is tough, life is hard. It’s about picking yourself up, dusting yourself off, and being the person you want to be. My all-time favorite quote is:

“Life is not about finding yourself. Life is about creating yourself.” – Anonymous

I’m on my way to “creating” the person I want to be – someone who has done 12 5ks in 12 months; Someone who has already lost 13 pounds in the past 3 weeks; Someone who doesn’t have all the answers, but wants to find them out; Someone who submits an application and becomes a finalist for something she really, truly wants. I want to create myself as the next FUTURE Prior Fat Girl. I’m asking for your votes, PFG readers, because I’m already on my way to setting goals, being healthy, active, and most importantly – creating the person I want to be. Won’t you please join me on this fabulous journey?

{ 26 comments }

Hello friends! Today is our second story for the Future PriorFatGirl nominations. Andreana, take it away…!

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Who Are You?

My name is Andreana, I live in Upstate New York, I am working towards becoming a teacher and a future PriorFatGirl. Ever since I was small I was a big kid, and not just in the round sense also in an “abnormally tall for a 2 year old” sense. At age three I was sent for all kinds of testing to make sure I wasn’t having some sort of crazy growth spurt and since then I’ve always thought I was “large”. At 4 I would try to do chin-ups at the playground and could never do them. (That’s one of my goals by the way to do chin-ups close and wide grip)

Andreana, on the left.

I’m not overly tall, now I’m larger in the round sense. I weigh 349 pounds and am 5’8. I have a bingeing problem, which is something I just recently came to terms with. I eat emotionally and lord knows everyone has plenty of emotions to eat for.

What Are You Doing Here?

My main goals are basically to get to around 165-170 pounds and be a lean mean muscle building, running, weight lifting, swimming, bicycling, hiking, ice skating machine. Strong women who have muscle and know how to use it inspire me. Plus those are all the activities I currently love I just can’t do for long periods of time without feeling like I’m going to pass out.

I used to be the person who would say, “Oh, I can’t do that” or, “You guys go without me I don’t think I can” or “You’re right I probably can drink that entire slushie without getting a brain freeze…” But in addition to beginning to accept my body and the fact that I made it the way it is and only I can change it I’ve come to find out that my name,(which technically means “womanly”) means Brave One in Greek(or so my grandpa told me) and despite my pitfalls and my faults I am brave and capable of making this change for me and me alone.

As far as challenges go the mental aspect of weight loss is always the hardest part of the journey for most and I’m no exception. I also happen to live in with a very negative person who constantly puts me down and don’t currently have the means to live on my own yet, but this is balanced out by the rest of my family who is extremely supportive and loving. I don’t want to be “thin” I want to be healthy and not have to worry that I’m going to be more at risk to get hereditary diseases that run in my family such as diabetes, breast cancer, and heart disease.

Healthiness is something that I want to share in with my loved ones I want to help them make better choices and not be afraid of food and or exercising. I don’t see the journey I’m about to embark on as a diet at all I see it as a way to start living instead of marching into a food-filled early grave. This is a total revamping of who I am and how I view myself; I’m tired of watching life fly by and not being fast enough to keep up.

Currently I am a Weight Watchers member but I’m not a WW preacher nor do I attend a meeting that’s about how many 100-calorie packs you can cram in your gullet before you feel sick. I love my leader and she’s a great friend and support and our meetings feel more like Over Eaters Anonymous than WW almost every week. I was doing really well on plan about a year ago and was down 30 pounds in 3 months. It felt so amazing, but a death in my family threw me for a loop and I spiraled out of control landing in a pile of fear and ice cream. I look back now and am ashamed of my reaction and while I’m not proud of the state I’m in I am proud that I can share my story publicly now and that I’m owning my body and going to get into shape.

Why Should I Vote For You?

It’s always been in my nature to help others to give and to make friends without question. I want to help myself now and take you guys with me. I want to be a motivator and an inspiration like Jen and countless others who have done this. I want to be proud of myself and my future accomplishments and I want to be able to look in the mirror and see the brave healthy funny girl I know is hiding under all this flabby armor. So, who’s in?

