Five or six years ago, I began a looonnnnng weight loss/health journey that is still very much a work in progress. It began when I hit the highest weight I had ever been (including during all eight or my pregnancies!) AND my husband and I began ballroom dancing. I had wanted to ballroom dance for many years–and when I received lessons from Ray as a Christmas gift in 2005, I was ELATED. However, I quickly found out that dancing at the weight I was at the time was nearly impossible.
But dance we did. We danced as much as we could the first few years–group classes, private lessons, practice sessions (the studio was just a few miles from our home), and open dances. Soon I found that I was losing weight little by little just from dancing–until after three or four years later I had lost thirty pounds. However, to lose more weight and get healthier, I had to change my eating habits–something I did not want to do.
Three years ago, still dancing (though not nearly as often–weddings, graduations, kids’ moves/job starts, etc. interrupted our dancing a lot), I found myself sick. To make a long story short, I discovered that I had carbohydrate intolerance/pre-diabetes. I could only feel well if I limited my carbohydrate intake. It didn’t have to be drastic, but it did have to be down to 150 carbohydrates or fewer (average person eats 300 a day!) to keep my pre-diabetes in check. Well, true to many moderate carbohydrate diets, I did not lose weight on that number of carbs–mostly due to the high fat and high caloric intake that cutting carbohydrates can created.
So, while I felt better, I kept gaining and losing many of those thirty pounds that I had danced off in the previous years. Then I heard about a very low calorie diet that caused you to lose weight very quickly–and being an all-or-nothing kind of person, I jumped on the bandwagon and started losing pounds quickly for the first time in twenty years (when I had lost 80 pounds between baby four and five!).
Also at this time I joined CURVES and began an amazing exercise program called T-Tapp–while stepping up our dancing for more aerobic activity. Within three months, I had lost 35 lbs and 35 inches, making my total weight loss for five years 65 pounds.
I also discovered that an overall decrease in calories, fat, and carbohydrates, with good amounts of protein, lots of strength exercising (Curves and T-Tapp), and moderate aerobics (dancing and/or walking for 30 mins four to eight times a week) kept my pre-diabetes in check and helped maintain my loss.
So…here I am, six years after we began dancing, with a 65 lb and 55 inch loss, from a size 22 to a 16 now to a 12, and controlling my carb intolerance. I still want to lose another 20 to 25 lbs and 20 to 30 inches…..but I’m working on maintenance for a while—making all of these changes a way of life for me.
See next post for pics! 🙂
