“How did you do it?”
It’s a question I get a lot these days. Usually when I run into someone I haven’t seen in awhile or I meet people who hear about my weight loss.
In most cases I think the question is merely polite and conversational, but I remember when I used to ask others the same thing it was laced with the futile hope for a silver bullet answer, a simple and quick solution to the extra 65 pounds that had plagued me for more than a dozen years. A desire for a pill you take and the weight just falls off with no extra work, without changing a thing. Or perhaps a new diet that involves some rare South American fruit that tastes delicious, fills your stomach, and again, (see the pattern here?) the pounds literally melt off. These days when I get the “how did you do it?” question I occasionally recognize that look, eyes that say they know that no such bullet exists, but desperation keeps the hope alive.
Now that I'm well on the weight loss road, I’m afraid my answer always disappoints. I lost the weight the old-fashioned way: consuming fewer and smarter calories, and exercising more. I know, I know, what a bummer, huh? But it is the truth, a hard-won truth that most people don’t want to hear. When I’m asked that question and someone really does want to know the answer, I break my success down into three major categories.
Diet
I used to hate that word. “Die” with a “t” on the end. But I’ve come to embrace it. Not as the short-term, silver bullet type definition, but rather the “what I get to eat for the rest of my life” definition. Notice the use of “get to eat” rather than “am forced to eat” because it really is way more pleasant than I anticipated.
When I tried to lose weight before, my biggest fear was hunger. I really, really hate being hungry. I hate suffering in general, actually. But the funny part is, I haven’t had to go hungry at all. I eat more often instead of less often, every three hours, in fact.
In January I was struggling to lose each pound and I was hungry and pissed off pretty much all of the time. When I complained to a friend at the gym about how slow the loss was going, she asked me if I was “eating clean.” Huh? She gave me a copy of Oxygen Magazine and I was intrigued by the ripped woman on the cover.
Article comments
1 - Dr. Joseph S. Maresca
The one sure way to rid yourself of pre-Diabetes is to make substitutions. You need to
have more salads instead of carbs. Substitute soda with water, herbal teas, decaf coffee
etc. Utilize stevia which can be bought in any health food store for about 7 cents per packet
or less. Have more fruits/veggies. Substitute tuna fish and veggie burgers for fatty meats.
These are some of the things to do in order to get the pancreas functioning well again.
Lastly, you need to see an endocrinologist instead of a regular primary care physician.
The endocrinologist does a lot of things that the primary care physician doesn't do as
thoroughly. The endocrinologist takes more sensitive blood screenings, examines the
lower extremities for signs of diabetic manifestations like a pinkish hue color of the
skin. In addition, the skin may not have a ruddy complexion. Instead, the skin color
may be whitish like a ghost. Wounds don't heal quickly. That's another diabetic manifestation.
Patients get red eye sometimes.
2 - Molly Pease
Yay, Annie! I have watched you and cheered for your success. Thank you for doing it selflessly and sharing your trials with all of us. You are a rockstar!
3 - Ann Cardinal
I hear you, Dr. Maresca. Luckily it seems to be a bullet I've dodged with the weight I've lost already, but I've been making the changes you suggest anyway.
And Molly, thank you! It is the cheering of friends like you that make change possible!
4 - Robin Ann Barron
I love your blog, Ann. It is SO resonant and inspiring. I started walking, then running, in July after NOT running for at least 25 years. I run almost exclusively on gravel, not hard roads. I have new shoes that are VERY comfortable. The dog needs to run off his two-year-old energy. I need to exercise now that I've started baking seriously and almost professionally. And I feel great. I do exercise diligently every day. I'm not paying much attention to diet yet, although I do find that i'm less hungry and I eat better food. Thanks for writing!
5 - Ann Cardinal
Thanks for reading, Robin! Yes, baking and running go together nicely, ask Gesine Bullock-Prado! And most of the experts (including Tosca, my idol) agree, you don't need to count calories if you're eating the right things.
6 - Dr. Joseph S. Maresca
The endocrinologist is the physician of choice because he/she can explain how the various organs cooperate like the liver, pancreas and kidneys. The A1C is the gold standard for the blood chemistry. People with a normal A1C level are more likely to have smaller amounts of weight to lose, if any weight at all. An exercise program is important, as well as 8 or more hours of sleep a night. People who sleep more-eat less.
7 - Ann Cardinal
Oh Dr. Maresca, the sleep issue is SO true. I was exhausted all the time when I had apnea. Now I recognize I need the 8 hours every night. Sleep is my drug of choice! :)
8 - Dr. Joseph S. Maresca
Time spent sleeping is time not eating!
9 - Jodi Paloni
Dear Ann, Thanks for sharing your personal health process with such rollicking prose! I usually get about halfway through an article on health because I get bogged down with boredom. Now I'm headed out for the walk that was going to take before I read this which was right after I ate a bowl of ice cream instead of taking the walk. And so happy to hear that I have permission to sleep more!!! Here's to twenty more! Jodi
10 - Ann Cardinal
Yay! thanks so much, Jodi! Enjoy your walk!
11 - Dr Joseph S Maresca
Diabetes is a nasty condition which kills. The government should concentrate its attention on eliminating child diabetes.