I've lost over 90 lbs by doing the (Original) Belly Fat Cure and eating Healthy.
Now I continue to write this blog for you to offer Support, Weight loss tips, and Healthy Recipes.

I'm Not Dieting - I've Changed My Lifestyle

Friday, February 24, 2012

Guest Blogger - Kellie McClelland - How she lost 80lbs

When Losing Weight Isn’t About Losing Weight

Ok, that’s probably a lie.  It’s always about losing weight isn’t it?  Well, for some of us, the proverbial kick in the behind is needed to finally not only get motivated, but put into action the process of losing weight.  For me, it was a wake up call with my health.  The “I know I need to lose weight” mantra that I had repeatedly tried to deal with for 20 years, became an entirely different issue. The repeated attempts, part time success, and full time failures of 20 years of poor habits had finally caught up with me.  I was pre-diabetic and had spent a week in the hospital with a flare of ulcerative colitis.  The disease that I had been in denial about for countless years, the disease that I thought couldn’t possibly make me that sick again, had reared it’s ugly self.

Then came the second proverbial kick in the behind.  In the last three days, I have had as many people mention to me that I should start a blog.  It’s something that has been on my mind for quite a while, yet I felt like I wasn’t “there” with my health. I still struggle and have daily challenges. It seemed hypocritical to me to blog about health when I still struggled with it, but as one person said, that’s all part of it.  So that coupled with the several other people that have asked about a blog and a brief mention to Rosalie about starting one, well here I am.  Rosalie without even knowing it, was my second kick in the rear to get started when she asked me to guest post on her blog.  Hopefully this will be what gets me moving and I’ll have a blog of my own very soon.

Backing up into my past, I was always the tall, skinny kid growing up.  In spite of that, I can look back at poor eating habits and a recipe for disaster with my food relationship.  It didn’t seem to affect me though until my late teens.  By the time I was in my early 20’s, I was diagnosed with ulcerative colitis and spent a week in the hospital.  That began a vicious cycle of my weight going all over the place.  I battled the disease off and on all through my 20’s, yet it never seemed to be too bad, I just dealt with it.  When I got pregnant with my first child, it went into total remission and stayed that way for 9 years. I made pregnancy my ticket to eat and I took it quite literally.  I gained way too much weight and never lost it prior to my second pregnancy, which I subsequently added on even more weight. Over the years, I did Weight Watchers and a variety of other diets to try and lose weight. I would be partially successful and then almost sabotage myself and just gain it all back and then some.

In 2009, the colitis symptoms returned.  Again, I figured it couldn’t possibly get that bad as it had in the past.  I was completely wrong and by the end of the summer that year, I spent a week in the hospital. While I was in the hospital a doctor mentioned my lab work showed I was in the pre-diabetic stage and that I should lose weight. See, I was not skinny by any means because of the colitis.  The symptoms presented themselves differently with me and I ate terrible. So in spite of what I knew deep down, it was a shock to actually hear it from a doctor and realize how unhealthy I was. Yes I needed to lose weight, but more importantly, I needed to get healthier and make some major changes.

After getting out of the hospital I started reading.  I read voraciously and found a lot of books and websites that all pointed to one thing; sugars and carbs. I read books that targeted intestinal diseases, I read books about the Paleo/Primal lifestyle, and I read the Belly Fat Cure.  There was a common denominator amongst everything I read and a light bulb went off for me.  I started with the Belly Fat Cure and saw results, but it just still wasn’t right.  Between the way I felt and the pace the weight was coming off, I knew there was another component.  I learned about Jorge’s Fast Track program and then read the Primal Blueprint.  I slowly started to adopt the principles and started seeing results.  I was feeling better and the weight was coming off. I can’t say that I lost weight at this magical, rapid pace.  Instead it slowly came off, yet I got stronger and healthier along the way. Sending in a success story to Jorge and being in the "Belly Fat Cure Quick Meals" book with Rosalie was a defining moment.  Talk about being honored and recognized for what I did, it was fantastic!

I wish I could say that my health is 100%.  I actually got sick enough for another hospitalization from the colitis this past December. To further complicate matters, there seems to be a debate about whether it’s Chrons disease or colitis.  Whatever it is, it has made me even more motivated to keep working at getting healthier and to not give up. I am no longer pre-diabetic and in spite of the disease, I am healthier and stronger than I have ever been. I would be lying if I said it wasn’t about the weight. But it didn’t start out being solely about weight. It became an ongoing journey towards health that ended up with losing 80 pounds. I feel more self confident and better about myself than I ever have. At the beginning, I never thought I’d lose so much. But the health component is definitely the biggest part. I can only imagine how much sicker I would have been these last few years if I had that 80 pounds back. It was also about Jorge calling me tiny when I met him at the photo shoot for the “Belly Fat Cure Quick Meals” book, I’m 5’10”, tiny is not a description I ever thought of about myself. And, it was also about going from busting out of a size 16-18 to a size 6. But most importantly, it was about getting healthy and strong in spite of dealing with a chronic disease, and making health a priority over everything else.

Thank you Rosalie for giving me the opportunity to share a little about how I got to this point. Now talk about accountability, I need to get busy and get that blog going!




