Move More-Eat Less

There has been a radical change in Curt and I's life. Not quite as noticeable as Curt's change when he came to know Christ, but bigger than, "How do you like my new shoes?"

Curt has dropped 56 inches and 90 pounds off his body since the summer of 2013. I have dropped 51 inches and 64 pounds since March of 2012. How did we accomplish what we once thought was impossible?? It is quite simple actually. We:

1) Moved More

2) Ate Less

Seriously. That's all we did. Kind of.

Sounds easy enough, but it isn't. So here is how it went. Back after Isabel was born I decided to get into shape and try to run a 5K. It was a half-hearted attempt at running and I never did pursue my "training" the way I should. I ran/walked the 5K I signed up for, with a LOT more running than I should have done considering my lack of dedication to training (thanks for pushing me San). And that was that. I could say I did it, I wore my t shirt with pride and I only had occasional guilt when looking at my treadmill collecting dust. 

Then we moved. 

I left 38 years of everything I have ever known; my home, my family, my church, my friends, my job....EVERYTHING. We moved our family of 5, 2 hours south, which may as well have been 2 light years away. If you have never moved away from home, you can not possibly understand what the loss of your support system is like. Even 2 hours south there are cultural differences. The "big" city was no longer 20 minutes away. We had to learn to adapt to so many changes. 

These included, but are not limited to: No family Sunday dinners. No friends dropping in randomly. No babysitter. No mom to come sit with the kids when you are sick and need just a couple hours of sleep. No invites for the big game on TV. No invites for cookouts. No one to sit outside and laugh with.

Now, before I go on, please know that I am not complaining. These were BIG changes in our lives. Curt suddenly had a huge amount of responsibility and socially, his place had changed. 

He has always been super social. He has always been the one with 20 friends that he could hang out with at any given time. Now, however, he is the pastor....most people don't just hang out with the pastor. This was a hard adjustment and definitely not something I would "blame" on anyone. I didn't get it when I was a lay person. I understand now.

We were lonely. We were depressed. We ate. We sat. We moped. We forgot what is important.

I was way worse than Curt. I drowned my sorrow in food. I longed to hang out with someone...ANYONE other than the precious little ones always wanting my attention and my husband, who needed a friend. 

I ballooned. I weighed in at 235 pounds. 

It was my own fault.

Then I realized what I was doing.

I will never forget the day my friend Lisa had posted that she was starting the Couch to 5K program. I sat in my chair, directly opposite in my living room of where it is now, and thought, "Hmmmmm, I should do that too."

Next thing I know, she posts on FB, "Week 6 of Couch to 5K!" Ummm, WHAT?!?!?!?!? 6 weeks??? 6 weeks had gone by and I was still sitting in my chair!!

Time keeps going. No matter what we are doing, time will keep moving forward. I had lost 6 weeks of opportunity. For 6 weeks I had done nothing about getting into better shape. NOTHING. What. Was. I. THINKING???? What was I doing?

It started with running telephone poles. I figured if I added exercise I could stop the expansion that was going on and start the reduction. So, I ran from one pole to the next.

I threw up. 

But there was no way I was going back to the house. They all knew I had gone out to "run" and going back that quickly would be admitting I was too fat to do it. So I walked 2 poles, slowed down my pace, and ran a pole. Much better.

That's how I started "running." I ran one pole, walked a couple, ran a pole, walked a couple. Before anyone says, "Oh, I can't run." I am going to say bull (other than body part replacement surgeries or doctor's orders). We can all do it, it is just hard. Joints will hurt, muscles will scream, knees will hate you, but it can be done. I still remember the day I reversed my running pattern and I ran two poles and walked one pole. I was pretty sure my body hated me and I was going to die.

I didn't.

Funny thing about the weight. It started going down. I could tell I had muscle under a whole bunch of fat, but the change wasn't that big.

Exercising had given my muscles some weight so the scale didn't show the changes my body was going through. It was frustrating, but I kept at it.

The thing about exercise and food.... You can not exercise your way out of a bad diet. No matter how hard you try it can not be done. Watching what I put in my mouth had to be added to my program.

But I didn't want to. I LIKE to eat. I like going to DQ whenever Curt or the kids want to go. I LIKE sugar. I LIKE easy meals. I LIKE McDonald's french fries.

But it wasn't working. 

We've done Advocare off and on for years. More off than on. It isn't magical. It's vitamins and supplements. I was looking to Advocare to cure all my ails. 

It doesn't.

So, here is where Curt comes in. I've been running now since March of 2012. It is now spring of 2013. Anyone that knows Curt knows that when he decides to do something, he is in to it fully or not at all. So, he gets a bike and starts to ride. He loves it. He thinks, "If I'm thinner, this would be easier" so he starts eating healthy.

He drops like 200 pounds thinking about losing weight.

Or not, but it felt like it.

What do we eat? Healthy. We eat natural foods. If God made it, we eat it. Veggies, fruits, whole grains, etc. If it is man made (processed) we severely limit it. I read labels. High Fructose corn syrup? Nope... not in this body. Sugar the number one ingredient? Sorry, it has to go. Sugar the number 3 ingredient? Nope. Our peanut butter is Smuckers Natural (all other has sugar-even the ones that say natural, read the label!) or we eat PB2. No enriched flour. Enriched means "we have taken the good stuff out so we have to add stuff back in."

Fast food? Nope. We stay away from it as much as possible. If we have to eat fast food, we eat salad and grilled chicken. Oil and vinegar for dressings.

I should add at this point, I am a picky eater. It took a long time for me to adapt to most of the foods we now eat. If I'm honest, it isn't that I don't like these foods. I just prefer the taste of other things. Well, those other things are what cost me. I like ranch dressing. I now only have some form of oil and vinegar and very little of it. 

This system worked well for Curt. He is able to eat like this, exercise and lose weight. He added running to his exercise program in July of 2013 and core exercises (planks, push-ups, sit-ups, etc) in January. He is now rocking out a size 33/32 jean.

Me? I was still eating too much. I may have been eating the right things, but I had too much of it. I had stalled out on my weight loss and was almost to the point of giving up and being content at my "new" size. I finally had to come to the point where I realized I had more options, I just had to do it.

So, I did the unthinkable. I started measuring out my food and counting calories.

Serving sizes are much, much smaller than people realize. I double dog dare you to, for one day, measure out your portions.

You know what? I can see my collar bone. I can feel bones IN MY BACK!!!! Who knew there were bones back there!!??

I am solidly in a size 12 jean. I think 10s would fit but I am afraid to try.

But even with all this, something had been missing in our lives. Something had triggered our desires to find comfort in food and self pity.

Curt figured it out much quicker than I did. He turned to God.

I floundered on my own way too long.

It was like a pan to the forehead, but we finally figured out what was missing and wrong. We were going on our own strength. We were looking to others and food to fill a hole in our lives that only God can fill.

We were lonely and God was there saying, "Talk to me."

We were sad and mourning and God was there saying, "I can dry those tears."

We were doubting our place in this world and God was there saying, "I put you there, trust Me."

We were saying we needed a friend and God was there saying, "I gave you each other and you always have Me."

Once we came to terms with the fact that we would never find fulfillment in anything other than God, the rest has fallen into place. There is comfort where there was once discontent. There is peace where there was once turmoil. There is fullness where there was once an aching emptiness.

We knew these things. We had just forgotten. We needed a reminder. We needed Him.

So when people ask, how did you lose the weight? The easy, quick answer is we moved more and ate less. The real answer? God. Without Him I could do nothing. I am nothing. He is my source of power. My source of strength. My source of peace. My source.