For those who have asked: How I Lost the Weight and Have Kept it Off

My Journey to Better Health

Marrena Ralph

Many people have asked me how I lost my weight and how I am keeping it off. I am sharing this as a help and encouragement to those who want to know. I want to emphasize that everything I did was recommended and watched over by three different doctors (family doctor, GYN, and radiologist) – all who are thrilled with the results. I am not encouraging anyone to do this without talking to their doctor first, but since I have been asked multiple times for this information I decided to write it up as a help to others.

Before I begin details, please allow me to share what got me here and why I am determined that this is a lifestyle change for me.

November 2010 – June 2011

It started in the fall of 2010, although I had picked up a few pounds here and there over several years that I couldn’t seem to take off, I started picking up weight. From November to June I found myself picking up 15 pounds, achy much of the time, and constantly extremely tired with no energy. The Achy and fatigue are two are the biggest symptoms of fibromyalgia that I live with but this seemed different. After talking to several friends including a couple nurses, I decided to go to the doctor and have a complete blood work done – just to see what was going on within my system.

June 2011

I should not have been surprised, but I was – really I had been in denial over what was going on. My blood work came back with high cholesterol (well, that runs in the family, but mine had always been well within range before), high blood sugar (really does not run in the family), anemic with elevated white and red blood cells (big surprise!), and vitamin D deficient (extremely so!) I saw the doctor just a couple days before going to camp, and we knew some of the results but the vitamin D was still being processed and she wanted to run another blood sugar test – but she didn’t seem overly concerned. I arrived at camp and I knew I was sick – not only was my allergies terrible, but I had no energy and didn’t even feel like doing things with the campers – which was very unusual for me. I received a call at lunch on Wednesday from the nurse saying the doctor received back my results and wanted to see me immediately and that I must immediately go on meds for cholesterol, blood sugar, and vitamin D. I told her I was over 12 hours away at camp and it would have to wait until next week, but I would be in as soon as possible but didn’t want any meds until I had another test ran. (Yes, still in denial.)

July 6, 2011

I praise the Lord for my family and friends who were all praying for me and kept in the know on what was going on in regards to my health. They also knew my concern of going on medication as most cholesterol medications had a family history of causing muscle weakness causing family members to lose ability to walk, etc. We prayed that I would be open to listen to the doctor and that she would be open to listening to my concerns over medication. When I went into the doctor, her recommendation was much different from what her nurse had told me on the phone. She wanted to immediately put me on Vitamin D in prescription form (not a problem) but for the high cholesterol and high blood sugar she wanted to give me “until the holidays” (she said that meant October 31) to lose my extra weight. Her goal was for me to lose 20-30 pounds. She was also very concerned about the anemia and wanted me to go in for a pelvic ultrasound and a mammogram that I needed anyway (done at the same location so just do at the same time.)

My doctor is just a couple inches shorter than I. Yes, I know that is short as I am just 5’.5”. She told me the only way for people our size to lose weight was to drop calories and WALK. She wanted me to walk an hour outside every day. She said this would give me the natural vitamin D my body needed and would help me lose weight. She said her goal for me would be about 120 pounds which would mean I should normally eat about 1200 calories. I told her I already ate between 1000 and 1200 calories a day and have picked up about 15 pounds in 6 months. She said in order to lose weight I would have to drastically drop calories. She gave me this formula: daily calorie intake to maintain weight equals goal weight x 10. In order to lose weight one must drastically reduce calories which is calculated at basically your maintenance calories divided by 1.6.

Goal Weight	Normal Daily Calories	Daily Calories to eat until goal weight
120	1200	750
135	1350	850
150	1500	938
190	1900	1188
200	2000	1250

I left determined to follow my doctor’s instructions to the letter. AND I did! In order to drop my calories to 750 daily I knew I would have to drop all junk foods and most if not all sugars. I was determined to get the blood sugar under control as additional tests had revealed I was on the borderline for diabetes and I really didn’t want to worry about those medications and issues. Honestly, I had never in my life counted calories so I learned to just read boxes, labels, and to use websites to my advantage. Two websites I found very helpful were http://www.thecaloriecounter.com/ and http://www.myfitnesspal.com/.  I also knew I had to be accountable and keep track of what I ate, so I started journaling every single bite that went into my mouth. This included GUM! I was picky and it paid off! With being summer, I ate many salads which were nice since fresh squash, tomatoes, salad greens, etc. was readily available. To my amazement, I found that corn chips (nacho chips) are a whopping 120-130 calories for just 9-10 chips! How many of us eat just 9-10 chips when eating chips and salsa or chips and cheese?

