I don’t know about you but I’ve been seeing a lot of fat shaming lately in the equestrian community. And I have to admit, I’m really bothered by it.  I’ve read comments from people actually saying to others that they shouldn’t be riding their horse, that they are too heavy to ride their horse. I hear women saying that they are going to give up riding because they think they are too heavy for their horse. I see women looking for giant horses to buy or ride for the mere fact that they think they are too heavy for the average 15 hand horse. 

 

Now, I know the statistic. You know, the one that says that you shouldn’t weigh more than 20-25% of your horse’s weight. And I’m not advocating matching someone that weighs 250 lbs with an 800 pound Arabian, but I don’t think we should be giving up riding because we’ve put on a few pounds!  Most of us are pleasure riders. We ride for fun and friendship and maybe a few friendly competitions. We are not out there competing in high performance activities and putting a whole lot of stress on our horses bodies and joints, and if we are, we’re probably not struggling with this issue. 

 

So, now that I’ve got that off my chest, I do believe that being a good rider does require a certain level of fitness.  And luckily, we can actually control this.

 

My Story

 

I’m a post menopausal woman. I started going through the “change” as my grandmother used to call it, about 9 years ago when I was 55. I’ve always been a late bloomer and this was no different. In fact, I was glad when it finally got here.  Anyway, other than a few night sweats, I actually sailed through it until about 3 years ago. That’s when I started noticing changes in my body big time including what I call the “menopause belly”. 

 

I’ve always been fairly trim, with a few small weight fluctuations here and there over the years, but now I noticed more than a few, like 20 to 25. My clothes weren’t fitting me and I just felt bad. The final straw came about a year ago when my grandchildren came for a visit and I was teaching my 4 year old granddaughter how to ride. Of course cameras and videos were going. When I saw a video of me leading my granddaughter…that was it. I had to do something before 25 became 30 and 30 became 50. 

 

So, last August I started on a weight loss journey. My goal was to lose 20 lbs. It took me 8 months! The reason it took so long was because I didn’t want to go on a diet, I wanted to change my eating habits so that my goal weight would be sustainable by eating normally. Let me add that I didn’t add any additional exercise other than my normal routine of barn chores and weekend riding. So here’s how I did it:

 

My Weight Loss Tips 

 

Tip 1 – Get Clear on Your Why 

 

In order to accomplish anything you have to have a strong enough why. For me it was tight clothes and a picture of me that I found unattractive. For you it may be your health. It may be that you want to live a long life to be able to take care of your family. It may be that you do feel that you are too big to ride your horse. Whatever it is, you have to like the reason and it has to be strong enough to propel you to take action. 

 

Tip 2 – Find Your Trigger

 

For me this is sugar, and more specifically refined sugar. And going even deeper with this, I discovered that a huge trigger for me was sweets in the break-room at work. People would bring in donuts, cookies, cakes and stuff and I discovered it was very hard to resist. So, I avoided going into the breakroom. Simple as that. Simple, but not easy. For you it may be french fries, or soda. The trigger may be unpleasant conversations, or going out to lunch with friends everyday. Whatever it is, find it and become aware of your thoughts around it that prompts you to break your promise to yourself. 

 

Tip 3 – Find a Program 

 

When it comes to weight loss, I have had the best luck over my lifetime with counting calories. As I mentioned, I didn’t want a diet, I wanted to change my eating habits. Keto diets, south beach, Jenny Craig or other programs like that didn’t appeal to me. I wasn’t looking for a quick fix. 

 

While doing some research, I came across an article that included a calculator that actually calculates the amount of calories one needs during a day depending upon your age, your activity level, and your goal weight. Below is a calculator  that I found very useful as it let me know how many calories I need per day to sustain my goal weight, and how many I need to lose weight. I’ll link to it below. 

 

Calorie Need Calculator

 

Perhaps you have a lot more weight that you want to lose and need a program that is more structured. Do some research and find one that supports your goals and more importantly, is sustainable. But my advice is to pick a program that doesn’t eliminate food groups.You’ll feel much less deprived. 

