The Anderson Family: My Weight Loss Journey

OK, so be forewarned....this is a very personal and real blog post. And VERY long. I hesitated to blog or post anything about this at all, but its just that this has been such a life changing and wonderful thing for me, and so, I don't want to forget it. I have also been inspired and motivated by so many others out there who have lost weight and shared their story, and so I thought, well, if there is someone out there who can be motivated or inspired by me, then I will share my story.

In the first photo, I am actually already down about 30 pounds. Each photo, I am down a further 15-17 pounds. The photo on the right was just taken the other week. I LOVE to see the progress. I love before and after photos. You can see my belly, hips, and even boobs just shrinking away! There isn't enough room in the photos to really show it, but even my arms are getting skinnier, and my face and neck. You can slowly start to see my collarbone.

So, let's start at the beginning. My whole life I was always a taller, bigger gal, but not fat. I was never a stick figure, and I never will be, but I wasn't overweight. As long as I can remember, whenever I looked at that BMI chart, I always fell within the normal weight range. At 5'11" and a 1/4, so just 3/4" shy of 6 feet tall, my weight as a full grown person, as far as I can remember, was always around roughly 165 pounds. I remember being super sick in one of my pregnancies and my weight dropping to 155, and my doctor being so concerned. I know that this sounds crazy to a lot of women out there, because for most women 165 pounds is overweight for them. But remember, that I am almost 6 feet tall, and large in stature! Lots of muscle and big bones.

I played a lot of sports. My first time on a real basketball team was when I was 10 years old. From grades 7 until 12, I played on the school volleyball, basketball, cross country running, and track and field teams. I loved playing sports and being physically active. I learned how to push myself physically and the benefits of exercise from this young age.

When I started having kids, I thought my weight would change, that I would be heavier from then on, but to my pleasant surprise, it wasn't like that. After I had Isabelle, it was a mere 3 weeks until I was able to fit into my pre-pregnancy clothes. I didn't have to do a second of exercise either....I swear it was the breastfeeding! I felt like it sucked all the fat from out of me and gave it to my baby! I loved it. I was 21 almost 22 years old when I had her. After I had Lily, same thing. I lost the baby weight quickly and practically effortlessly. I was 23 almost 24. After I had Chloe, things were a little different. I had an internal injury in my abdomen from the delivery, and so it was actually quite painful for me to even just walk or move a little. So, in that case, it took me about 3 months to get back to my old self again. I think it was the fact that I didn't move much for those first couple months. I was a couple years older, 25 years old. After I had Olivia, things were very different! First off, I had put on a lot more weight during the pregnancy. I think it was the whole moving to Calgary during that time, maybe the stress of it, and maybe, too, it was that I didn't watch very carefully what I ate, assuming that I would just lose the weight within a few months after I had her. I was so wrong! About 4 months after she was born, I had not only NOT lost any of the weight from my pregnancy, but I had gained more! She was born 3 days before my 28th birthday, and so maybe it had to do with getting a little older too, I don't know.

Spring 2004, me with baby Izzy. I am almost 23 years old here and about 165 pounds.

Ben looks sooooo young haha!

I found myself 40-50 pounds overweight. You can read about my work at losing that weight here. By the time Olivia turned one, I had lost all of that weight. So, 6 months. It was an incredible journey and experience, and actually really helped me in this weight loss journey.

I was so naive and stupid though! It was like I thought, oh I'm back at 165, so I can be done now! No more watching what I eat or exercise, and everything will stay the same. *rolls eyes* I don't know why I ever thought that way either. Even when my older kids were babies and little, it wasn't like I did zero exercise or never watched what I ate. I did! I remember often waiting until Ben got home from work and going to the YMCA gym that was close by, or loading everyone up in the van and going to the Kinsmen Center, and Ben taking the girls to the indoor playground while I went to run around the track and lift weights at the gym. When I was in university and at NAIT, I remember getting up early and working out before class, or staying late to work out with a friend. My time at NAIT was when I first discovered weight lifting, and I did the Body for Life program. I also played on various recreational volleyball and basketball leagues after high school. I was always physically active in some way, so for me to suddenly stop like that was a terrible mistake.

