Chickzilla's 100-plus pound Weight Loss & Fitness Journey
Air Travel at 400-plus pounds - If that doesn't get you off your butt, nothing will!
My friend Jeanne and I started a non-profit organization to help Lakota Indians on the Pine Ridge Reservation in South Dakota, as poverty is really extreme there. In March of this year, we planned a trip out there to visit friends and contacts and to attend a Sun Dance ceremony that is run by a friend of ours. I was MORTIFIED when I realized that I would have to pay for two airline tickets --one for me, one for my ass and gut. Yikes -- talk about a wake-up call! I went on a very low calorie diet in April but just couldn't seem to stick with it, so in May, I switched to a low carb plan.
I haven't been on a scale in years but estimate my starting weight at about 450 pounds. I believe that I lost about 40 pounds prior to our trip to South Dakota in July. It got a little easier to breathe but overall, no one but myself would really be able to tell that I had lost weight. The heavier you are, the more that you have to lose before anyone notices.
When I returned home from the reservation on July 14, I immediately went on a water fast, not just for weight loss but for health and spiritual reasons as well. I remained on the water fast for 25 days and began a program of brief walks and upper body "toning" work with very light weights. I was so out-of-shape and heavy to start out with that a few blocks is all I could manage with the walking and I'd be ready to keel over.
When I stopped fasting and returned to food, I started the plan I am using now which is the basic body builder diet of "clean" foods eaten 5-6 times a day. I estimate that I have lost 100 pounds, at the minimum, since March of this year.
My goal is to lose another 100 by July 2010. I will have to travel back to the Pine Ridge reservation again next July-- and I will be damned if I will suffer the humiliation AGAIN of paying for two airline seats and all of the other horrors that went along with traveling, hell, with just trying to live everyday life at that size.
I took up running after I had my kids to lose the "baby fat" and the weight I had put on when I quit smoking. That was very effective and I'd like to be able to run again at some point.
But right now, I really want to focus on the weights - I am 6'3" and naturally muscular and never really used this to my advantage in any significant way, so here I go.
I read NROL4W and something about it really appealed to me - so here I am-- sore as hell but feeling like this is the right path for me. So I am going from a flabby Flabenstein to a muscular chickzilla!
I was happy to find this site so that I can ask questions of others who have read the book.
How encouraging that you have seen so much progress all ready, and with shaping and such you will start getting so many compliments.
During my childhood we would take family trips every year "out West" and spent several weeks a year in South Dakota (a lot of Wall Drug, Badlands, and Rapid City).
We loved it, but it was always depressing to see the poverty, and it is especially harsh in the Native American communities. EVERYTIME we went to a grocery store, someone would approach us in the parking lot and offer to sell us Foodstamps (remember they were still in paper form then), at half face value. It was always Native American men.
I know the rate of addiction is high in those areas, specifically alcoholism. It was so sad
Your project sounds wonderful. What spurred your interest in the cause?
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If you weren't born drop dead gorgeous, be thankful for the opportunity to develop character first.
"Your project sounds wonderful. What spurred your interest in the cause?"
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Well, katydid, many moons ago a friend of mine married a Lakota man and I made my first trip out there. I was struck by the beauty of their traditions and shocked by the poverty and other conditions there. They have the lowest life expectancy of any place in our hemisphere other than Haiti. They have the highest teen suicide rate, highest infant mortality, etc. The people just sort of entered my heart and never left.
Obesity and diabetes are huge probs there, as are amputations from unchecked diabetes. It is one of the things spurring me on right now. While I was out there at the sun dance I saw several people who were amputees and one was not much older than I am.
There is no such thing as a fitness center there and fresh produce and other healthy foods are not in good supply. I was sitting out there thinking about how I live in an area with all sorts of resources at my command for getting healthy-- I could certainly afford a health club membership and good food if I stopped ordering take-out and worked a few extra hours. It was easier to sit around making bad choices without feeling the least bit of compassion for others who don't have the luxury of the things I turned my back on of my own free will.
I do not live in isolation and poverty -- but there I was, in as bad a physical shape as any of them - yet without any of their (valid) excuses. I suddenly felt a lot of gratitude for the choices that I have - a luxury that other people right here in America don't have. And I felt shame for not doing the right thing sooner. So they have ended up helping me as much as I have helped them -- if not more.
