How My Client Lost 50+ Pounds

How many times have you started a diet only to go off it after a few weeks? You likely got bored or frustrated with your slow progress. Or maybe you just found it impossible to make permanent behavior changes. It isn’t easy! I’ve often wondered how some people are able to make these behavior changes while others are not. The good news is that it CAN be done.  Today, I’m blogging about one of my most inspirational clients, Susan. I’ve been working with her for a little over one year and she’s  lost over 50 pounds! Read her story and watch her video. It’s long … but definitely worth reading and watching.

My Weight Loss Journey
I have struggled with my weight since I can remember. This is actually a difficult sentence for me to write as I think I was in denial for so many years. The thing was that I always tried to stay active and it gave me a false sense of health. I thought I was eating healthy. I lost a few pounds – I gained a few pounds. I went up a few sizes, went down a few sizes.

Watch Susan’s Video

Lack of consistency leads to problems
In 2012 I decided to take action. I discovered spinning, which changed my life (see much more on that below). I started to write down everything I ate. I thought I had found the magic answer.  But the scale did not move. In hindsight I see the problem: consistency. I knew the right things to do – I just was doing them with the wrong formula and I was using exercise as an excuse to eat. I wrote down what I ate (the problem was that I only wrote it down on good days). I took spin classes (but then ate back all of my calorie burn). I ran NYRR races (and blew it at brunch afterwards). I spent a day kayaking (and then cooled off with a bowl of ice cream). Then I would not see the scale move and then I made that an excuse to eat French fries because at least the scale was not going up.

Besides consistency – I was also missing out on the support. I am quite self-reliant and a little (okay, very) stubborn. I did not see that the solution was not necessarily what I was eating or what I was doing – but it was the mental connection of everything together. I had to change my relationship with myself, with food and with exercise and I needed help to figure that out.

My weight loss team part 1: Martha
I learned that it took the right team in place to help connect the dots. First there is the food. They say it is 80% food and 20% exercise and I am convinced that it is true. First member of the team was Martha giving me some structure around my eating. I always tried to make things complicated. If I burned calories I ate more. But instead she gave me a simple system: 1300-1500 calories, 120-130 carbs, 25+ grams of fiber. Averaged out, I lost about 1lb per week. But in reality when I look at my weight loss chart, I often had 4-6 week plateaus in between each loss. Having the support of a knowledgeable nutritionist telling me that I was doing all of the right things was key. I had to learn that this was how my body worked. She gave me the courage to stick with it through the weeks where the scale did not budge day after day. I had to learn the ways different foods affected my weight loss. I used to eat more at meals with a fear of being hungry later. Now I know how to manage my hunger through snacks and incorporating fiber and good carbs.  With Martha’s encouragement that I was on the right track, I was able to maintain a consistency in my diet I had never been able to achieve.

My weight loss team part 2: Flywheel 
As I mentioned above, I started spinning about 2 years ago. The first year was spent spinning at the gym. I had to really overcome some serious fears to enter that first class. “Will I look like an idiot on the bike” “Will I die?” “Can I keep up?” “Will I look as pathetically out of shape as I am?” It is through those first experiences that helped me overcome fear that has plagued me my entire life.

In between those gym spin classes I would treat myself to an occasional class of non-gym spin. I dabbled around with different instructors and studios. It was as if the planets were colliding. Two weeks after I started with Martha, I took my first Jesse Alexander class at Flywheel. I had been to a few Flywheel classes before – but I was still pretty intimidated by the intensity. I walked into a random Tuesday class that happened to be taught by the uber-inspirational Jesse Alexander. It was rainy and cold day at the new UWS studio and I hit the jackpot with only a handful of people in class. Jesse set up my bike, advised my form and even did a few tap backs on the empty bike next to me. I learned that day that it didn’t matter if I hit those numbers he through out that day. It was the first time I heard, “Try and if you don’t get it this time, you will get it next time”. I always had failure built into my mindset around exercise and in Jesse’s classes that is just not acceptable. All of a sudden a felt a little bad ass in me come out. In all of those years of trying different fitness efforts, I had never experienced that. All of a sudden I found myself slowly moving up the rows to cycle next to people who have intimidated me my entire life. Was I becoming one of those people?  (Martha says – I love this part!)

I always have to point out Jesse because he is the master of inspiration. But I have to mention that it is the entire Flywheel model that makes this happen. The community of instructors and riders is so supportive. There is a constant focus on pushing yourself out of your comfort zone Kari, Kara, Ryan, Wendy — they have all given me the strength to stick with this journey. In fact it is these same people who have pushed me into the next step of my journey — strength training; another thing that I had feared (dreaded…). I’m now taking classes at the Fhitting Room twice a week with some equally awesome instructors (Eric, Amanda, Daury, Jason). Somehow when I am in the presence of these incredible people – I feel like I can do anything. Through the consistency of going to the same classes week after week I have also developed friendships with people in my classes that only enrich the experience of every work out.

