The Voice of Laura Chase

I have too much “Reality”  in my life  to be consumed with “Reality TV”. 

 From what news organizations and publications have said,  most of it is contrived “reality” anyway.  Like, for instance, The Biggest Loser TV show.  Yes, they are literally working their hiney’s off, BUT, they have doctors on the set at all times, they are constantly being monitored by someone in the health field.  I find it interesting after all the sweat and pain, there are still those that gain the weight back, and sometimes even a bit more.  It’s not that these people lack will power - they have proven that they have loads of it.  It’s other issues that they haven’t dealt with; internal things that unless faced head on, they will lose all that weight a 100 times and will gain it back 100 times again. 

My reality?  I’ve lost 50 pounds and whittled my wardrobe down from a tight 16 to a loose 6. 

It all started 7 years ago when I started having some big problems with exhaustion and with weight gain.  I’ve never had this problem before.  I’ve always had TONS o’ energy and never had a problem getting weight off if I gain it.  In college ( the good ole’ days ) I had a BMI of 18 and weighed even 28lbs less than I do now.    

Turns out, that with a combination of Epstein Barr (adult on-set mono), a car wreck that messed up my neck/back, and contracting a MERSA infection with the bites of 2 brown recluse spiders…all those things decided to gang up and make my thyroid go all fruit-loopy!    

Even after getting on thyroid medication, I still felt like I was going to fall over asleep at all times (not a good thing for someone who is already the walking dead doing a  morning radio show) and completely incapable of losing weight no matter how many miles I walked a day, or how many days I worked out at Curves each week.

I went up several sizes within a couple years of our marriage too.  Bless my hubby’s heart, he swears it never made one ioda of a difference in his love and attraction to me.  He’s a good man, no matter how much I think he lies! 

I’ve had so many people praying that I would find an answer…and praise God, last August I did.  I started going to the top weight loss doctor in our area.  She uses medication to lower your hunger and B12 shots to increase your metabolism – since mine was pretty much shot to zero, I needed anything that could help.  She told me to be very patient with myself because there is no track record for a Thyroid’s patients sucess.  I logged my food  and water intake and exercise, every day.   I decided, this time, I would not do a traditional “diet” and eat stuff I hate and wouldn’t eat after the diet was done  (veggies and fish – blah).  I decided I would put together an eating plan and exercise plan that goes hand in hand with the foods I enjoy (Pizza, Pizza, Pizza, Icecream, Icecream, Icecream) and find something better at burning calories than just walking.  Wha-la, I found biking. 

I purchased a slightly older Trek Hybrid bike off of Craigslist and started biking 5, 8, 10, 15, 20, 40 miles at a time,  4-5x a week.  THEN…after losing 35lbs in 6 months, I had proved to myself that I was going to stick with it.   Hubby gave me a nice chunk-o-change from our tax refund and I started researching road bikes.  You know, the type that all those spandex laden bicyclists ride on the side of the road?  I’ve always thought they were crazy, until I got bit by the Biking Bug! 

I now bike 80-100 miles per week, at 20 mile stints each day.  It’s nice b/c for about 1.5 hours of biking and listening to my ipod, I burn 800-1200 calories each ride and get to experience so many new neighborhoods and roads. 

So, here I am…50lbs lighter and maintaining for about 2 months now.  Not motivated yet to lose the last 10lbs…but I will!   I am done with the doctors’ help and medication and shots.  It was quite a boost to my “slimmer ego” to have her tell me that I am one of her STAR patients because I did it the right way!  Eating food I’ll always eat, exercising and building solid muscle, getting out of the obese category and into the healthy and normal range.   God gets the credit for giving me the “stick-to-it-tiveness” and  the wisdom on where I could find the help I needed!

It feels good to feel good. 

It took me 8 months.  That is my reality.