Anyway............ the traditional medicine men help a lot with the alcoholism and other issues. One of our areas of focus with the charity is supporting the work of a young (in his 30's) medicine man who runs sobriety groups for the youth and young men and also helps them learn and follow their traditonal spirituality. He is an incredible person!
We also work closely with orgs and programs at the local level there on the rez-- in particular programs for pregnant and new moms. Infant and toddler supplies are needed there big time. We also hope to start some youth art programs (my friend is an artist so this issue is close to her heart) starting in one district to see how it goes.
Two Thumbs up on your 100lb loss! A water fast for 25 days, I'm in shock and awe, I'm such a grazer I don't make it five hours without nibbling. I'm looking forward to reading you log, I have the NROLW, but then decided to do Leigh's FLTS as it was more geared to weight loss and then ended up doing nothing but procrastinating this year. I still would like to work through the entire NROL4W at some point though nothing more exciting then building more muscle.
Your story of the plane ride motivating you to lose weight gave me the courage to go on a trip with my niece though. She has been wanting to go to Vegas when she turns 21 and has been asking me to go and I haven't said yes or no because I have flown those little charter airplanes before and know that there will be no fitting her in one seat. I have trouble putting my knees down there is so little leg room and I'm only 5'8" while she must be 6'6" and 400lbs. In Canada though you don't have to pay for an extra ticket, but maybe the experience will open her eyes to how she is limiting herself.
I haven't had as much weight to lose as you do. But, I've lost over 70 pounds and I'm only 8 pounds shy of my goal (I've been 8 pounds shy for several weeks now, but we don't have to bring that up!). Having lost that weight is such a self-affirming thing. Not just because I look better, but because for the first time in my life I don't feel like a prisoner in my body. If I were to get sloppy and put 20 pounds of fat back on, I know exactly what to do to lose it. And I know that it isn't as hard as I once thought it was. But, it does require consistency.
Congrats on your 100 pound loss, and I have no doubt that you'll make the next hundred as well!
I'll add my congrats for the weight lost and wish you the best in the days coming. Just make sure that when you start NROL4W that you eat somewhere close to what they suggest. You can back off on the calories once you're used to it, but especially with your height, your calorie requirements may be higher than you think. I didn't have to drop 1000 calories off their requirements to maintain a decent rate of loss. Good luck!
Welcome and congrats on the weight loss. I hope you find what you are looking for on this site. It helps me be accountable for my weight lifting and ask questions of others. Plus, it provides motivation and support for my down days.
Well, I am not weighing myself right now - don't even have a scale in the house. I can get REALLY compulsive about weighing myself and get crazy, so it isn't worth it to me right now.
However, I bought an exercise and food journal that is good for 13 weeks. They had a page for recording your starting and ending measurements. It is just a few days shy of a month since I took the initial measurements so I thought I would sneak a peek today.
Wish I hadn't. My arms, which look Soooo different to me, measures the same. My neck lost 1 inch and all other measurements are the same or about the same ---- except for, yes ladies, you guessed it -- my chest! The place where I am least interested in losing. LOL Yes, of course THERE I have lost several inches! LOL
About the arms, when I am just sitting here looking down at my arms, I can SEE the muscle forming along the top edge of my arm and when I flex I can feel the triceps starting to develop.
BUT, if I hold my arms out and look in the mirror, they look like slightly smaller versions of the cottage cheese pouches they were when I started.
LOL
Oh well, here's hoping that at the end of the 13 weeks those numbers will show improvement by then.
My neck lost 1 inch and all other measurements are the same or about the same ---- except for, yes ladies, you guessed it -- my chest! The place where I am least interested in losing. LOL Yes, of course THERE I have lost several inches! LOL
Oh well, here's hoping that at the end of the 13 weeks those numbers will show improvement by then.
Hey Chick, just wanted to stop by and say "hai"--big kudos on your accomplishments. My parents used to take my family to the "Indian" Reservation when I was a child and I did not see conditions like that again until I went to the slums in Tijuana as an adult. I have Native blood on both sides, mom and dad, and the situation on the reservations has always burned me up. Never had the chance to do anything about it, I'm glad you are!