All through this time I was going through a tough spot in my personal life that really could have derailed me in many ways. Instead I found myself drawn to these classes where the first things I would hear are “Leave your outside world behind. Pedal away your stress. Take this time to be the you that you want to be.” Instructors who asked, “What are you peddling for?” gave me the direction I needed. I am not only physically stronger – I am mentally stronger. Because all of these classes are booked ahead of time they became commitments on my calendar that I refused to miss.

My diet:
I have always been a creature of habit eating mostly the same things all of the time. So it is no surprise that there is not a lot of diversity here!

Typical meals:
Breakfast: Almond butter, Sprouted grain Ezekial bread, apple or greek yogurt, fruit, flaxseed

Snacks: Sprouted grain Ezekial with almond butter, almonds, greek yogurt, and now I have incorporated some carb/protein filled smoothies on days that I do more than one class.

Lunch: Salad with protein or egg omelet with lots of veggies

Dinner: protein and vegetables, I like my dinner protein to have some fat, either some type of red meat, salmon or chicken with the skin.

Dessert (yes): almond milk pudding with chia seeds and sometimes a few chocolate chips

I have also learned to not be fearful of fat. So many low-fat options are filled with artificial fillers. I try to eat “clean” food as much as possible. I read the Ingredients on everything and if I don’t understand what is in the food I will not eat it.

Seed Obsession
I love my seeds. They fill me up. They keep the body moving. My skin has never been better. I am convinced that my all around health has been significantly improved with my seeds! My friends laugh that I always carry around a Flax packet with me in case of emergency.

What I eat on the go
For me I am on the go for work. I don’t sit in an office. In many ways this is good (I walk a lot). But now I never go anywhere without thinking in advance how I am going to have a snack. I almost always have a peanut butter sandwich in my bag. Almonds. Kind Bars (dark chocolate and sea salt).  You can buy cheese sticks at almost any deli in NYC. Or even just a ¼ lb of turkey at a deli. In NYC there are many healthy options – I am lucky that way.

What I’ve learned (and continue to learn) through my journey
– You cannot phone in exercise. The elliptical and treadmill are great entryways into the gym. But that will not change you in the way running, cycling, spinning, and other high intensity exercises will. You have to really sweat it out — like “2 days for your clothes to dry” sweat. (gross – I know)

– Write everything down – without judgment. It is just a record. In the beginning this was the hardest part. But I looked at it as a record. In the past I only wrote things down when I was being “good”. This was a no judgment space. It was simply a place to jot things down. I never gave it any power.

-Technology! I use a Fitbit to track my every move. I am lucky that I don’t have a regular desk job. But it was important for me to know the days that I was walking 20K steps AND doing a Fly class. I had to adjust my eating based on those heavy exercise days.  Flywheel – the ability to track your progress. At most spin studios you just guess where the dial goes — but everything is measured at Fly. So you know when the instructor calls out 40/40 that you are working your butt off. I can also look back at my numbers from a year ago and see that I am crushing numbers I never thought possible. I have now done two 90-minute rides and a 120-minute ride.

– Scale was not used as a place of judgment. It is just one number in a series of ways you can get feedback on how you are doing. For weeks the scale did not move. But I would be sure to measure myself and then I would see that I lost an inch. Typically I found that my body was doing more exciting changes when the scale was not moving. That is when I started to notice that I fit into smaller sizes. By not focusing on the scale I was able to maintain consistency, because the scale did not drive my diet or fitness plan.

– Best reward: Buying a pair of fancy jeans called, “Super Skinny Jeans” that are about 6 sizes smaller than where I started. I am still far away from seeing all of the weight loss in the mirror. But they fit perfectly — so I know something has changed! I also love buying new fitness clothes – I feel like when I walk around in them it is like wearing my gold medal for all of the hard work I have put into this process.

On Emotional Eating: I now acknowledge it. I actually had to face real emotional challenges this year and just found other ways to deal. I was determined not to let it stop my progress. So I found myself opening up more about my feelings rather than burying them. I gave myself permission to cry through a fly class (back row in the dark, loud music, perfect place for a good cry) and all of a sudden I was getting through some tough times without cake and French fries. That was empowering.

Moving forward
Right now I am about 10-12lbs away from my goal weight. I know that these next 10lbs are going to be more difficult and complex (and probably very slow going). I struggle with accepting that. And I am still struggling with seeing the weight loss when I look in the mirror. Occasionally I get a glimpse that I can accept but it is hard not to go back to those old thoughts. It’s a real challenge to internalize this big change and rather than focusing on the last 10, I want to focus on building muscle and making sure I never gain the weight back. That means finding new goals that are not driven by the scale. Before I started this process I could barely do 5 push-ups on my knees – now I can do REAL push-ups in between a set of 10 burpees and kettlebell swings. A year ago I barely knew what those things were! Now I am thinking about 10Ks, triathlons and Spartan races and I think, “Do I WANT to do it?” “Not CAN I do it?” Because now I know that I can do anything. The consistency I have found this past year is my anchor and I know that my life has forever been changed.

I’d like to thank Susan for sharing her personal story. She is one of the most inspirational women I know and I’m honored to be a part of her journey.