What I’ve learned these last 2 months about weight loss

Good morning whippers!

I hope you are doing well today!  Happily, I was able to step on the scale and see a couple more pounds gone.  Of course that is so encouraging  when you are on your journey.  My goal this year was to lose 90 pounds.  I know I will make it and so will you.  I want to share a couple of things with you, first:  I started out on this journey desperate for help.

When we are morbidly obese, our organs are squished and constricted under mounds of body fat.  Everything is under stress, which makes the body want to put on more weight. To move under such conditions leaves us hurting and unable to breathe.  Exercise is a hateful chore and we, more often than not will quit after day one, or after day 3 simply because we are so, so incredibly uncomfortable.  Add medical issues that go along with obesity, like fluid retention, and rashy skin, sore feet, diabetes, etc.  Sometimes the only thing we can do to save our own lives is get a major surgery.

This is what I did, and it did help get a substantial  amount of weight off.  However, it was (and is) a difficult life.  Sweets, bread, pasta, rice, anything that might have been good, makes me sick now and causes such a drastic spike in insulin level that my heart races, I sweat, I sometimes will vomit.  I have an ulcer and take medications to treat it.  Certain healthy foods (roughage especially) like raw carrots will get stuck and I either have to go to the doctor to have it aspirated, or I need to vomit.  I also had a full-on blockage due to an internal hernia and rapid weight loss caused by the starvation period after my bariatric surgery (thats what is happening, starvation) and had to have an emergency surgery to fix it, or my bowel could have died due to the stricture.  I have a zipper-looking scar that goes from my sternum to my belly button now.

I really have to add here that bariactric surgery is nothing to take lightly.  It’s NOT fun.  It hurts to starve.  Really.  If you feel you have to go in, go in with both eyes open.  OK?  I am more than happy to tell of my experiences.  I won’t lie to you. While I want to be a whipmaker more than anything, I won’t lie to sell a whip.  I just won’t.  I will only tell you the truth about myself and you can take it or leave it.

Here is another truth:  After a while, (especailly if you were incredibly heavy, like me) the surgery does not work anymore and you can start to overeat.  You might even be able to have limited sweets again, maybe chips, bread.  Your stomach pouch will stretch out and  you can eat a plate full of food again, you can snack again and soon you realize, you just packed on 40 pounds.  This is where it all gets real.  You now have to face the fact that your addiction will get in the way of what you started this journey for.  The surgery got enough weight off for you to move again.  Now you have to choose to move.  You need to finish this like everyone else.

This is okay!  I promise, you can do it.  I’m doing it.  I’m not finished, but so much closer to the finish line than I was.  Lets do this together, ok?

I have 2 facts for you:  1.  You can be the most hyper mover and shaker out there.  You can run, dance, ride bike, all those awesome things all day long, but when you get home at the end of the day and eat a lot of calories, you will not lose.  I have heard it over and over.  I have said it myself:  “I am so active, but I just can’t lose weight.  I may as well give up.  I’ve tried everything.  I’m doomed to be a fatty.”  Repeat that over the course of a few years and before you realize it, you are near death, immobile, sick, and in a position where you can’t get better without intervention.  Worse, you are too sick to survive an intervention.  2.  You HAVE to be in a calorie deficit at the end of the day in order to burn fat.  You HAVE to.   No, you cant eat a whole pizza because you ran a mile.  You can have a slice of pizza and a salad with no dressing, or light vinaigrette dressing.   Boring?  At first.  I’m not going to lie.  But you are fighting a war.  You need to ration yourself during wartime.  It’s going to get easier.  I swear.  Stay with me.

So we have our facts, what do we do now?  Do something you love to do!  Mine was whipcracking and it was the reason I created SuiGeneris Whips.  At the time, I realized this wasn’t a free ride, I was sedentary and did not pay any attention to my food intake.  Because I was so sedentary, I was able to get a good work out, at first, with the whip alone.  Now, because I want to continue getting fitter and stronger, I added in walking/jogging, eventually hoping to work my way up to a full on run soon.  So, choose something you love.  Dancing, walking, yoga, archery, knife throwing, sharp shooting, whips, whatever you love, do it.  This is going to be your thing every day of the rest of your life.

So you have your start to exercise, what you need to do now is really control your calories.  This is the hard part, because it is here that you really find out how many calories is in that one slice of pizza, or that Chinese  takeout, or that snack size bag of chips.  If you have a food addiction, like I do, this will make you cry, or pissed off, or you might give up.  It’s okay.  You can do this.  I really believe in you.

I got this app for my phone and tablet called “Lose it.”  Here is where you will log every single thing you put in your mouth, every pound lost, every pound gained.  You don’t get to lie to the Lose It app.  On your first day, log your weight and set your goals.  Know that a sedentary woman that is only breathing all day burns 2000 calories in that day.  You need to be there or under that by the end of the day.  Then, day 1, log everything and just eat normally.  Eat the chips, eat the bread, eat the canned ravioli or mac and cheese with the kids. Eat like you eat every day.  If you eat salad, measure out the dressing.  BE HONEST.  You think it’s only a couple of tablespoons of ranch when it’s really nearly a cup.   This is for you to be better.  If you are really ready to fight, do not lie to the Lose It app.  DO NOT wait all day to log your calories.  Log them before you even eat.  Log them while you look at what is on your plate.  Know your portions and at the end of the day, you will see that you consumed 3, 4, 5,000 sometimes more-calories over the 2000 baseline.  (Fall into the YouTube rabbit hole and you will see people who consume 20-30,000 in a day).

Now you know the truth.  Are you ready?  Here we go.  Take the information above and apply it today.  In my next blog, I’ll talk about what to expect next.

I want to leave you with this one thing:  YOU ARE WORTH THIS.  It makes no difference what happens around you, what others that are to frightened to commit to the battle say. You cant do this fast.  You can’t do it with a pill.  You can’t.  This will be hard and scary.  You won’t be able to blame the failure on anything or anyone but you.  That is a fact that you need to get straight right off the bat.  There is no such thing as health at every size.  It’s a lie.  IT IS A LIE.  I was 500 pounds. Now that I am nearly 300 pounds lighter, I can say I feel infinitely  better, but not the best.  How do I know it’s not the best?  Because 5 years ago I could barely walk.  When I discovered that I needed to work at this in order to finish, I was 275 pounds, hated any kind of exercise that wasn’t whips (and it was a chore to commit to even 30 minutes to that), tired, lightheaded, sickly.  I lost 34 pounds since January 27th and yesterday I RAN.  I ran nearly 1/4 mile without stopping and I wasn’t dying!!!  Today, I was more than happy to try it again and will try again and again until I can go 1/2 mile without stopping.  I am a warrior right now.  I can’t even tell you how emotional this is for me.  I want it for you too.  Man or woman, I don’t care who you are, you are epic and so very worthy.

We are in this together.  We can do this.

Be well,

Jessie

March 26, 2018 = 242 pounds.  Only 77 pounds to goal!