Support of friends, family is key to writer's success
I have a lot of invisible friends.
No need to panic or contact a mental institution, they're not imaginary. I've verified their existence on countless occasions throughout the years.
They do occasionally pop up in the same physical location as me, but their invisible spirit is with me at all times. This has especially been the case since I started participating in the Fittest Loser Challenge, organized by the Daily Herald and Push Fitness in Schaumburg.
The outpouring of support and encouragement has been amazing — even if my friends aren't always physically present.
I receive daily phone calls, texts, emails and Facebook posts from a variety of friends, former co-workers, family members and even the occasional stranger who has read about the challenge in the newspaper.
When my best friend, Elizabeth Schude, read my column about how I'm going berserk because I can't eat potato chips, she immediately contacted me.
“A great alternative are kale chips,” she wrote me. “You cut up pieces of kale, drizzle them with olive oil, sprinkle whatever seasoning you would like along with healthy pink salt and pop in the oven. It sounds gross, but it's out of this world.”
Elizabeth, one of my closest and dearest friends, is always willing to listen when I'm struggling with an issue. Never one to hold her tongue, she dishes out plenty of advice — even if it's not necessarily what I want to hear. Still, I prefer brutal honesty over fake compliments.
This is also the case with another one of my dearest friends, Deborah Bocek. She telephones me almost daily, offering support and listening to me yack about achy muscles and dietary frustrations.
I suspect she must be tired of listening to my crazy stories, but she doesn't show it. She's a good trooper to have in one's corner in times of a crisis.
Through the course of this competition, I've also come to realize that a lot of my friends are into healthy eating. I find myself staring at their plates, snooping inside their refrigerators and asking questions about their eating habits.
On a recent visit to a friend's home, I was offered a plate of fresh fruit, veggies and an assortment of cheeses. In my previous life, I probably would have only eaten the cheese and asked for a glass of wine. But my new health-conscious self consumed the veggies, fruits and asked for herbal tea (OK, I had a few pieces of cheese too, but that's allowed in my diet).
It also surprised me what my friend, Petra Bicanova, thought of my eating habits. “You mean you eat other things than steak,” she said, only half-joking.
Petra has been very curious about my new diet. In fact, I've made her a copy of my dietary plan from Push Fitness and she's been trying to follow it. We've been texting each other photos of our meals and discussed working out together when the challenge is over. She also gave me a sample of coconut oil and made me a lemon, ginger and honey remedy (good for the immune system) — and very delicious when added into green tea.
I've also found support from a previous writer for the Fittest Loser Challenge. Melynda Findlay, a Daily Herald copy editor who participated in the challenge in 2013, has been more than willing to share with me a number of recipes she followed while participating in the challenge.
I've already tried her recipe for crockpot taco chicken (without taco shells) and plan to make her version of a quinoa salad. Thanks, Melynda. Keep the recipes coming.
While I enjoy many of the new recipes that my dietary plan allows, it's difficult to cut out certain comfort foods. Growing up in a European household, I've become accustomed to pasta, bread, dumplings and meaty dishes with homemade gravy.
My mom, Libby Zeman, is a fabulous cook. When she makes goulash or gravy and meat dishes with dumplings or pasta, she always saves me a bowl. However, knowing that I can't eat most of those foods on my diet, she's been great at sharing her recipes for a variety of different smoothies and often makes baked chicken for me.
My father, Mike Zeman, is awkwardly fascinated with my new diet. He's always asking what he should eat — though he doesn't always listen. I've made my protein shakes for him and he drinks them. But then he'll go and have his goulash with dumplings.
Still, he's very supportive of my journey — especially when it comes to physical fitness. An avid bicyclist, he goes on a 10-mile bike ride three to four times a week when the weather allows. In the past, I haven't always been able to keep up with him. In the time it takes me to do eight miles, he does 10. But that's going to change soon. Watch out daddy. My training at Push Fitness is paying off.
That brings me to my personal trainer, Joshua Steckler, owner of Push Fitness in Schaumburg.
I've never particularly enjoyed working out with another person at the gym. But it's very different with a trainer. I look forward to my workouts with him. He makes it fun — though definitely challenging. I'm learning about weightlifting and realizing how to optimize my cardio workouts.
When it comes to nutrition, I've never met anybody that's more serious about it than Josh. He's all about organic produce and hates processed foods. I almost fell off my chair in surprise when he revealed that he doesn't eat pasta and bread.
Josh has also been helpful in offering dietary tips. He's turned me on to coconut oil and shared his white rice substitute with me. Grating raw cauliflower and sautéing it in a pan with coconut oil turned out surprisingly tasty. It sort of tasted like rice, only crunchier and much healthier.
So here's a big thank you to all those who have supported me during this challenge — invisible and otherwise.
• Kat Zeman is freelance journalist with a lot of invisible friends. They're not always visible, but they're always with her behind the scenes and in spirit.
Stats
<b>Starting weight:</b> 163
<b>Current weight:</b> 161
<b>Weight lost:</b> 2 pounds, 1.2 percent