Welcome to my Fitness Blog!

I've been meaning to get this blog up and running for a very long time. For so long, I worked on my fitness goals in private. After four years of losing over half the weight I needed to lose (I needed to lose 100 lbs total), I decided to change my approach. Let people into my journey, be open about what I'm feeling day to day. Terror used to flood my heart at the thought of telling people what I weigh, especially if I failed. But by not sharing my journey, I was telling myself it was okay to fail. And while I don't consider losing over 50 pounds a failure by any means, I certainly did backslide and stall.

You know what?

The number on the scale doesn't define me. It defines challenges I have, but I am happy to say that I have reached the point where that number is one I can tell the world. Other people do, I can, too. And if following my journey helps even one person, it's worth it. I'm not going to end up with a tight body. I'll have loose skin from gaining weight and having four children. I'm thirty-five years old. What I care about right now most of all is being there for my children and husband for a long time.

I started a new program on June 23rd called 21 Day Fix. It's by Beachbody. (At first the name threw me, because I don't like anything that's trying to be a quick fix, but I found out it was named for the saying "21 days makes a habit.") A friend of mine was doing it, and I'd been looking for something to help me with eating, as calorie counting throws me into a tailspin. (I may elaborate why in another post sometime. Let's just say it causes old emotions to surface and throws me into awful anxiety.) But this system uses all the healthy, whole foods I love to eat, without calorie counting, and ensures I get a variety of good food. And there are 30 minute workouts for every day of the week, which is a bonus. So I ordered it, and it was the answer to prayer.

When I started, I had to weigh and measure. I was scared to death to weigh again, since I hadn't for a few months and was worried I'd be back over 200. (Original starting weight in 2009 was about 250.) I was happy to see I was under 200 still, but unhappy that I'd regained 14 pounds and felt absolutely terrible physically. Okay, here are two pictures. The first is my before picture. I wouldn't generally post a picture of me wearing a tank top and shorter shorts, but this is what I work out in at home, and I want people to see the reality of what I'm dealing with. I also took some in just a sports bra and shorts for my own personal use, so I can better see the changes, but I won't post those. :) The second picture is my starting weight.

I love you, week-old me, even though you're smiling to cover up the feeling-like-crud part of taking before pics.

Starting Weight to the Improved Me

Well, I followed the plan really well last week, and lost 2.5 lbs. I'm good with that, because I don't lose quickly. I also build muscle really fast, and I've gotten nearly all my calf definition back in one week, and there's a huge difference in my legs. I'll post before and after pictures once the three weeks are over.

I began the second week today, and quickly realized that I'd strained one of my quadricep muscles in my right thigh. Lots of frozen veggies on it today (we ate green beans tonight at dinner), and I may have to sub in a gentle yoga workout tomorrow, but things happen. Doing this at all isn't convenient right now, as we're getting our house ready to put on the market. But life is rarely convenient.

However, I want to be around for it.

Wish me luck this week!