Getting Real

The other day, I met a lady at the pool. We were getting ready for our water aerobics class and she proclaimed that this was her first class ever. So being the helpful one that I am....I gave her the low down of the class, told  her she could work at her own pace and most importantly, I asked her to come back and try it again.  

During our conversation I asked her why she was taking the class ~ was it for fitness or weight loss (I did not want to presume her purposes for being there). She said, "Well obviously I need to get weight off, but I am looking for fitness." I encouraged her and asked her what she was doing to get the weight off. And she said, "I don't eat very much, so I don't know why I'm so heavy. I was just thinking if I added some exercise that maybe that would help."

FLASH BACK.....How many times did I say those same words? How many times......When in reality, I would not have ever gotten to the size that I was, at 274 pounds, if I ate like a bird. The reality is, I did eat TOO MUCH!!! And the wrong types of food. I wonder why we think this way ~ minimizing the truth?

At this point, I let the lady know that I've been on my journey for a while and have lost 66 pounds. She asked me how I did it and I said, by tracking calories and exercising. 

Then I gave her a little challenge. I asked her to just write down every thing she eats every day and look up the calories for each item. She said she did not know how to do that and I referred her to the Internet and let her know there are many calorie counting options available. I said just do it for a week and find out just how many calories she is taking in. Then I let her know I did that and once I found the amount, I simply ate 100 - 200 calories less and the weight started to come off. Oh, I forgot to tell her this, the other big thing I did was stop eating fast food and drinking diet soda. That helped a lot!!!

Once the class got started we kind of got mixed up in the crowd. For a time, I was thinking I may have come off a little too stern in my explanation and enthusiasm for lowering calorie intake. Especially when she did not think this was her problem. And maybe she's right, maybe she really does eat very little. I can't be sure. But I just could not help sharing what I believe is the truth about how "I" got fat. Because this bird ate more than it's fair share of food and I got fat! 

I hope she took in some of the information and will be back to the class. 

I'm still working on this calorie thing. If I get them down and keep them down, I lose weight.....if I don't ~ I gain or maintain. For me...exercise works for a while, but the reality, for me is, I have to get my calories down and keep them down, consistently, to lose weight.

How about you...what works for you?

Keep focused!