My Weight Loss Journey - Part 1

**Disclaimer - I am writing this post by request.  I am not trying to brag.  Please don't take it as such.  Also the tips below are what worked for me.  Please remember that everyone is different and you have to do what is right for you and your body. **

And so my story begins... Let's rewind back to Summer of 2009.  I had just had the twins in February and was feeling rather large and yucky weighing in at somewhere around 190 pounds.  I remember thinking, "Who is this person?!" when I would look in the mirror.  My cholesterol was up and my weight was falling into the obese category according to my BMI.  I knew I had to make some changes.  I also knew that because of the exhausted state I was in from having twins, and the fact that I was breastfeeding them, that this was not the time to make anything happen.  I was discouraged.  I didn't like the way I looked.  I didn't like that I couldn't keep up with my older kids when we were playing outside.  I began to try different work out videos and thought about watching what I was eating.  I lost about 15 pounds between summer of 2009 and summer of 2010 (mainly due to breastfeeding I'm sure, because I surely wasn't trying all that hard).

Summer 2009

Winter 2009

 

During the winter/early spring of 2010 I started watching a few of my friends train for the 5/3 River Bank Run 25K.  I knew they weren't runners.  I knew they were working HARD.  I knew I HATED running.  Yet, as I watched the weight melt off of them, I began to be inspired.  I felt that if they could do it so could I.  As a result of seeing them lose weight and my doctor telling me it was time to do something about my cholesterol or go on meds, I decided it was time to get serious about losing weight myself.  In July I created a plan and decided that I was seriously going to stick to it.

Summer 2010

Now anyone who knows me knows I like rules and lists and setting a goal.  I sat down and created a list of rules for myself.  They were as follows:

• No eating anything after 7pm in the evening.
• One sweet treat each day.
• No drinking of any calories.
• Everything I ate, I had to cut in half and save the rest for another time.
• Drink at least 64 ounces of liquids each day (mainly water and iced tea)
• No licks, bites or tastes when I was cooking/baking
• Work out 6 days a week

One of the most important things I decided during this process was that I was going to start running.  I had seen running work.  I had seen fast and powerful results.  I wanted that.  Despite the fact that I HATED running (did I mention that already?) I knew it was going to get me where I wanted to go.  I knew I had to at least try it.

Once I had all of this in place, I sat down and chatted with Jason.  I told him I was serious about this process and that I wasn't going to be able to do it without his help.  I needed him to hold me accountable to these rules and make me follow them.  I needed him to cheer me on and support me.  I talked with my mom and told her the plan and got her on board to cheer and support me as well.  With these two crucial people in place, I began the journey...

Stay tuned... The posts that will follow will share how I excuted my plan, my struggles and how I dealt with them, and ultimately my success!