Part III on my Weight Loss Inspiration List is a power packed husband and wife team {Stephen & Nicole} that worked together to help each other reach some fabulous goals.
We’ve known Stephen and Nicole for about 4 years now. Nicole was Haylee’s {awesome and amazing} Kindergarten teacher…
{Nicole was four or five months preggo here with her second…}
She and I were actually pregnant together her first time… due just about 8 weeks apart. Wade and Marissa were fast friends starting in the baby room at school!
Their story…
We lost weight by counting calories, and the book The 400 Calorie Fix did a lot to help us. We try to stick to three 400-calorie meals a day along with a few healthy snacks. I needed to just do the 3 meals with just one snack. Stephen could afford 2 snacks with an occasional dessert.
The biggest key for us was to not give up foods, but rather practice portion control. It made for a lot of counting potato chips and weighing 1 oz. of foods in the beginning, but now we have an idea of how much we can eat that is a reasonable portion. And we have these nifty little bowls that hold about 1/2 cup of food, which made it a lot easier.
Stephen had to give up donuts and sweet tea (because he knows he can’t just have one) and I had to cut out cookies and candy bars while I was losing. Now I have more self-control than before.
Stephen always tried to look at food as calories that he can spend. He had about 1800 a day, and he could eat junk and still be hungry, or eat healthier and feel full.
I needed him helping me to lose the weight. I started 6 months before him and could only lose 8 lbs. :) We both work out 3-4 times a week.
Total weight loss…
Stephen: 111 lbs. in 1 year (May 2010-May 2011)–His original goal was to lose 55 lbs. in 6 mos. He lost that weight in just 3.5 months, so now he’s just seeing how much weight he can reasonably lose.
Nicole: 28 lbs. in 13 months (Dec. 2009-Jan. 2011)
WOWSA!! Combined they lost a total of 139 lbs!!!
Again with the cute kids! Nicole had Levi when Marissa was only 18 months old! I remember Haylee telling me after school one day that her teacher had a baby in her belly. Needless to say I did NOT believe her though she was very sure of herself.
Nicole thought it would be a fun experiment to tell her Kindergarten class her news FIRST {minus the principal, of course} and see how fast the news would spread! Isn’t that too cool?
111 pounds? Say what?
That is so crazy!!!
Stephen doesn’t know this, but I even had someone at church ask me if he’d had gastric bypass surgery!
I loved this advice from Stephen… input is more important than output. In other words, what you eat is much more important than how much you exercise when it comes to weight loss.
Of course, as we all know exercise IS definitely an important part to losing weight and being healthy. Just don’t spin your wheels by continuing with poor eating habits while unsuccessfully trying to keep on top of it by exercising.
Congrats to all the weight loss inspirations in my life. Thanks for letting me share your stories {and your before pics!}.
Aren’t they awesome?
I hope that through these amazing weight loss stories you have been totally inspired to realize as I did, that your weight loss is in your power to manage!