July 6 – September 9, 2011

Before, I get into other details I must add a sideline to this story. I mentioned the anemia and mammogram above. Before recommending the pelvic sonogram the doctor asked me about my monthly flow. She said that the blood work indicated that either my monthly flow was too heavy or that I was bleeding internally. I knew I had been experiencing very heavy cycles but figured it was due to “beginning the change”. My doctor was shocked when I told her of my flow and said this wasn’t normal.  She ordered the pelvic ultrasound which showed that my uterus was 3 times the normal size and the endomentrum was 3 times as thick as normal.  After this, my doctor recommended that I have a uterus ablasion. I was against this but the doctor wanted me to go see a GYN and see what she had to say. When I went to the GYN I learned that she feared I had cancer in my uterus due to the sizes that were shown. She needed to go in and do a hystroscope (procedure where they use a camera to look inside the uterus), do either a DNC or biopsy (to test for cancer) which since she is already in there do the DNC it would be easier on my system and take care of the thick lining, and since she was in there and would only take another minute do a uterus ablasion (burning of the lining) so that the problem doesn’t come back. All of this would require a weekend recovery time with full recovery within 2 weeks and would save from a hystrorectomy.  So I went in on September 9^th for this procedure and it went well. A week later, I received the official results: No cancer was found and no additional procedures needed. I rejoiced by calling my husband, sons, stopping by and telling my future daughter-in-law who broke into a huge smile with me! (very special), and emailing all those who had been praying with me.

July 20, 2011

As for the mammogram: I received results back that I needed to go back in for a spot compression mammogram (concentration on one specific area). Of course, this was mid July as I am learning of all the other issues and I just wondered what test is going to be wrong next! I went direct from a spot compression test to the sonogram room where they did a sonogram on the area. They found multiple combination cysts which they believed were non-cancerous but they wanted to watch and recheck in 6 months (January).

July 6 – October 31: Back to the story on the weight

I immediately started watching and journaling my calories and walking at least 1 hour a day and most days I walked 2 hours. I was determined to lose the weight before the end of October. Every day I weighed myself using my wii fit. I learned to wear the same clothes each time I weighed so I didn’t have any excuses that the weight was wrong because of what I had on. I learned how to add sweet to the diet by using truvia (stevia, a natural sweetner) and fruit. I also learned which meats were lower in calories – for example: chicken is lower in calories than red meat and when having hamburgers have a salmon burger instead of hamburger – you get more ounces for your calories. I learned to budget my calories as you would money and look for the best or most food I could get for my calorie count. In fact, we had to watch that I ate enough calories a day for often I was content but knew my calories were too low and if I didn’t eat more I would be hungry all day the next day. I can honestly say that I never ever went over my doctor’s recommended 750 calories to lose weight until I well passed both her and my goals.

By the end of August I had dropped 25 pounds. I went on a trip to Knoxville and was shocked when the security guard looked at me and told me I had lost weight – that he could tell something looked different between my drivers’ license photo and the real me. WOW! What a compliment! At this time I was only 5 pounds from my doctor’s goal and 15 pounds from my goal. I kept going not knowing how low I could go and be comfortable.

Our 25^th anniversary was September 20, 2011, and by this time I had passed my doctor’s goal by 5 pounds and was 5 pounds from my goal. Both Rusty and I was comfortable where I was but still saw I could lose more…and would stop once when we felt I needed to stop. I continued doing as I had been instructed…walking now only 1 time per day as school had resumed and it was difficult to get in two walks a day before dark.

