help!!!! I keep sababtoging myself. I have been burning 100o in exercise then I go and eat 4 spoonfuls of cream cheese frosting. My husband has not been home before 8:30 all week. My house looks like a disorganization tornado went through it....uuuggggggghhhhh.......its so much easier to not eat at alll!!!!!! just go to bed carrie, tomorrow is a new day.....

Marianne's Week

I feel good about my week.
I feel GREAT about my first long run I did on Saturday!
My goal was to put in the miles and not think about how long it took me.
I think I have to be training for something BIG or I would have stopped running after the first 2 miles. But I had that little voice in my head telling me "just put in the miles and you will be ready for the race"
I also LOVE Lindy's idea to save some calories for a little desert at the end of the day. I'm usually an all or nothing kind of gal. I eat the whole desert or nothing! But for the first time in a long time I didn't feel guilty for eating desert. Thanks for the tip.

I lost 5lbs!
weight 182

Goal for this week is to break the 180's and never look back!

P.S. I am in desperate need of new tunes for my new i pod!!!
My old i pod accidentally went in the washer (note to self ALWAYS check ALL pockets!)
and our computer CRASHED!!! So I'm starting from scratch. I have been enjoying some of Lindys suggestions she posted on her blog but would LOVE to hear what tunes get you lady's moving. Don't be shy! Give it to me lady's, over the next six weeks my i pod will be my best friend.

Thanks,

Marianne

Melona week 2-

Well, Ladies, I am once again astounded by your self-control and commitment to be a better you! Keep up the good work!

So, I had a pretty good week this week mentally, but physically I sabotaged myself quite a bit. I just didn't feel like changing what I was doing. SO, I rebelled a little. Friday, I was feeling a little more motivated, but we celebrated our 10 year anniversary and what better way to celebrate than w/ good food!

SO, Grrr! Still no weight loss and still completely my fault! Well, mostly. I did have a visitor this morning, so maybe next week will be better.

I have really started analyzing my habits this week though. I have come up w/ a few things that I feel are really hindering my progress.

1. I have been neglecting the things in my life to keep myself spiritually fit.

2. I need more sleep. Staying up until 2 am every morning w/ my SIL to watch Buffy the Vampire Slayer may be fun, but is not a necessity. I'm not 20 anymore & can't sleep until 10. I still have to get up at 7 and be Mom.

3. I am mentally exhausted, physically pooped and frankly, a little depressed since the move.

I feel that these 3 have really been impeding my progress to weight loss. Because of these things, I just don't have the will power or the even a great desire to keep my weekly commitments. I just don't care enough about myself lately. SO, I am starting a few new goals this week which I am hoping will help me to keep the other commitments I have made.

1. Daily scripture study and prayer... The Lord cares about all my righteous desires, I will go to him for help w/ to keep my weight loss commitments. I truly believe he wants me to be healthy.

2. Go to sleep by 12 am every night. (I will eventually scale this back to 10:30 or 11, but midnight seems a good place to start... Buffy may not be a necessity, but I really enjoy the time to bond w/ my SIL).

3. Take a shower EVERY DAY and get out of the house w/ or w/out the kids at least 3x this week (in addition to going to church).

4. Eat less, move more :)

what the what!!!!!!

I love Tina Fey and she always says this on 30 rock. Seriously, you guys are awesome! Shelly- 5 lbs in one week! I should say that soup must be your secret weapon! I am getting on that immediately! ANd Lindy, I know exactly how you feel. Last night I ate two big spoonfuls of peanut butter rolled in chocolate chips after holding a fussy Naomi for 2 hours...MY nerves were so frazzled and James had to do a school project so no help from him and the p and choclate were my only friends. So this morning...I ran an extra mile on the treadmill and it felt amazing. MY problem has always been food, not exercising. If I didn't have kids I would exercise 3, 4 hours a day. I love it to the point of unlhealthiness. Anyway- my suggestion to you Lindy. INvest in a treadmill. It is the best thing I ever did, or an elliptical and you can always have it there, if you eat a brownie you can just jump on it for 20 min- brownie into oblivion and your are more fit than ever. I have never been a fan of fake skinny. THat pretty much means someone who looks skinny but they are flabby. I have been that before and I much prefer eating enough food to fuel your body and being lean and musclely. NOt a word I know...I'm making up all sorts oof words today not to mention spellings. WELCOME SARAH! oh- everyone is inshapenow. You just sign in then leave your name so we know who you are. I am so glad you are here. So my son has become obsessed with my new scale. It is small and easily portable and he has dropped it anumber of times. ANyway- it gave me 3 different weight this morning so for now, until I can weigh at the gym I will post my measurements.

thigh 23 3/4

bust 40

AS you can see I left out waist because taking that measurement after I have a baby makes me shed actual tears...