Within the next 3-4 years, I had not only gained back that 40 pounds, but I had gained another 40! For every pound I lost, I gained 2 back. So sad. There are so many stories on Instagram and the internet where they always say their weight gain was due to some injury, illness, or some trauma that happened like someone close to them passing away. It's so embarrassing to me because I have no reasons like that. It was purely just me being lazy and sedentary. I'm not saying I haven't had any kind of stress or hard things happen to me in my life these years. I mean, moving my family (rather suddenly) back up to Edmonton, being called as the primary president in a ward where I knew no one, Ben getting laid off after 12 years of continuous employment...these are some of the stressful things that took place in my life during this time. But these aren't even the hardest things I have ever gone through in life. In the past, I have had hard things happen and still managed to exercise and be more watchful with what I ate. For some reason, during this time, I just let myself go...

Last summer, August 2014, on our vacation at Hayden Lake. This was right before I started my weight loss journey, tipping the scales at 244.5 pounds.

During these years I tried DOZENS of times to lose the weight. For whatever reason, I would start, and then always give up. Either something stressful in my life would take place and I'd quit, I'd say I'm too busy, I would grow bored of the exercise or it would be too hard to resist the treats. Especially if there was a birthday or some holiday that came (which by the way, is every single month of the year!) For example, I remember once I got down about 20 pounds, and then Ben got laid off. I used that as an excuse to stop the exercising and eating well, thinking well now we are stressed with money and work, I can't handle anything extra, and it all came back.

Blurry picture but you can see my pudgy face!

I remember the scale reading 211 and thinking ok I need to get it down. I would try for a bit, and then quit, and then step on the scale again weeks or months later. I remember stepping on it again one day and it reading 225, and being in total shock that it was so high. I remember working hard to lose weight, and getting it down to 215, but then quitting because it was SO much work to lose just 10 pounds. I felt discouraged and felt like it was taking too long. This kind of cycle happened over and over. I remember the scale reading 234, and being freaked out and trying to lose and failing and then months going by before trying again. The real, light bulb moment for me though, was when I stepped on the scale one day and it read 244.5 pounds. I was completely shocked. In that moment I knew that if I didn't change and do something now, that that number would just continue to go up. I knew I would see 260, then 280. I knew if I didn't stop the way I was living, I would wake up one day and be 300 pounds or more.

On my 33rd birthday last year. Hiding behind my kids. Always hiding...

And I need to really point this out...it is not all about the numbers on the scale. In fact, very little has to do with that. The scale is purely just a way to measure or track it for me. Remember how I am 6 feet tall and my scale numbers are way higher than the average female anyway? It isn't about the scale. It's about the way I felt. It's how I had little energy, how I couldn't keep up with my kids. How I couldn't fit into my favorite clothes. How I hated the way I looked! I know this one sounds so superficial, but even when I would get dressed up and make an effort to look nice, I just hated what I saw and was so unhappy with it. Especially because I KNEW what I could look like if I didn't have that weight on me. Me at 245 pounds is NOT who I actually am. Me losing those pounds wasn't about me meeting the thin person inside of me, it was about me going back to who I really was.

So, I was determined to change. To be serious, and to lose this weight! I knew I had a long journey ahead of me. I wanted to see 165 on the scale again, and so that was 79.5 pounds. That is an enormous amount! I remember how daunting a feeling it was, I mean, remember how I said it was hard to just lose those 10 pounds? But I was determined. I think when I finally wrapped my head around the fact that this was going to take a long time, that it would be hard, and that it would take consistency, I finally started to make progress. I didn't care if it would take a year, a year and a half, 2 years...whatever....I was determined to do this for as long as it would take.

This picture was taken in Sept 2014 one day while I was volunteering in Olivia's class. I never saw this picture until the end of June 2015, while looking through her scrapbook. I was completely shocked and stunned, because by the end of June I had already lost about 70 pounds and no longer looked like this. I couldn't believe this is what I used to look like.

