I am off on the train to NYC and the Dr. Oz taping, so here is a guest post from Jane.  I hope to post something Wednesday night, but it might be pretty late.  Please enjoy:

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Hi everyone! I’m Jane from The Year of Moving Forward and I’m thrilled to be providing a guest post while Lori is either on her cruise or recovering from her return to winter after sunny Mexico meeting the Wizard of Dr. Oz! I’m fairly new to the weight loss blogging world. My sister-in-law inadvertantly introduced me to the amazing group of people (YOU!) who blog regularly about all the weight-loss issues I struggle with in my own life. After reading a few, I decided to try it myself.

I have been moderately overweight to obese pretty much my whole life, despite being a very active kid and having parents who were pretty good about what we ate. As an adult, I kept my weight out of the obesity range by virtue of having very active jobs and hobbies; I hiked, farmed, danced, swam, canoed, and gardened my weight into (relative) submission. The kicker came when I started grad school, a lifestyle that involves reading, working on the computer, reading some more, sitting in seminars, reading, working on the computer, going to sleep, getting up early, and doing it all again. After six or seven years of hovering in the 175/180 range, my weight ballooned to 230 during my first two years of grad school.

I had an epiphany about the effect my weight was having on my health when I got winded walking up stairs in a park. I joined Weight Watchers, lost 52 pounds in just over a year, and felt great in my 178 pound body. But I had five more years of grad school ahead of me and put it all back on, plus 8 extra pounds. When I got pregnant in 2006, I weighed 238 pounds. I was very lucky to have midwives and a physician’s assistant tell me that I really shouldn’t gain much weight during my pregnancy and offered ways to help. The PA told me I should walk for an hour seven days a week and I did that through my seventh month. At my heaviest, I weighed 259 and two weeks after giving birth, was down to 234. It felt great to have followed my doctors’ advice successfully! Through the wonders of breastfeeding, I got down to 215 when The Small One was six months old.

But it didn’t last. I have a long list of excuses, but they’re worn out — especially in this crowd!

So several months ago, I decided I needed to move more. It started with a 900 mile move from the middle of nowhere to a small town in northern California. I now live with sidewalks, paved roads, bicycle lanes, and Things I Can Walk To. So I walk. Not quite as much as I’d like, but I walk. More every week so far this year. And I do a variety of strength training at home, too. Mostly hand weights and exercises that use my own body mass against me: push ups, squats, leg lifts, etc. Now, I’m trying to find a way to add swimming and/or water aerobics, even though my schedule is about to become more hectic as I head back into full time work after being a stay at home mom.

I don’t have an amazing take home message here. I’m losing weight the only way I know how: by eating less and exercising more. I need to work a bit harder on the eating less so that everything can come together and get my slow and steady weight loss to be a little less slow, but just as steady. I’m incredibly inspired by the stories I read in the weight loss blog universe. You are all doing such amazing things with your bodies and your lives! Part of what gets me out the door sometimes these days is thinking that I don’t want to disappoint the handful of people who read and comment on my blog. I want them to see my work; I want them to see success. Even when I went to Weight Watchers meetings every week, I didn’t feel as much a part of a community as I do among the bloggers I now read nearly every day.

Right now, I feel like a teenaged fan staring in the window at a bunch of rock stars who run for miles at a time, lift small cars if they’re in their way, and head back for more after being tortured by their trainers at the gym. But I’ll get there. It might take me a long while, but I’ll get there. Someday, I’ll be like Lori…on a wonderful vacation, looking forward to running every day of it, and asking for guest posts while I’m gone.

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Thank you Jane! You are getting there 😀

I wanted to thank Lori for giving me the opportunity to write in her absence and be able to share some of my experiences on her wonderful blog! Every time I read through Lori’s posts, I’m so impressed by the care that she puts into her food choices and the absolute commitment she has to her physical fitness.

In case you’re not familiar with my story, I used to weigh 305 pounds. Twelve years ago, I lost 158 pounds and went from a tight size 26/28 to a size 6/8. Losing weight was one of the most rewarding things I’ve ever done, but maintaining the weight loss for all these years is even more important than the number of pounds I lost.

People sometimes ask me about how difficult it is to maintain my weight. I often tell them that maintaining my weight is the fun part. All the hard work I put into losing weight was for one overriding goal; to get healthy and stay that way to the best of my ability.

Maintenance is a balancing act, especially the first year or two. It definitely took some practice to make some of the following decisions:

• How much more food should I eat to maintain my weight?
• Was the level of exercise I was doing enough?
• How careful did I need to be on a daily basis?

To be honest with you, the first question was the hardest to figure out. To my surprise, I quickly realized that to maintain my new, healthier weight I only needed to eat a little bit more food than I had as I was losing weight. And that little bit of food was probably only about 250 or 300 calories in total. That surprised me.

As far as the exercise went, I am a speed walker for my exercise of choice, so I just continued to do that, with the occasional very slow 5K thrown in. I continued to strength train a few times a week – but not as much as Lori does! She is amazing.

And because I had truly changed my lifestyle, and not just dieted on a temporary basis, I didn’t need to be that careful with regards to my food choices. I had learned how to eat the things I truly enjoyed in moderation and that was so freeing.

