Meet Nicole, measuring in at 4 feet 11 inches. One inch taller than legal size of Little People of America, who measure up to be 4 feet 10 inches and shorter. Over the years she has struggled with keeping and maintaining a healthy weight that works well with her height. Junior year in high school Nicole weighed in at 135 pounds, considered overweight for her height. In the past four years her body and lifestyle have made a complete change. Check yours!
“I went in for my yearly check up at the doctor’s office. I stepped onto the scale right when I walked in, looked at the number and had a mini heart attack. The doctor took me back to the room and asked me questions about my family history. Diabetes is very common on my dad’s side of the family. She told me that if I keep eating the way I do I would be at a very high risk of diabetes because of my height, weight and food choices I ate.” Hearing from a professional that you are considered overweight can be very eye opening. We look in the mirror everyday and see the same figure and same curves looking back at us, we can easily grow blind to any changes “I knew at this point that I needed to make a change.”
One key to losing weight is hitting up the gym and getting active. “I would come home from school, and instead of going to the cupboards for something to eat I would get on the treadmill for one to one and a half hours and walk and run.” It’s important to get those active minutes in everyday. Nicole even upped her personal fitbit step goal to 15,000 steps per day, rather than the 10,000 steps. “Working out more than once a day helped motivate me even more. I used the treadmill the most but I also did the elliptical, the bike and went for walks outside.”
Eating healthy is the most important part during a weight loss journey. “Breakfast, lunch and dinner. Absolutely no snacks.” Cutting unnecessary carbs out helps to keep the body moving in the right direction. “I started eating more fruits and vegetables and cut sweets out completely.” Certainly we all have our craving; pasta, custard, diet coke or corn dogs. Learning to say no to your cravings and portioning what you eat helped get Nicole to where she is today.
Nicole weighs in today at 96 pounds. Only one pound away from her ultimate goal, 95 pounds. “Sometimes I tell people what my weight goal is and they think I’m crazy. That’s realistic for me.” Every person and everybody is different. All that matters is that you set an appropriate goal for yourself. If your goal is 5 pounds or 50, do what makes you feel confident. “Every week I set a weight goal that I did my best to meet. I made my goals realistic to what I could accomplish on my own in a healthy way.”
Creating a health goal and achieving it can be very rewarding! Not only will you feel good, but you look even better then you already do. I encourage you to get active and eat healthier. We all have an image we want, and with a little hard work and a lot of vegetables that dream body isn’t very far away.