Blogs > Lighten Up with Cynthia

40-year-old Cynthia Frary of Painesville signed up for Lighten Up for a simple reason: To save her life. After suffering a heart attack, Frary's doctor told her that if she didn't lose weight, it was a death sentence. She got serious after that and she's on her way to a healthy life.

Monday, May 28, 2012

Different Styles

I know some people watch their fat intake, some watch there carbohydrates, some watch there calories, some just eat meat, some take diet pills, some only consume fluid some count points.  Being overweight I have tried and experimented with a lot of diets.  I can tell you this it all has to do with some kind of restriction.  I personally am a calorie counter.  I have read almost everything from doctors, scientists, and trainers I can get my hands on.  As well as the current diet fads.  Yes I have even tried the sprinkling.  Now I know the average person would not look at me and say you are a expert in dieting.  I do feel that I am quite knowledgeable and have some very good tips to offer people.  May I remind you I once before lost 150 pounds.  That was quite a while ago, non the less I did do it and since I have learned so much more.  I really do as I said in the past on my blogs think I could teach a class.  Someone may say then why are you not thin?  I do not or have not always put into practice what I know.  Let's just say it is more fun to eat.  I do think now however I really have to change this pattern that I had followed for so long.  For the last few months I have been given quite a bit of advice from people who have never had a weight problem or have never really had to watch what they eat.  From the reading I have done it all comes down to simple math.  A resting body tends to need 10 calories per pound to stay about the same weight.  I am currently letting myself have 1800 calories a day.  I had a friend question if that is to many calories to lose weight.  The answer is no.  A woman my age and height should have approximately 2000 calories per day.  This is if she leads a fairly moderate life and at least gets off the couch and does some things.  I will make the figuring easy if someone is 300 pounds they can have 3000 calories a day and not gain weight.  Say for instance you are at 300 pounds and you do go to 1800 calories a day then every 3500 calories extra you save during the week will result in a one pound loss.  If you actually look at things in the long run things that are lower in calories are generally lower in fat etc....  So counting points, calories, carbohydrates, fat and so on will generally come out to be very close.  Add moderate exercise to the mix of things and you will most likely loose a little more.  Now in the case of women there is sometimes as we all know water retention.  So keep that in mind.  That is why the experts will tell you not to weigh yourself more than once a week.  Also keep in mind that you should be weighing in at the same time and consuming a similar meal before weighing in.  Also take into consideration on if you have gone to the toilet.  Take your shoes off because your shoes as well as jewelry can affect the weigh in.  That said I hope this information will indeed help someone out there. I would like to add that some diet drugs have caffeine in them.  Too much caffeine is very bad for the heart.  So just watch your intake.  All things are possible. xo

Tuesday, May 22, 2012

Mean People

I have for the most part been very positive and upbeat in my blogs.  Today I am going to discuss things that have been going on that are not positive.  I have a eating disorder!  I know this.  I have been receiving council for my disorder and why it is that I do what I do.  In the past I have discussed with you that I have always had this problem since I was a very small child.  I will reiterate that at five years old I weighed 150 pounds.  I can not blame anyone for my actions as a adult, but I feel that I had a very poor guide to healthy eating when I was growing up.  Don't get me wrong I am not the person who faults their parents for every little thing.  I just think in some ways they did not know as much then as they do now.  I can remember being only 7 years old or so when I first had an experience with diet.  I not only have found that my council is helping, but I also found a group called OA.  For those unfamiliar with this it stands for Over Eaters Anonymous.  While this title may sound a bit funny, it is based on the same principle of AA.  Just like any other addiction when I fall of the wagon it is hard for me to get back on.  I think that some people only associate eating disorders with anorexia, and bolemia.  This is not so, and I feel just recently the press has brought this more out in the open.  I realize that I am not alone.  Nor unfortunately will I ever be when it come to this addiction.  Over the last week I have fallen off the wagon.  I have not done any major overeating yet I still have eaten trigger foods and gone over my caloric intake.  I have also slacked a bit in the exercise department.  It is so easy to become lax.  I am so fortunate to have all of you out there that are backing me up in this journey.  Originally this journey was going to be for six months for the contest.  I will not be anywhere near my goals by the end of the six months, so I hope to continue to blog and have my friends and family's total support.  I have had a couple negative things happen to me in the last couple of weeks also.  One I was out walking and some young people decided it would be fun to yell out there car window and taunt me.  I understand that I need to go on and forget it, it is easier said than done.  All of those old feeling come up from the past.  In one sense I get mad and think okay more motivation for me to lose the weight.  On the other hand though I am feeling like I want to go binge to help relax me.  Food is a comfort, it can be your friend when you are alone.  I have found myself this week starting to hide my eating from others.  This to is part of the cycle of addiction.  I must be up front and able to eat in front of others without the fear of judgment.  I also have to be true to myself and realize I am only hurting myself by these private eating sessions.  Another thing that happened this week is a friend from out of state wanted for me to send a picture of myself to him so that he could see how I am coming along.  I have lost approximately 32 pounds.   While this is only a drop in the bucket in comparison to what I have to lose it is a start in the right direction.  His reply to me was have you even lost anything Cynthia?  It doesn't look like you have at all.  I was very hurt by this as I have tried very hard over the last few months to improve my overall lifestyle.  I expect friends to be honest I am not asking them not to be, but when you are morbidly obese 32 pounds is not going to look like a whole lot.  My heart doctor was thrilled.  These small steps are what I need to focus on.  I know what works best for me.  Yes I have to be hard on myself.  If I am not I will not achieve my goals.  All things are possible. xo

