The Sun News Skinny

Beginning Again...

I was skinny all my life — everyone was always trying to get me to eat, finish my food on my plate, eat more — and on and on. I am six feet tall and I weighed 136 lbs. on my wedding day. Having four daughters did put weight on but I was usually able to lose it afterwards — until I turned 40 and then it all changed. I felt as though someone had an air pump and was blowing me up. I would walk past store windows and see my reflection and then wonder who that person was and why is she staring at me?

 

Exercise and diet programs have come and gone in my life and now I am beginning again. I really wasn’t going to join this time — I held out until the last day because I just didn’t want the failure in my life again — but, here I am, hopeful and I sense a lot more determined. Today I exercised for 30 minutes for the first time and I am writing everything I eat down so reality is never far away.

 

Why am I doing this? I really want to be healthy. I want to be able to get down on the floor and play with my grandchildren and get back up again easily without having to crawl across the floor to find something to pull myself up on. I would like to buy a bathing suit I like and not just settle for something that I think is camouflaging my physical state. I want to be able to go for long walks on the beach and enjoy it. I want to be able to go up and down the stairs without gasping, and I would really like to be surprised by a new reflection in the store window of a healthy and strong woman.

 

 

Another Diet

By Heather:

This is my first post to The Sun News Skinny's blog and I'm very excited to be a part of such a supportive group. I have been on a lot of diets and have found that Weight Watchers has worked the best for me. It's more than a diet, it's an easy way to a healthier life. The best thing for me is, I can eat whatever I want as long as I count the points. I've been on this diet, which has not turned into a roller coaster yet, for about two weeks and things are going really well. I'm hoping that this blog will just add one more level of accountability to my already encouraging counterparts at The Sun News.

So far on this diet I've run across three problem areas for me. First, I'm on the sales team so I'm out on the road every day. I travel up to North Myrtle Beach/Little River so it's nearly impossible for me to come back to the office for lunch... to accommodate, I have to plan, plan, plan and then plan some more about what I'm doing for lunch each day and not eating is not an option for me. Next, I'm also very involved in my church and that takes up a lot of my time. And to get those healthy, low calorie meals that diets require I have to fit cooking into my already chaotic family, work and church schedules. I don't really cook either. I'm sure you'll all read about my crazy weeks and how I make this diet work while not having anytime to plan or cook. Last, I have a great support system at home as well, just today I came home to a country home cooked meal by my grandmother. Now, how can you not eat when grandma cooks it??? Yet another dilemma in my quest for loosing weight. We are having "Music Revival" at my church this week, my husband sings with the praise team so we had to be there at 6:45... she was trying to be helpful. If you were raised anywhere near the south you know that country cooking comes with dessert, right???

Getting the proper lift and support...and the occasional squeeze

By Barb:

It's not a diet, it's a lifestyle! OK, so I've spent all week changing my lifestyle. Not totally, but replacing some of the things I eat with healthy picks from God's garden shipped directly to the local Wally World for easy consumption. I love fruits, but didn't realize how expensive they can be, especially out of season. Whole wheats are boring yet not as bad as I thought if you like to chew on straw. Small plates help with portion control and are a lot easier to fit in the dishwasher. But the thing that helped me lose 4.4 lbs this week was my support system.

Hubby has taken on the diet with me, dutifully counting points as I pull out ingredients. Grocery shopping is a challenge and a game with him, especially when I try to teach him about squeezing fruit. Sometimes, I just don't know who is fresher, him or the grapes. We stay out of the freezers except to pick up on Weight Watchers or Lean Cuisine meals for lunch. Lean runs the WW points on the side to make my life easier.

At work a colleague e-mails me one line: "The Girl Scout cookies on the next desk are screaming my name so loud I can't concentrate on my work." I tell her to ignore them hoping that she eats the whole da gone box. If she is to remain my friend she better not lose more weight than me. My co-workers in my room have refrained from bringing in Dunkin Donuts. How am I supposed to learn to say no if they don't bring them in for me to turn my nose up at? Ah yes the big Dunkin Go Nuts, you know the kind, with the chocolate topping and the cream in the middle yummy.....oops got a little off the subject. Anyway, this week has been a lot about new recipe books and WW magazines. We get together to find out what is in everyones M.R.E. package and what is the fruit de jour.

Some people can start a new lifestyle alone. But me? I just need a little support from my friends and my fresh hubby, who I now affectionately refer to as my main squeeze.

Which came first: Weight loss or the blog?

Chris Mowder:

When I started blogging on my personal site in 2005, I never thought it would be so much fun. Since then, I have run the gamut of topics from life-altering things — like wedding preparation to marathon training — to completely insignificant ones — from buying a new t-shirt to the merits of Beer Pong as a drinking game.

Lately, however, I find that my efforts to wax poetic to the public at large are best spent on trying to focus on a single topic. I still love to B.S. about whatever's on my mind, but when I focus on something specific it makes me feel like what I'm saying might actually mean something to someone as opposed to just droning on about nothing (...which I'm getting dangerously close to doing right now.)

So, in an effort to focus my thoughts, a few months back I had the idea to start a marathon training blog. We gathered a few newsroom runners and talked about our experiences leading up to the Myrtle Beach Marathon in February (check it out here), and I had a really good time doing it. So good in fact, the when the race was over and we no longer had much to talk about I was kinda bummed that it was over.

Luckily, I found out a few days later that we were going to be doing a weight loss blog and when I asked if I could get involved it seemed the general sentiment was "Does someone who just ran a marathon really need to be doing a weight loss program?"

Of course I do. Regardless of the fact that I may have been crazy enough to put my body through all that torture (dropping about 25 lbs. along the way), you still wouldn't want to see me in the mirror in the morning. At 212 pounds, I'm still a long ways off from being in good running shape and about 30 pounds heavier than I when I graduated high school ten years ago.

Really, the push toward losing weight seemed like a natural progression for me. Even though I may have gotten on board partially just to have another platform to hear myself talk...what better time to try and drop those last few pounds than now, right?

Me circa 235 lbs. at the Blue Crab festival in 2006. (Notice the beer in hand.)