The Weighting Game - June 2012 Article

Ah, my weight loss secrets. What all y’all been waiting for, yes? That’s the first thing I hear about my weight loss – “What are you doing?” There’s no magic. And for some, it’s disappointing to hear that success has come from good, old fashioned hard work of reducing calories and exercise. Yes, some people get disappointed. I used to be one of those people. We would all love a quick fix. “If I could only lose x amount of pounds first, I promise I’ll follow the rules later.” I have had this talk with myself a million times over the past 20 years. The true motivation for me has been to improve my overall health so I can live a longer life. The fear of dying like my father (of a heart attack) woke me up. Most of my family dies of heart disease and heart attacks have been known to occur in our family in the 40s.

I approached this journey like I approach a project for work or for a client. I needed a process to follow. As I mentioned last month, I started by drinking meal replacement shakes by Body By ViSalus. I became a “passive” distributor of the shakes and figured that if I was actually going to sell the shakes I should show that they work. Shakes are a great way to lose weight because they help you manage your caloric intake, which is key. I knew I’d lose weight this way but for the first time I accepted the fact that to increase the speed and retention of weight loss I would have to exercise as well. Along came Molly!

Many of us have said it before: “If I had a celebrity’s money I could get thin too with a personal trainer.” It’s clear that people have lost weight with the help of a trainer. Just watch The Biggest Loser. I didn’t really pursue this route initially but Molly was a friend and a previous improv student. She had started her weight loss journey while a student of mine. I think I may have mentioned something about the shakes on Facebook and she emailed me and said, “Hey, if you need a trainer …” It was a sign. In the theme of an improv philosophy of “yes, and”, I emailed her back, “Tell me more.” I was at my thinnest at 20 when I had a body builder/coach boyfriend and while I hated him for it I now realized that in some sick way his toughness worked on me being in amazing shape. And that’s what I needed now – a tough coach, but an understanding one I could trust. I trusted my Molly enough to at least hear what she had to say and I instantly felt comfortable with her approach and style. I think deep down inside I felt so helpless and here was a lifeline. Literally, a line that could actually save my life. All I had to do was commit and find the money, both which can be difficult for most of us. I’m a true believer that people value what they pay for. When you get something for free you don’t really commit to or appreciate it. There was a part of me that knew I had to pay someone to help keep me accountable. For those of you wondering how I found the money, it was pretty easy to sit down and look at how much I had been spending on eating out, buying wine to drink at home every night and going out in general. So, instead of spending money on gaining weight, I shifted that same money to losing weight. Pretty simple. Sometimes it’s even harder to face our financial fitness plans by looking at how we’re spending our money.

And so it began. I signed up with Molly in addition to becoming a member of the YMCA. The first thing Molly did was put me on a three-week detox (without shakes) to eliminate toxins from my body and give my body a foundation nutrition-wise. Molly is not a nutritionist, I should mention. She has literally researched and tested a variety of methods and diets. The detox was pretty simple and gave me a lot of food options. I wasn’t starving but I was learning how to eat healthy. In three weeks I lost 14 pounds which gave me such a boost of confidence. More importantly I was feeling amazing from the loss of things like sugar, dairy and caffeine. In conjunction with the detox we started an exercise plan of working with Molly three times a week for an hour, plus two additional days of cardio on my own. The working out is what scared me the most – would I be able to do it without dying?! The answer is YES because Molly showed me I could do it in baby steps. 

This blog was an article published in the June issue of South Carolina Woman Magazine.