Anyway, I just wanted to say, measurements when you're that big are notoriously inaccurate. I used to get all kinds of crazy measurements, even when being very careful. Just keep doing the right thing--which you can now that you have the resources here on this board--and your body will respond. I used to repeat to myself, over and over..."control the things I can, ignore the things I can't..." It will take time but if you keep working and learning and tweaking where necessary it will happen. Welcome, and lucky you to have so much height! You can consume a lot more calories than I can get away with.
Stopping by with my welcome, too. I really admire your tenacity in your journey, and also wanted to say that I'm a fellow nonprofit administrator here (I work in refugee services).
Chuckled when I saw your comment about the chest measurements going down... That was a major complaint of mine last year when I lost some inches doing NROLFW.
And I will say I'm a bit envious of your height (I'm very petite - 5'1" petite) because, as Elisabeth mentioned, you can eat a lot more than most folks. That's the first thing that pops into my head now whenever I think of people's heights!
I saw you mention 13 weeks......maybe you are referring to some other event you are measuring, but NROL4W takes a good 6 months!
Hi Miss jane, the 13 weeks is just how long the journal is, I know the program is longer and I will have to keep starting new journals every 13 weeks. I like the format of this one, that's why I use it.
Yes, when I was last "fit" I ran nearly every day at least 3-6 miles and worked out at the gym 3 days a week. At that point, I could hose down 3,500 calories a day or more and still lose weight. I used to eat big heaping plates of spagetti and turkey meatballs with a ton of parmesan on top, when I made baked potatoes, I could eat two!
Yup, hard to believe that was ever the case...... That was from being tall, I guess.
Now I live on egg whites, fish and chicken but I honestly don't mind. I ate junk food so much before --even in place of meals. Besides the weight issues, my body did not have proper nutrition to run itself. It may sound weird but I can feel my body enjoying and making use of the fish and veggies. I feel stonger, more alert, I sleep better.
I had someone measure the width of my shoulders in back and it is 22 inches across my back from shoulder to shoulder. I don't think that will change. I think I actually am that wide.
Uma Thurman is my height but is willowy. I will never look that way, I always look strong even when I'm not. I figure I might as well take what nature gave me and run with it-- see how far I can go. SO here I am lifting weights.............. LOL.
I'll add my congrats for the weight lost and wish you the best in the days coming. Just make sure that when you start NROL4W that you eat somewhere close to what they suggest. You can back off on the calories once you're used to it, but especially with your height, your calorie requirements may be higher than you think. I didn't have to drop 1000 calories off their requirements to maintain a decent rate of loss. Good luck!
Your face reminds me of my friend Cathy, and this is good. She is a very positive and upbeat person! You look so alike, you could be sisters.
I had someone measure the width of my shoulders in back and it is 22 inches across my back from shoulder to shoulder. I don't think that will change. I think I actually am that wide.
You never know. I've always been a size 10 shoe... I mean always, sometimes an 11 was more comfortable. I had to get rid of all the size 10s and now wear 9s, and sometimes 8-1/2s. It was really quite a shock to me because I always thought of myself as having big feet. Having said all that I don't think there's anything with looking strong. I'd kill for a little extra height though.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Chickzilla
Your face reminds me of my friend Cathy, and this is good. She is a very positive and upbeat person! You look so alike, you could be sisters.
I am glad that you're here
Thanks, although I don't think I'm always that positive.
You never know. I've always been a size 10 shoe... I mean always, sometimes an 11 was more comfortable. I had to get rid of all the size 10s and now wear 9s, and sometimes 8-1/2s. It was really quite a shock to me because I always thought of myself as having big feet. Having said all that I don't think there's anything with looking strong. I'd kill for a little extra height though.
x2 I assumed I was a size 7 to 7 1/2 shoe cause I wore that forever, but when I lost weight the first time, I went down to a size 6 wide.
Even now with being heavy again, I go from a 5 1/2 to 6. Although I'm not as heavy as I was then.
Also I am 5 feet tall (no inches ) I would love an inch or two of additional height.
__________________
***********************
If you weren't born drop dead gorgeous, be thankful for the opportunity to develop character first.
Chickzilla's 100-plus pound Weight Loss & Fitness Journey
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