They Walk Among Us: Kim K.

Welcome to the next installment of They Walk Among Us, a series of interviews with my online and offline friends who have lost significant weight and kept it off for many years. So far we have had Kate, Sheila, Amanda, Shelley, and Phillip; this is Kim K.

Kim K is my first reader to volunteer to be interviewed for the series; after being inspired by the other stories, she mentioned in the comments one day that she too was a maintainer. Of course I emailed her immediately to ask her to join us, and she graciously agreed. I'm so pleased and excited she was willing to share her story (and pictures, I love before and after pictures!) with me, and now I get to share them with you.

Let's meet Kim.



Background: how much weight did you lose, what did you do to lose it, how long ago was it?

I decided I was sick and tired of being sick and tired on August 3, 2008 and lost 55 pounds by counting calories and exercising.  I was down to my goal weight around April of 2009.  I am 5’4” and I weighed 193 on Day 1 and am now maintaining around 137.



Transition: once you lost the weight, what did you do in the beginning to move into maintenance?

While I was losing I always thought ahead to maintenance and decided I wouldn’t do anything to lose weight that I couldn’t sustain for a lifetime.  I was kind of freaked out about maintenance and was scared I couldn’t be a member of that elusive club of people who can lose weight and keep it off.  I actually kept losing a few pounds until I realized I needed to add an extra snack or so to my day.  I once heard the difference between maintaining and gaining could be as little as half a baked potato a day.  That really pretty mind-blowing, but I have figured out how to maintain.  For me, I can maintain if most of my days are around 1800 calories.  I’ve decided I’m not willing to go lower than that.  It’s not about the best life I can tolerate, but the best life I can enjoy.

Maintenance: what do you eat now to keep it off?

I basically eat whatever I want, just in moderation.  I am fortunate that I actually enjoy apples, yogurt, boiled eggs, salmon, fish, and chicken.  I’ve even discovered that I enjoy vegetables; I just like them raw and crunchy (carrots, radishes, spinach, celery).  I used to always have a starchy carb with my evening meal and now I have some kind of non-starchy vegetable.  I have sweet treats as well.  I like ice cream, but I know I have to purchase portion-controlled ice cream sandwiches.  I also like to bake spice muffins with pumpkin and golden raisins.  Most of my meals come from my kitchen so I have control over the ingredients.  I don’t eat out all that often, and when I do, it is a treat so I might choose the healthier option, but I might choose to splurge since it is only an occasional indulgence.

Maintenance: do you exercise? What do you do?

Even when I was heavier I was always fairly active.  I walk or ride my bicycle and do it 4-5 times per week.  I enjoy being outside and crave sunlight so I usually exercise outside.  If the weather is really, really bad I can ride my stationary bike.  3 days a week I will do a 20 routine of sit-ups, push-ups, and dumbbells. 

Self-Image/Attitude: do you think of yourself as overweight still, or have you adjusted to what you look like now? Because I have to admit, when I first saw all of you, I was surprised to find out at all that you had ever been overweight.

This is kind of a tough one to answer.  I don’t want to sugar coat anything around weight loss.  I think I might be more image-conscious now than I was 55 pounds ago.  I try to be a kind, caring, and a gentle person with everyone in my life and I am trying to treat myself as well as I treat others regarding body image.  That one is kind of a work in progress.



Self-Image/Attitude: how do you keep yourself from going slack and gaining it back? What's your motivation from letting yourself tip too far back?

Before I ever started this whole journey I asked myself what I was willing to do forever.  I knew I needed to find some healthy things I was willing to do for the long term or I would be a yo-yo dieter.  I’m always willing to exercise consistently, to track my food daily, weigh daily, and spend a couple of hours weekly preparing food.  I guess the things that are “controversial” are the daily weighing and tracking.  If I had an eating disorder maybe the daily weighing would be a problem, but after doing this for so long I know what is a “real” gain and what is just a fluctuation.  I want to catch any slip-ups immediately.  I’m afraid if I let it get to be 10 pounds I might just throw in the towel. 

Tracking is pretty easy for me because I eat the same foods A LOT.  I track with my own Word document and have also started using LoseIt.com.  I am totally in awe of those who do the intuitive eating thing.  I tried that, but I figure my food intuition has been out of whack for a few decades so I don’t really trust it.  I guess that is the nuts and bolts of how I maintain, but really the biggest struggle is getting the mental motivation.  I have tons of mantras that I read and they usually will be enough to get me to go lace up my tennis shoes for my walk or step away from the snacks.  I read a lot of blogs and books, and whenever I read something inspirational I put it in my little collection of quotes to read on a day when I’m not feeling like following the healthy plan.



(The following is from Jeannette Fulda’s book “Half-Assed” and I read it a lot.) (Kristen's note: I love that book too!)