So the maintenance years have been 100% enjoyable. It’s been fun to buy clothes in the regular sized departments, it’s been fun to swim with my seven kids whereas before I didn’t even own a bathing suit, and it’s been wonderful to feel like I’m an active woman even as I get older.

No matter where you are in your journey, whether you are maintaining a healthy weight or desire to lose a few pounds, know that in the end – staying at a healthy weight by making great food choices and exercising on a regular basis is a small thing in return for the wonderful rewards of health.

Thanks again Lori – I so admire all you have accomplished!

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Thank *you*  Diane!

Just Keep Going
by Leah from My New Ending

Almost everyone has seen the Pixar animated movie “Finding Nemo” that came out years ago, and we all remember the easily likable Dory.  She was the sprightly blue fish who forgets everything almost immediately and who becomes a friend to Marlin at the beginning of his journey to find his son, Nemo.  At one point in their search, Nemo’s father gets so very vexed that he becomes depressed, feeling like there’s no hope left of ever finding his son.  Suddenly Dory is singing brightly, “Just keep swimming!  Just keep swimming!  All you gotta do is swim, swim, swim.”  This is only one of her many attempts to encourage Marlin along the way, and thankfully it proves helpful as he continues looking for his son.

Like Marlin, there have been many times I have wanted to give up in my weight loss journey.  I’ve felt like there’s no hope.  “What was I thinking?  Me, thin?”  Sometimes thoughts of “I’m never going to change.” have invaded my mind, and I’ve wondered why I try. But somewhere deep inside comes a little voice telling me to keep going on.  “Don’t give up.  Just keep trying.” And I know that little voice is what has kept me going these eight months.

My weight loss journey is not a spectacular one of dropping large amounts of weight each week and seeing these amazing changes take place for all to see.  Instead it has been a slow, steady journey of changes coming from the inside and working their way out.  Along with days and weeks where I’ve done well and seen a loss I’ve also had weeks where I’ve struggled through food issues, or just not really cared at all about what goes into my mouth. Somehow through all of this I’ve just known in the back of my mind I’m not giving up.  I think that is where this journey is so very different from all the other attempts I’ve made at weight loss.  No matter how slow the weight is coming off, it is coming off and I refuse to give up until I’m in a more healthy state both physically and mentally in regards to food.

I’m learning what works for me, eat less and move more, and along the way I keep telling myself something similar to Dory’s little encouragement song, “Just keep going.  Just keep going.”  By not giving up I’ve seen a loss of twenty four pounds so far and I’ve seen myself reach levels of fitness I never thought I could.

If I can encourage anyone in trying to lose weight I would tell them the same thing, “Don’t give up.  You are worth it and you can change.  Just keep getting back up and try again.”  In the end, like Marlin, you’ll reach the end of your journey and you’ll be so glad you didn’t give up when times were hard.  In fact, we can all reach our goals if we just keep going.

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Thank you Leah!

Hi everyone! Many thanks to Lori for letting me do a guest post on her great blog. My name is Carrie and I write the blog Love Healthy Living. Here, I chronicle my experiences in learning about and trying to follow a healthy lifestyle.

I live with my husband and two cats on the central coast of California. We are fortunate to have an abundance of fresh produce. I try to take advantage of this opportunity and prepare fresh, healthy meals nearly every day. That’s not to say I spend hours in the kitchen. I love finding shortcuts (like using the crock pot) and we often eat leftovers with a fresh salad or vegetable on the side.

I wasn’t always so careful about what I eat. I never learned to cook when I was younger so my young adult years were spent eating packaged or quick fix meals that weren’t very nutritionally balanced. Then, after meeting my husband and entering a busy phase of my professional life, I started eating out at restaurants a lot more often. Before I knew it, we had both gained weight.

The turning point for me came in 2004 after watching the movie “Super Size Me.” This was the one about the guy (Morgan Spurlock) who eats McDonald’s for 30 days. What struck me was the dichotomy between the fast food from McDonald’s and the food that was prepared by Morgan’s vegan chef girlfriend before and after his experiment. The whole foods that she prepared with care and love jumped out at me from the screen. I realized at that moment that I was not feeding myself or my husband with the same amount of concern and that had to change.

After seeing the movie, I immediately went grocery shopping and filled my basket with fresh fruits and vegetables. Over the next several years, I learned basic cooking skills and how to eat right. My husband and I both lost weight and gained energy and self-confidence.

My personal transformation also led me to a career change into the field of nutrition. I am currently a graduate student in the field of public health in nutrition. I hope to use my education to help plan and execute programs to help other people live healthier lives.

From studying nutrition and public health combined with my personal journey to be healthy, I have come up with some nutritional guidelines that help me lead a more balanced life:

1. Eat fruits and vegetables with every meal. I use every opportunity to fuel myself with healthful ingredients.
2. Cut out the processed foods. Making your own meals will save you money and give you control over the ingredients.
3. Eat as a family. Studies show that this time together has a positive impact on healthy behaviors for you and your family.
4. Learn about where your food comes from and how the choices you make impact the environment.
5. Take the time to lovingly prepare and enjoy your meals. Eating mindfully is a great way to achieve a balanced diet.

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Thank you Carrie!