Improved
6113 HealthChanged
3786 LivesSaved
3568 Lives1 lives impacted in the last 24 hrs Learn More
Michelle King Robson, CEO and founder of EmpowHER.com, interviews Laura at the Women's Conference about why she decided to finally lose weight and the Lindora program that helped her achieve her goal.
Laura:
May 1, 2007, I weighed 356 pounds.
Michelle King Robson:
Oh my. It’s hard to believe.
Laura:
Well it is, it’s hard to believe because you know I am not that person anymore anyway because I don’t even recognize that person and I found myself angry and unhappy and not feeling well and I ended up thinking, you know, maybe I should go to therapy and get some help. So, I did that and this therapist had lost 70 pounds on her own recently.
Michelle King Robson:
Did you know that when you went to find this therapy?
Laura:
I did not know it. I was kind of paired up through my company with this person and I think, you know, I was led down a path to meet this person.
Michelle King Robson:
Amazing how that works, huh?
Laura:
It’s incredible, so you have to kind of tune-in on those things, and she told me she lost 70 pounds so I said, “We’ll I have lost ten pounds on my own.” She said, “No, you are in massive denial and you have anger so you need somebody to help you. Just get through the program and really learn how to eat, how much to eat, what to eat.”
So, we are going through therapy working out some things and then I started going to Lindora, which is in southern California – Lindora Medical Weight Loss Clinics - and I told her, being the rebel that I am, she said, “You must just go in, do what they tell you to do, don’t fight it, don’t question it, if you have questions ask, but do what they tell you to do. Follow the book, the Lindora Weight Loss book and you are going to lose weight.”
So I decided, okay, I am going to commit myself to the ten weeks – those ten weeks. If it is not working then I can try something else. If it’s working – good, then we will see what happens from there, but I made a commitment to her, but really mainly to myself to change my life because I wanted to be around for grandchildren.
Michelle King Robson:
I was going to ask you, what was kind of that pivotal moment for you that made you really decide that or to even think that I need to do something differently?
Laura:
Well I knew that I had anger issues and it all just stemmed from the fact I didn’t like myself. I didn’t feel good and I just needed to change things somehow and I knew it. I could feel my body dying. I don’t know how to explain to somebody but I felt like I was dying. I had type-2 diabetes…
Michelle King Robson:
I was going to say, you must have had suffered from diabetes…
Laura:
High blood pressure, high cholesterol, I was taking three medications. So, you know, I am just going to do this. I will commit to the ten weeks and see what happens and I lost 36 pounds in the first ten weeks.
Michelle King Robson:
Oh my gosh; in the first ten weeks. So did that motivate you to just …I am going to do more?
Laura:
It did, and what I really liked about the Lindora program is it teaches you how to eat – I really just didn’t know how to eat.
Michelle King Robson:
Was it portion control and eating because lot of reasons.
Laura:
Portions. It’s where you eat six times a day – small meals, snack or a breakfast and then a mid-morning snack, a medium sized lunch - portion control, snack in the afternoon, dinner and then a snack before you go to bed and what it does is it keeps your body on even keel. So, your blood sugar is even all day, your body is getting nutrition so it’s not thinking it’s in a starving, and then you learn how to eat and what to eat and when to eat it. So it gave me a pathway to learn how to do it.
Michelle King Robson:
So once you got that direction did you start exercising as well? Did you start feeling better and want to do more?
Laura:
You know, I was so heavy – 356 pounds, I could barely walk to the end of the street so I had to, three times a day, just try to get out for ten-minute walks – just ten minutes, and it was a lot because it’s like hauling a football player around on your back. So once I was losing more weight and seeing that I have more energy then I was able to do more exercise but luckily when you are that heavy you burn a lot of calories to begin with.
Michelle King Robson:
Oh that’s interesting.
Laura:
But then I want to tell you, once I got into the ten weeks and I knew when to eat and what to eat, it got easy because you make a plan for the day so you know what you are doing. So it gets easy. You just follow the plan.
Michelle King Robson:
So do you just map out your food for the day; what you are going to eat, the portions and about what time you are going to eat, and then you kind of stick to that program. So just it was getting you kind of in this mindset in creating a cycle of here’s how I am going to do things and here’s how I am going to make a difference.
Laura:
Yes, and you write down everything you eat so you know exactly what you are eating. You know how many carbs it is and I always did the calories as well. Carbs is the main thing. Once you cut up all the bagels and the pasta and the rice and the potatoes – all that’s gone. So what it does is it put your body into ketosis which just means you are eating your own fat instead of muscle. So you are eating your own fat as fuel and that’s what is there for.
Michelle King Robson:
It’s amazing, and how long did it take you to gain all the weight?
Laura:
I have been really heavy all my life. In fact, I had a high school picture that has been out there and a college graduation and I am 250, almost 300 in those pictures. I would say that last 50 pounds I gained was because I had knee surgery and I couldn’t get up and do anything so I sat and ate. That’s what I did – this is my exercise.
Michelle King Robson:
Laura, I cannot tell you, I mean you look amazing. I just can’t thank you enough for sharing this story because there’s so many of us who are trying to figure out how to get back to a weight that’s comfortable for us and so that we are happy with ourselves and you are advocating on behalf of a lot of women and you look amazing, and thank you so much for sharing your story with us. That’s terrific.
Laura:
Thank you.
Visit Michelle King Robson's EmpowHER Profile
Visit Laura's EmpowHER Profile
Add a Comment1 Comments
I second the idea that seeing a therapist can help with weight loss. So often we're programmed to believe we're just "bad" when we eat certain foods, but the reality is extra weight often represents issues we need help resolving. It's also a good way to be accountable in your pursuit of health at a smaller size.
November 19, 2010 - 2:22pmThis Comment