Thursday, May 17, 2012

Hard time

I am not sure quite why, but some weeks are just harder than others.  Yesterday I was at the store and feeling a bit down about myself, and I saw a very good looking man.  Mind you I am in my walking attire.  I almost ran right into him.  I was so mortified that I could hardly stand it.  Sometimes when I am not doing that well I can feel the looks even more than usual.  I try to be a very optimistic person.  This week has been a bit trying on my optimism.  Going out to a lot of restaurants is not helping my weight at all.  We had mothers day, a friends birthday, a person who just wanted to go out to lunch.  I can never be exactly sure what the added ingredients are.  So this week I am planning on trying not to go out to eat.  Everything this week is going to focus on being fresh.  I need to concentrate also on being positive.  I know if you are negative it tends to be self fulfilling.  All things are possible:) xo

Saturday, May 12, 2012

Snails Pace

Okay so I am averaging about two pounds per week.  I am glad I am headed in the right direction.  I however feel like I am moving at a snails pace!  I think I have been seeing to many ads that say "you can loose ten pounds in seven days."  If only I could.  I have to keep talking myself threw this process every day.  I say to myself I did not put this on over night and I am not going to take it off over night, (even though I can gain twice as fast as I can loose).  I have been told two pounds a week is a good number.  I guess it would be a good number if I say only had to loose twenty or thirty pounds.  However as we all know that is not the case.  This week I have been dealing with such strong urges to just binge!  I feel like doing so right now.  In order to stop the urge I decided to sit down and write this.  I have to tell myself.... do I want another heart attack, or diabetes, or my back problems to worsen, do I really want to shorten my overall life span?  The answer to all of these questions is NO!  I still do not understand completely my urge to binge.  I get this even when I am not hungry.  I am working with someone on this and they tell me that it is a comfort thing.  I do feel comforted when I am binging, however when it is done I feel terrible.  If you will would you keep me in your prayers?  I am now doing better with my getting around, however the walking I have been doing with my extra weight is taking a big toll on my knees.  Who would have thought I would be old before my time.  I hope one day to be able to do more things that are truly amazing with my life.  I am not sure were God it taking me, but it's already been a heck of a ride.  All things are possible:) xo

Friday, May 4, 2012

A Long Month

I have not been updating my blog as much as I would like to. That is about to change.  I have been kept quite busy by some personal issues and now I see that I must separate myself from them and concentrate on myself!  Last week I weighed in for the monthly weigh in.  I did okay, by okay I lost 8 pounds in a month.  While most would be quite happy at this loss, I still feel like I can do better.  I started walking a couple of weeks ago and that seems to be helping quite a bit.  I have to be very careful though not to get over heated.  I did not walk for two days straight because of it being hot.  Now I know in the past 80 degrees would not have been to hot to walk for me.  After having my heart issues I guess I must take things a bit slow.  I would like to thank my good friend Teresa for walking with me each day.  I have gotten up to a mile each day.  While once again it is not a far distance this is quite good for me.  I used to get tired just taking a shower.  I don't want to be old before my time.  I want to be carefree and vibrant with running, walking, jumping, playing etc....  I feel so much more freedom than I did when I first started.  I have lost over 30 pounds now and it has been approximately 15 weeks.  That is an average of two pounds per week.  That is a good healthy number, and I have been told that the slower it comes off the better it will stay off.  I am not really sure if this holds true though because I can just smell something and gain weight.  Our body's are a very unique thing.  Sometimes I thing I am going to loose more and I gain.  Sometimes I think I will gain and I loose.  I would guess this is due to water retention and possibly putting on a little muscle and bathroom schedules.  I also tried something this week that I have never tried.  I played let's dance with my friend Marge.  It was fun, but I think I burnt more calories laughing at myself than anything else.  I did get to do my weekly weigh in today and lost 2 pounds this week.  Right on schedule:)  All things are possible! xo