October 26 – 31, 2011

I went back in for more blood work to see where my counts were. My weight was down 15 pounds lower than my doctor’s goal which was another 10 pounds lower than I was on our anniversary! I was absolutely thrilled! My counts came back:

·         cholesterol: now normal = down 1/3

·         blood sugar: now normal = down from 106 to 80

·         anemia = normal with normal white and red blood counts

·         Vitamin D = normal range – up from 11 to 98 (normal range: 30-100)

Once again I rejoiced by calling and emailing family and friends who had prayed with me through the journey. I also had my first splurge: I had a ½ piece of Godiva Flourless Chocolate Cheesecake from the Cheesecake factory.  We took the entire cheesecake and cut it into 16 slices instead of the normal 8 slices. We individually wrapped each slice so that when I want a special treat I could get a slice. Of course, we calculated the calories for this special treat just like we had been doing the entire time.

October 30 – November 1, 2011

Both Arrena Jeanette and Rusty joined me on the weight loss journey.

November 1 –  December 31, 2011

Continued to journal calories and started slightly raising my daily calorie amount. Purposely waited until after December to raise to maintenance calorie count so that I did not give myself excuses to gain weight or eat too much over the holidays. I am determined to keep off the weight and not pick it right back up – no yo-yo diets for me! This is a lifestyle change!

January 2012

Went back in for a mammogram recheck and shocked the radiologist! When I scheduled the appointment I told the receptionist that they would have to create a new baseline for me as I had lost a lot of weight. At this time I had lost at least 45 pounds! They started the appointment with another spot compression test and then sent back into the sonogram room. They had to measure each and every one of the “multiple combination cysts” to determine changes. Half way through the sonogram the technician asked me a few questions such as are you are vitamin E, what did you do to lose weight, etc. We finished and she said to wait a minute and the radiologist was waiting to review the information and would be in shortly. The Radiologist Doctor came in pulled out a chair and sat down then said “Tell me what you did.” He went on to tell me that all but one of my cysts had “greatly reduced in size”. He told me what I am doing is exactly what I should do and continue to do. During this visit I learned that Vitamin E helps to reduce the size of cysts so I decided I would take a vitamin E supplement to see if we can get rid of or reduce the cysts even more. He told me he would not need to see me again for a year! Rejoicing over a great report I once again shared with family and friends.

February 2012

I once again had my blood work checked. This time for me as I wanted to make sure counts were staying steady and as fatigue had set in again. I thought it was probably the fibromyalgia as February is always my low time of year, but I wanted to be sure. I also raised the amount of vitamin D I was taking as I was no longer on prescription strength vitamin D. My counts all came back good – even the vitamin D; however, it had dropped in 3 months from 98 to 68 so I know I want to keep an eye on it. I am looking forward to the summer months when I can walk outside again and get natural vitamin D. My blood sugar is staying consistent as is my cholesterol counts. This is despite adding additional calories and agave.

January – May 2012

I continue my journey to good health. I have learned to add agave in many recipes and this has given me opportunities to enjoy good sweets. One of our favorite desserts continues to be my Frozen Yogurt which I will list below. It satisfies that urge for sweet, cold, and ice cream while at the same time being good for you.

I also officially hit the lost over 50 pound mark. I am still working to get my calorie count up to a maintenance amount. I find if I don’t eat enough my weight drops and if I eat sugar it usually is up a little the next day. My weight, like anyone’s, flexes between 1-2 pounds plus or minus, and I am within 1-3 pounds of what I was when I got married.

It is rare if I allow myself to go over a maintenance calorie count per day. I have done so on a couple occasions such as my trip to the Children’s Ministry Leaders Conference at the Creation Museum and the trip to Pensacola, Florida for Tim’s college graduation. However, these couple days off did not cause me to gain any weight and it was nice to feel I could have a treat when needed/wanted without wrecking all I had accomplished.

Now, that you know the history and story of why I went on my plan I will outline what I did to make this happen.

Daily:

·         I ate 750 calories – this was broken down as follows:

o    Breakfast 100-150 calories

o    Lunch 100-200 calories

o    Supper 350-400 calories

o    JOURNALING is a must!

