In the beginning

I wasn’t overweight as an infant. Around 7 or 8 years of age I started getting a little chubby. As a teenager I got even heavier, and then I made the full blown transition to “fat” as an adult. I’ve never had any major health related issues and I’ve never gotten really sick. My physicals every year come out stellar in everything except for my weight. However in March of 2006 this all changed when I fell into a mild depression and was put on a low dosage of antidepressants. That was the beginning of the end for someone who couldn’t even bring herself to take Tylenol for a headache. Now I was being told that I had the option of medication and guaranteed instant healing with possible side effects or more physical activity with maybe, possible, not guaranteed gradual healing with no side effects. I chose the medication because I was feeling so terrible at that point and wanted it all to go away. Once the medication kicked in and the symptom was treated, I was free to go on with life. Little did I know that until the root cause of the problem is resolved, the symptoms rarely if ever fully go away. The symptoms will rear it’s ugly head occasionally and unsuspectingly. I was about to find that out exactly a year later.
 
The Unforgettable Moment

In March of 2007, I got on my bathroom scale which I had successfully avoided in the past, and it didn’t even register a number. The display just went blank. That’s when I knew I was in trouble. I knew that the scale went up to 330lbs and if it wasn’t even registering a number, then there was going to be hell to pay. I was in distress, but nevertheless I figured that I might as well get the exact figure to get a clear picture of where exactly I was with respect to weight. So I ventured hesitantly to the gym which I hadn’t seen in almost a year and got on the scale there. This time, the scale registered quite alright, but I wasn’t prepared to see what the number was.

The scale said 350lbs.

My heart sank. I couldn’t believe what I was seeing. Most importantly, I couldn’t believe that I had let myself get to this point. I hadn’t looked in a mirror in about 3 years and I hadn’t taken pictures in the last two of those years. I had been busy pretending that a problem that was clearly visible to everyone else was non-existent to me. Well, all that pretending was over in an instant. Reality finally caught up with me, and I didn’t like the reality I saw. I decided there and then that I would be making changes and making them very quickly. (The pictures shown here are of me close to my heaviest)
 
The Change

I decided that I was going to start exercising. So unlike normal people who start with maybe walking or swimming or anything that takes pressure off knees(350lbs is a lot to move around), I enrolled in Muay Thai classes at NJMT. Muay Thai, literally Thai Boxing is also known as The Art of the Eight Limbs and is the Thai name for a form of hard martial art practiced in several Southeast Asian countries including Thailand. The classes taught at NJMT are 2 hours of intense cardio, calistethics, punching, kicking, elbowing and kneeing. I was out of my element carrying all that weight, but I just dug deep and hung in there as best I could. It wasn’t easy, but I improved day after day. Without changing much of my eating habits, I was able to drop about 50lbs in 7 months. I probably could have done much better had I had a better attitude towards healthier eating habits. However at that point, I wasn’t able to let go of all the processed sugar I typically indulge in. I really enjoyed Muay Thai and it became my passion and so I started thinking of going to it’s birthplace (Thailand) to actually learn and practice more. So in late October of 2007 at about 300lbs, I took off for a 3 month stay in Thailand.
 
Thailand

Thailand was great. I ate great Thai food, made great friends and had great fun.
You can see some training videos from thailand of myself and some friends I made by clicking here.
You can also see some of my posts from thailand by clicking here.
It was a great time to relax, get away from the daily grind that is America, get myself ready for a new year, organize my thoughts and plan accordingly. Not to mention the training was intense and I was able to lose even more weight though I was eating a lot of great Thai food. I came back to the United States at the end of January 2008 having lost an additional 30lbs. (These pictures where taken my first week in Thailand and my last week in Thailand at Nai Harn beach, Phuket)
 
A mind shift

Dropping 80lbs in 10 months without much change in diet is awesome progress. However, I think I could have done a lot better. I was working out just an average of 2 hours a day at home before I left for Thailand, and I was working out just about 4 hours a day while in Thailand. I know I could have done better if I had focused as much on my nutrition as I did on my exercise. So after much hemming and hawing, I decided to fast/detox for a requisite amount of time. I had done The Master Cleanser detoxification/fast in the past, but I never managed to stay on it long enough to get the desired benefits. You can follow my progress (insert link here). The fast has brought me so much mental clarity that I’m starting to think differently about the foods I consume on a daily basis. I’m starting to make a mental shift to a truly healthy way of life that combines nutrition and exercise. I have finally realized that the two must go hand in hand if success is to be had. So what to do…is the dilemma? How do I balance the two in such a way as not to feel deprived, but also to be as healthy as possible?
 
The Solution

I am already committed to an exercise regimen. I don’t have a problem getting up and going to the gym on a daily basis anymore. The change going forward will be in nutrition. I have decided to make a move to incorporate more raw living foods into my diet. I don’t intend to be a 100% raw vegan or even a vegetarian, but I’ll never say never. What I do know is that I’ll be eating a huge green leafy live salad each day as well as adding a green smoothie to my daily nutrition. I’ll be replacing my processed carbohydrates with more fruit and vegetables and just trying my hardest to maintain a better lifestyle. I recently just started a 12 Week Challenge which I probably will extend to 16 weeks so that I can complete two of them before the end of the year. (pics taken April 2008 120lbs lighter: l-r best friend, sister, me, friend)

Why don’t you all join me. We can do it together.

Cheers!