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![\"Large](\"http:\/\/www.eatdrinkrunwoman.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/McFatster.jpg\")
<\/p>\nIt’s once again that time of year when I foist upon you pictures of a more portly Eat Drink Run Woman (or more appropriately, Eat Drink Eat Some More Drink Even More Eat Eat Eat Eat Eat Drink Drink Drink Fall Asleep on the Couch Woman).<\/p>\n
For those of you who are new readers to EDRW and haven’t taken the time to read through each and every post (SHAME ON YOU), this is what I looked like on May 17, 2005:
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I cringe every time I see these photos; not only for my girth, but for the look on my face. I had let myself go and was extremely unhappy. I could say seeing the number 200 on my scale was a rude wake-up call, but let’s face it — I was verging on that weight for many months prior. But when the numbers went from the high 190s to 200 I finally was motivated enough to do something about it.<\/p>\n
I was blessed with having the most supportive and understanding husband. He NEVER made my weight an issue (although I never did understand his insistence upon keeping a sack of flour on our nightstand). It was only after I had started my weight loss that he admitted a slight lack of desire for me (revealed only after I questioned him directly). To this day he’s my biggest fan and supporter, and I’m thrilled to once again be the size I was when we first started dating (in fact, I’m probably even MORE fit). He still claims it wasn’t my weight that bothered him most; it was the fact my smile had disappeared.<\/p>\n
So, how did I do it?<\/p>\n
As a chef, I’ve had to prepare meals following a variety of diets: Atkins, South Beach, Weight Watchers, blood type, alkalarian, Zone, gluten-free and the “rotation” diet (where my client couldn’t repeat certain foods for several days). Some were due to health reasons, but many were to lose weight. I only prepare dinners, so I had no idea what my clients ate for breakfast and lunch. Inevitably they’d just go back to their regular eating habits.<\/p>\n
Recently one of my clients decided to go on Nutrisystem, despite my assertions that 1) I could portion-control her meals, and 2) my food would be MUCH better. However, she succumbed to the Nutrisystem marketing blitz (although I’m still cooking for her husband). When she first told me her intentions I checked out the company website; the meals held absolutely no appeal after reading about them on the site (full of preservatives, visually unappealing), but when I read a review on a diet blog I was truly repulsed. (They compared the “tuna” in the tuna-noodle casserole to the sludge featured in the classic Saturday Night Live skit on the “Bass-o-Matic.”)<\/p>\n
As you can probably tell, I’m not a big proponent of fad diets. Sure, they may work in the short term (any time you limit your food intake you’re going to lose weight), but few of them teach you how to eat in the “real” world. Once you go off the diet, chances are extremely high you’ll not only gain all the weight back, those pounds will invite their friends to the party. (I experienced this after a brief stint on South Beach).<\/p>\n
This time, I was determined to do things right. I was inspired by Oprah’s Boot Camp, and my darling and I gave up alcohol for 12 weeks to jump-start things. But the biggest change? You guessed it: like Forrest, I started RUN-NING. I had no intentions to run any races; I just wanted to get back into a healthier lifestyle. But a year and 30-pound weight loss later, I set my sights on running another half marathon. I never looked back.<\/p>\n
It’s now three years later and I’ve lost almost 45 pounds since that fateful day. By no means has it been easy; there’ve been ups, downs and plateaus. But I’ve learned so much about myself and how my body responds to food and exercise. It’s clear there’s no such thing as a quick fix.<\/p>\n
My original goal weight for my June marathon was 150 pounds, but I’m very happy with my current weight (which has been fluctuating between 155-158). Not only do I feel leaner and meaner, my speed has certainly increased (my knees also thank me).<\/p>\n
![\"May](\"http:\/\/www.eatdrinkrunwoman.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/May2008.jpg\")
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It’s once again that time of year when I foist upon you pictures of a more portly Eat Drink Run Woman (or more appropriately, Eat Drink Eat Some More Drink Even More Eat Eat Eat Eat Eat Drink Drink Drink Fall Asleep on the Couch Woman). For those of you who are new readers to […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[12],"tags":[21,17],"class_list":["post-132","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-weight-weightdont-tell-me","tag-fad-diets","tag-weight-loss"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/eatdrinkrunwoman.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/132","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/eatdrinkrunwoman.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/eatdrinkrunwoman.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/eatdrinkrunwoman.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/eatdrinkrunwoman.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=132"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/eatdrinkrunwoman.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/132\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/eatdrinkrunwoman.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=132"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/eatdrinkrunwoman.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=132"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/eatdrinkrunwoman.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=132"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}