I'm co-leader/participant of a weight loss challenge for a private group on facebook called WILMAS...Wish I'd Lose My Ass Soon...silly I know, but they're a great bunch of ladies that were pregnant right along with me for my daughter Isabel on a message board at www.babyzone.com. We were all part of the same "due date club" and although I ended up having Isabel May 20th instead of around her due date which was June 26th I stayed with that group.
There were about a dozen of us who wanted to have some incentive and support to get back in shape (or just get in shape period, for me) after having our babies so another group member and I started a 12 week weight loss challenge. I wasn't really sure if I was going to participate at the start. I just wasn't feeling like having to TRY, to be completely honest. Even though it's been 8 months since I've gone from a mother of two to a mother of three, I'm still trying to get into a groove. I'm convinced this is never going to happen and I'm going to walk...no RUN...through the rest of their childhood like a chicken with my head cut off. Will someone please tell me how children who are sleeping KNOW the minute you lay in bed and get comfortable??? Or why, when I finally get a little motivation to clean up something or do laundry, they are STARVING or wanting to be held??? OR (one more...stick with me) why, the moment I get on an important phone call they all flock around me and start yelling, screaming, and whining??? Ugh Well, now you can tell that I have quite a bit of stress to conquer as well, which doesn't help with the weight loss. By the way, I LOVE my kids more than anything in this world and wouldn't trade being a mother for ANYTHING. You mommies out there know how it is. You love your kids to the ends of the earth and beyond...but some days you just want to leave them on a clearance shelf at the store. ; )
So, back to the point of this post. Even though I wasn't really feeling it, I decided to join the 12 week challenge. I know I need to do something to get this weight off and I figured, for me, a challenge would be the best way to jump start it. I like to win (who doesn't) so I knew if I participated I was much more likely to get serious about losing this weight. I cringed when I saw that I was one of the biggest participating in the challenge and when I saw the starting weights of most of the other ladies I kept saying to myself "I wish I weighed THAT amount!"
Tomorrow is the end of the second week of the challenge and will be our second weigh in. I'm on course to lose about 2 lbs. I lost 5 lbs. the first week, but I WAY overdid my 'free' day and was then visited by Aunt Flow, so I'll be happy to see any loss this week.
Tomorrow is also suppose to be my 'free' day. A day where I don't count calories and eat things that I haven't been allowing myself. However, I need to scale back a little this week. Wish me luck!
Taking a queue from Katie at Runs For Cookies I'll ask you guys a question.
Do any of you give yourselves a 'free' day? Why or why not? I'm starting to think that its a bad idea, for me anyways.
Ernie, I know you are SOOOO much stronger then you give yourself credit for. In your day-to-day life, you are a very strong woman. Your weakness.... Food. As soon as your able to transfer some of that strength over onto your weakness, you'll be unstoppable and I KNOW you will be. I have all the faith in the world in you. I love Ernie!
ReplyDelete^^^ that comment is from me, your loving sister lol. I forgot to write who it was from... Silly me.
ReplyDeleteHey Erin,
ReplyDeleteI recently just forced myself to lose the 45 extra pounds I had. And the only real advice i can give you is never give up. For me, diet was enough to get the first 10-15 off, but the rest was all exercise. I go to the gym 4-5 times a week now, and try to do anything active I can. I recently joined a soccer league and go ice skating every saturday for two hours. I finally reached my goal after months of hard work. It wont be easy. But if you keep your mind to it, you will do it. You just cant let anything be an excuse like you said.
Other things i would suggest that i did. I cut pop out of my diet over two years ago now, and i love it. Not having the constant sweetness helps change your taste for other foods. I found myself having no interest in anything that sweet. Another thing that i did, that i feel helped, was I dont eat anything after 9. I also did something like a 'free' day. But i did one free meal. And it wasnt something bad for me, just something that was in my normal diet. That way i wasnt totally bored with what i was eating normally. The diet i did was http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paleolithic_diet . It actually changed the way i think about eating on a normal basis after the fact.
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