Progress Report

It’s been 4 weeks since I started making changes to my diet and being more active. I have to be honest…it hasn’t always been easy but I really feel so much better. I feel better about myself, my body and my health. I have more energy. AND the big drumroll….I’ve lost just over 14 pounds!! That number is definitely an incentive for me to keep going.

I’ve been faithfully logging my food intake and exercise for the past 30 days by using My Fitness Pal (both online and my iPhone App) and it has really, really helped. It has made me more aware of what I am putting into my body and it has helped me to make the calories that I do consume more worthwhile. If I can have some grilled chicken, steamed vegetables and brown rice and have it cost me the same amount of calories as a piece of cake. I will definitely have the chicken meal…especially because it doesn’t leave me hungry 1 hour later, unlike the empty calories that come from the cake or chips or ice cream.

And I started exercising. I dipped into our savings and invested in working with a personal trainer for 4 weeks. I am starting my third week with him tonight and I have already learned so much. I am learning about nutrition, correct form and the right combination of exercises and strength/weight training for maximum burn. I am so glad that I invested in this…if not I probably only would have been doing cardio and no weight training and wouldn’t have known any better. Weight training is key to weight loss and helping to maintain any weight loss. It is my goal to workout at the gym 4-5 days a week...and while I don't always make that goal, I have averaged 3 days a week. (Which is a HUGE improvement over my never, ever excising for the past 6 months or so!!)

So my promise as of today is that I will post at least once a week about my progress. I need help to stay more accountable to myself and to others…and I need any encouragement that you can give me! I really want to be healthy and I want to stay motivated! Will you help me?

Week 1 - Clean eating

Since last week's big disclosure about the state of my weight and health (ha ha ha...like it wasn't known by anyone that knows me!) I made some big strides in how I was living my life! I decided to eat clean and exercise. I did really good on the eating clean part...but the exercise, well...not so much!

I started using My Fitness Pal (if you're using it too...find me one there. My user name is mamaschell1) and I began by tracking everything that I ate & doing my best to stay within my calorie goal of the day. I'm pretty proud of myself because I actually did a pretty darn good job at the tracking and the eating better! No fast food, no frying food, & making all around better choices. With that...

I'm happy to say that I lost...
6 pounds this week! Yay!!
So my goals for the next week are the same...more exercising and keeping up with the calorie counting and clean eating!

Hi... I'm fat

So in case you couldn't tell from my photos...I’m fat.

Not in the “I just ate a huge slice of cake and I feel fat kinda way”…but in the actual I’m 100 pounds overweight kinda way. In the I weigh what I did when I gave birth to my son 5 years ago kinda way. In a I wear the biggest size clothing ever kinda way. 

And if I continue on this track I'm afraid I won’t live to see my son grow to be the wonderful man that I know he will become. If I continue on this way I won’t live to meet my grandchildren or grow old with the love of my life. I'm also afraid if I don't fix this that my son is going to be made fun of in school because his mom's so fat. I don't want to be that person...I don't want to put my family through that kind of pain.

I need to change. I need to lose weight and inches off my body. I need to gain muscle and endurance. I need to wear smaller size clothing and I need to get off my butt and begin to take the steps to doing it.

So today I am starting. I signed up for My Fitness Pal and I’m going to begin tracking my calories. I am going to get out and walk everyday. I am going to attempt to do cardio 3x's a week. I also signed up to to do a relay with friends up in Oregon at the end of August.

As of today, I am taking a stand against myself. A stand against my bad habits. A stand against my addiction to sugar and carbs and deep fried foods.

I love my life but I’m afraid of losing it due to my unhealthy lifestyle. I want my outside to shine as brightly as I do inside and I am hoping that you will help me to be accountable. I need to be held accountable…it’s the only way that I can get through this journey. I need help because I’ve failed so many other times.

I’ve done just about every fad diet out there: HCG, Atkins, South Beach, Cabbage Soup. Heck I’ve even contemplated bulimia as a way to get skinny. But in the past I think that because my goal was only about “being skinny” I failed. I didn’t take the whole journey into account. I didn’t think about how I needed to change my entire life and view of food and exercise if I was going to change what size of clothing that I wear.

Today I begin my change. Today I will begin making small adjustments to the way that I eat…changes that I hope will become habits that will eventually lead to an entire new lifestyle, new body and a healthier Jenn.

I am finally ready...

...to get HEALTHY!

I’m done thinking about it.

I’m done saying that I will start working on it tomorrow. Or next week. Or after the next holiday or birthday party.

I am finally ready.

I’ve tried lots of things over the years. Fad diets. Supplements. Adkins. South Beach. You name it, I’ve tried it. But I never follow through. I give up. I revert back to old habits and I put any weight back on that I lost...and usually plus some more.

I’m so tired of “trying” to change. I'm tired of "thinking" about changing.

I want to change. I want to be healthy. I want to be thinner. I want to be proud of my body.

I don’t need to be skinny…I just want to be at a healthy weight. I don’t want to feel like I can’t catch my breath when I walk up stairs. I don’t want to feel like I can’t keep up with my son and play outside with him. I don’t want to look in the mirror and not recognize the woman looking back at me anymore.

So today I am ready. Today I will begin making smarter, healthier choices. I will follow through. I won't give up. I may fall, but I will pick myself up and keep going. I need to. For myself and for my son.

I am obese. There I said it...I've known it for quite some time but I haven't been able to say it. It isn't something that I have easily admitted to myself...but,  I have at least 80 pounds to lose and I'm ready.

I am finally ready.

Goal Setting and Running

So I'm totally out of shape and I have made a decision to try and change that...I have decided to train for a 5k. I enjoy being outside, I live somewhere that it is sunny about 360 out of 365 days of the year, I feel amazing when I workout on a consistent basis and I signed up for the weight loss challenge at work so I figured why not try something new? Why not get in shape and accomplish something that I have always wanted too?

My goal is to sign up for a race that will take place sometime in December, so that gives me three months to train and I am really motived to do this! I am a little scared, but I know that with determination and consistency this goal is possible...Tomorrow training starts and I AM READY!

Wish me luck...

Work Weight Loss Challenge

So, my office's corporate headquarters is holding a weight loss challenge that lasts for 15 weeks starting on September 1st. A couple of girls from my office and I have decided to form a team and look at the super cute team name & logo that we came up with:


I especially love the tag line!

And as even more of a reason for me to keep losing weight, the team prize is $300 for each member of the winning weight loss team and $500 additional to the person who loses the most in the company. Talk about great incentives!

I have taken 35 pounds off since the middle of January and I plan to lose lots more and win the big bucks! Wish me luck!