Weight Loss

Today is the day I'm going to be really honest with you. {Not that I'm not usually honest, cause I am, but today it could get brutal!} I have hesitated to share this journey with you because it forces me to actually follow through on what I say and not flake out like I've done so many times before.

Plus, what woman ever wants to share her weight with other people? But after the whole CVS {KY} post I figured you guys are all pretty comfortable with me now. *grin* Might as well know a little more about my personal journey to try and lose weight!

So, I will say right up front that I know I'm not fat. I know that I am not in a desperate situation where my health in on the line. However, I will explain to you why I'm doing what I'm doing.

1. I have genetics working against me.
2. I have bad habits which include eating too much {I love food!} and not exercising {I hate to exercise!}
3. I have watched my weight creep up little by little year by year.
4. I want to be healthier for my kids, so I can be active with them and so I can live long and be a good example of health to them.
5. I am now in my 30's and it's harder and harder to lose weight and I know that if I continue to do what I'm doing that it will only get worse as I get older.

I'm not the type of person who wants to get all anorexic skinny ... but I do have a goal in mind. When I got married 12 years ago I weighed 130 pounds. That is a weight that I feel great at. I also know that for my height I should be weighing between 124 - 155 pounds. I'm starting this journey slightly over the top of that scale at 156.4 pounds. I would much rather be in the low to middle end of that scale. So 130 is my ultimate goal.

I have a couple of motivations {laugh if you want but it's what pushes me to keep going!}

• One is a picture of Bob and I on our honeymoon cruise. I am wearing a {small!} bikini in the picture. I use that photo as my inspiration because I would love to look like that again!

• My second motivation is in my closet ... I have a stack of no less than a DOZEN pairs of jeans that I have accumulated over the years that are just too small or tight. I have been unable to give them away because quite frankly I'm just too cheap! They are perfectly good jeans and I am motivated to be able to fit in them again.

• My third motivation is a trip we are taking this June ... my family and I are taking a cruise to Bermuda! Bob and I have cruised several times before but this time we are taking the girls for the first time. I never feel confident in summer clothes or swimsuits. I want to feel confident on this trip and really just enjoy myself.
  

So, what am I doing about all this?
First I am trying to incorporate more exercise into my life. Like I mentioned above, I hate to exercise and I have used every excuse in the book to avoid it. My famous excuse is that I'm a Mom of little ones, I'm homeschooling them, my life is so busy and I just can't make the time for it! {Always convincing myself that someday when the kids are older I'll make it more of a priority.}

Well I'm starting to realize what a lame-o excuse that one is! After all, if I'm too tired and busy to exercise now ... and I allow myself to steadily gain more and more weight over the next ten years ... how can I ever expect to have the energy to keep up with teens - or how about the fact that 10 yrs from now I'll have EVEN MORE weight to try to work off! Putting it off til the kids are older only puts me in a far worse position than I'm in now!

I'm also realizing that my life needs to be prioritized. Much like the way I like to keep my home organized ... I also need to organize my time and my priorities. If I never make the time to be healthy and make the time to take care of myself - how can I expect to be in any shape to care for my family? I spend PLENTY of time on the computer, watching TV, reading fiction books, doing other hobbies I enjoy. I know there IS time to exercise - I just have to make it my priority over the other {more enjoyable} things!

So, the other thing I'm doing is Weight Watchers. I have started and stopped 'diets' at least 3-4 times every single year. I always go through spurts where I don't care, don't exercise, don't eat healthy ... then after feeling like crap for a few months I'll get on a kick again and start another diet plan. I have started and stopped more times than I care to count! My husband and Mother in law could tell you - because I always share with them all my good intentions ... and they always see my fall off track over and over again {thankfully they love me SO much that they never give me a hard time when I don't follow through!}

This morning at the Weight Watchers meeting we had a new leader. She was very thin and in-shape and I could almost feel the tension in the air - the 'what can we learn from a skinny minnie like her?' attitude. Then she shared her story ... and that skinny minnie has lost 135 pounds! She was once more than double her current size! I think she won us over at that point ... it was such an inspiration to me! I may not have 135 pounds to lose ... but if I want to be thin and in shape, I need to do this!

What I love about Weight Watchers is that no food is off limits. You do have to count the point values of everything you eat. And yes, sometimes it's a pain to keep track all of that. But it helps you learn control. When I think about the large portions of food I was eating before -- it's no wonder I wasn't able to lose any weight!

This week, my first week on WW, I lost 2.8 pounds ... and yes, I even splurged - we had a Super Bowl party in which I ate WAY too much junk food -- but I still managed to lose weight because I knew that the rest of the week I needed to eat extremely well. It's OK to splurge from time to time and enjoy those things you really love ... but it's got to be in moderation and you have to eat well the rest of the days.

Real quick I want to go back to the exercise thing. Just a quick thing to motivate others. I know lots of Moms. One thing I noticed was that the Moms I know that are thin are either runners or they have great genetics! I always heard how great running was for you and how you lose weight when you run.

But I can't run. I never could. I would always get side splitting cramps and aches from my head to my toes - not to mention a bright red face and the feeling that my lungs were about to collapse!

Then I read about a program that taught you how to run. It's called the Couch to 5k plan. Basically they have you start out easy with only 30 second intervals of running mixed in with 2 min breaks of walking. I started this program last fall and could barely jog the 30 seconds the first few times I tried it! I remember telling Bob that there was NO WAY I'd ever make it to the 5k mark!

This winter has been hard to maintain the running thing. We've had more snow than the past 12 winters that I've lived here and I haven't been outside to run in weeks. But I have started using the treadmill at the gym. I am happy to say that I can now run for 20 min straight! I'm still not ready for that 5k yet ... in fact there is one coming up in about a month that Bob asked if I would like to sign up for - but I don't feel ready just yet. But I have seen how the plan CAN work if you keep going and keep trying. So now I try to do the treadmill at the gym at least 2-3 days a week and try to do something else at home {elliptical machine or workout videos} a couple other days a week.

Wow, all of the sudden I'm realizing how LONG this post is getting - SORRY! Anyway, there is more I could say but for now I need to wrap this up. At the bottom of the page I've included a weight loss ticker - a visible reminder of my goal and my progress. And if anyone has any questions I would love to chat. I'm no expert in this field - but would love to have others join me on this journey to good health. Take care of yourselves my friends! You only have one body and one life to live in it!