MY OWN WEIGHT EXPERIENCE

I am a 31 year old African American professional. I was raised by my African American southern mother who loved to cook southern food. Growing up, I never had problems with weight, however, I did have problems with my cholesterol. When I was 14, my doctor informed me that my cholesterol was 202. He gave me a list of foods that I needed to avoid or cut back on. I did as he instructed and my cholesterol went down to 170.

In high school and college, I was considered the skinny girl (read on...I am going somewhere). I thought that I was lucky. Although my mother and her side of the family were overweight, my father's side was thin. I assumed I took after my father's side of the family. I received a wake up call when I graduated college, met my boyfriend (my now husband), got a job where I was sedentary, and continued eating large portions. I gained 20 pounds in about 2 months. I did not understand what was happening to me. I was doing (what I thought) was the same thing. I was eating the same foods, the same portions, etc. I did not know what to do.

I did what a lot of people would have done, I started dieting and doing aerobics. I would loose about 5 pounds and than gain it all over again. This went on for about a year.

Eventually, we moved to Southern California. I took a job at a department store selling shoes. In about 3 months I got down to my high school and college size. Shoe salesmen are very active because we are constantly climbing ladders and running around helping multiple customers at a time. Without realizing it, I was on a treadmill and stair master 8 hours a day. I did not realize this so I psyched myself into thinking (once again) that it was because I took after my father's side. (It's amazing how quickly we forget the struggles that we've previously faced in our lives.)

My boyfriend and I got married, bought a house and moved an hour away from my job. I left my job as a shoe saleswoman and took a job where I was once again sedentary. You can guess what happened....I gained my weight back. This is when the bells finally started ringing. I was not thin because I was lucky, I was thin because I was active. When I was thin I was unconsciously doing things that were causing me to burn more calories than I was eating. This was causing me to stay thin. When I cut out those activities, I would gain weight and I would gain the weight quickly because I was a big eater. For the next 2 years I did one diet after another. I would lose weight and then gain it right back. We moved to Virginia so I gained even more weight. I finally had to start educating myself about what I was doing wrong. It took trial and error but finally, I was able to keep the weight off consistently for a year and than 2 years. I did it by avoiding diets and seeking out lifestyle changes that I KNEW I would stick to. I realized in order to stick to something, you have to enjoy it. That is why starvation and deprivation does not work. No one enjoys the feeling of starving. No one enjoys the feeling of being held out on. In order for anything to work, you have to reprogram your thinking. You have to find new things that will bring you pleasure and do those things often. At first it will take self sacrifice because it is something new; however, I promise you that eventually these changes will be very pleasurable.

Read the articles and recipes in this blog. You will be surprised by how good the food is and how much of it you can eat. You will also be surprised in finding out that there are some things that are not as necessary as you were told.

Here's a sneak peak (I am not a water drinker and yet I am very healthy and thin. I also do not go to the gym, or wake up in the morning to watch exercise videos...I tried it and I could not stick to it.).

I believe that the things we do should bring us pleasure, should be easy and should have LONG TERM benefits.

If you are reading this blog you are here because you want to make a life long change in your life. I will not take up anymore time talking about myself. SO LET'S GET STARTED SHALL WE. :)