My name is Ashley Smith (@movedatash) and I am 37 years old. I live in Alabama and I ‘ma PR specialist. By finding the right therapist to help me improve my relationship with food, crafting the right Weight Watchers plan for me, and starting Zumba, I was able to lose 85 pounds in five years.
I’ve been overweight for as long as I can remember. I’ve tried every diet that has been dubbed the newest and so called the best: Low Fat, Sugar Busters, Atkins, South Beach, and others. I would go on a diet and lose weight quickly only to regain more weight than I originally lost.
I jojo up and down and up again, year after year, until I got pregnant with my daughter in 2013. Of course, I stopped losing weight during pregnancy and found myself in the “eat for two” mentality. My weight got higher.
After she was born in 2014, I was sure that breastfeeding would help me lose baby weight. Instead, the opposite happened. Hunger from breastfeeding combined with postpartum depression and anxiety caused me to only gain weight, which made my depression and anxiety worse. I was stuck.
I realized that I wasn’t in a good position regarding my mental health.
Although I knew my relationship with food wasn’t healthy, I didn’t know how to deal with it. I also knew my diet hadn’t worked in the past so I had to miss something. I wanted to work on losing weight again, but I wanted to find a healthy way. In 2016, at the age of 32, my weight reached 343 pounds.
My daughter was 2 years old at the time and very active. I found it extremely difficult to play with her or just take care of her. She always wanted to play, but I couldn’t get on the floor with her because it was so difficult to get up. I couldn’t run outside and play with her the way she wanted to. I realized that my weight was preventing me from being the kind of mother I wanted to be.
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It also became difficult to find clothes. I could no longer shop in my usual plus size stores. I had pain in my legs and feet when I sat too long, especially in the car. I could hardly tie my shoes. The misery of the weight I carried (and the problems with eating that came with it) had started to infiltrate every area of my life. It affected everything: my marriage, my friendships, my work, my mental health.
I knew I had to do something, but I didn’t know how.
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At this lowest point, I sought out a therapist who would help unravel my problems and make changes.
I was fortunate enough to work with a therapist who specializes in eating disorders and eating disorders. The work I did with her changed my life. With her help, I began to address the problems I faced and began to make real, lasting changes in my life.
Under the guidance of my therapist, it was important for me to choose a plan that doesn’t restrict certain foods or food groups and doesn’t use meal replacements like shakes or bars. These guidelines were important to avoid feeling overly restricted or deprived, feelings that would ultimately lead to overeating or giving up on my plan altogether.
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I decided to follow WW (formerly Weight Watchers) and go on the Green plan which I thought was the best choice for me because it helps me keep serving sizes in mind and also allows the greatest flexibility in food choices. For me, WW’s flexibility is what makes it sustainable. No foods are off-limits, but the points system will help you find nutrient-rich foods and appropriate portion sizes. It’s a great lifestyle plan that also supports my mental health when it comes to eating.
I eat that in one day:
- Breakfast: Coffee with collagen protein powder, calorie-free sweetener and sugar-free coffee creamer. Ham and cheese omelette.
- Having lunch: A ready-made frozen meal that is ordered from cleaneatzkitchen.com that is fresh and tasty and saves me time not having to prepare meals.
- Snacks: Fresh fruit and cheese sticks or low-fat Greek yogurt and graham crackers.
- Dinner: Salmon and asparagus cooked in the air fryer.
- Dessert: Fresh strawberries and sugar-free Cool Whip or a Klondike mini ice cream bar.
Unlike previous weight loss efforts, this time I started exercising before dieting. At that time, starting another diet felt insurmountable. My therapist encouraged me to make one small change at a time that didn’t feel overwhelming.
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The first “small change” I made was to go to a Zumba class.
I had already done Zumba and knew I liked it, but that class no longer held. I found a new class with a new teacher and I absolutely fell in love. This course and its teacher and participants were positive, uplifting and encouraging. I found myself smiling as I worked out and I knew I had found something to stick with.
Eventually, Zumba just became a regular and enjoyable part of my routine. The longer I went to Zumba, the more confidence I gained in myself and my abilities. After a few months, I decided I was ready to work on my diet and joined WW. It took a few more months before I was ready (and confident enough) to hit the gym for it.
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When I first tried weight training, I was addicted.
Suddenly my body got strong and did things that I never thought possible. Weight training allowed me to see my body from a new perspective and focus on what it can do instead of what it looks like.
I started slowly and at first I even refused to do all the exercises that required me to hit the floor (because I couldn’t get up again). Within a few months, strength training improved my range of motion and flexibility to such an extent that I could more easily get on and off and do things like crunches. I felt like a new person.
Now, so many years later, I still do all of these things, with a few additions. My husband and I bought a Peloton bike in late 2019 which was a blessing when COVID hit a few months later. I also started taking yoga classes to support the mobility and flexibility I’ve gained over the years. I currently have a very solid workout routine that looks like this:
Monday: Strength
Tuesday: Train (cycle)
Wednesday: Strength
Thursday: Train (cycle)
Friday: Strength
Saturday: Zumba and Yoga
Sunday: Rest (and sometimes more yoga)
The biggest surprise in all of this for me was the joy I found in training. I promise you I never would have thought it possible. I was one of those people who swore that they hated every move and would always do it. It turned out that I was completely wrong. The key really is finding things (or even one thing) that you really enjoy. Personally, I hate to walk. It is so boring. So why would I ever want to run Dancing is a lot more fun. Just move your body in whatever way you enjoy, and that’s enough.
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These three changes made the biggest difference in my weight loss results.
- I started doing therapy. I had problems with food and eating that prevented me from losing weight and keeping it off. I had to address these issues before I would ever be successful. It wasn’t a quick process, but it was the most powerful thing I’ve ever done for myself.
- I started weight training. Weight training has allowed me to change my focus from what my body looked like to what my body is capable of. When I think about my thighs, my focus is on how they can deadlift over 200 pounds.
- I removed deadline-based weight loss goals or expectations. Telling myself that I had to lose X pounds in X time was just a disappointment and a sense of failure. Instead, I focus on goals that I can directly influence, such as eating according to a plan a certain number of days a month.
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So far, I’ve lost 85 pounds in total.
This has been a long journey for me. I’m going into the fifth year. I take pride in being a proof of the benefits of slow and sustained weight loss and never giving up.
I still have a long way to go before I reach my goal weight. In fact, I have often weighed less in my adult life than I do now. But I’ve never been so happy and healthy as I am now. I power my body with a balanced mix of nutritious foods, enough of them not to feel deprived. I move my body in ways that I enjoy and that improve my quality of life. I work every day to mend my relationship with food and my body.
We value the scale so much, but the scale is just a tiny way of measuring your progress on a life changing journey like this one. There are so many other things you can measure like how many pounds you can lift or how many minutes you can dance. You can see an improvement in your cholesterol (my triglycerides dropped from 250 to 109 with just changes to diet and exercise) or other health indicators. They can make finding clothes easier and maybe even more enjoyable.
This time around, my weight loss journey changed my life because I consider the number of pounds I lost to be the least important part of the process. What I have gained is much more effective: health, mobility, strength, flexibility, endurance, self-confidence and happiness.
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source https://dailyhealthynews.ca/doing-green-plan-ww-zumba-and-peloton-helped-me-lose-85-lbs/
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