Today marks the 10 year anniversary of the catalytic event that prompted me to change my lifestyle and eating habits. 10 years ago I was a 21 year old college student and was at my heaviest at 168 pounds and a tight size 14. This may not sound like much, but on my 5'0 frame the extra weight was unforgiving.
Anyone who has ever started their own weight loss journey has that one trigger that made them lose the weight. Mine came in the form of an older lady, whom I had never met, who struck up a conversation with me at a local bookstore. She talked about her son and how he was single (and ready to mingle). She showed me his picture and said she would like for us to meet, but that "You need to lose weight first." Ouch. "At least 30 pounds." Really?!
Wanting to date this complete stranger's son was NOT what prompted me to lose weight, because honestly he looked like if Geico caveman had a baby with Screech Powers (Not medically possible, just trying to give you a visual). I was angry that someone thought I wasn't good enough because of my weight. So I challenged myself to take better care of my health and land myself a guy who was way hotter than caveman, Jr. Mature, right?
The first year I lost 45 pounds and the next year, another 20 lbs, giving me a healthier Body Mass Index for my height. There were three things that made the weight drop off. No magic pills or potions, just portion control, exercise and consistency.
It has been 10 years since starting the journey towards better health and I'm still on it. I've realized it doesn't end once the weight is off. The "maintenance" component is just as challenging as initially losing weight. Some days it's easy to make healthy choices and other days it's a struggle. I'm still learning to balance it all out.
Speaking of healthy choices, I want to share a healthy snack with you today. It only has 4, (Four. Cuatro. Apat. Quatre) ingredients and there is no cooking or baking involved. GASP!
Ingredients
1 teaspoon of honey
2 tablespoons light Cool Whip
1/4 cup blackberries, or your favorite berry
First, you'll need a cup of yogurt.
I love how the Greek yogurt scoops out like soft ice cream.
Don't rush this part, honey.
Add a dollop of cold whipped topping.
Grab a handful of blackberries (or your favorite berry).
Plop them on top. Eat it up.
Yumm. Looks delicious. I love blackberries.
ReplyDeleteThanks for sharing your weight loss story. I also recently went on a weight loss journey too. I'm 5'2 and I was at a healthy weight of 107 lb but once I started dating Jason, we were just so happy and eating out all the time. I mean, that's what you do when you have a boyfriend right? A year later, my weight shot up to 131. My trigger to lose weight was hitting that number - I entered the realm of being "overweight" in my height category. That word is absolutely terrifying. So that's when I started my journey - I worked out so hard and did major portion control and lost 33 lb in a year. It was the HARDEST thing to do but something miraculous came with it - I became a workout junkie. I workout every day and I've become a total health freak. Shedding the weight was quite a journey, but like you said, maintaining is also a freaking struggle too. There's so many times when I want to eat a whole cake.
ReplyDeleteBut I'm happy with where I'm at, and it's helpful to have easy, healthy recipes like this.
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Congratulations on your weight loss, but more importantly the maintenance!!
ReplyDeleteI lost and maintained a seventy five pounds before I had my two children, currently I am taking off the last ten pounds from my eight month old. I love you blog and recipes and congratulations again!
Congrats to you as well, Sarah! Thank you for the sweet words :)
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