I'm a loser!

That's what a few of us have called ourselves since we started this 8 week weight loss challenge and then finished it last week.  I say finished lightly because in fact, I'm not finished, it's turned into a lifestyle for me and I have no intention of stopping with the changes I have made.  While I know my new habits may seem weird to people that do not follow a similar lifestyle for whatever reason, for me it works.  I log everything into a food diary, including exercise and water, and try very hard no to go over my allowed calories for the day.  Some days I do try harder than others, everybody has a cheat time!  I have also been working out daily, if not, then at least 3 times a week.  Now if you have known me for a long time, you know that I did not work out and definitely did not watch what I ate. So this past January, a friend mentioned this wonderful fitness website she uses and I decided, why not.  To be honest, in the back of my mind, I was like, "there is NO way I'm going to stick with this!"  I never had before.  Well, 20 lbs later and lighter, I have to say that I am super glad that I have stuck with it!  I feel better, I look better, and for the first time in probably 4-5 years, I'm not dreading wearing summer clothes!  It's amazing to me that I had it in me to do this all of this time, but just didn't push myself.  


Getting started was much easier because I had an inspiration.  Now I had ALWAYS had motivation, Kurt and Eli are my motivators to keep at it and be healthy for them and myself.  My inspiration however is a fellow coaches wife that was out running everyday,  and not just that, but talked about it like it was fun!  What???  In my experience, running was not fun, working out was not fun!  Well I finally thought, okay maybe there is something to this.  I started with the C25K as well as watching what I ate and cutting soda down to one a day or less.  Now I can run 2 miles (not fast), have not had a real soda since January (I do have a diet one once in a while) and Jillian Michaels kicks my butt at least 2 times a week, no lie, she's brutal! I also really did start looking at what I was eating and was baffled by some of the things I was putting into my body.  I still indulge, don't get me wrong, but I make it much less frequent and always look at calories. I also did the Herbalife shakes, which I normally do not buy into weight loss stuff, but I do feel this tasted great and really worked!  


My biggest surprise though when it came to this fitness routine other than the fact that I did in fact stick with it?  The negativity I felt from some people that I expected to share in my happiness.  Now, I do not think that anybody intentionally put off a negative feel towards it, but sometimes I felt my weight loss was met more with bitterness than what I felt should be a good thing and hopefully inspire someone else the way I was inspired.   I will tell anybody who asks, if you really want to change, it's going to hurt, you're going to sweat, you won't be able to eat everything that you used to all the time, and it is not an instant gratification thing, IT TAKES WORK! So I hope that people realize when others around them are working hard and losing weight, it's not just an easy thing, they are working at it.  


Please know, I am not in any way telling anybody they need to lose weight, but just sharing how great this change has been for me and I know anybody out there can make a change if they want to.  I couldn't have done it without my husbands support, the support of the people doing the challenge with me, and myself really pushing me past my comfort level.  And of course as I mentioned, I probably wouldn't have even started had it not been for seeing someone else loving this lifestyle so much and sharing that with others.  So if you every want to get started at a new life, just remember that YOU can! 

Starting Out

A lot of my friends have blogs and I have been thinking about starting one for sometime, just a way to give a more detailed update on our lives without having to write a book on facebook.  Not sure if anybody will ever read it, but who knows and really I don't mind if nobody does.

School is starting to wind down.  I am especially excited for this Summer because this will be the first Summer in two years that we haven't moved!  I want to just enjoy the time with Kurt and Eli and relax!  I was not thrilled  last Summer when we decided to move, but when the position here in Welch worked out, we had to take it.  It was what Kurt had wanted for a long time and so much closer to home.  Looking back now and knowing what I know, this turned out to be a very wise decision and good move for us.  There are some people I miss back in Gustine, but I think that this year would have been very different for us had we stayed.  The people here have been very welcoming and I have enjoyed this year a lot!  I have been very happy here and am so glad that my husband wanted this job, despite my reservations about moving when we didn't have to.  It definitely worked out for the best!  Lesson learned, we don't always know what is best for us...but someone does!