I've heard it said that one cannot out exercise bad eating habits. I thought it was a lie, but now I'm not so sure.
I was the girl in high school that was made fun of for being super stick skinny. I was asked if I was on drugs or if I had an eating disorder or if I was sick by adults and peers. I'm pretty sure I didn't even weigh 100 pounds when I graduated high school. Maybe just barely.
I wasn't on drugs, I didn't have an eating disorder, and I wasn't sickly. In fact, I would stuff my mouth with every junk food imaginable all day long. Cookies for breakfast, pizza or tacos for lunch, soda, candy bars, you name it. That's the one food group I wasn't picky about. No vegetables, no fruit, nothing good. My mom would make a casserole for dinner and if there was meat or veggies in it, that's all I would've eaten "healthy" that entire day.
People would tell me that one day, eating like this would catch up to me. I kept waiting for that to happen.
Fast forward to age 35. Married for 12 years with 3 children. I've seen a slow increase in my weight, but nothing huge. I weighed 110 before I had my first child. I weighed 115 before my second child. And then I weighed 120 before my 3rd child. I'm was still thin and I still ate (mostly) junk.
I say mostly because I somehow stumbled across quite a bit of information on how bad sugar and processed foods are to our bodies around 2013. I have been researching and making a mental note of it all at the same time I would sometimes binge eat junk food.
You see, I would try to eat well and I've even discovered I like most vegetables, but then I'd feel deprived and spend a day eating whatever junk I wanted. Sometimes that one day would turn into the whole weekend or even a whole week or month if I’m being honest. I'd recommit to eat well, throw away the junk in the pantry/fridge/freezer and start over fresh. As I'm sure you guessed, the cycle continued.
In 2014, during my third pregnancy, I had gestational diabetes. I wasn't over 35 (I was 33) and it doesn't run in my family, but I still got it. The doctor told me it's purely hormonal (my hormones were blocking my insulin from getting through the placenta to the baby), which makes sense because this baby was my first girl so maybe the hormones are different. However, something in the back of my mind wondered if maybe I actually am pre-diabetic or actually have diabetes from the way I've eaten for all these years...
Thankfully, I was able to control the diabetes with eating well during the rest of that pregnancy. I never needed to have insulin shots. She was born healthy and she, so far, does not have diabetes (although she is at risk to develop it down the road). I have not been tested to see if I still have it or have gotten it since then. That's my own fault for not scheduling a lab appointment. My baby girl is almost two now... It's on my to-do list.
Even though I noticeably felt wonderful and energized during the end of my pregnancy (no doubt because of the good diet), during these past 2 years, I ended up back in the cycle of eating well, binging on junk, then going back to eating well.
The whole time I've been a mother (almost 13 years now) I have always exercised. I figured if I at least stayed active, I could eat whatever I wanted. For the most part that seemed to work out for me.
Like I mentioned, before I got pregnant the third time, I weighed 120. After I had her, I quickly returned to 120 (no doubt because of the good diet). However, it's almost been 2 years since then and I now weigh 133. And I've been exercising MORE than I used to.
I have used Beachbody programs for at least 6 years and I've seen some results. Nothing shocking, but I wasn't doing them for amazing results. I wanted to maintain my weight and still be able to eat whatever I wanted.
Over the past year and a half, I've noticed my weight is staying about the same, or a little higher, but my body is different. I am very flabby and it seems that any muscle I've ever had is completely gone.
So, how can I weigh the same, but suddenly not fit in any of my clothes?
From what I've learned about nutrition and food, I know it's because I don't eat much protein and I was restricting my calories too much in an attempt to lose weight, therefore, my hungry body was forced to eat my muscle to give me energy for my intense work outs. So, muscle was disappearing and fat was taking it's place. Fat takes up more space in the body then muscle does. That would be why I weighed the same, but did not fit in my clothes any longer.
I purchased Chalean Extreme 3 months ago because I was convinced I just needed to lift weights and my muscle would come back. But, I didn't change my diet and therefore, I didn't see any results.
I don't know why I thought the same thing that has been happening wouldn't happen still. I mean, it was the same scenario... I guess I was hoping for a magic program that would fix my body.
So, now I was mad at myself. I spent all that money on the program (and purchasing weights for it), I was getting up early to work out every day, and I had nothing to show for it except a flabby stomach and thighs (and the highest number I've seen on the scale, aside from being pregnant, in my life).
It's time to change. I have to figure this out! I can see that sugar and processed foods are terrible. I can see that I will end up obese, sick, diabetic, and unhappy if I continue on my current path. I can see that it is an addiction that I will need to break. And I need to do that immediately.
I am 35 years old. I weigh 133 pounds and I have 30% body fat. I am starting a fresh round of Chalean Extreme (there are 3 stages at 4 weeks each) and this time, I am changing my diet for the entire 12 weeks. The rules are: follow the workout schedule, stay away from grains for 12 weeks, avoid sugar and processed food forever, track my weight and body fat every 4 weeks. I will also drink Shakeology for the first time ever during these 12 weeks.
I plan to update once a week. I hope you will follow my journey. Please feel free to send me your tips and encouraging words along the way. It would be greatly appreciated!
