Tonia Haight Walker. Losing Weight Like a Bear

 Lately I have been asked several times about what kind of exercise I do?  To be honest, other than going on a walk 5 or 6 times over the course of the last 18 months, and riding my stationary bike twice, I haven’t done any exercising at all.  All I have done so far is change my eating habits. I have become more physically active around the house and my new job requires more mobility than my last job.  When I started at 375, I couldn’t walk around the block without severe pain and swelling. Now at 219, I can walk 2 miles in a day and only suffer a little bit of with pain or swelling on occasion.  I have been wanting to start exercising, but my blood pressure has been so low lately that I have been too tired to do it. Hopefully now with the doctor’s help eliminating another medication will take care of that. As my blood pressure begins to stabilize and with Spring around the corner, I am planning some outings with my family and we will get moving together.  ...

5X clothes vs a L top and XL skirt  I actually found an older picture of me today. It was taken about 3 1/2 years ago and no one was standing in front of me.  I knew that I was being photographed and I was standing, so it is much easier to see the difference between then and now. It hit me pretty hard about how far I have come in just 15 months.  I was trapped in that body and saw no way out because nothing had ever worked before now. I am so grateful for the Eat Like A Bear community and everyone in the group for the encouragement and support that I have always gotten, on the good days and the bad. I’m not done. With a -142 pounds, I am only 70% of the way to my goal, but life is so much different now that I don’t even know where to start some days. Daniel couldn’t even believe that he was looking at a picture of me when I showed it to him. 

Comparing your weight loss journey to someone else’s journey never works out for anyone. Sure there will be someone out there that you will be able to say “At least I am losing faster than so and so”, but generally it always leads to depression, anxiety, and discouragement.  Then that leads to derailment and disappointment in yourself and back to the depression causing a never ending downward spiral. In the Eat Like A Bear Community, Maria De Jesus Bass is one person who has inspired me more than most.  Her positive words of encouragement has helped me long before I ever reached out to her to talk to her or ask her questions.   She lost 130.9 pounds in just 10 months and 3 weeks. and surpassed her original weight loss goal in just 7 months and 2 days.  She ate one meal a day four days of the week (3 Ridiculously Big Salads and 1 Keto meal) and did an extended fast for 72 hours (3 days) every week.  She lost weight quickly and ate food full of nutrition...

  In two days, my husband and I celebrate our 24th Anniversary!  I have been on this journey of losing weight for almost 15 months now. In that time, I have lost 141 pounds. I am only NINE pounds away from what I weighed on our wedding day all those years ago. With this knowledge, I wanted to try on THE dress. I know that it wasn’t a PERFECT fit, but just by looking at the pictures, no one will probably be able to see that, but me.  I surprised my husband with the dress and we both cried. Our parents all rejoiced with us, and our children were blown away as they oohed and aahed.  I know that I started this journey for myself, but I want you to listen to the pride in my husband’s voice in the video. Never forget that your daily decisions influence everyone in your world. 

The NSV (Non Scale Victories are the best ones. Daniel took the above picture on December 7th.  I had barely been able to pull the dress down over my hips and I could barely button the the jacket. Still I was excited to get the dress on. I hadn’t worn the dress in 20 years. At that point I had almost lost 70 pounds, but not quite.  After losing another 75 pounds since December 7th, I tried it on again this last Sunday. Sunday may be the last time that I ever wear it. The tank top dress does have a tie on it. With it tied tight, it is modest if I take off the jacket. Lol.  Look at all the extra room that I now have in the jacket with it buttoned up! I was excited. 75 pounds is a lot, but seeing something like that, really helps drive home how much it truly is. 

 For the last 3 months plus, my wonderful husband has gotten up and weighed in at 304 and bounced around a bit, never dropping under 304. He has done well about not cheating. He eats the supper that I fix and a couple of protein bars during the day most of the time normally with a 6-8 hour window.  4-5 times a week, his supper is a RBS.  The rest of the time, it is Keto. He has told me several times “I just want to be under 300!” This morning he woke up and weighed in to find out that the scale had finally moved. Not only was he under 300, he is now 2 pounds away from a 100 pound lose. He now weighs 298! He danced a couple of jigs this morning. During this same three months, he has also lost almost 6” off his body. So we knew he hadn’t completely staled, just the deceitful scale had staled.  I told him “swish”. https://youtu.be/xF3rmi4DJAw So if the scale ever quits moving for you, don’t ever give up. It doesn’t matter if it takes almost four months to move again, ...

 We’ve all heard them, we have probably all said them at one time or another, some times maybe knowingly or unknowingly. Words can hurt beyond imagination. The second part of James 3:8 describes the tongue as “a restless evil, full of deadly poison.”   We all know someone out there who doesn’t control their tongue and who is always firing poison at everyone around them. They can’t love themselves and they can’t stand for anyone around them to be happy either.  During my weight loss journey over the last 13 months, I have come across many different opinions toward what I am doing to lose weight. 1) the person who is the cheerleader and “good for you” all the way. 2) The person who is blown away by what you are doing and wants to know how they can do it.  3) “well, I’m glad that you found something that is working for you”, maybe halfhearted pat on the back. 4) I’m glad it works for you, but I’m not interested in doing it myself. 5) “I don’t see how eating like that ca...