Health vs Weight Loss

In my quest for health, I started with only looking at my weight. I slowly started coming to terms with what I already knew: health isn't all about weight. For some, weight gain can be associated with poor health choices, but losing weight doesn't always mean getting healthy.

 

Only 2 months after my last chemo, and already "overweight"

I lost a LOT of weight in the most UNhealthy way: chemotherapy. As I recovered, and regained my health, I gained weight. According to the "charts," I was "healthy" while I was so weak I couldn't walk more than 100 yards. But when I was able to get up, eat a normal breakfast, hike 5 miles, have a picnic lunch in the woods, and hike 5 miles back? By that time, my weight put me into the "overweight" category. Baloney.





When I started this blog. Sick & Tired.

Even though I still weigh over 200 pounds, my weight loss through nutrisystem is coming to an end. The system is sound, and helped me to realize just how much my body really NEEDS, as opposed to how sick I was making myself. But the foods are very highly processed, and not good for me in the long term. They were a tool to help me learn how to listen to my body in terms of portions and hunger and thirst/water consumption. Over the past several years, I have turned to convenience foods, like take out and fast foods. I've ignored my body's reaction to most dairy products. I've eaten to the point of sickness because I hate to "waste" food. I lost my energy, and my mental and emotional state deteriorated. Without proper nutrition, everything suffers. (and this could have happened whether I was 245# or 145#).

 

A healthy "obese" me. Walking 10 miles a day at Disneyworld with the kids? No problem!

Nutrisystem, and the support structure online, helped me to see just how badly I was treating my body. Yes, I lost weight, and for a time, I focused on just the numbers on the scale. But I've also come to notice now that I also have more energy, more endurance, better bloodwork, etc. This is because I changed how I look at food, not just how I look. I changed how I see and treat food. I even changed how I react if I seriously over-eat! Nutrisystem was a tool. A catalyst for change. And for that, I am grateful.



Now, however, I've started focusing on WHAT I'm putting into my body. Not just protein content and calories and portion sizes. Not on "will this affect the scale." Not even on "how will this affect me in the short term." But rather, how can I nourish my body for the long haul? How can I improve my immune system, and that of my kids? How can I have the best chance to make sure that I'm around to meet my grandchildren and even great grandchildren?

 

 

A rainbow of veggies for my salad!

I know fruits & vegetables are the answer. They got me through the worst year of my life on chemotherapy with flying colors, and kept me healthy for years afterwards. I was miserable for 11 months on some of the roughest chemotherapy drugs known to womankind. But when I was done my doctor almost cried. He told me that so often he saw people with my kind of cancer relapse because their bodies couldn't handle the chemo. That, as miserable as I was, my body had held up in an amazing way. Now that I'm a busy mom working full time and on the road a lot, a full gamut of fruits and vegetables are harder to come by, but I'm dedicated to changing that. And I would love it if folks could join me! How do you get your fruits and veggies? How do you flood your body with antioxidants?