So for a commentary not involving costumes or conventions…

Everywhere I am seeing people shill their “Lose weight with my special drink or pill” crap. “Direct Sellers” desperate to make a sale to justify the inventory they purchased, preying on a common insecurity.

If you are considering it, don’t. These drinks and pills are nothing but BS and a quick google search on the brand will tell you just that. These will not magically melt away anything.

Be wary of some of these “Lose X amount in Y amount of time” programs. If you lose too much too quickly, your body will react when you cease the program and it returns to its natural state. You also risk saggy skin it hasn’t had enough time to adjust its elasticity.

I’ve lost 30 pounds in less than a year and a half. While other people have certainly lost more in less time, I have every confidence that I will not gain it back as my body has adjusted to its new needs.

Ive had my plateaus and wondered if I was EVER going to get out of a certain weight range. Lots of plateaus. Its how my body has been working. A little inching down, plateau for a few months. Another small drop, another plateau. I was stuck at 150 LBS FOREVER, it felt like. If this is you, DO NOT GET DISCOURAGED.

Let me tell you where I was and what I did. Maybe it will help you with ideas.

It started when my husband’s aunt posted a group photo of us (Me, her, Bob, my MIL) and I was aghast. I looked huge. I was always the thin girl, ate whatever I wanted whenever I wanted. I never looked at a scale, because I knew my weight and measurements never changed. But a stressful job located next door to a steak sandwich shop for lunch every day then getting in a deep depression from losing said stressful job had made my weight skyrocket!

Increased My Activity:

I realized that I needed to do something about it. But Im easily distracted and being depressed, I did not WANT to do anything. After some thought I found the 30 Day Ab Challenge app on Google. I decided to see if I could stick with it. I felt that if I could do it, I could try other methods. At the end of the 30 days, I lost 2 inches off my waist. It was amazing!

I moved on to DDP Yoga. Bob had bought this a few years prior and it sat at the TV because we couldn’t do it in our small living room. I took the spare DVD player and hooked it into my SNES TV upstairs (Yes, I still have my SNES) and made sure I had some room. I never had a lot of flexibility and this low impact system was great for getting my body moving again. I have bad knees and wonky hip from nerve damage, so this was a great place to start. If you aren’t familiar with the system, its from wrestler Diamond Dallas Page. He needed something to help him workout while he was out on injury. A search on youtube will get you clips of some fantastic testimonials. I was able to get my mobility back and you could see HUGE dents in my butt and thighs. I regret not doing a photo op or signing when he was in town for Nickel City Con, but I was SO broke at the time lol I hope he comes back to the area.

When I was up for something I little more high intense I bought a Jillian Michael’s DVD at Walmart on a whim. I loved how she explained why she designed her workouts the way she did and that she didn’t take herself too seriously. I lost 2 inches off my hips. Although if I had put some thought into it, I would have started with her 30 Day Shred

I hurt my prone knee bending to pick up after my cats. I couldn’t do the high intensity workouts, the yoga was too long. A friend recommended Pilates. I found one where the workouts are only 10 minutes. They are NO JOKE, I will feel it, whatever the target area is.

I will rotate through any of these at any given time, depending on time and how my body feels.

In addition, I started a job where I walked 5 miles a day, so I have a steady base of activity. When I walk, I try to be mindful and keep my core activated.

Diet:

I did not go on a diet per se. I did eliminate a lot of unneeded snacking and cut out 95% of my soda consumption. I love my energy drinks and cherry cokes, so this was not easy. Or was it? Instead of soda, we buy zero calorie flavored carbonated water from Wegmans. I get my sweet tooth happy for none the calories.

I started monitoring how many calories I ate. Not super strictly – I work on estimates. I stick to about the 1400-1800 range daily. It seems to be working out. I can still eat pizza and Ive never denied myself a treat. I just eat LESS of them. I tried to do a severe calorie reduction, but by taking out some of my regular foods, it really messed up my metabolism and digestive habits.

One thing I did try was the so-called Military diet. I did it after I had a yo-yo of 10 pounds from getting sick after my dad died. I did it about 90%, with some substitutions based on what was available to me at that time. I did lose 7 LBS with little to no additional exercise than from work and I maintained that exact weight for 8 weeks straight.

At one point a friend was selling coffee and vitamin waters that professed weight loss attributes. I bought the water mix and it tasted good, but had 0 impact on my results. I drank that stuff 30+ days straight and Im pretty sick of it. Considering I got 4 boxes from her, that’s two and half left in my cupboard lol

So what Im trying to say is there is no magic pill or drink that make your fat disappear. There are plenty of safe and healthy options. If you have medical issues, please consult a doctor for recommendations or a referral to someone who can help. You can try options at home like I do. Its ok to start slow and its ok if you can’t do the moves 100% I sure can’t 😀

Everybody body type is different and not everything works for ever situation. Take the time a research the options.

For me I made a decision and stopped accepting my bad habits.

I hope this helps someone else. 🙂

FTR: My waist was at 32″ and is now 26″ My hips were 41″ and are now 37″ Calves were 15″ now 13″ Some measurements I didnt take at the beginning, so I don’t know what the differential really is.