·         I drank lots of unsweetened tea. I love Teavana Teas (www.teavana.com) as they come in many flavors and caffeine levels.

·         I walked 1-2 hours a day. Usually 1 hour in the morning and 1 hour in the late afternoon/evening.

Typical meals:

·         Breakfast

o    Cereal days:

§  1 cup rice chex – preferably dry (I don’t like soggy cereal!) (1 cup = 100 calories)

§  IF I use milk, I now use skim milk. I will only use about 1/8 – ¼ cup of milk for a calorie count of 10-20 calories)

§  I don’t sweeten my cereal. However, you could add truvia for 0 calories.

§  Iced or hot tea

o    Smoothie days:

§  1 cup (140 grams) frozen strawberries (50 calories)

§  ½ small banana (50 calories – calculated at 1 gram = 1 calorie)

§  2 TBSP nonfat yogurt (13 calories depending on brand)

§  Truvia Packet

§  Water to desired consistency

·         Lunch

o    Salad days (combination of salad components…added carefully to make sure it doesn’t get too calorie costly)

§  1 cup (50 grams) Romaine Lettuce (10 calories)

§  1 cup Spinach (7 calories)

§  ¼ cup yellow squash (1 cup or 113 grams = 18 calories) This baby is a jewel in filling up in the summer months.

§  2 TBSP chopped tomato

§  Carrots

§  Celery

§  Yellow Banana Peppers (5 calories)

§  2 TBSP of Black Beans or Garbanzo Beans (when needed for more calories or flavor – fewer calories if you use dry beans and cook yourself as canned beans are more calories)

§  1-2 TBSP Kraft Free Dressing (15-20 calories)

o    Potato Days (one of the following)

§  Baked Potato with Non-Fat Yogurt – Baked Potato is grams x .93 to calculate calories so almost 1 calorie per gram. The Walmart Non-Fat Yogurt is approximately 13 calories for 2 TBSP.

§  Baked Sweet Potato with Truvia Packet and Cinnamon – Baked Sweet Potato is grams x .9 to calculate calories. Truvia packet and cinnamon have 0 calories.

o    Soup Days (calories dependent upon amount and calorie count for that soup)

§  Broccoli Soup

·         1 cup soup = 60 calories

·         1 Thin Slice of Gluten Free Bread = 76 calories

§  Homemade Potato Soup

·         I calculate calories each time I make this as my recipe is a dump and make recipe. So add up calories for all ingredients, then weigh the soup, and divide calories by number of grams the sum equals calorie per gram. This is the most reliable way to calculate calories for anything.

·         Remember if you calculate calories by gram and need to thin your soup some first add the amount of soup you want as it was calculated and then add your additional water for 0 additional calories. IF you use milk to thin the soup you will need to add those calories.

§  Scrambled Egg Hash – spray pan with pan and then add the following…cook until as done/browned as you like. WATCH the size of your potato if you make this; however, this is very filling and rarely get hungry.

·         1 Egg – beatened – 70 calories

·         2 TBSP Pace Pincante Sauce – 10 calories

·         Potato (I dice then bake in microwave for 3 minutes. Remember grams x .9 – I choose the amount to use per how many calories I want – save extras for next day if needed.)

·         1 TBSP lowfat cheddar cheese – 20 calories.

·         Dinner

o    Meat & Potatoes (choose what you like from the following)

§  Chicken – 3 ounces either grilled, pressured in pressure cooker, or boiled = approximately 100 calories

§  Salmon Patty – Sam’s Club Patty = 130 calories

§  Other Meats – choose size and calculate calories accordingly remembering that grilled items using spices are fewer calories than fried, baked or other methods of cooking. http://www.thecaloriecounter.com/. REMEMBER: you do not have to eat the entire amount…cut off and weigh what you want/need. Yes, you can do this…just cut it before you start so you know how much you can eat.

§  Baked Potato – .93 per gram

§  Rice – 1 cup cooked = 205 calories!  Yikes! I rarely eat more than ½ cup because of this. I prefer to eat potato as I feel like I get more for my calorie count.

