Advertisement
Can you tell us a little bit about yourself and your family?
I was born and raised in Michigan, and I’ve never lived anywhere else. I married my high school sweetheart and we will be celebrating our nine year anniversary this year. I am a stay-at-home mom to two boys—Noah is 7, and Eli is 6.
Can you tell us more about your weight loss journey? Has weight been something you struggled with your whole life?
I have ALWAYS been overweight—the day I was born, I was over 9 pounds! I was teased all through school, and I was constantly on some sort of diet. My weight really shot up with my pregnancies (I gained 70 and 90 pounds), and I spent a few years at my highest non-pregnancy weight of 253 before I decided to end the weight battle for good.
How did you go about making such a life changing transformation? What made you decide to lose the weight?
One summer day, Noah decided he wanted to learn to ride a bike without his training wheels. He wanted me to run up and down the street next to him to make sure he didn’t fall. I only made it half the length of the street before I was gasping for breath, and my sister had to take over for me. I felt like a horrible mother, and I vowed that when it was Eli’s turn to learn, I would be the one to teach him.
What were your first steps? Did you have a weight loss plan and did you do it on your own or with a trainer?
I started counting Weight Watchers Points (I later switched to counting calories, which was a better fit for me). I was eating the same foods as always, but much less of them. Over time, I started to gravitate toward healthier foods. After I had lost about 60 pounds, I started exercising—just walking at first, and eventually running. I learned running was more efficient; I could exercise half the amount of time as walking and burn the same number of calories. I ran a Ragnar Relay with my brother for my first road race, and I was hooked after that!
I ended up losing 125 pounds in about 16 months. I have maintained a healthy BMI for a year and a half now.
How did you keep yourself motivated throughout your weight loss journey? What were some of the biggest challenges?
Staying motivated long enough to lose 125 pounds is nearly impossible. I learned the difference between motivation and determination, and I was determined to lose the weight this time. I focused on the fact that I wanted to be an active, healthy mom to my boys; and of course, I wanted to look better too! As I dropped the pounds, I loved seeing my jean size shrink. As soon as a pair of jeans was too big for me, I cut it up into squares to sew into a quilt. I had enough squares to make an enormous quilt, and I did.
One of the biggest challenges to losing the weight was being in a social situation—a party, a BBQ, dining out with friends, etc. At first, nobody took me seriously when I said I was on a diet and wouldn’t be eating all of the stuff they were eating. A lot of times, I even brought my own food to a get-together, or I ate beforehand. I did what I felt was best for ME, and didn’t listen to anyone who tried to tell me differently. Eventually, when they saw how much success I was having, they stopped hassling me
1) Don’t make any changes you’re not willing to live with forever! I wasn’t willing to eat just 1200 calories a day forever, so I didn’t do that. I only made changes I could be happy with in the long term.
2) Plan a little “junk” into your diet. I would reserve calories every single day for a special treat that I wanted. Having a daily treat helped me to stay on track. Without it, I felt deprived.
3) Take pictures every 10 pounds you lose. I’m so glad that I did that! When I was losing, I really didn’t think I would reach goal weight, so I almost didn’t take the photos. But I had my husband take a full-length picture of me every time I dropped another 10 pounds, and it’s very fun to look back at those pictures!
4) Save your “beverage” calories for something you really love. I love wine, so I didn’t mind spending calories on wine. But I was willing to sacrifice the cream and sugar in my coffee in order to have my wine at night! It could be soda, sweet tea, beer, sweetened lattes, whatever—just pick one that you love and fit it into your diet, and try to forgo the others.
5) Make your diet fit into your life; don’t make your life fit into a diet. I don’t believe there is a single diet out there that works for everybody. We all have different needs and wants, and it would be ridiculous to ask everybody to eat the same way. I only made changes that worked into my life, rather than the other way around.
If you could say one thing to other women out there who are wanting to lose a large amount of weight, what would it be? How would you motivate them to know it IS possible?
I know how overwhelming it is to see that you need to lose 50, 75, 100, or more pounds. It feels like it will take forever to get there! But if you had started a year ago, you could be at your goal right now. So a year from now, you could be at your goal or you could be thinking back, “I should have started a year ago!”
Losing weight is not easy. It will be one of the hardest things you’ll ever do. But if you prepare yourself for that, and start with easier changes, you can do it (with minimal tears)! You won’t always feel motivated, but those are the times that make or break your weight loss. If you can persevere through the times where you feel completely unmotivated, I have no doubt you will reach your goal!
What are some healthy habit
I didn’t make a lot of changes in the beginning, because I wanted to stick with it long-term, and didn’t want to do anything too drastic. But over time, I did learn a few things and develop new habits. First, I very rarely eat at restaurants. I gain weight very easily when I eat out—they have huge portions, and even “healthy” sounding foods like salad are not very healthy with all the stuff they add to it. I cook dinner almost every day—thankfully I enjoy cooking!—and I really enjoy home-cooked food more than restaurant food.
Another habit I picked up was to eat breakfast. When I was obese, I never ate breakfast. I wasn’t hungry in the mornings (which is no wonder, because I would binge before bed). I started eating breakfast every day, and breakfast has become my very favorite meal.
Something else I learned is to not worry too much about how much protein, fat, carbs, etc., I am getting. I notice that when I eat a good variety of foods, the macronutrients usually work themselves out to the right amount. Sometimes I might eat a ton of carbs and nearly no protein or fat; and other days, I might be craving nothing but peanut butter and vegetables. I just go with what my body and mind are telling me, and my diet usually balances out.
What does healthy mean to you?
To me, health is when my mind, body, and soul are happy. I think it’s important to have all three elements. Health is not just about having a very fit, lean body—I have to feed my soul sometimes too, and that usually involves cookies. It’s all about balance; it takes a lot of trial and error to find out what works, but I know that when my mind, body, and soul are happy, I feel my healthiest.
Read more about Katie's health and fitness journey over at her blog Runs for Cookies!