I have to think about food and exercise more than I’d like to, but that’s the price I pay, and it will probably never go away.  I am in remission.  I will always have to monitor my weight.  I will always have to make decisions about what I eat until the day they stop making food.  There will always be days when the couch and a pair of slippers look more appealing than the trail and my dirty running shoes.  I may have lost the weight, but it could still find me again.

Last question: I know there is no one secret to success, but...what's your secret? :)

I wish I had the perfect answer for this one, but I’m not really sure.  I’m not sure why on August 3, 2008 I started on a journey that would be successful.  I had certainly tried other times, but I never sustained it long enough to see lasting success.  I would encourage people who are struggling, to keep trying and to be patient and forgiving of yourself.  What if you try 35 times and give up, but it would have been the 36th time that would have clicked?  If I can do this, I know you can do it.  Yes – you can do this!  Find blog writers who inspire you, find books that inspire you, go to LoseIt or Sparkpeople and find people who will encourage you.  Find the healthy things you are willing to do for a lifetime.  Start small, enjoy some success, and then add another healthy item.  Don’t wait for the perfect time to start your road to a healthy life, start right now.



Thanks so much for sharing your story and your success with us, Kim!

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This may be the end of the series; I may have one other interview in the pipeline, but I don't know if my friend will be finished by next week. If you are a maintainer and are interested in sharing your story, please email me at lowfatdressing1012@gmail.com.

I have really loved hosting this, and have learned so much and have been so inspired by everyone. I am proud to call all of them my friends.  Thank you from the bottom of my heart.

They Walk Among Us: Phillip

Welcome to the next installment of They Walk Among Us, a series of interviews with my online and offline friends who have lost significant weight and kept it off for many years. So far we have had Kate, Sheila, Amanda, and Shelley; this is Phillip.

OMG, a guy! I know!

Phillip is one of my co-workers, and one of the brightest spots of my day. He is funny and smart and cool and a little dorky, all in the very best ways; he has great stories, and a great dramatic flair in telling them. He's got an amazing background too: born and raised in the South, he moved to Chicago for a job as an opera singer with the Lyric Opera. He has moved from that into healthcare data analysis (like me, sort of) but still does some singing on the side. We haven't heard him sing yet at work, but I am convinced it is only a matter of time. He's tall and lean, and one day when I was lamenting about my giant dupa, he informed me that he too had once been overweight. I didn't believe him until he brought in the picture of him in the Indiana t-shirt. Dude!

Anyway, let's meet Phillip.

Background: how much weight did you lose, what did you do to lose it, how long ago was it?



Well, it wasn't all at once.  I was at my heaviest the Summer between undergrad and grad school at about 265. Throughout my first year of grad school, I slowly lost weight, mainly due to fending for myself for meals instead of a cafeteria with unlimited refills.  That weight maintained through grad school until I moved to Chicago, where I joined the Ryan Opera Center of Lyric Opera of Chicago.



There I was told to lose weight to help make myself more marketable, and I'm sure, to be aesthetically pleasing on stage.  That's when I did Weight Watchers (which wasn't really adjusted for men yet) and lost 20 pounds in the first month.  I did see 194 at the lowest, but ended up gaining back more over the next few years because it wasn't something I could maintain.  I also got very comfortable with my significant other at the time, so that surely didn't help the waistline.



When we separated, I had had enough and started a weight loss regimen that consisted of both diet AND exercise. The things it did for my body were really great. This was a much more effective way to lose weight keep it off.  I got down to an all-time best weight of 183 (82 pounds from the start) and couldn't have been happier.  Since then I've gained a few pounds back, but not nearly the volume I did before.



Transition: Once you lost the weight, what did you do in the beginning to move into maintenance?

Maintenance was much easier when I had incorporated exercise into the mix.  This way I could still eat a fairly normal diet and maintain the weight as long as it was counterbalanced by the workouts.  When my schedule got busier, obviously the workouts were pushed aside, but you can usually find a place to make it up.

Maintenance: what do you eat now to keep it off?  

Now, I try to stick to a meals lower in calories.  Special K for breakfast, Lean Cuisine and Yogurt for Lunch, then a "sensible dinner" which for me is usually a protein (chicken, turkey sausage, fish) and veggies (generally steamed) and maybe a low-cal dessert like Skinny Cow or fruit.

Maintenance: Do you exercise? What do you do?  



When I exercise, it almost always includes 30 minutes of cardio.  Other than that, I try to mix in some strength training to make me all buff (HA!).  I do try to vary when during my workout I do cardio, just to keep my body from getting to used to it. 

Self-Image/Attitude: Do you think of yourself as overweight still, or have you adjusted to the what you look like now? Because I have to admit, I was surprised to find out that you had ever been overweight.

