Meet: Lynn (Lynn’s Weigh)

Age: 46

Occupation: Freelance Writer

Where she lives: Pennsylvania

Height: 5′5″

Weight: 130 pounds

Pounds Lost: 170

How long it took to lose the weight: 2 years and 2 months

How long she has kept it off: 3 years

I love this picture of Lynn – not only does it make me feel warm for a moment in the dead of winter, but her confidence really shines through. It’s the kind of confidence that comes with losing 170 pounds and being able to keep it off for three years and counting. Keep up with her life in maintenance at her blog, Lynn’s Weigh. I guarantee you’ll learn a thing or two, and be inspired by her words.

Here’s a Weight Loss WooHoo! to you, Lynn – Just FatFighterTV’s fun way of celebrating healthy weight.

How Lynn gained the weight:
I was about 200 pounds when I got married in 1998. My thyroid had stopped working but I didn’t know that, and I gained about 100 pounds in less than 4 years. A lot of it was I was eating stupid – I was eating too much food. I was also on an antidepressant which I know had a lot to do with it. Not only the medication, but the fact that I was recovering from depression – you don’t care what you eat. That really did it – it was the combination of the thyroid, eating too much, and the depression.

My weight has always fluctuated but never before had I gotten to 300 pounds.

Turning point:
It was a process. I didn’t just wake up one day and go, ‘I think I’ll lose weight.’ I didn’t like how I was feeling. I’d been thin before. I missed that. I missed being active. Also, I didn’t like how I looked. I went, ‘I think it’s time.’ I had to really look at the photographs. I looked at the pictures and finally it got painful enough that I knew I needed to really, really do something.

How she shed the pounds:
I started on my own at first because I was a dieting queen – I knew how to diet – and I lost about 15 pounds by myself. Then I needed something with more structure so I started Weight Watchers online. I didn’t start exercising until I weighed 185 pounds. I started walking and built that up.

Weekly workouts:
I do about 150-180 minutes of cardio a week and I average about the same in strength training. I get about five hours of solid exercise in a week. I used to do six to seven hours and I was burning out, and I found that when I stopped working out so much, I still kept the weight off because I balanced it with what I was eating.

I also found that I really like hiking; I really like biking. We’ve been hiking up hills and mountains – I love it! I have an elliptical and a bike here at home, and I like to do the Walk Away the Pounds DVDs.

Diet Philosophy:
Basically, it’s what Michael Pollan says – ‘Eat food. Not too much. Mostly plants.’ I’ve become a vegetarian. I’m careful to watch my carb intake because I know as I get older, that’s affecting me. I just make sure I get in enough protein every day, two fruits, and a ton of vegetables.

Weakness:
My granddaughter is two years old and she has the most amazing finger foods, like little whole grain animal crackers, and I can’t keep my hands off those stupid things! She comes to visit and of course, I have food for her here at the house, and oh my gosh, I don’t know if I can have them in the house. I have to send them home with my daughter after she’s been here a few days. Take these outta here!

Tips from Lynn:
Look at the big picture. Don’t think that because you gained a pound one week, you get the right to sabotage yourself. The best thing that I can tell people is when you first start and you’re all gung-ho, know that in a week or two you’re going to want to quit. You’re not going to want to keep going, most likely. You’ve gotta have that solid foundation of why you want to do this in the first place so that when you do start feeling like ‘I can’t do this anymore’ or ‘I don’t want to do this,’ you can look back. I really strongly urge journaling before you start to lose weight – figure out why you want this – then you’ll have something to look at.

Favorite healthy recipe: Curried Squash

Lynn’s Weight Loss WooHoo!:
I got a bike from my husband and I hadn’t been on a bike since I was 20 years old maybe. I really didn’t think I could do it, and I did! I got on my bike and I thought ‘I can go a couple of miles,’ and I went eight to 10 miles my first time. I thought, ‘Oh my gosh, I really can do this!’

I had been working really hard and that was how I was paid for it – my body said ‘Yeah, you can bike eight miles, and you can actually bike 20 miles, and you can hike, and you can get in a canoe without tipping it over.’ Those kinds of things were really what happened when I got to goal.

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I love how your body rewarded you for all your hard work – here’s to more hiking and biking in 2010! Oh, and I am still laughing about your granddaughter’s animal crackers – those bite-sized foods get you every time, don’t they?!

See more weight loss success stories on the Weight Loss WooHoo! Wall of Fame.

If you know of someone who deserves this honor, just let me know – send me an email at sahar [at] fatfightertv [dot] com

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In the summer, I like to exercise outside as much as possible – soak in enough sun (with sunscreen on, of course!) to make up for all those dreary winter months. I almost always wear my heart rate monitor to track the calories I burn. But this simple guide from the American Council on Exercise can help you get a general idea of how much you’re burning doing these 7 popular summer activities… so burn, baby, burn!

Walking at 4 MPH

• 120 pound person burns 4.5 calories/minute
• 180 pound person burns 6.8 calories/minute

Hiking

• 120 pound person burns 4.5 calories/minute
• 180 pound person burns  6.7 calories/minute

Biking at 10 MPH

• 120 pound person burns 5.5 calories/minute
• 180 pound person burns 8.2 calories/minute

Jogging – 10 minute miles

• 180 pound person burns 13.9 calories/minute
• 120 pound person burns 9.3 calories/minute

Jump Rope

• 120 pound person burns 9.5 calories/minute
• 180 pound person burns 14.3 calories/minute

Swimming at a moderate pace

• 120 pound person burns 7.8 calories/minute
• 180 pound person burns 11.6 calories/minute

Roller skating

• 120 pound person burns 5.9 calories/minute
• 180 pound person burns 8.8 calories/minute

Of course, not everyone weighs either 120 or 180 pounds, so for more specific numbers based on your weight and the activity you’re doing, check out this Physical Activity Calculator from Shape Up America!

[Photo Credit: stock.xchng]

Related posts

• Weight Loss WooHoo! to Lynn (Lost 170 pounds)
• News Nugget: Leaner nations bike, walk, use mass transit
• News Nugget: Are you a fair-weather exerciser?
• Weight Loss WooHoo! to Diane (Lost 158 pounds)
• Want to step up your workout? Add a pedometer to your routine