Friend of Julie: Meet Alanna

Today am pleased introduce to you our newest contributor - Alanna. Alanna contacted me shortly after she started seeing Julie and asked if she could become a blog contributor. I asked her to finish the first three classes with Julie and then send me her story and photos, because we all love to see photos of each other on this journey, and then she could be a contributor. Aloha Alanna!

Before starting program (11/10/12) versus today (week 6 on program)

 As a child and in high school, I was lucky enough to not have a weight problem - I used to jog 6 miles a day my freshman year! After high school, when I went out on my own, things changed. All the pizza, snacks, and ice cream that previously burned off, when I walked or biked everywhere, now sat on my hips…and thighs….and waist. By the time I had my first child at 27, I was up to 275 lbs. (at 5’ 7"), and over the next 20 years that ballooned up to a high of 365 lbs. In 2006, by writing down every bite I put in my mouth and going to the gym 4 times a week, I lost 60 pounds in a year, and made it down to 305. Since then, my weight crept back up and I was back up to 345 lbs. and a size 30/32 - I was out of control, miserable, and out of hope.

Then my daughter told me about her girlfriend’s mom, who had been very heavy too, and now after 2 years with Julie’s program she looked amazing. Maybe there WAS some hope for me. I tried to book an appointment in December 2012 and couldn’t get through. I called again in April and was put on the waiting list. Doesn’t that 3 months of waiting for your appointment seem like FOREVER?

Before starting program; 11/10/12

I had my first session with Julie on July 19, 2013, and left feeling hopeful, but apprehensive. No more coconut coffee?! It’s hysterical that it wasn’t pizza, or chips, or chocolate that I was worried about missing. How the heck was I going to start my morning without my flavored coffee with light cream and 2 sugars?

3 weeks on program (08/08/13) vs 6.5 weeks (09/01/13)

Well, I’m glad to say it’s 6 weeks down the road, and I’ve survived without my coffee “ice cream.” I do use a LOT of milk in my coffee, I would say 2/3 coffee to 1/3 whole milk, but that’s okay - milk is unlimited and it takes that much for me to cut the bitterness of the coffee.

Week 6 on program; 9/01/13

Normally, when you weigh as much as I do/did, it takes almost 50 pounds before anyone even notices you’ve lost weight. With Julie, by the third week I was in the jeans that fit me in 2006! They were snug, but they zipped! People who didn’t even know I was following the program were telling me I had lost weight! I was so excited that I called my mom who lives an hour away and told her how fast I was losing etc etc. Bad move! Danger! Danger!

After telling my mom about my success, she then told the family, and now in my head everyone was going to expect me to look “skinny” at the family gathering coming up on Labor Day weekend. I was putting myself through hell all last week, because I felt like I hadn’t lost enough, and was going to disappoint everyone when they saw me. Mind you, this is all in my head - my family loves me no matter what, and does it really matter if someone else thinks I lost more or less weight than I really have?

That’s when I read Theresa’s great post about our bodies taking however long they need to lose weight. I read about Linda’s struggle with bad pictures that made her want to throw in the towel. Those posts helped so much, because they reminded me about the JOURNEY! There will be ups and downs, and happiness and frustration, and we all just need to chill out, follow the program, and go along for the ride!

So, thank you again to everyone who comments and posts on this blog - what a great support system this is! I look forward to following along on your journeys!

PS - I Just got home from the family picnic - I stayed on program (yay!) and had fun. I had to laugh when someone who didn’t know about this (weight loss) thought I looked different because I had a new hairstyle - I don’t.