And this was about 10 or 11 months ago. I am so happy and proud to report that I have completed my goal! Well, almost. The lowest I have ever seen on the scale is 166. That is 78.5 pounds baby!!!! But this is a work in progress. I am still going. I want to see 165 and have that be the number that my body kind of levels off at. I also am well aware and fully know that maintaining this weight will be something that I will need to do forever. I will forever have to be watchful and careful with what I eat and exercise regularly. I read a quote once that said, "Losing weight is hard. Maintaining weight is hard. Being overweight is hard. Choose your hard." I LOVE that. It is oh so true. Sure it will be hard and annoying, but what is the other option? Going back to 245 pounds, or higher? To being obese and unhappy? Feeling sluggish and having no energy to play with my kids, or feel good about how I look? No, so me being watchful and exercising regularly is my future and that is ok!

So, how did I do it? That is always everyone's first question. Well, the first 25 pounds I lost through riding my stationary bike in my basement every morning. 30 min using the HIIT (High Intensity Interval Training) method. That is where you go hard for a minute, then easy for a minute, hard for a minute, easy for a minute, and continue on like that for 30 min at least. It gets your heart pumping hard, you breathing hard, and gets a real sweat going. So every morning, I would get up at 5:30 and work hard and then have time to get ready and then get the kids up and ready for school. I also changed my eating. I ate less of everything, but also better of everything too. I cut out processed and refined junk and really focused on eating fresh food. Mostly vegetables, lean meats, other protein like quinoa and cottage cheese. I ate mindfully, meaning that I knew what I was putting into my mouth and when. Gone were the days of me stuffing my face while watching a movie, kind of thing.

Yucky pictures of me working out on the bike, but oh well, who cares! No one looks good while sweating it out right? On the left I am about 220 pounds, the middle about 200 pounds and on the right I am about 175 pounds. I'm smiling because I love the progress made ;) You can see my face thinning out....

But then I hit a major plateau. I knew I needed more than just cardio. I knew I needed strength training too. I had looked up some workouts and ideas on Pinterest and tried adding them in, but I wasn't doing well at it. I didn't really know how many to do, how many reps or for how long, etc. I knew I needed more structure. That was when the 21 Day Fix program came into play. I had heard great things about it, and knew a couple of people who had completed it and had lost a lot of weight with it. I saw an infomercial about it and was sold! I loved the idea of a new workout every day, and her eating plan. I ordered it by phone and anxiously awaited its arrival.

One morning after doing Upper Body Fix (weights with 21 Day Fix) A sweaty mess. I am down about 70 pounds in both of these photos.

Don't mind our messy computer desk in the background....

This exercise is my most FAVORITE exercise of all the workouts in the entire 21 Day Fix Program. Above is part 1, below is part 2.

It arrived on a Friday, and so I tried it out the next day on Saturday. Wow, the workout was so hard I couldn't even finish it. And it made me incredibly sore! I remember that Sunday at church barely being able to sit down, stand up, and walk around, my legs especially were so sore. I loved it though! It was a good sore! A sore that I missed actually. That feeling of knowing that your body is in the process of rebuilding muscle and making them stronger is such a good feeling. So I continued on Monday, and went from there, doing the workouts in the order she recommended. The weight just seemed to literally melt off! And it wasn't just the weight coming off, it was that there was muscle being built along the way as well. I think I have completed about 8 rounds total of the 21 Day Fix program. I will continue to use it too. It is so great, I just can't say enough good things about it. If it starts to get too easy, then you go out and purchase heavier weights at Wal Mart for not too much money. I can do all of the workouts now, from beginning to end. They still make me sweat like crazy, breathe hard and get my heart pumping. And, just last week I was able to complete the full 60 seconds of the fore arm plank. It took me this long to be able to do that.

The pic on the left is the WORST picture in the UNIVERSE of me, but.....it was my reality. I love love LOVE these series of before and after pics. They show so much. There is about an 80 pound difference between each one. The ones on the left were taken Aug 2014, and the ones on the right were taken Aug 2015.

I LOVE this one. And the reason isn't because my face looks so awesome in it....haha. It's because you can SEE the muscle that I have worked SO hard for this past year. On the right, you can see my bicep, my quadricep, even my calf muscle is showing a bit. On the left, whatever muscle I had, if any, was hidden beneath layers of fat.

