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Introduction Text UPDATE: After giving birth to two daughters within a year and a half of each other, I now need to re-lose weight (50 or 60 lbs of it!). I've done this before, now I'm going to have to do it again, except this time with two little ones in tow! I need to be healthy for my family! I desperately want to be skinny again, and be a HOT MAMA! **************************************** Hi, I'm Carol. I'm a recovering obese person! I am in a healthy weight range now thanks to Spark, and I feel fit, fabulous and fierce. What's brought me here? A myriad of factors of which I couldn't have done without. First and foremost my boyfriend David who has been so supportive of me every step of the way, has never tired of my nutrition and exercise talk, and who has worked out with me whenever I wanted. Sparkpeople.com gave me the knowledge to succeed, and the social support of all of my friends here is invaluable. Finally, a change in my thought process has allowed me to ALLOW MYSELF to succeed. #1 I am NOT hard on myself, ever. I've come so far, why would I beat myself up over ANYTHING? I just move on. and #2 in the words of Churchill, "Never give in. Never never never never never never give in.". Now comes the hardest part of my journey - finding my final weight, and maintaining. I will stay active on Sparkpeople and keep actively thinking about my health, because I never want to wake up one morning with an overweight BMI! ----------------------------- * * * -------------------------------- MY OLD INTRODUCTION: My story of weight loss is one that begins at the age of 17, coming home from high school weighing a whopping 276lbs, and sitting down in front of the tube to eat my large, second lunch of the day. Oprah that day was about losing weight, and Dr. Phil was on to give advice. For the first time I heard people's stories about how their obesity affected them, and I heard of psychological reasons behind the self-abuse. I started to cry into my hot-dogs!! I joined Weight Watchers shortly thereafter with my loving mother. With WW's great plan, I soon lost a TON of weight. In fact, the lowest weight I went down to was 216lbs. Yes, a weight loss of 60 lbs!!!!!!! The best compliment I received was from someone at high school, who one day said, "Oh my Gosh Carol, you're a stick!!" :) However being at 216lbs soon scared me, because for the first time I was receiving attention from guys, and more respect from girls, and people were LISTENING to me more. I think this put me off losing weight, because I thought, at least when you're fat you know who your true friends are, the ones who stay by you!!! So, slowly over time, and two years of University, I gained weight back again. With a few more failures now and then in trying to take it off - the pounds always came back on. I hovered mostly around 230-240lbs. A year and a half ago I met my wonderful boyfriend David. When I met Dave, he was skinny as a stick, so I knew that he wouldn't be interested in me. (I was wrong!) What I didn't know was that Dave had recently lost a lot of weight himself, with jogging and eating many carrots! Love story short, this summer I think I've finally GOT IT. I'm the healthiest I've ever been right now because I understand it's more than about counting points, it's about eating the right things. I've found I actually LIKE fruits and veggies and how they make me feel, and I DISLIKE processed and fast foods!!!!! What a difference!!!! We've been getting out into the warm summer air and exercising with tennis, golf, swimming, jogging, walking, you name it, and it feels so good every time you have just a bit more range and movement than the last time. I think what I've been learning now is here to stay. Fruits, veggies, and fitness, are my new best friends, and my biggest support is my loving boyfriend David! Good luck and God bless to you and yours! Carol_Hoorah ! ------------------------------------- Down to 228lbs, my new jeans I bought just a few months ago are uncomfortably large! Down to 219.5lbs, I can jog for more than just 25 steps before having to walk! I can _JOG_ now!!! October 16th/07- lost 10% of my bodyweight, made my goal, now 218lbs! December 7th/07- 202lbs bought an XL dress from GUESS, and it's tight but it actually does up, and I'm a FOX in it!! I've never looked so skinny in my life! Dave howled at the moon when he saw me! Now I just have to lose 10 more pounds so I can sit down comfortably in it! haha December 19th/07- 199.5lbs, it's my first time in ONEDERLAND!! I intend to stay the rest of my life!!! December 23rd/07- Used the blood pressure machine at shoppers drug mart... about a year ago when I used it my bp was 129 over 84ish, and my resting heart rate was about 94bpm. NOW, my bp is 116 over 68, and my resting heart rate is 74bpm!!!! It feels great to be healthy! January 13th/08- Hit my second 10% goal of 196lbs!! Yay!! February 1st/08 - Able to fit into a big stretchy size 10 for the first time in my life... my old size was 19! My regular pant size is now 13!! March 18th/08 - Lost 60lbs, and I'm officially in a "normal" BMI range now! April 18th/08 - Lost 67lbs and hit my third 10% increment goal, I'm now 176lbs! April 19th/08 - Jogged for 1.5km straight! Then walked, then did it again! etc! April 28th/08 - Jogged for a FULL 5K for the first time!!! 7:26/km speed! May 24th/08 - RACED IN MY FIRST 5K - ING weekend finish time: 34:53.8 2447/6367 people women 20-24 85th/232 all women 1069/3819 July 13th/08 - Hintonburg Centennial 5K finish time: 33:05 August 4th/08 - Bought and wore my first bikini!!! August 31st/08 - Ran in my first 10K! The Nike 10K Human Race, in New York City! Finish time: 1:25:42. Sept 11th/08 - Hit my goal of 170lbs! I feel awesome! Oct 