 

Tip 4 – Weigh Yourself Daily

 

Ladies, this one was very hard for me, still is. I would get on that scale and see large fluctuations in one day’s time. Like 2 pounds! When that happened, it was very difficult to stay motivated. But, I knew in my brain that 1 pound of weight is 3500 calories, and I know because I log what I’m eating, that there’s no way on God’s Green Earth that I ate 7000 calories the day before! 

 

So, you gotta do it. You have to stay on top of this and you need to track it. You will see an overall trend downward if you’re being consistent.  There are also free aps that will help you with this, MyFitnessPal is the one I use, It will track your daily weigh ins. You can also keep track in a journal or spreadsheet.  MyFitnessPal can also be used to log your food intake, which leads me to the next tip…

 

Tip 5 – Log your Food Intake

 

You need to know what you’re putting in your mouth and what the caloric cost is. If you’re counting calories, and you have a budget of 1200 calories per day, you need to keep track and deduct it. What I like about counting calories is that I can budget for an occasional ice cream cone or piece of chocolate as long as it’s accounted for in the budget.

 

Now this may sound tedious, but what I discovered is that I eat pretty much the same breakfast everyday, so I know that it’s going to cost say 200 calories. Same with lunch. If you have a salad and a piece of chicken, after a while you’ll know what the cost is and can take it into consideration. Dinner was the one that seemed more varied and I always wanted to allow about half my budget for it.  

 

Tip 6 – Water is Your Friend

 

I’m not talking just about tap water, or bottled water, although you want to drink plenty of that, I’m talking about foods with high water content. Seedless grapes have become my new best friend! They satisfy my sweet tooth and have a lot of water content. I never feel guilty by eating a huge bunch of them. Also water based soup. I’ve added a lot of these to my diet and usually have a large bowl of soup for lunch. Sparkling water with 0 calories and 0 sweeteners has become my go to drink.

 

I never feel bad about eating any fruit, even cherries or pineapple which may have a high natural sugar content. Better to grab a handful of cherries rather than a handful of M and M’s! 

Tip 7 – Limit Beef Consumption

 

I love a good steak (sorry my vegan friends!), but beef is high in calories. So I’ve limited it to just a couple times a month and when we do eat it, it’s grass fed. Oh my goodness ladies! There is such a huge difference in taste between grass fed and corn fed or whatever they feed cattle. It tastes so much cleaner, so that was a happy discovery.

 

Tip 8 – Keep Health Snacks Around

 

I always keep a bag of those little tangerines around. They are small, loaded with water and taste great. I also keep a bag of large Ole Tyme pretzels around. I’m not sure how healthy they actually are, but they satisfy my need for salt and crunch. I also keep raw almonds. I’ll grab a handful of those rather than a handful of chips.

 

I love apples and I found that if I use one of those apple slicer gadgets, I’ll eat more apples. For some reason I don’t like biting into a large apple, but give me a handful of apple slices any day! So I keep an apple slicer in the kitchen and in my drawer at work too!

 

 Tip 9 – Eliminate Negative Self Talk

 

Ladies, we’ve got to quit beating ourselves up! Stop saying bad or negative things about yourself. This is a bad habit and one we need to break. One of the ways I like to remind myself to stop is to follow up the statement with “and that’s just the way I want it”. So saying things like “I’m too fat to ride my horse, and that’s just the way I want it!” will help you break that habit in no time. 

 

Tip 10 – Set Small Goals for a Win

 

Celebrate those small wins! Buy that smaller pair of pants, or have that glass of wine. Take that weekend trip! I know for myself that I don’t celebrate the small stuff enough. Don’t make this all about being happy once you achieve the final goal. 

 

Oh, and about that final goal, make it realistic. If you have a size 8 body, don’t shoot for the size 4. Shoot for what’s sustainable and won’t be a struggle to maintain. Is it reasonable that in order to maintain that goal weight you can only eat 1200 calories a day? Is that realistic? Do you even want to do that? No, that will only sabotage what you are trying to accomplish. The goal here is to live a long healthy life and to enjoy your friends, family and horses!

 

I hope you found these tips helpful. I don’t want to see anyone quit riding because they feel like they are too heavy, or someone told them they were. That’s a tragedy to me. If I can help you, please feel free to reach out to me.

 

Enjoy the Ride!