Let's Lose Some Holiday Weight!

A couple of Christmas' ago, my fiancé and I broke up and we were going through an awkward relocation stage during New Year's. I was looking for apartments while he was on vacation in England with his family. During the course of this holiday I had decided to give myself a clean slate. I wanted to be healthy. During the course of our 5-year relationship I had gained roughly 20-25 lbs. Now I'm not blaming him for my weight gain but during that time I had started drinking a lot of beer and moved out of my mom's house so I didn't always have healthy home-cooked meals. That kind of environment, mixed with obvious relationship problems was definitely not beneficial to a young woman's state of mind and health. I still love this man very much, but I can safely say that that event was the best thing that could have happened to my body and state of mind.

Here's what I did...


I stopped drinking. I wasn't a raging alcoholic or anything but a beer or two when I got home, and a pack of 12 or 24 shared between two people during a Saturday night is still not healthy. I stopped completely.





I changed my eating habits. I went from takeout to oatmeal, from processed to organic, from chips to vegetables, and from bar food to grapefruit. I also drank myself silly with Tazo Zen- Green Tea and water.





I exercised. No I didn't join a gym or buy an Ab Roller. I literally did 200 crunches a day and arm exercises using 5 lb weights before I went to bed.






I controlled my stress. Everyone has stress. Work stress, relationship stress, family stress, body image stress, money stress etc. I was suffering from all of this. I made sure that I focused on myself, what I had to do, making sure I was happy. Meditating, deep breathing, happy thoughts and a little green goes a long way!


I made a new friend. During the course of our breakup and well into the New Year I befriended this extremely nice man from work. We went out to the movies, walked and talked for hours, tried to new restaurants, hung out at coffee shops, and I really enjoyed his company. He really pulled me from the dark and I am forever grateful to him. He is now my boyfriend and I couldn't have asked for a better mate.


During the first week of March I went to my dad's house for his birthday and was overwhelmed with positive comments about my weight. I was always the biggest of my three sisters (including my twin sister) and felt completely FAT when I was around them. I was always safely in the healthy range my BMI but compared to them, I was a whale. They encouraged me to go weigh myself on their scale (I don't have one at home) - and was really happily surprised when I discovered that I had lost 12 lbs. I know that doesn't seem like a whole lot, but it was a huge success in my books. And I had not only lost the weight, but actual inches. I had to go out and buy a lot of new clothes too.

By July I had lost about 18 lbs and had looked my best since 2005. Now it is 2012, and unfortunately, I am almost back to the same weight I was. Since then I have moved to a very nice apartment, have a stress-free relationship and it's somehow made me lazy. Instead of drinking beer, I drink wine and sit at my computer. As well, since the time of my breakup, which was late 2009 early 2010, I have changed positions in my company. This position is one of the most stressful and taxing jobs I've EVER had. I'm not saying that a stressful job is a good excuse to start drinking, but it's the only one I have, and I am ashamed of myself for it. I recognize it, and I need to stop.

New Year's Resolution? Stop drinking, change eating habits, control my stress, have fun and get help from my friend.