I know I still have the problem areas that I've always had (damn love handles), but all in all, I'm happy with my body.  It's not perfect, but it never will be.



Self-Image/Attitude: How do you keep yourself from going slack and gaining it back? What's your motivation from letting yourself tip too far back?

CLOTHES! I hate spending money on clothes that I love that I can't get into anymore because my fat ass won't fit in them. As soon as that "one piece" that you really love to wear doesn't fit anymore, it's time to correct your course.


(I made him wear this sweater again for the blog post. It's my favorite of all of his very sharp outfits. That color!)

Last question: I know there is no one secret to success, but...what's your secret? :)

Well, I do have an app on my phone called Lose It!, which helps me track my weight loss and food log every day.  Keeping track of what you eat/should be eating is a real eye opener. Also, I try to eliminate temptation whenever possible.  Saying no can be the hardest thing you do, but definitely pays off big time in the end.


(Outside at a fire drill with our other co-worker, R. You may be seeing her again soon!)

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Thanks, Phillip, for sharing your story and your success with us. You da man!

They Walk Among Us: Shelley

Welcome to the next installment of They Walk Among Us, a series of interviews with my online and offline friends who have lost significant weight and kept it off for many years. So far we have had Kate, Sheila, and Amanda; this is Shelley.

Shelley is the fabulous blogger at My Journey to Fit, and quite simply the nicest person on the internet. She is funny and self-aware, loving and silly, determined and adventurous. When sidelined by an ankle injury this year that kept her from running her beloved 5Ks, she groused for a bit, then took up swimming and knitting to get her through. In the end she amassed a solid collection of color-coordinated swim gear (she loves color-coordinating!) and handmade scarves, and kept herself motivated and exercising to boot.

She also manages to find the most unusual 5K races, and her family and friends join in to take pictures and enjoy themselves along the way. They've run over obstacle courses on the beach, in the mud, in costumes, you name it! Her race recaps are the best. And even better than that, Shelley posts about her loving, hilarious family; her sons are both grown and out of the house, but when they are all back together, the enjoyment they all get being together radiates from every photo.

On top of all of that, she lost over 100 pounds! 

They Walk Among Us: Shelley

Background: how much weight did you lose, what did you do to lose it, how long ago was it?

I lost a total of 110 pounds - it took me about a year and a half to lose the first 100, and the next ten came off verrrry gradually.  I began my diet in May of 2008, and although I did regain a bit after I injured my ankle and had to stop running, I've considered myself to be in maintenance mode since around September of 2011.

I started with a mostly liquid, high-protein diet that was prescribed by my doctor – I had hoped to lose a large chunk of weight fairly quickly, in order to give me momentum to keep going.  I ended up staying with that for about three months before I transitioned myself to counting calories – and as I lost weight and became more aware of “clean eating” my food choices changed from eating prepackaged frozen diet meals to lean meats, fresh fruit and veggies, whole grains and Greek yogurt.

Transition: once you lost the weight, what did you do in the beginning to move into maintenance?

Unfortunately, I don't think I had a great plan for maintenance, although I knew that maintenance was important.  Mostly I relied on my running to keep my body compact, and I tried to stick to my new healthier way of eating - I did not go back to zipping into a fast food drive-thru, for example.

Maintenance: what do you eat now to keep it off?

I eat small meals; a lot of fruit, a good amount of vegetables (although there seem to be some weeks when I could be doing better at that), not a whole lot of meat, and really, food is not super important to me anymore.  Well, except for frozen yogurt.  I have my vice!

 Maintenance: do you exercise? What do you do?

I think exercise is a big part of maintenance - for one thing, it reminds me that I am a fit and healthy person now who doesn't spend her days sitting around.  Plus, it really does make me feel good, even if I'm not enjoying it in the moment.  My favorite form of exercise is running.  Period.  Unfortunately, after my injury, I had to change things up and grudgingly started swimming, which I like, but still, running's better.  I did outdoor yoga for several months and hope to get back to that when it starts up again.  I still ride my bike, but more for random fun and less for real exercise.  I'm getting back to running, but in the interest of not hurting myself again, I'll run less days and continue to swim.

June 2008

June 2009

June 2010

June 2011

Self-Image/Attitude: do you think of yourself as overweight still, or have you adjusted to what you look like now? Because I have to admit, when I first saw all of you, I was surprised to find out at all that you had ever been overweight.

I still struggle with thinking of myself as overweight.  Last year I caught sight of a woman in a store window and realized it was me - and that I looked like a normal-sized person - honestly, it was a shock.  I take a lot of pictures, because I went decades with trying to NOT be in any shots, and also because I really can't believe that thinner person IS me.

Self-Image/Attitude: how do you keep yourself from going slack and gaining it back? What's your motivation from letting yourself tip too far back?

I like being able to do so much more now that I will never go back.  I spent too many years overweight - most of my adult life.  This is my new normal.  And it's pretty cool.

