Eat Smart, Move More, Weigh Less Journeys – Caroline

We are super proud to have guest blogger and Eat Smart, Move More, Weigh Less participant, Caroline, share her weight loss journey and how packing a lunch helps her get through the day:
“When I began the Eat Smart, Move More, Weigh Less program I had just come out of a very stressful job situation where I had eventually been laid off. The stress from that job lead to a lot of bad habits and emotional eating that left me more than fifty pounds overweight!
When I was laid off I knew it was time to make a change and focus on my health and wellbeing and that is when I saw the poster at the Alexander YMCA and knew it was what I had to do. I started with the on site class and really enjoyed the camaraderie and person to person interaction, but with a new job starting I switched to the online class.
The program taught me how to be mindful and how important it was to take time to eat and not mindlessly feed myself all day. I had taken nutrition classes before and as a lifelong vegetarian I knew how to balance meals and cook for myself, but that didn’t mean I was stopping to listen to my body and how I should be eating. The program taught me skills like preparation and guided me to a more balanced idea of how to eat.
I am not great at buying everything for the whole week and following through with the recipes. I am much more of spontaneous eater and to be successful I needed to work with that. I began packing my lunches the night before and entering in all my calories then. This allowed me to eat whatever I wanted as long as it was from my lunch box! For example, if I wanted carrots at 10am I could have them and then save the veggie sausage for my afternoon snack. This allowed me to not feel like I was counting everything that went into my mouth (since it was already counted) and gave me the flexibility I needed not to feel like I had to cheat.
In the end, I took the class for two sessions so I could stay on track with my new job and transitioning into those habits and ended up losing 50lbs! It has been a great feeling to be back to my normal self – the woman I am meant to be!”