Sprint to the Finish

By the end of 2007, I had dramatically increased my lean muscle mass and had dramatically decreased my body fat percentage. I had also significantly reduced the sagging skin…and I’d actually built some muscles. I’d lost some weight, too. And here was the really interesting part—I had enjoyed the heck out of my workouts with Darren! He has a natural way of pushing me without being bossy or overbearing. And more importantly, he knows SO MUCH about health, fitness and nutrition that I was much smarter about them after spending several months with him. I had a physical in October of 2007, where my doctor wrote “great” and “super” next to several of the tested categories. Wow. Talk about hard work paying off. BUT I was still overweight according to my body mass index. In fact, by the beginning of 2008, I needed to lose about 26 more pounds to be in the “healthy” category. As ridiculous as it sounds (and as crazy as many of my incredible and supportive friends thought it was), I wanted to be “normal” for the first time in my life in terms of weight. I realized that I had never really “been on a diet.” Maybe that was the answer for the last 20+ pounds. I talked with Darren and he thought it was a great idea. We developed my “Sprint to the Finish” plan, which was a low-glycemic, low-calorie diet (about 1200-1300 calories a day) and my usual workout routine. I committed to the “Sprint” for two months (January and February) or “normal” on the BMI charts…whichever came first. Steve decided he would sprint, too, given that he still had about 20 pounds to lose to reach his ideal weight. Darren worked with both of us to develop a relatively painless nutrition plan that we could live with…at least for two months. January 1, 2008 we started the “Sprint.” When I was ready for breakfast on that first morning, I carefully measured my ½ cup of All Bran cereal and my ¾ cup of skim milk to go with it. Wow. Not much food at all!!! I ate it as slowly as I possibly could (I think it took about five minutes for about five bites) and decided that I would see if I was still hungry in 15 minutes. If so, I would have a piece of fruit or something else. Shockingly, I wasn’t hungry in 15 minutes! The breakfast on the meal plan was actually satisfying. Lunch, dinner and the snacks were, too. Maybe this wasn’t going to be too hard after all. In a week, I had lost seven pounds. And more importantly, it wasn’t that difficult. As with any “eating right” plan, the real difficulty came in life interfering with the nutrition plan. I went out of town to attend a training workshop from January 17-21. Before I left, I had lost 12 pounds. But now what? How could I keep my plan when someone else had control of the menus and food? As I began to think about how I was going to manage to keep up with my progress and still eat a menu decided by someone else, I realized something that was significant to me. I didn’t know any of the people who were going to be in my training class (except for my dear friend, Martha, who loved me both before and after). That meant they didn’t know “Fat Jane.” You know what? I decided that I didn’t want to be that girl…the girl who was always on a diet. I didn’t want to need to request special meals or preparation. Instead, I decided that I would revert back to the “Jane Reed” plan of portion control and choosing correctly. It may sound crazy to you, but it wasn’t to me. I ate with total abandon (not exactly the “Jane Reed” plan after all!) and I gained four pounds back over that weekend, but it was totally worth it to me. And upon my return, I was able to slip right back into the new nutrition plan. The four pounds came right back off. How many times have I heard people talk about gaining and losing the same weight over and over again? I get what they were talking about! Now in my fifth week of the sprint, I weigh less than I think I have weighed since middle school. I am not finished yet, but I am well on my way to my goal of a “healthy” BMI. I know I can reach it by the end of February. I bought some new clothes over the weekend–regular sizes in regular stores–and that feels terrific.