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I’m a 23-year-old female who’s dealt with being overweight for quite a while. I’ve always been somewhat athletically gifted, minus the sleek body and formidable endurance to go with it. My weight problem is a product of ignorance and lack of effort. I like to convince myself that I tried “really hard” in the past to lose weight, but that’s a lie. I made some effort here or there whenever I heard of something that was an easy fix, and immediately became discouraged when it didn’t work. Only when I was 22 years old did I finally wake up and force myself to get a gym membership, and only when I was 23 and recovering from a lot of personal problems did I actually make use of that membership and start re-evaluating my diet. This is the point I was at when I met Lora. |
| My Weight Loss Morph! |
I’ve been chubby ever since middle school and junior high. Those years sucked. I hated my body. Kids I grew up with knew me as a spunky, outgoing, competitive “tomboy.” Only my mom saw the frustration and tears that would happen in mall dressing rooms as I gave up on myself millions of times by flinging awkward-looking clothes off my body and onto the floor in a huff. I remember I would wear things that were too baggy, always envying female friends who could wear “cute” stylish items. They seemed so confident. It didn’t matter if they were miserable or just as self-conscious as I was. All that mattered was how they looked, because if you could pull off that image of perfection, then maybe you really were. As I became a young adult, I learned all that stuff about “loving your body,” and how everyone has some hang-up about what they look like. I was led to believe that it’s “wrong” and “shallow” to be obsessed with physical appearance. I learned that you could look “good” if you know what kind of clothes to buy and how to wear them “the right way” (aka, in a way that covered up pot bellies and thunder thighs). I tried boosting my self-esteem through things like hobbies and dating, but I still wasn’t happy, because I was in denial about why I wasn’t happy. Here’s my theory: so what if you’re a great, nice person? Maybe you aren’t all that great if some part of you is unhappy, and instead of actively changing it you make justifications as to why it’s okay to ignore it. It took me a long time to find all these holes in my “self-esteem” logic, but it’s as simple as breathing to me now. I won’t be happy unless my body reflects respect, balance, and dedication. After all, you can’t conquer the world until you first conquer your self. Week 1: This is exciting and frustrating all at the same time. Now I understand what Lora means when she says a lot of people aren’t ready to come to her for results because they aren’t ready to make the commitment. Her program seems really intimidating. I can’t go into specific details about it, but trust me… I feel like this all could be a college course or something. Hell, maybe it sort of is, in a way. Perhaps one of the most important “classes” I’ll ever take. Apart from Lora’s nutrition program, I go to the gym about 3-4 times a week. We’ll see what kind of results I get, IF I manage to follow her rules! Week 2: Still in the learning phase, and Lora’s very lenient whenever I fall off the wagon or don’t do so hot with some of the guidelines. I really trust that she cares about me as a person and not just as a client, which makes it a lot easier to want to do well and not give up. I feel SO good about myself whenever I follow the menu plan and eat healthy, and I’m proud of the things I’ve learned about nutrition that I didn’t know before. It’s pretty humbling to see what’s really going into your mouth 24/7. It’s the highest level of accountability possible, which I think is great. I’m starting to get pretty hardcore at the gym, haha. It’s really great whenever I get to a point where I can up the weight on a machine. I’m doing things pretty slowly… sort of being the tortoise of the race. But we all know how that story ends, right? Week 3: I’m now using a Polar heart rate monitor whenever I work out, and it is GREAT. Nutrition-wise I’ve fallen into a nice little routine of certain meals I like to have during the day, and I feel good about that. Still having problems with eating bad stuff when I visit my family, though, haha. Gym-wise I’m starting to see some muscle definition. Weighing myself can be a little disheartening because adding muscle means it cancels out whatever you may lose, but this is not a bad thing. Slow and steady, like I said. Week 4: Lora weighed us with her spiffy, expensive scale again I realized that I managed to put on about a pound of muscle in a week. Awesome?! But I was dehydrated again. Why is it so hard to be hydrated?! Week 5: I measured myself for the first time since week 1 and I have lost centimeters… the discouraging thing is that it’s centimeters, though. Gotta keep on truckin’… Week 6: Lora analyzed us again with her crazy scale, and I’ve improved my hydration, lost a pound of fat and gained a pound of muscle. high 5! Also, she took us on a fun, outdoor adventure, which kind of almost killed me. Do you know how to burn off 800-something calories in under an hour?? I DO!!! |