§  Veggie – Broccoli or Green Beans (without butter) is 85 grams = 35 calories

§  Raw Carrots – 85 grams = 35 calories

§  Asparagus – 135 grams raw = 27 calories – calculate before steaming…then steam for accurate accounting.

§  Yellow Squash – this baby is great! 1 cup (113 grams) raw = 18 calories – calculate before steaming if you want them steamed then steam.

§  Canned veggies are more calories for fewer amount

§  Salad – choose components and add (see above for some ideas)

o    Taco Salad

§  Taco Meat – I always rinse and drain my meat. Add tomatoes to your meat to stretch it and make fewer calories. Weigh your meat, cook it, RINSE MEAT, add spices (be sure to count any calories if listed), add tomatoes (carrots are good too), then weigh your final amount. Add all calories of all you added to your meat. Take total calories and divide by number of grams total is the number of calories per gram.

§  Romaine Lettuce – 50 grams = 10 calories

§  Tomatoes

§  Peppers if desired

§  Onions

§  Rice if desired – BE CAREFUL 1 cup rice = 205 calories!

§  Beans if desired – remember, cook your own beans from dry instead of using canned beans. The difference in calories is worth it. Let me know if you need to know how to successfully cook dry beans.

§  Salsa – I use Pace Pincante Sauce = 2 TBSP for 10 calories.

§  Watch out for sour cream it is calorie costly – try using plain non-fat yogurt. It works just as well, has fewer calories, and is better for you.

·         Desserts and Snacks – okay we all need them. So here is what I used.

o    Dessert

§  Marrena’s Frozen Yogurt

·         140 grams of frozen fruit

o    Strawberries = 50 calories

o    Mixed Fruit (pinapple, mango, peaches, strawberry) = 70 calories

o    Mixed Berries (blueberries, blackberries, raspberries) = 80 calories

·         2 TBSP plain non-fat yogurt (Walmart brand = 13 calories)

·         1 Truvia packet if needed

·         Light Whipping Cream (in can) if desired = 2 TBSP = 15 calories

·         How to make:

o    Process fruit in food processor until they resemble small crumbs.

o    Add yogurt and process until smooth and resembles soft serve ice cream.

o    Add Truvia if desired.

o    Note: you can mix your fruits…just calculate calories accordingly. Our favorite blend is ½ strawberries and ½ mixed berries.

·         Can be made into frozen pops – just divide total calories by the number of pops to calculate calories per pop. These are great for that need something sweet urge mid afternoon.

§  Marrena’s Frappe’ = 60-80 calories

·         ¼ - ½ cup cold brew coffee (I prefer cold brew but you could use regular coffee)

·         1/8 cup skim milk (10 calories)

·         1.5 TBSP Sweet Whey (15 calories)

·         1 TBSP Agave Chocolate Syrup (I make my own) (35 calories)

·         Blender cup of ice

·         Agave Syrup (natural or flavored) if desired for more sweetness (1 tsp = 20 calories)

·         Add all ingredients to bullet type blender and process until ice is small bits and drink it blended and consistency of a frappe’.

·         Note: I have made my own syrups using trivia in the past and they aren’t bad, but not as good as the agave syrups.

o    Snacks

§  Steamed Broccoli with no butter – 85 grams = 35 calories – this is a great energy booster.

§  Raw Carrots – 85 grams = 35 calories

§  Raw Celery – 1 stalk = 1 calorie

§  Raw Yellow Squash – 1 cup (113 grams) = 18 calories

Notes:

·          It should be noted that I am allergic to wheat. I do NOT avoid wheat to lose weight I avoid it as I am allergic to it and it makes me sick. Therefore, you will see very little if any bread listed in my typical meals. I also realize this helps me avoid sweets such as cookies, brownies, cupcakes, and cakes.

·          Gluten Free products are normally higher in calories and definitely higher on the glycemic index. Be careful when using these products. Gluten Free does not mean Calorie Free.

·          I do not use sugar free products that contain sucrulose as I am allergic to this and will be sick for several hours after eating or drinking items with it in it.