Last question: I know there is no one secret to success, but...what's your secret? :)

Secret to success?  Wear jeans every day.  You can't get away with gaining any weight if you wear jeans.  Sounds a little silly, but I guess you could rephrase that to say be aware of your body shape and size - don't let it get away from you.  Unfortunately we all know how easy that is, so constant vigilance is necessary.

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Thank you so much Shelley for sharing your story and your success with us!

You can read more of Shelley's thoughts on Thinking Beyond the Diet here. There is also a post of her progress photos, where I copied several of the ones for this post. (Is everyone a fan of before-and-after photos like I am? They're so inspirational!)

Friday Bouquet

1. Wow, thanks to everyone who chimed in with some awesome righteous indignation on my behalf as well as some excellent ideas to get me to incorporate 30 minutes of daily exercise for the Bottom Line Challenge at work. Lots and lots of good ideas, and you all definitely nudged me out of my foul mood about it.

Especially my sister, who responded with a cheery, "Suck it up, buttercup!" 

Nice, right? ;-D



 2. Since it is going to have to be every day, I think using a flexible combination of exercise types will work best; I can adjust depending on my time and stress levels of the day. Some of the ones I will be doing are:

-Wii yoga in the morning, either 15 or 30 minute increments
-Wii dancing in the morning, either 15 or 30 minute increments
-walking with Hubby in the early evening
-walking on breaks with co-workers
-walking on my own, with my "cans" on and zoning out to my music
-possibly swimming on the weekend mornings. I have to check if the park district pool has morning lap time on the weekends, or I might look into joining another gym with more pools.
-10-minute increments with the weights and heehee the Shakeweight I bought and never used while watching TV
-make sure my membership at the Chicago Botanic Garden is renewed and do some weekend morning walks there. (Where all the photos in this post were taken over the years. You can thank my mom and dad for buying me a membership for Christmas for many years.)

I'll be starting this weekend.



3. Weirdly, the one suggestion that I won't be doing right away is buying new exercise clothes. I have drawers full of them already; buying cute workout clothes has been my usual default preparation step when I think I am going to start working out, and honestly, those drawers of barely-worn clothes have been just another reminder of my repeated failure to actually implement those plans. So I don't really need them, and I don't want them. I don't want to do this the same way I've done it before; clearly that hasn't worked. So I am just jumping in and wearing what I already have. Maybe later as a reward I'll buy something cute. :)



4. I am so, so glad you guys are enjoying the "They Walk Among Us" series. I am absolutely loving it; while everyone is so different, there are certain themes that echo among all of them, and have already taught me a lot about my own journey.

• Losing significant weight stretches out over a long period of time. Patience and persistence over the ups and downs is necessary; just don't give up.
• There isn't one particular diet that works for everyone, and many of them used a variety of them along the way. 
• Eating whole, healthy food is how you take it off and keep it off.
• Exercise in some form is required.

5. I do have several more interviews queued up, but if you are a maintainer and are willing to tell your story, I would love to have you join us! Email me at lowfatdressing1012@gmail.com and I will send you the questions. I hope to hear from you!!



6. This week has been so strange: my husband has been in London for work, I've had a training class onsite for most of the week so there have been new people roaming the office and I've been working late, and of course the weather has been so amazing the windows are wide open at home all day long.  The cats are completely befuddled; all of their routines are disturbed and there is a person missing in the house. They are not pleased.

Hubby comes home this afternoon, and next week will be our first week of having a full staff on my team. I am sure the first few weeks will be just as busy as the last ones, since the two new people need to get up to speed, but I am beginning to see the light at the end of the tunnel. Hurray!

Have a lovely weekend, everyone.



1. African Daisies, 2. Purple echinacea, 3. Field in wider perspective, 4. Orange and Purple coneflowers in a field, 5. Gargoyle Fountain, Spring, 6. Irises around the pond, 7. Faces to the sun, 8. A welcoming entrance, 9. Baby Blue Eyes, 10. Inverted Baby Blue Eyes, 11. Like, wow. Totally., 12. Lilies of the Valley, 13. Bleeding Heart, 14. Allium, 15. Colombine, 16. African Daisy

They Walk Among Us: Amanda

Welcome to the next installment of They Walk Among Us, a new series of interviews with my online and offline friends who have lost significant weight and kept it off for many years. So far we have had Kate and Sheila; this is Amanda.

Amanda is a real-life friend I met through other friends on the internet. (At this point we all have those, right?) Amanda lives across the country, but it feels like she's just down the street. She's one of the quickest wits I've ever met, honest and smart and with an uncanny ability to get right to the heart of any situation. She also struggles with social anxiety, so online and off she is a bit of a hermit and a lurker. I was surprised and glad she agreed to be interviewed for this; she kept insisting that her experience wouldn't resonate. I think she was completely wrong; what she talked about struck home with me in many ways.

