My 1st guest-blogger - say hello to my friend, Ellen!

So, I was thinking it might be fun (and inspiring) to have some of my wonderful blogging friends to do a guest-post for my blog and my first guest-blogger is the wonderful, warm and inspiring Ellen from Fat Girl Wearing Thin.

We decided that she would do a post for my blog and that I would do a post for her blog.  Please go to her blog, read my guest post and then stick around because she's an awesome blogger!

I am waiting for guest blogs from some of my other friends which I hope to post in the future and if any of my readers would be interested - email me and we can talk about it.

Now, without further ado, here's ELLEN! :>

---

When FAB asked me to guest post on her blog, I eagerly accepted.  While reading her blog I can’t help but be reminded of my own transition as I went from my heaviest weight of 235 pounds to a normal weight for my 5’2” frame of 130 pounds.  I didn’t have a blog when I began losing, however, I am frequently asked what it was that I did to jump-start my weight loss.

When I first started losing the weight I’d carried for so long, I wondered how I was going to convince myself that I actually had to exercise as part of my weight-loss program.  I hated to exercise; the pounds I carried made me feel awkward and uncomfortable.

The single biggest change I made was also one of the simplest: I purchased a pedometer. Wearing it gave me instant accountability and access to see how I was doing at any given time.  It wasn’t long before I was exceeding 10,000 steps a day, and this is how I did it:  I moved.  When I was on the phone, I walked around the house.  When I brushed my teeth, while waiting for my dog to come back inside, while waiting for my bathtub to fill with water, I stepped in place.  As long as I was standing anyway, I figured I could just as easily move around so that’s what I did.  Before long I was averaging 16,000 steps a day and it showed.

By creating one goal, just one – I didn’t feel as though I had turned my entire life upside down.  It really didn’t feel that different from before, other than the fact that I was becoming more aware of how much (or how little) I was moving.  I started feeling stronger; I wanted to move more.  And I wanted to eat healthier.  Notice that I emphasize on the word want.  I did it because I wanted to, not because it was part of a series of strict rules I had to follow.  Things began falling into place; one good habit triggered another, which triggered another, and so-on.

I am now entering my seventh year of maintenance, but being here has it’s challenges, too.  There was plenty of information out there to show me how to get to maintenance, but there is very little information as to how one stays in maintenance.  For example, I never realized how difficult it would be to start reintroducing foods back into my diet that were once forbidden, or only eaten in smaller portions.  As my body readjusted to being able to eat more calories I had to become keenly aware of how much or how little was acceptable in order to maintain my weight.  Learning how to achieve that kind of balance takes some trial and error; every person’s body is different and there’s no manual to show you how it’s done, but it can be done.  Awareness is key.

Whether you are working on losing your first 10 pounds or that stubborn last 5, I want to share with you something which I learned along the way that’s become the mantra of my blog:  You don’t have to wait to lose that weight in order to live your best life now. Changing my body did not change who I was.  In the end, I’m still me, a work in progress; whether I’m 235 pounds or 130 pounds.   Being of a desired size is simply a perk of an already fulfilling life.

Ellen, aka Fat Girl Wearing Thin
--
http://fatgirlwearingthin.com