Going to the Extreme

Anybody out there last night watch Extreme Makeover: Weight Loss? If not, man you missed an inspirational episode.  Yesterday's episode featured a young man, Ryan, who was in an accident and lost his left arm.  He has always struggled with weight and at the beginning of the show, he topped the scale at 410 pounds.  He was given a prosthetic arm, but due to his severe weight, he can no longer wear it.  I believe his mother mentioned that it was like $130,000.  Yikes! Ryan was determined to not only lose weight, but he also wanted to learn how to ride a bike.  Throughout the show, Chris Powell got him on a bike (he fell multiple times), but he was so determined to learn how to successfully ride without falling off.

At one point during the episode, Ryan began to cut back too many calories and his body was suffering - he was even losing hair.  When he began to lose hair, he called Chris Powell to ask if this was normal and Chris was like "Um, NO, that's not normal!".  Ryan promised Chris that he would eat healthy and not skip meals, but later in the episode, his doctor did not approve him for anesthesia for his surgery because he was malnourished.  Ryan explained that he didn't want to go back to where he was before and that he didn't want to mess up and be a failure.  Chris Powell explained to him that he should be making a deficit of calories with exercise, not with cutting calories.

Talk about hitting close to home.

As I've shared before, I did take my weight loss to the extreme too, and had several "alarms" that I ignored at first - my nails kept breaking, my hair wasn't voluminous anymore, and I noticed my arms had become very "veiny".  It took my husband having a serious conversation with me to get me to realize that I wasn't helping my body at all - in fact, I was severely hurting it.  I was hooked on "My Fitness Pal" and tracked every crumb that I ate. I also was working out heavily, sometimes pulling "two-a-days".  I was literally burning every calorie I ate, which, had I not been drinking coffee every morning, I would have probably fallen asleep while walking!  After about a 3-month obsession with My Fitness Pal, I dropped that, but I would still calculate in my head the calories I was consuming.  

I remember going for one of my wedding dress fittings and I was upset because of how protruding my collarbone had become and how I would notice my ribs sticking out when I changed clothes.  I remember thinking to myself: "Isn't this what you wanted?" and I finally said "No, this is not what I wanted.  What I want is to be healthy and look good!".  

A little over a year later, I have eased up on being so strict.  I still workout every day, but I'm not afraid to order a meal that comes with fries, or to have a bakery cookie every now and again.  

Do I regret going to the extreme? Kinda. I mean, I did lose weight over several years and I did become healthier, but I could have made better choices.  I now know I have the confidence that even if I have a muffin instead of a bowl of cereal, it's not the end of the world.  Or if I have Subway for lunch instead of my usual PB&J, veggies, and fruit.  

Life is too short to be so strict.  You have to follow some basic guidelines, but do what makes you feel and look healthy.  Make good choices!

Lots of love,
Lauren