25 comments:

  1. You look fabulous! Thank you for sharing your story with us.

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    1. Kellie there are no words to express how very proud I am of you and how thankful I am that you have found this path. Watching you over these past few years has been both fantastic and heart wrenching. I believe in you and know that you will continue gaining more and more strength. It is wonderful seeing you here! You will be a valuable resource and support to many, many people. I look forward to your very own blog! With lots of Love...mom

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    2. P.S. I need a lesson on how to post this stuff!

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  2. You look beautiful! it is exciting to read success stories.My best wishes for continued good health:)

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  3. You look great, and I hope your health gets on board completely, and soon! :)

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  4. I just shared your story on FB. Your an inspiration. I too am starting this BFC for health reasons mainly. So stoked about feeling better in the near future!

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  5. Excellent post. Truly inspiring.

    Just one comment if I may, it's 'losing' weight.
    'Loose' is what happens to our clothes after we try them on following weeks on the BFC!

    Thanks!

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    Replies
    1. Thanks for this comment. I was reading and thinking the same thing.

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  6. Thank you! And thanks for pointing out "loosing" :) Guess spell check isn't 100% reliable!

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  7. Kellie, you DO look beautiful! You said you weren't quite losing fast enough with just the BFC, I'm curious as to what got you losing again. Did you Fast Track the rest of the weight off? Best tips? Also did you exercise? Just curious because I find the weight comes off slow for me too. Always looking for ways to speed things up. You've really done an awesome job - congrats!

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    1. Thank you Beth! Well in addition to not loosing weight that fast, I was still trying to figure out ways to improve the colitis symptoms that were also not diminishing very fast. I read other books that validated the carb connection and the Fast Track book fit right into that. So for me, what made the biggest difference was cutting out the carbs, specifically grains and legumes. That seemed to speed things up and most importantly, help me feel better. As I felt better, I did exercise. Jorge had a mp3 that was a 20 minute interval walk. I started with that and just kept building on it as I felt better. For instance, I'd run instead of walk fast at the intervals. Then I started doing some running. I also did Jillian Michaels videos at home and went on to P90X from there. The biggest thing for me was changing my lifestyle in numerous ways and not looking back!

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    2. Kellie, I recently removed all grains and legumes (and dairy) from my diet as well, and I've never felt better. I am feeling so good in fact that I'm starting to workout regularly now as well. I used to feel like I just needed more willpower and wasn't dedicated enough, but it's effortless now so I know it wasn't an issue of willpower but what I was eating. I'm so glad you posted about this because it confirms for me what I've been experiencing.

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    3. You are very welcome and I agree 100%. I used to HATE to exercise, but I truly enjoy it now. It makes such a difference when you start feeling better. I have often wondered if I should remove all dairy. I need lots and lots of probiotics though and I make my own yogurt. I ferment it for over 24 hours and that removes all the lactose (milk sugars). I also use a small amount of heavy whipping cream in coffee which is one of my few guilty pleasures that I can't seem to give up!

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    4. I just buy the powdered probiotics from the health food store and add it to our drinks or food, as long as they are not hot. We did this even before BFC or primal/paleo eating because it helps our digestion and keeps my husband's heartburn away as long as he takes it. I hate for us to take medication if there's a way around it.

      As far as dairy is concerned, if you are sensitive to grains it's recommended to remove dairy from your diet as well because of the grain molecules (?) passing through to the milk, much like a Mother should not eat beans, broccoli, etc. while nursing so that the baby doesn't get an upset belly. Removing grains and dairy is especially important if autoimmunity is involved at all. I used to be a cream and sugar coffee drinker, but I have weaned myself to drinking my coffee black now, sometimes with a little sweetener if I come across a poor quality cup of coffee. Good luck with all that.

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  8. Wow, Kellie! You look great and I'm so proud of you... I'm not just saying because I love you and you are my sister-in-law but because it is true. I've seen firsthand the struggles you've had and what you have done to overcome them. BTW, I thought you were stunning when you were overweight too... it is more fun to live without the extra weight though, I agree. Lots of love to you and your beautiful body!

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  9. Thanks for sharing your story. Wishing you a future of good health. Looking forward to your blog ;-)

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  10. I will be starting BFC soon. I am hoping that the foods will be affordable, being the only bread winner at home and barely making it with the lower priced groceries. Your story has been inspirational. Thank you.

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Some tips if you are having trouble

  • First make sure that you are staying under the 15/6. 15 sugars and 6 servings of carbs for the whole day. Thats no more than 5 sugars and 2 servings of carbs per meal.
  • Track all of your sugar/carbs. Add everything from your meal together and count them that way.
  • Try to stop eating whole grain carbs after 3pm.
  • Make sure you drink lots of water.
  • Count everything that you put into your mouth. Even sauces - everything , check labels.
  • Make sure that you don't eat any artificial sugars. Check labels, if it says sugar free - look in the ingredients, look for....sucralose, aspartame, saccharine in the ingredients. Those are BAD!
  • Going #2 is a big problem when a lot of people start the BFC. I have solved that problem with Clear Benefiber in my morning coffee and a scoop of Super Seed w/water in the afternoon. (you can buy the super seed on Amazon.com it is the cheapest).
  • Choose your carbs wisely. Try to pick the carbs that will give you the lowest count of carbs, sugar and calories and the most fiber.

I hope this helps.

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