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Weight Lost: Lynn Manchul Davey Gave Up Junk Food And Lost 81 Pounds

She Avoided Eating 'White Foods' And Dropped 81 Pounds
Lynn

Who: Lynn Manchul Davey

Occupation: Investment advisor

City: Orangeville, Ont.

Age: 56

By The Numbers: 210 pounds at my heaviest, currently 129 pounds, for a total weight loss of 81 pounds.

The Weight Gain: I was always thin and athletic in my younger years. I played high school sports and jogged almost every day. I never had to diet because my mother always cooked healthy meals for us. Once I left university and started to work full time as a stockbroker, I was sitting all day and started gaining weight slowly.

I got married, had a baby, and we moved to a suburb of the city of Toronto where I was taking a GO Train into the city daily. It was exhausting, I was tired all the time, and I had no time for fitness. The weight gain had started again.

Final Straw: After 28 years of marriage, my husband and I separated after our son graduated from university. This is when I decided it was time to lose the weight — after so many years of taking care of everyone else, I could now focus on myself.

The Plan of Attack: I started with research. I read a book called Wheat Belly, and read food and fitness websites like Real Farmacy,PopSugar Fitness, and articles by doctors like Dr. Mercola and Dr. Oz.

For the first time, it all made sense to me. I would read these articles while eating salt and vinegar potato chips, and felt sorry for myself that I couldn't lose weight.

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The Exercise Factor: This is when I hired Heather, a personal trainer from GoodLife. She truly was the game changer for me. She had been through what I was going through, and always made a point to say, "Lynn, it's good you are here." I guess there aren't a lot of 56-year-old women working out these days.

We worked slowly and I was there with her twice a week, and once on my own during the week. My goal was never to be Popeye, but simply tone up as I lost weight.

I later had skin reduction surgery on my tummy, because no matter how hard I tried, I could not tone up this area due to my skin's elasticity and natural aging.

The Food Element: My eating habits have completely changed, but I'm not on a diet. I remember many years ago Oprah said not to eat anything white. Things that are white are often processed and full of sugar and preservatives.

My diet now consists now of nothing white. I eat fruit, veggies, chicken, turkey, fish, and hardly any red meat. I eat healthy bread not white bread, sweet potatoes not white potatoes, brown rice not white rice and I have simply eliminated pasta. If you want pasta, have whole grain pasta instead. For snacks, I eliminated chips and eat popcorn, but I'll still have ice cream from time to time.

The Current Day-to-Day: When I weighed 200 pounds I had osteoarthritis in my left knee and some mornings, I could barely go upstairs. Since losing the weight I haven't had a single problem with my knee.

The best feeling in the world is being able to shop in the size 6 or 8 section rather than the 2XXL section. I just wish I could help more women find themselves again, and start to feel better about themselves by eating healthy and getting active.

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