Weight Loss Journey Part I of II

Five or six years ago, I began a looonnnnng weight loss/health journey that is still very much a work in progress. It began when I hit the highest weight I had ever been (including during all eight or my pregnancies!) AND my husband and I began ballroom dancing. I had wanted to ballroom dance for many years--and when I received lessons from Ray as a Christmas gift in 2005, I was ELATED. However, I quickly found out that dancing at the weight I was at the time was nearly impossible.

But dance we did. We danced as much as we could the first few years--group classes, private lessons, practice sessions (the studio was just a few miles from our home), and open dances. Soon I found that I was losing weight little by little just from dancing--until after three or four years later I had lost thirty pounds. However, to lose more weight and get healthier, I had to change my eating habits--something I did not want to do.

Three years ago, still dancing (though not nearly as often--weddings, graduations, kids' moves/job starts, etc. interrupted our dancing a lot), I found myself sick. To make a long story short, I discovered that I had carbohydrate intolerance/pre-diabetes. I could only feel well if I limited my carbohydrate intake. It didn't have to be drastic, but it did have to be down to 150 carbohydrates or fewer (average person eats 300 a day!) to keep my pre-diabetes in check. Well, true to many moderate carbohydrate diets, I did not lose weight on that number of carbs--mostly due to the high fat and high caloric intake that cutting carbohydrates can created.

So, while I felt better, I kept gaining and losing many of those thirty pounds that I had danced off in the previous years. Then I heard about a very low calorie diet that caused you to lose weight very quickly--and being an all-or-nothing kind of person, I jumped on the bandwagon and started losing pounds quickly for the first time in twenty years (when I had lost 80 pounds between baby four and five!).

Also at this time I joined CURVES and began an amazing exercise program called T-Tapp--while stepping up our dancing for more aerobic activity. Within three months, I had lost 35 lbs and 35 inches, making my total weight loss for five years 65 pounds.

I also discovered that an overall decrease in calories, fat, and carbohydrates, with good amounts of protein, lots of strength exercising (Curves and T-Tapp), and moderate aerobics (dancing and/or walking for 30 mins four to eight times a week) kept my pre-diabetes in check and helped maintain my loss.

So...here I am, six years after we began dancing, with a 65 lb and 55 inch loss, from a size 22 to a 16 now to a 12, and controlling my carb intolerance. I still want to lose another 20 to 25 lbs and 20 to 30 inches.....but I'm working on maintenance for a while---making all of these changes a way of life for me.

See next post for pics! :)