As always, I love Amanda's brutal honesty.


(Amanda and her cat having a difficult negotiation over his behavior.)

Background: how much weight did you lose, what did you do to lose it, how long ago was it?
Transition: once you lost the weight, what did you do in the beginning to move into maintenance?



I've been thinking about this for a few days now, and I don't know if my experience would be relevant, because I never really lost the weight on purpose. It happened so gradually, over such a long period of time (15 years between my heaviest and my lightest healthy weight), and probably had a lot to do with hormones, emotional states, and the way I traveled from post-adolescence into (semi-)adulthood. I never lost weight as a result of deliberately trying to lose weight (and there were times I did try). And I don't really do anything consciously now to maintain. I guess I generally have healthier eating habits, and I'm generally more active, but I'm also incredibly inconsistent, and periodic depressive episodes can throw things off for months. Keeping my thyroid regulated helps.



I don't know why I never gained most of it back. Maybe my metabolism just changed. Maybe it'll change again soon, and I'll have to start working very hard to keep it off. I'm 5'4". At 17 (1995), I weighed somewhere around 175. Right now, my "normal" equilibrium weight, without exercise, eventually settles at about 130. I've weighed as little as 112, but that was disordered. If I exercise regularly, and eat reasonably (i.e., only when I'm hungry, not too much junk), I settle at 120-125. If I exercise vigorously, like I did last year, I can get below 120, but at that point the number is meaningless, and it's all about how clothes fit.



So as far as that last ten to fifteen pounds (the last five years), I can just say what everyone says. Less sugar. More whole grains. More fruits and vegetables (and a greater variety of food in general--I didn't eat salad until my late twenties). More physical activity.

Maintenance: what do you eat now to keep it off?

The one big change I made that I think really helped is that, as a rule, I really only drink water, coffee, and tea, unsweetened. No soda, no juice, no diet drinks. Not as a restriction, just as a habit. My palate adjusted pretty quickly. Maybe once a week I'll put a little sugar in my coffee. I still like sugar, but I don't need it. If I decide to have an alcoholic drink, or a hot cocoa, or something like that, I know that it's a treat. But not a guilty pleasure. I don't "forbid" myself anything.



Another habit is how I grocery shop. I don't buy junk food or pre-prepared food as groceries (which is why I don't grocery shop at Trader Joe's very often). I try to buy mostly whole grain breads, pastas, brown rice, barley. Skim milk. Real cheese. Plain yogurt. Natural peanut butter. I try to always get frozen green veggies like broccoli, spinach, peas. Which is not to say I don't buy junk food at the Wawa or at the drug store, but it's not groceries. This works for me since I eat most of my meals at home.

And when I'm out at a restaurant I order whatever the hell I want. :)

Maintenance: do you exercise? What do you do?



Exercise was a huge, huge hurdle for me. Mentally, it took so much effort to begin to conceive of myself as a person who would do that. I was always the worst at gym, the nerd, the clumsy, weak, chubby introvert. You know how women can be obstinate about not wearing makeup or not caring about their clothes and justify it as some kind of statement about their identity, when it's really fear and low self-esteem. "I'm being true to myself!" Well, that's not your self. That's your appearance. It's an adolescent way of thinking, and in its own way it's incredibly narcissistic. I was stuck in that for a long time. In some ways I just grew up and got over myself.

Physically, of course, exercise can be an absolutely miserable experience, especially at first. I figured out that what worked for me was incrementalism. If it's too hard, or it makes me feel like shit, I won't waste my time.

Breaking and making habits, in my own life, is a complete mystery. I used to brutally murder my fingernails and cuticles on a regular basis. And now more often than not I have healthy nails. But I didn't "quit" biting my nails. I just...don't do it very often anymore. And when I do, it's a one time thing and doesn't start a vicious cycle of blood and band-aids.

I'm mostly impervious to external motivation, penalties, and rewards. I think, in some ways, I maintain whatever good habits I have simply be being less tolerant of causing myself pain.

Self-Image/Attitude: do you think of yourself as overweight still, or have you adjusted to what you look like now? Because I have to admit, when I first saw you, I was surprised to find out at all that you had ever been overweight.
Self-Image/Attitude: how do you keep yourself from going slack and gaining it back? What's your motivation from letting yourself tip too far back?
Last question: I know there is no one secret to success, but.what's your secret? :)

I can speak to the self image stuff. I've had serious low self esteem problems my whole life. It's really, deeply ingrained. I don't still feel like a "fat" person, but I still hate "my fat." I hate my body most of the time. This is a big reason I plan to get back to regular exercise this year. Even though it makes me so self conscious, especially at the beginning, comparing myself to other people in the gym, and it can aggravate my social anxiety...eventually, I start to focus more on what my body can do rather than how it looks. And my mood will improve, and I'll be able to enjoy the fact that I look better, rather than excoriating myself because I don't look perfect. It's hard to take pleasure in small improvements when I'm focused on all the deficits, the negatives, the flaws and mistakes, and that makes it hard to move forward. But exercise really does change my brain for the better.

