Lose the Clutter, Lose the Weight (43 page)

Melissa Leo, 36

POUNDS LOST: 10.4

AMOUNT OF CLUTTER REMOVED: Lost count

If you ever find yourself visiting Melissa's home, rest assured: Your invitation probably didn't cause Melissa and her husband to have an argument.

That wasn't always the case.

“My husband would want to have people over, and I wouldn't because of the clutter. I'm a planner and he's not, so he was always saying at 2 in the afternoon, ‘Let's have people over for dinner.' We would fight about it, and I'd be running around the kitchen like a crazy person trying to clean.”

She was eager to tackle that kitchen during the
Lose the Clutter, Lose the Weight
program. Photos that she took of her kitchen before she began decluttering showed that the room was functioning as the couple's office and catchall area.

The kitchen table was a mess. Two countertops held laptop computers. Another was strewn with stacks of papers and a grocery bag stuffed with what appeared to be Thomas the Tank Engine toys. A bottle of spray cleaner stood at the ready, though none of the spray would even be able to land on the counter surfaces.

Now, however, she can tidy up her kitchen in a few minutes, so having company over “is not a big deal,” she says. “The clutter was affecting our relationship. This program made me realize how much of an issue we were having.”

She made another kitchen-related change that led to a big improvement: She stopped stocking it with junk food that she'd eat mindlessly in the evenings.

“Once the kids were in bed, it was my time to decompress and watch TV. That was also when I would eat, because my hands were free while I was watching TV,” she says. Not only did she stop buying chips and junk food, she also started using her television time for more useful tasks.

“I didn't have time at night to sit and eat, because that's when I would do my decluttering. I realized when I was decluttering, I wasn't hungry. I had been mindlessly eating before.”

She faced some tough challenges, like the pile of keepsakes her dying mother left her when Melissa was 21.

“She said to me, ‘I want you to take stuff even if you don't like it right now, because your tastes are going to change.' So I took stuff I didn't want,” she says. “It's now been almost 15 years, and there are still things I'm not using. She collected dolls, which I have in a box in my basement, but I'll be passing some off to family members and selling the rest.”

She had good teammates helping her through the 6-week experiment. Her 3-year-old daughter joined her on trips to drop off donations at Goodwill, and her husband was happy to let her set the vision for each room—with one catch.

“He just wanted to get rid of the piles of stuff in the kitchen!” Melissa says. He got his wish, as their dinner guests can attest.

ENJOY THE EXPERIENCE!

Some of these exercises may prove to be a source of amusement for other family members. Let's face it, your family has probably never seen Mom doing pushups against the kitchen counter or biceps curls using cans of chicken stock.

That's okay! Embrace the exercises, encourage family members to join in, and understand that fitness can be a way to put the fun in
functional
! These new habits are going to help carry you to a happier, healthier life in just a few weeks—unlike your
old
habits that encouraged you to be overweight and cluttered (which no one may have laughed at because they're so common).