The differences between the two are shocking, stunning and amazing all at the same time!

I've gotten to the point now where I try to complete a full hour of working out each and every day, except Sunday, that is my one day of rest. But, yes, even Saturdays I get up and work out. I do one of the 21 Day Fix workouts, and then I do 30 min HIIT on the bike. Or, Ben and I recently (about 3 weeks ago) started running stairs 3x a week. I count that as some cardio. That is an amazing workout! The stairs we go to have 230 stairs. When we started, I struggled to complete 3.5 flights. Now I do 7.5 flights! That's 1725 stairs. It's awesome. Sometimes we will even take our kids to the Beaumont chapel and play basketball and tag with them in the gym. Have you ever played tag with children, where you are IT? It is SO hard and such a good cardio workout. Especially because you're laughing the entire time too. So fun. I am always looking for new ways to workout to keep it interesting. I don't want to stop because I'm bored, and slip back into my old ways.

Another before and after, Sept 2014 vs June 2015

20 pounds lost here...

About 35 pounds lost here..

These are some of my "during" pictures. This was a great day for me. I finally fit back into my favorite blue skirt that I hadn't worn for years. NSV!!!!! It's a little snug here, but it fits! I am at my half way point here, roughly 40 pounds lost. This day at church was one of the first days where a lot of people stopped to comment or question my weight loss.

In the pics on the left I am about 15 pounds heavier than the pics on the right

About 70 pounds lost here...the skirt fits a lot better, and is even slightly big. Still wearable!

And now here I am at 166 pounds. Nearly 80 pounds lighter.

Sometimes I will let myself indulge a little, have a treat or a cheat meal. The thing is though, is that they are just that, a treat. A special thing. It is not an everyday occurrence. That helps me to more fully enjoy it. I'm also careful to make sure that if I'm going to cheat, it's going to be something that I really enjoy. Ben is an ice cream fiend. Me, not so much. I like ice cream, but I'm not CRAZY about it like Ben is. I can't tell you the number of times I would be sitting there eating ice cream, thinking to myself, I don't even like this, but I'll keep eating it anyway. Another stupid behavior! Something I don't do anymore. When I do indulge, I don't feel guilty doing it. I feel like I earned it almost, and it helps me to enjoy it even more.

Loving my new outfit, but mostly loving the way I feel

One of the best things about the weight loss journey are the NSV's. Non Scale Victories. This is a term used all over Instagram. For me, there are 3 big ones. The first, is that my wedding rings fit again! When you gain weight, you gain it all over, and when you lose it, you lose it all over, even in your hands and feet. I had gotten so big I couldn't wear my rings anymore. They had become way too tight. I love that I can wear them again. The second, are the favorite old clothes that fit again! I had saved a few of my most favorite items of clothing, hoping that one day I would wear them again. This one blue skirt especially, was one I had bought when Ben and I were dating. I wore it every Mother's Day, but for the last 4 years I couldn't fit into it. Well, it fits again! I love it. I had a whole bunch of shorts and summer clothes too that I wanted to be able to wear again, and now I can! I was able to wear them all summer, it was so great. The third and biggest NSV for me is the fact that my knees no longer ache when I play basketball or go running. Before, if I did those things, they would ache for days, especially going up and down any stairs. But since dropping those 80 pounds, they no longer hurt. They no longer have to carry that extra weight around. I have also gained a lot of muscle in my legs, and so that extra muscle helps to support my knees. All those squats, lunges, stairs, and leg days really paid off! Every single one was worth it.

My biggest regret in this journey? Not taking more "before" photos! I wish I had taken more photos in the same outfit to see the comparison as I went along. I think I was a little superstitious or something, afraid that I would quit again and then I would just be stuck with these ugly photos of myself forever. Nothing was more motivating than looking at two photos and actually SEEING the difference in them. You quickly forget what you used to look like, and so you think, ya I think there is a change happening, but you're not totally sure. When you see two pictures side by side you can see everything and it is so encouraging.