I think another factor is that as I get older, my thinking habits have changed. I'm more rational, less emotional (not that I'm very rational or not emotional) in making decisions. I'm more observant of myself and my reactions. When I'm mentally healthy, I'm much less prone to all-or-nothing thinking. I set more realistic goals.

So I guess my secret is grow up, get a job, move out of your parents' house, and hate yourself less.



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Thank you so, so much for sharing your story and success with me, Amanda. More than I could possibly express.

They Walk Among Us: Sheila

Welcome to the next installment of They Walk Among Us, a new series of interviews with my online and offline friends who have lost significant weight and kept it off for many years. Last week was Kate; this is Sheila. Sheila runs a blog called Ephemera, which like Low Fat Dressing is about her daily fashion choices, with random photos of her adorable cats and occasionally the world around her (she's Canadian, as you can tell, what with her strange spelling of "savour" and insistence on measuring distances in kilometers, teehee). Sheila and I have been following each other's blogs for a few years now, and she's always a delight. She manages to find the most amazing one-of-a-kind pieces at consignment stores, and puts together outfits that could belong to no one else but her.  She's also inspirational in her devotion to maintaining her loss and encouraging others to do the same, as you shall see.

Let's meet Sheila.

They Walk Among Us

Background: how much weight did you lose, what did you do to lose it, how long ago was it?

I lost 50 lbs between August 2006 and March/April 2007, doing Weight Watchers. I am coming up on 5 years maintaining my loss – go, me! I went from a size 18 to a size 4-6. I started at 188 pound and maintain around 136-138 lbs.



Transition: once you lost the weight, what did you do in the beginning to move into maintenance?

I was working towards my goal of doing a marathon before I turned 40, so I was training and doing 10K/6 mile walks every weekend, sometimes up to 14K/ 8.5 miles and 22K/ 13 miles to prepare for the 42K/26.2 miles of the marathon. All that activity really helped! I ate a little bit more than I had when I was in “loss mode”.

I’ve always allowed myself one day (my weigh-in day, Saturday) as my “eat anything” day. I don’t count WW Points on that day, track or otherwise beat myself up or feel guilty about what I want to eat, and I know that I always have that “cheat” day to look forward to. I have my wine, usually some chocolate and/or chips, whatever I feel like. It’s always helped me not feel deprived of the treats I like to eat.

Maintenance: what do you eat now to keep it off?

I eat a lot of whole foods vs. processed/prepared foods that I used to eat when I was overweight.

I grocery shop once a week, prep all my food ahead of time (I pack a lunch Mon-Thurs, and pre-pack all my salads and pre-make all my sandwiches for the week on Sunday – they’re wrapped, they stay fresh).

I also cook a lot more than I used to, and really enjoy spending 3-4 hours on a Sunday afternoon cooking up a couple batches of soup and freezing it for during the week when I’m most tired and not wanting to cook. I plan in advance, based on our social/work calendar, what we’re going to eat all week.

Specific foods that I focus on: lots of veggies (up to 10 servings a day), lean protein (mostly chicken, seafood, bison, beef, some tofu, eggs), fat-free dairy, olive oil, whole grains (barley, quinoa, brown rice, popcorn!). I also still drink wine and eat baked chips. Yum! I do really try to eat whole foods as much as possible.

I try not to buy things that I know I will just eat at random – and that includes “diet” bars or chips. I plan when I’m going to treat myself and buy accordingly.

 Maintenance: do you exercise? What do you do?

I do a lot of little things that add up. I walk to and from work 4 days a week. I walk to town for errands. I take the stairs at my condo (4 floors) instead of the elevator. I take the stairs at work (6 floors –it’s a lot of stairs!). I do a long walk most Sundays on my usual 8K/ 5 mile route. I do “pee pushups” – hee hee!

Self-Image/Attitude: do you think of yourself as overweight still, or have you adjusted to what you look like now? Because I have to admit, when I first saw all of you, I was surprised to find out at all that you had ever been overweight.

I know I still have the potential to be overweight again – I have lost weight in the past (40 lbs) and then gained it all back. I have adjusted to what I look like now – taking my picture every day on my blog has given me a good objective perspective on exactly what I look like now. Knowing that I could easily slip back into those habits that got me overweight keeps me vigilant to make sure I don’t go back there. I was very unhappy with myself when I was overweight – I would hide in my closet and cry before special events because I hated that none of my clothes fit.