22nd/08 - Hit my goal of 165lbs. Nov 23rd/08 - Hit 157.5lbs... entering maintenance full-time now! May 23rd/09 - Over time I've gained back weight, I'm back to 176lbs now. I'm re-applying myself to new goals! ********************** PLEASE NOTE: I don't log my fitness and nutrition anymore, since I'm in maintenance mode/losing weight so slowly you should still call it maintenance mode! So daily I eat enough caloric requirements usually to stay the same weight - I'd say around 2600 calories a day. While losing weight, I ate around 1600-2000 calories a day. ******************* MY 1st OLD GOAL: Written June 13 2007 To go from 243 lbs to 218 lbs by my birthday if it's possible, Oct 27th. However, the time period is not important to me, the staying on track is!! And in the long run, I'd like to get down to 175lbs. That dream is far away though and I'm trying to go by the 10% rule!! MY 1st OLD PROGRAM: I am eating more fruits and vegetables, and less processed, greasy, and fatty foods. I am feeling so much healthier for it. I am getting outside and exercising in fun ways with my boyfriend: golf, tennis, swimming, walking, you name it! MY 2nd OLD GOAL: Written Oct 16 2007 The dream is no longer as far away as it once was!! I've achieved my first goal, BEFORE my birthday! My second goal is to be at 196 by Valentines day... although again, the time frame isn't important, the being healthy is! MY 2nd OLD PROGRAM: I am continuing to eat healthily while never denying myself a craving, this is a lifestyle change, so it is portions portions portions! I am weight training several times a week, doing an aerobics class once a week, and doing cardio at least one other time a week! MY 3rd OLD GOAL: Written Jan 13 2008 Reached my goal of 196 a full month and one day before St. V's Day. It's hard for me to believe how far I've come. Sometimes I feel like this is all a dream. My next goal is another 10% of my weight, so 176lbs.. by May 24th. Just in time for summer holidays! I won't be hard on myself if I don't make this goal - I know this weight will be the hardest to come off. MY 3rd OLD PROGRAM: I'm paying attention to the nutritional content of foods - enjoying maxing out all of my vitamen and minerals for the day, as well as taking a multivitamen. A few foods I've found wonderfully helpful: -almonds & sesame seeds -apples & bananas -chocolate soy milk -tuna -salmon -cottage cheese -sweet potatos -broccoli -spinach -high fibre + protein cereal -milk Most of all I enjoy cooking my own healthy food. I've learned how to cook with a minimum of oils and butters, maximize taste through herbs and spices, and use leaner substitutions where appropriate. But NO "DIET" food, YUCK!!!!! _Real_ food for me thank you!! It's harder to exercise in the winter, but I'm still getting out to the gym a couple times a week, for both strength training (WHICH I LOVE) and cardio, and finding excuses to use energy wherever I can. (stairs vs. elevator) I've entered a 5K marathon with Dave in May, I will train for this! (May 24th marathon, my 176lb goal weight day) My 4th OLD GOAL: Written Apr 22/08 My new goals? - To jog a 5K without having to stop. (DONE) - To find exercises for my lower body that will not aggrevate my old ACL injury, and to tone my lower body to match my fierce upper body. (DONE) - To get to 170lbs and then re-evaluate my weight. (DONE) My 4th OLD PROGRAM: I am following the nikeplus training guide 5K plan, which means running 5 or 6K (or 3k or 8k) every second day roughly. I strength train 2-3 times a week. I aim to eat around 1700 calories a day. (THAT SO DID NOT HAPPEN!! I was eating around 2200 a day) I almost never eat anything from a box. I shop for fresh clean foods, and cook everything myself. Home-made baby! When I buy groceries, I get raisins, walnuts, almonds, peanuts, pecans, dried cranberries, granola, muesli, flaxseed, bee pollen, whole wheat bread from a local bakery, fresh fish, chicken & meat, beans, all fruits and all veggies, brown rice, whole wheat pasta, old fashioned oatmeal, cream of wheat, and my packaged foods consists mainly of cottage cheese, cashew butter, almond butter, feta cheese, plain low fat yogurt, and Kashi. I love to cook and consider this an important part of my success. I love food more than ever now, and love to come up with new flavour combinations. Olive oil, balsamic vinegar, dijon mustard, horseradish, garlic, etc! ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Nike plus has been a great source of motivation for me - and the many Nike plus commercials have given me great pleasure!!! I am not a runner. I don't enjoy avoiding landmines of dog poo. I don't enjoy breathing heavier than a pregnant walrus. How can anyone be addicted to this? There's no way around it, running sucks. But you know what sucks more? Man boobs. They really suck. I'm not a runner. Yet. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ I am addicted. I've collected footsteps before dawn, seen places I never knew existed, run to the moon and back. Been a rabbit for the neighbourhood dogs, obeyed the voice in my head, let music carry me when I couldn't. Raced against yesterday, let the world be my witness, measured myself in metres, kilometres, and finally character. I've plugged into a higher purpose, left this world and come back changed. I am addicted.

To lose my pregnancy weight and be back to 170lbs.

Drinking green tea, eating less condiments, walking and biking, and not buying any cookies or desserts!

I live in Ottawa, ON Canada, and I'm married to a wonderful husband and we have two sweet baby girls!



Add a Link Carol, David, Elena Rose & Felicity Iris Ruth Highest weight: 276lbs Lowest weight: 167lbs Desired maintenance range: 170-180lbs
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