Other people's comments and questions were the best! It made me feel like it wasn't just all in my head that I was making progress with the weight loss. I know I always felt awkward congratulating someone on their weight loss, kind of afraid they would find it rude or something. As someone on the receiving end of it though, I can say that it is not rude or offensive in any way! I loved when people said something about it.

It was so funny, because it was when I hit that 40 pounds lost mark that EVERYONE, and I mean everyone, people at church, at the kids' school, my kids' teachers, friends I saw often, even my next door neighbours, started making some comment or asking me if I had lost weight. I thought, this is so weird. A couple weeks ago when I was at 37 pounds lost, or 35 pounds lost, no one said a thing or noticed anything, why suddenly at 40 pounds? Ben (he can be so smart sometimes) said it was the clothes! At 40 pounds lost was when I finally said to myself that my clothes were all just too big and I started wearing my smaller clothes. And that was it! That made a huge difference. Big, baggy clothes make you look bigger. When you wear clothes that fit you properly, people can actually SEE the weight you've lost. I am also so surprised at how easy it was to answer people's questions and talk to them about it. Even a lot of men in my ward at church would ask me flat out questions like, "How have you lost so much weight lately?" and I was ok to talk to them about it. The only thing I was reluctant to share was the actual amount I lost. And actually, only about 3 people out of dozens, actually flat out asked how much I had lost. I was embarrassed to say because it is almost shameful that I allowed myself to get that big in the first place. But, I've gotten to a point now, where I don't care about that! It is what it is, I allowed myself to gain a ton of weight, but I also allowed myself to lose it.

Now my biggest challenge is maintaining this weight. Shifting the focus from losing to maintenance. It will be tough, and like I said before, it will be something I will have to be careful with for the rest of my life, but that is ok. I know from past experience how quickly and almost effortlessly one can gain the weight back. It is actually kind of scary. But last time, when I gained it all back (x2), I was thoughtless and stupid about it. I stopped moving and being active, I stopped watching what I ate. I know better now, and I know I can do it! I will re read this blog post when I feel weak with that ;) This insanely long blog post, haha.

Some tips and lessons I learned along the way:
- Seek out others who have lost weight and let them inspire you! Some of my favorite accounts I follow on Instagram are mygirlishwhims, fittmom_fittbritt, kellicutler85, and steffleb_. I think mygirlishwhims is my favorite though. She is just SO real, and down to earth and says it like it is, and works SO hard. She has lost 90 pounds so far and is amazing.

-Keep a journal/record of your progress! Record numbers (on the scale, measurements, etc) record how you're feeling that day, what workouts you did, mini successes, mini failures, everything! Reading back on them will help you in your tough times. When I hit 200 lbs I also hit a major plateau. I was stuck there for like a MONTH, even though I was working my butt off everyday and eating well. I almost wanted to give up, but reading back on my records where I felt stuck before and then made progress because I kept at it, helped me to keep at it then too!

-Keep other measurements other than just the scale. When I hit plateaus I would often re-measure myself, and I always found that my body measurements were shrinking! The scale doesn't tell all, and it is NOT the be all and end all. When I was stuck at 200 lbs for 4 weeks, my waist, arms, and legs were still shrinking and growing muscle.

-Wrap your head around the fact that this will take a long time, that it will NOT happen overnight, and that it will be hard work. Once you really understand and get this, you can let yourself take a long time without worrying about that! We live in this day and age where things happen instantly...you can send a message to someone across the world in a matter of seconds, you can cook food in mere minutes. So it is hard to remember that changing your body takes time, and it is a slow process. It WILL happen, but you have to just stick with it.

-That leads me to my last point...STICK WITH IT! Don't give up! Encourage yourself every single day to just keep going. When you slip up, get right back up the next day, the next hour, the next minute and just keep going! You will hit many plateaus during a weight loss journey and have many set backs. DON'T LET THEM STOP YOU, KEEP GOING! Be your biggest encouragement! Be positive! Don't let life get in your way or stop you or take you off course. Be committed to do the work involved no matter what else is happening in your life. Remember that YOU CAN DO THIS!