Self-Image/Attitude: how do you keep yourself from going slack and gaining it back? What's your motivation from letting yourself tip too far back?

Well, I’ll lose my job at WW, for one, ha ha! Seriously, heart disease runs in my family (my dad died of a heart attack at 55, my doctor had sent me for an EKG, my blood pressure and cholesterol were through the roof before I lost the weight), so I’m motivated for my health. Losing weight for me was not about getting “skinny” (I will never think of myself as skinny anyway!); it was about getting healthy and staying healthy.

But pretty much, it’s taking it one day at a time. I don’t let one bad meal, day (or even a week) ruin it all for me. I just pick myself up and start fresh. I remind myself (and my very supportive husband reminds me) that even though I hate prepping veggies, or planning meals in advance, that it’s worth it in the long run. I also set myself up so that I always have healthy foods around, even if that’s just a can of soup, that I can make and eat quickly.


Last question: I know there is no one secret to success, but.what's your secret? :)

One day at a time. There’s a reason why that works for alcoholics, and I do believe that for me, food is very much like having an addiction. Unlike an alcoholic, I can’t quit eating, so I have learned how to deal with “dangerous” situations, whether those are environmental (a dinner out) or emotional (a bad day…or a good day!).

You don’t gain the weight overnight, so don’t expect to lose it overnight. Celebrate the small victories! Five pounds! A new round number! And reward yourself when you hit those – I still have my 50 lb dress, and some of the shoes that I bought when I hit other 5 lb marks.

As mentioned above, I also try to eat whole foods as much as possible – if the ingredient list is a mile long, I’ll skip it (eg. Jars of spaghetti sauces vs. a can of crushed organic tomatoes with my own added spices, veggies and meat). I treat myself, but only with the best – no crappy chocolate for me! It’s dark chocolate, the best quality available, and I really savour it.

+++++

You can also read more about Sheila's weight-loss journey on her own blog:


How Did I Lose the Weight and Keep it Off? (With lots of inspirational pictures!)

I Swear -- My favorite Sheila post of all time: a copy of a wonderful speech she gave for Toastmasters. Makes me bleeping cry every time I read it. :)

Thanks so much for sharing your story and your success, Sheila!

They Walk Among Us: Kate

This is the inaugural post of a new series I am very proud and excited to host on Low Fat Dressing. I'd been looking around at my friends, both offline and online, and I realized that I know several amazing people who not only have lost a significant amount of weight, but have kept it off for many years. You guys, they're maintainers. These elusive creatures not only exist, they walk among us just like regular people.

So I asked them to answer some questions about what they did and how they keep doing it, and they all graciously agreed. I've lost weight several times in my life, but I've never managed to maintain it. I admire my friends for doing so, and I am proud to share their stories with you.

This is Kate.


(Me and After-Kate at her bachelorette party, May 2011)

They Walk Among Us

Background: How much weight did you lose, what did you do to lose it, how long ago was it?

I started developing early, 4th grade! And from that point on, I starting slowly gaining weight.  By the time I finished my freshman year of college in 1998, a visit to the Dr. showed I weighed 185lbs.  I am not quite 5'4".  My visit to the doctor was due to the fact that I was dealing with horrible acid reflux and other gross digestive issues that were caused by my poor diet at the time.  As a result of that visit, I started changing my diet and very slowly started losing weight.  About a year later  in 1999, I had lost about 40lbs.   After that, I went through long periods of losing weight and plateauing over the next couple of years, but during this whole period I was exercising, dieting, and consciously trying to lose weight.  By the time, I moved to Chicago in 2004, I had lost another 20 lbs. At this point, I was starting to develop some unhealthy, very restrictive eating habits and dropped another 14 pounds as a result.  All told, at my lowest weight, I had lost a total of about 72 pounds.  I have currently gained some of that weight back and am down about 55 pounds from my highest weight and I am trying to lose about 10 lbs that I have gained over the last year or so.

I lost a lot of the weight at the beginning by counting calories and doing the Slim Fast plan. I tried the South Beach diet, Atkins and pretty much every other diet along the way.  I became pretty militant about calorie counting and portion sizes.  I ate a lot of Lean Cuisines during this time.  I also stopped eating greasy junk food and cut back on soda.  I think just switching from Coke to Diet Coke during that first year  was a huge reason I started losing weight.  If we went out to eat, I ate a lot of salads.  I also started exercising more. Riding my bike and I started walk/running, eventually building up to just running.  People, myself included, make losing weight so complicated but in the end for most of us, it is mostly just making healthy food choices and monitoring calories in versus calories out.


(Before-Kate surrounded by pink arrows.)


Transition: Once you lost the weight, what did you do in the beginning to move into maintenance?

