(The number next to my name above is my weight as of the date shown and the amount of weight I have lost since I started the Lighten Up program on 6/16/08.  I am 5′ 5″ tall, I weighed 295.5 pounds when I began the program, and my ultimate goal weight is 150 pounds, although I am working with what I call mini goals of 20 or so pounds at a time, so as not to feel too overwhelmed.  So right now my goal weight is 270 pounds.)

Where to begin?  I am a 44-year-old woman who been heavy most of my life since I was about 12.  From 16 to 18, I was thin, but I got there in an extremely unhealthy way…I pretty much just stopped eating.  Since the age of 18, I have managed to put on over 150 pounds.  I’ve yo-yo’d along the way, down 20, up 30, down 10, up 20, and the last time, down 50, up 85…that one hurt!  I had pretty much given up on myself and the hope of ever being a healthy weight.  At least that’s what I kept telling myself.  Of course, I have tried most of the weight loss options out there, Weight Watchers, Nutri System, Jennie Craig, Curves, fasting, and to hear me tell it, none of them work.

Truth be told, of course they work…any program you stick to religiously is going to work…I just didn’t put anywhere near enough effort into the programs…or myself.  I would stick to the program for a week, maybe two and then I would quit, telling myself, “This isn’t for me.”  The truth was, it was too hard to stick to…at least that’s what I convinced myself at the time.

My physician even put me on Phentermine (the half of the Phen-Fen combination that DIDN’T kill people) so I could lose weight to help my high blood pressure and my Type II Diabetes that I have developed since putting on so much weight.  The pills worked, too, but as soon as I stopped taking them, the weight came right back on and then some.

The last time I took Phentermine was two years ago.  I recently went to see my physician to ask to be put on Phentermine again (for the fourth time) so I could lose some weight again (without having to put any effort into it).  This time he refused.  He suggested that I consider bariatric (gastric bypass or Lap Band) surgery to help me with my weight and health problems.  I immediately signed up and began a six-month class that prepares you for what to expect from the surgery, before and after, how to eat, what to eat…and I did it because I want to lose weight, and I thought surgery would be the easiest way to do it.  I thought I would have the surgery and it would force me to eat smaller amounts, and it would be easy because I would just get full sooner…simple as that! 

Meanwhile, my husband, Steve, had (unbeknownst to me) written an email to Richard Simmons expressing his concern for me having the surgery, for his recent weight gain, and finally for the truth that neither one of us had dared to say out loud…that I had not done a single thing to actually help myself.  I was trying to take the easy way out, like I always had.  Even when I quit eating for the most part, it was pretty easy…I didn’t have to put a lot of thought or effort into it, I just did it.  And yes, I lost weight and I got thin…I was 125 and wore a size 7…but I was very unhealthy.  Having heart palpitations at the age of 16 is never a good thing.

Anyway, Richard Simmons wrote back to Steve, a very inspirational email that Steve asked me to read.  When I read it, I was still hard-core in denial, thinking that I would have the surgery and everything would be okay for me…for us…so I didn’t really absorb much of it.  Then Steve got an email from one of the people who works for Richard Simmons’ Sirius radio show asking if Steve would be willing to go on the air and talk to Richard live, which he was happy to do.  Steve had begun following Richard’s Lighten Up program, following food exchanges with the Food Mover and had lost a whopping 10 1/2 pounds in one week!  And he never got grumpy, he never seemed hungry or even like he was unsatisfied with what he was eating!

The day came for the radio show to call Steve and get him ready to go on the air.  When they called, they said they wanted to talk to me, too.  When Steve told me, I was not willing…I kept saying, “No, no, no!”  But I realized that I wasn’t being supportive of what Steve was trying to do to better himself, so I acquiesced.

Suddenly, we were on the phone with Richard Simmons, and he was reading the email that Steve had written on the air.  I had never seen the email because Steve sent it from Richard’s website so he didn’t have a copy to show me, and when Richard got to the part where Steve was expressing his fear of me going through this surgery (my mother passed away a little over a year ago from complications from surgery), how much he loves me and our children and our lives together, and how much he wants that to go on as long as possible, I began to cry, and I felt like something within me was opening up…that’s the only way I can explain it. 

We spent the next 10 minutes or so on the phone with Richard, he made some very good points about side effects from the surgery, he talked about how he could tell by our picture what great friends Steve and I are, how much personality our kids look like they have…while we were talking with him, I realized that Steve was absolutely right, and now I could no longer ignore the fact that I have done nothing to help myself.  The conversation we had with Richard, and the moments that Steve and I shared after we hung up talking about how much we truly love each other and how much we need to get healthy for our kids, for each other and for ourselves, changed my life.

I got up the next morning and started on the program, and I have been on it for five days now, and I have lost almost 5 pounds…and I haven’t been hungry once.  Sure, I have craved things…like the king-sized Symphony chocolate bars I used to keep on my night table (I would have a square or two when I would wake up to go to the restroom in the middle of the night…yes, really!) or the popcorn with extra, extra butter…or the bag of Wavy Lays I also kept on my nightstand…but I’ve learned in a very short time that I can have those things…I can have anything…I just have to learn portion control.  And that’s what Richard’s program is about…portion control.  That’s what any healthy weight loss program is about.  Portion control and excercise…eat less, move more…it’s true, it’s the only thing that works.

I feel like I’m going to be able to do it this time.  I don’t feel like I’m dieting, I don’t feel like I’m waiting for it to end…I feel like I’m waiting for the measuring and counting to become second nature so that I can live the rest of my life healthy, with the energy to do the things that I want to do…anything I want to do.  And this is the first time in our 12 years together that Steve and I have tried to change our lives for the better together (aside from when we quit smoking in 1999, which is also when we both ballooned even more), and it is bringing us even closer together…which I didn’t even know was possible! 

We are very early on in this journey, but we want to keep track of our progress and share with you all of our successes and our struggles.  And hopefully this will inspire you to join us and Lighten Up!!

Until next time,

Cece