{ 17 comments }

Have you been waiting for today? Over 60 amazing people sent in their story in hopes of becoming a future priorfatgirl. I’ve spent some time over the past week working the list down to 10 stories to share with you. Let me start by saying that was NOT an easy job. 60 people stepped out of their comfort zone to share their journey. Although I’m sharing with you 10 of them, please know there are 50 other stories that I wish I could share.

Here’s how the next 10 days will work: I will share one person’s story per day. Sharing their story as they’ve told it. At the end of the 10 days, you will have the opportunity to vote for who should be the next future priorfatgirl. {Note: I’m not sharing their blog quite yet so that everyone starts on the same page.}

With that, let’s start the sharing!

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Hello- My name is Allison.  I am a 20-something, suburbanite who recently had her first child.  Pregnancy was an awesome experience, a truly cherished time in my life.  I never felt so healthy as I did when I was pregnant.  Within two months of giving birth, I had lost all of the baby weight…that being said I still have healthy lifestyle goals I want to accomplish.  I hope you will join me in my journey as I strive to meet the following objectives:

• I want to lose some weight.  I am sick of battling with these 20-25 extra pounds that I have been toting around with me for the past 10 years.
• I want to set a good example for my son, to understand how to incorporate healthy foods AND exercise into our daily life.
• I want to grow into my new self image as a mommy.  Part of my struggle is I am still learning to accept my new image of myself as a mom against my old self image. (Can Mommy be sexy?)
• I want to learn to have better balance with it all (I know you don’t have to have a child to learn to balance your life, it just adds a whole layer of thinking of someone else first vs. yourself. I believe many of you are in a similar situation, be it with work, your family or just life in general.)

My overall fitness goal: I want to incorporate regular exercise into my routine.  Right now I walk the dog…status quo…boring…I never break a sweat.  I want to have fun doing it and want the strength I had back in high school when I played hockey.

Most importantly, I want to stay as healthy as I can for my son.  My eating habits are not horrible, but they could use improvement. (Broccoli for dinner…let’s work on incorporating a protein shall we?)

A little bit of history

I grew up with parents who were opposites.  My dad has the metabolism of a long-distance runner and has always been thin.  Never has to watch what he eats or drinks…my sister got those genes.  My mother has always battled with her weight.  S.L.O.W. metabolism and poor eating habits.  Guess whose genes I got?   When I was younger, my father would try to encourage me to be active, but didn’t know how to do so in the gentle manner tweenage girls sometimes need.  My mom would make comments about her body, which as a child I didn’t understand…I thought my mother was perfect just the way she was! I realize some of the comments I make to myself are the SAME COMMENTS I used to hear my mother say.

My worst fear is passing down my body image issues, poor eating habits and a non-emphasis of physical activity to my son.  This journey is for me, but part of the results are for him and my husband.  (Did I mention I am married to a man who works out twice a day…to “stay hot for his wife.”)

The challenge

As Jen has often stated, we are not perfect and that is ok.  We may slip up on our journey now and then, but the important thing is to get back on the horse.  Another thing this blog will show is the importance of self-honesty.  I can come up with a million excuses why I don’t have time to exercise…I am tired, I want to watch TV, I have an hour to myself after we put my son to bed and I want to do XYZ, the house needs to be cleaned. (You get the point.)  Really, I know deep down I don’t exercise because it is hard. Hard to add something in to my routine that I “don’t like.” I just haven’t found the right way then. J

I know that I may not have 100 lbs to lose, but I don’t think you need to have that much weight to lose before you try to become healthy.  I consider myself a strong person and know I am ready to stop with the excuses and start walking down the path to health. Vote for me and come on that journey with me.

We already have a few things in common:

1. We love Jen and the priorfatgirls
2. We are all searching for ways to be healthy
3. We all have a story to tell

I hope that you will vote for me to become a priorfatgirl, so I can share my story with you and you can share your feedback/struggles/advice with me.

Thanks!

Allison

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