As I was sifting through some old pictures recently, I found a few from my freshman year of college. During that time, I was weighing 130 lbs. and had a hard time squeezing into my jeans. My exercise routine consisted of only weight training at the UT Rec Center (which I don’t consider such a bad thing), but my food intake was an issue. I was extremely careful with what I ate, yet I was still so unhappy with my body.

For breakfast, I tried not to eat something too “greasy” or “fattening,” so I’d go for a bowl of Honey Bunches of Oats in fat free milk, or a fruit smoothie with a side of a Nature’s Valley granola bar. It seemed so light on my stomach, so I thought I was doing a good thing.

Then came lunch. The easiest for me was a sandwich, but with baked chips (of course!). Since I lived in the dorms, I’d go downstairs to the sandwich shop and made what I thought was the best choice: whole wheat/whole grain bread, some slices of turkey, 1 slice of cheese, and a bag of baked chips on the side. I used to stock up on the boxes of baked chips that were sold in bulk at Sam’s Warehouse.

Dinner: a bowl of some “healthy” cereal, another sandwich (toasted, possibly) to change it up a bit.

Sometimes, on the weekends, I would treat myself to a Chick-Fil-A sandwich, but I still thought I was making a pretty healthy choice! Little did I know that the breaded chicken, fried in peanut oil, served in between 2 slices of bread was actually bad for me and making me look bloated. I’d go for the wheat bread (Chick-Fil-A’s most recent healthy choice at the time), and having made a pact with my dad to stop eating french fries a year before…I skipped the fries.  Instead, I would eat some baked potato chips on the side, yet I would dip them into a mountain of ketchup (sugar!!). Not to mention the half and half (half unsweetened tea, half diet lemonade) I was drinking. It was diet lemonade, but it was still so sweet!! Splenda is still a form of sugar!! As my brother, Mike, would say, “If it tastes sweet, it has sugar…or pseudo-sugar!”

I wasn’t eating red meat at all because I had heard that was very fattening and bad for me. I thought I was doing the right thing. Whole grains, low-fat, substituted Splenda for sugar, ate no meat (just chicken), egg whites only, used Pam instead of butter…but I was physically the biggest I have ever been. I remember going shopping with my mom and crying in the dressing room because everything felt so tight. I could feel every inch of my clothes plastered against my body, and I didn’t like it.

It wasn’t until I met the treadmill that I really started to lose weight/inches, but I soon realized that the only way to maintain my weight was to spend 2-3 hours at the gym. For 3 years, 5 times a week, I would run 6-10 miles on a treadmill. It was not fun spending hours on the treadmill, but it was the only way. The running caused many knee and foot injuries, but when I tried to stop running so much, I would quickly start regaining weight (especially in my stomach). I lost a lot of weight/inches during this time, but I was too skinny, had no muscle, constant injuries, and I spent way too much time on the treadmill.

When Mike and Rob (my brothers) first introduced me to the G7 Strength and Conditioning program, I was a bit skeptical. I thought (through experience) that the only way to maintain weight was to run…and run…and run some more.

I had no idea at the time that my “need” to run and my body weight fluctuation was due to the food I was eating. Food was the culprit. Food was making me unhealthy. I quickly learned I would get the most benefit from the The G7 program if I changed the way I ate. I had to completely put aside everything that I learned in school. Having a Masters Degree in Health Education from UT Austin might make someone think that I was an expert in nutrition…and I was…according to what I was taught. But none of that was working for me, so I decided to take my brothers’ recommendations and try something new.

That’s the lesson here…try it. I tried it, and I’ve never looked back. I weigh 118 lbs. now. Every meal is a great tasting one (with meat!), and I no longer spend my days running. My body feels good, I’m stronger, and I look great.

So what do I eat? That’s the next post…