This an interesting question for me because I think losing weight and maintaining it is about developing healthy habits and staying conscious of the choices you are making for your body forever. Once you lose weight, you can't just stop those habits. I didn't just diet and lose weight and then go back to eating junk and not exercising again, but I struggled with finding a happy medium between been overly restrictive and eating and maintaining normally. I was very restrictive with my food intake for so long that dieting became the norm/maintenance stage for me.   For a long time, I didn't really know how to eat unless I was restricting. Thankfully, I eventually got to a point in my life where I allowed myself to to eat more calories so that I wasn't actively losing weight, but that transition part was very difficult for me. 

 Maintenance: What do you eat now to keep it off?

My meals are pretty boring and repetitive. I tend to eat the same things all the time.  I maintain my diet better when I have limited choices. In general, I try to eat as much real food as possible and limit my intake of overly processed foods.  For breakfast I usually eat a couple of eggs over easy on toast with fruit or yogurt or peanut butter toast with banana.  For lunch, a sandwich from Subway because it is fairly healthy option if you make good choices, or a Lean Cuisine.  If I snack, it is usually yogurt, fruit, or nuts. For dinner, I try to cook something from scratch and fairly healthy. I mostly eat vegetarian with fish or poultry on occasion. I definitely need to eat more veggies.

When I go out to eat at restaurants, I eat salmon, salad, or  a vegetarian option. I stay away from heavy pastas, and cheesy cream sauces, I typically don't eat red meat unless I am out at dinner at a fine dining restaurant.  Restaurants always serve way too big of portions, and I usually only half of my entree.

I am a 3 square meals kinda girl. I don't snack much.  I don't buy sweets, or junky snack foods when I go to the grocery store and don't keep them in the house.  If I want something like ice cream, chocolate, chips, or crackers. I have to make the effort to go buy them.  I still monitor my portion sizes and estimate my calorie intake for the day on most days. 

Maintenance: Do you exercise? What do you do?

Yes, I run mostly. 3-5 days a week depending if I am training for a race or not. Running was what helped me kick start my weight loss, and I still love to do it.  I have started doing yoga 1x or 2x a week. which I also love.  I occasionally use the elliptical machine that we own, but I hate it so I don't use it unless the weather is really bad.  I also do some strength training such as core work, push-ups, light weights, etc. once every week or so.


(After-Kate racing in the Chicago Marathon this fall.)


Self-Image/Attitude: Do you think of yourself as overweight still, or have you adjusted to what you look like now? Because I have to admit, when I first saw you, I was surprised to find out at all that you had ever been overweight.

I think I will always consider myself an overweight person. I admit I struggle a lot with accepting my body and not thinking of myself as fat and overweight, even when I am at healthy weight.  I'm proud of myself because I have, for the most part, overcome my disordered eating habits and the destructive thoughts/self-image that went hand in hand with that.  That said, there is always that lingering voice inside my head that says I am fat and that I could easily go back to being fat.  I don't know if that will ever go away.


(I think Before-Kate is on the left in purple?)

Self-Image/Attitude: How do you keep yourself from going slack and gaining it back? What's your motivation from letting yourself tip too far back?

Well, I have gained a bit of weight since my wedding which I am trying to lose, but in general, for me I establish a weight, usually no-more than 5-6 pounds over my happy weight that I allow myself to fluctuate to.  If I see the scale starting to creep towards that weight, the red flashing danger light starts to go off, and that is a signal to me to increase the exercise and stop indulging.  I don't think you should become a slave to the scale, but I weigh myself 2-3 times a week to make sure my weight is staying on track.


(After-Kate at her first fitting for her wedding dress. Her actual wedding pictures are stupendous.)


Last question: I know there is no one secret to success, but…what's your secret? :)

During the process of losing weight and maintaining that weight loss,  I had to come to the understanding that I was never going to be able to eat like I did before and stay thin. I was never going to be able to not exercise like I did before and maintain my weight loss.   If I wanted the weight loss to be for life, I just had to accept those two things as fact.

Eventually, for me,  exercise and eating healthy just became a fact of life though the road to get there was a struggle.  

I know that exercising, eating healthy and consciously paying attention to my food intake is something I have to do for life, and I think about those things daily.  I never want to go back to weighing 185 pounds.  I still estimate my calorie intake on most days.  I watch my portion size.  I am conscious about what I order at restaurants.  I don't snack on junk food very often. I try to watch my sweets/processed sugar intake.  I try not to drink my calories. These are habits I developed when I was losing weight and they are habits that served me well. I am not perfect. I have bad eating days and I indulge when I feel like it, but I actively to keep those times limited.




Thanks so much for sharing your story and your success, Kate! Check her out at her fun blog, Cakegirl on the Run. Because not only is Kate a marathoner and a maintainer, she bakes amazing cakes. A-MAZING.

Tune in next Wednesday for the next entry. :)