At the beginning of this year, I joined Loser Moms in an attempt to lose weight for barefoot water skiing. I was heading down to the World Barefoot Center in March and I wanted to lose a few pounds before getting on the water. Part of the requirement to join was to post a picture on a personal blog. So with a heavy (yeah, pun intended!) heart, I went searching for a picture to post. I had to close my eyes when I hit the “publish” button.
The thing is, by the time that picture was snapped, I had already lost a few pounds. I’m estimating at my heaviest, I was probably 215 pounds. I wouldn’t know– I avoided the scale, the mirror and the camera every chance I could. The only exercise that I got around to doing was playing a weekly volleyball game in a league. A local bar sponsored our team, so we were obligated to head over there after the game and hang out. I filled up on appetizers, sometimes late at night.
I grew up waterskiing and barefooting and I really missed those activities. My niece convinced me to try water skiing again on July 4 in 2008. I got up on two skis and kicked off one. I went back and forth across the wake a few times and called it a day. I was out of breath and had no strength to continue. It was one very short ride on the water. I was in a size 16 jeans and wearing 2x tops. No, it wasn’t pretty. You would think after seeing this photo on my niece’s Facebook page– that I would be motivated to lose weight. I wasn’t.
Ever hear the saying by Buddha: “When the student is ready, the teacher will appear.” Well, that’s pretty much what happened. The teacher turned out to be Keith St. Onge, from the World Barefoot Center. Keith went through a metamorphosis of his own several years ago. He was packing on too many pounds as a professional athlete and wasn’t feeling healthy. He became serious about his health, made some changes in his lifestyle and eating habits and went on to win two World Championships. At the end of May, Keith sent me some eating guidelines to improve my health. I was ready, finally ready, to make some lifestyle changes.
“You have to cut out pop,” he told me.
I loved my Coke and Pepsi. I lived each day for the moment I could sip the soda. Every time we went out to eat, I ordered soda. And now it was time to kiss it goodbye. My friend Sue had kicked the pop habit and she was trying to get me to kick it a year ago. But now, I was ready.
I wanted a lifestyle change, not a diet. Keith’s guidelines fit right into that. I made healthier choices, but I enjoyed the food. Instead of boneless chicken wings, I went for grilled chicken on a salad when eating out. Salmon with asparagus. I went for more fruits and vegetables and less of the processed stuff. I found ways to cut out white flour– but I have a weakness for Panera Bread’s sourdough rolls, so eliminating that completely felt like death. So I saved it as a very rare treat. And I got hooked on quinoa. “Keen-wa”– the whole grain with funny name. I introduced my book club to it one day and they liked it. I brought in almond and coconut milk and the kids went crazy for the almond milk.
I also had two other barefooters who provided support and encouragement, Joann O’Connor and Judy Myers. Both of them had wonderful weight loss stories of their own. I joined Donna Cutting’s weight loss group on Facebook, and it helped tremendously to be surrounded by others walking the same journey.
It’s a work in progress– as I still eat emotionally and I deal with that all the time. It’s a work in progress, I remind myself again and again– as I still have a ways to go to get healthy and lean. In a weak moment this fall, I texted Keith after I had scarfed down two rolls at a fundraiser. “Always bring healthy snacks with you for moments like that,” he said. Then he shot me a modified Dave Ramsey quote: “If you want to live like no one else, make decisions like no one else!”
I put my fork down when the dessert came.
I had two incredible highlights this year: the day that I learned to go backwards on the water… and the day that I slipped on size eight jeans. Thanks, Keith, for both of those highlights.