Seriously, I am inspired by all of you...Lindy I would like to also say....you rock for maintaining your very low weight. In a lot of ways, that is harder than losing weight. My suggestion? Don't worry about the food part, just put in 15- 20 more minutes of super sweat inducing exercise and you will see a lb drop off each week just from that. YOu dont even have to go anywhere just do jumping jack, puhups, sit-ups, as fast as you can for 15 min before bedtime and you will see it come off gradually. Easier said than done especially when you are so tired from the day but one thing I have learned is that if you can get in at lease 20 minutes right when you get up and at least 20 min right before bed it makes a huge difference.

Lindy's Update--Week 3

Well, this week was not too great for me. I gained a pound, so I'm back to 165. I'm not really surprised. I only worked out twice and I ate far too many treats. Here's my problem--at the end of a long day dealing with a very demanding 21 month old and a precocious 4 year old, and cleaning the house and changing diapers, I feel like I deserve a brownie, or a girl scout cookie or 4. I totally get that I'm eating for emotional reasons. I'm really not all that hungry but sometimes the only thing I have to look forward to at night is something yummy to eat. That probably sounds really pathetic, but it's true for me right now. I can eat really well at breakfast, lunch and dinner, but then after dinner I want my chocolate, dang it!  So, this is something I'm really going to have to work on this week. It probably is better if I just eat no sugar at all this week. Do you think I could do it? Any tips?
You are all doing so well and it's very inspiring.

Carrie, your will power is mighty impressive. What do you do to keep yourself motivated? Especially with four babies at home?  I don't know how you do it!

Lindy

Sarah- Day 1

So I read everyone's posts and I feel up to speed. I live in Florida and I have 3 daughters ages 12, 8, and 1 (today!). I work from home and so I am sitting a lot at the computer. I don't exercise at all right now. I really enjoy running even though I'm not great at it and I want to be able to run our local 15K next year (it is in 2 wks). I seem to always carry about 10 extra pounds around and I decided to lose the weight before I went through another pregnancy. I joined Weight Watchers in April 2008 and lost 11 lbs. I was at 150 lbs. when I started my pregnancy and I felt great. I've decided that is the weight I look and feel most comfortable at and that I am realistically able to maintain. So, here are my starting stats and goals.
weight: 170 lbs
waitst: 34 in
thigh: 25 in- glad you suggested this measurement

goals this week:
not to eat after 8 pm-SO hard for me (I now do 8:30 since I go to bed at 11:30, but I want to work toward no eating after 7 and be asleep by 10:30)
walk on treadmill 15 min each day
no junk food, including chocolate- I will allow myself a treat on Saturday only

That is what I feel I can accomplish this week. Here I go!

Just joining in

Hi, everyone.
I am Carrie's cousin, Sarah. I told her that I wanted to join your group at the end of January and it has taken me this long to follow her instructions to log on! I'm not sure I did it correctly because it looks like Carrie is In Shape Now. Tell me if I'm supposed to do something differently. Anyway, today is my daughter's first birthday and I am absolutely out of excuses and ready to lose the baby weight. Let me post this and catch up on all of your posts to figure out what and how to give my info. I look forward to getting to know all of you!

Shelley's Week 3

I had a great week.  I ran 9.4 miles and lost 5 pounds.  Yeah!!  I actually found that it was much harder to drink a gallon of water every day than I thought; I got better as the week went on, but it definitely takes effort.  But I think that it helped me feel satisfied much more throughout the day.  Also, I've been eating this:

Carrot and Cauliflower Soup
1 head of cauliflower
3 carrots
1 stalk of celery, including any leaves
1 onion
4-6 cups chicken broth


Cut all the vegetables to 1" pieces.  Pour the chicken broth over-- this should just cover the vegetables.  If not, add a bit more chicken broth or water.  Simmer until the cauliflower is soft (30 minutes) and puree.  Season with salt and pepper.  

Yum.  I think it was the secret to my success this week.  So simple and delicious and satisfying and warm.  Plus for me, it's 0-points.  It's been so cold here, I've really needed something that is warm and comforting.

Carrie-- I'm wowed by your master cleanse.  You say you feel energized-- but I think I would feel absolutely famished.  Good for you.

Melona--thank you for your idea of short term goals.  It definitely is easier mentally for me to wrap my mind around doing something smaller.

Marianne, welcome.  I'm totally impressed that you are going to run a 1/2 marathon in 6 weeks now.  Maybe I'll do one someday-- but maybe not!

Lindy, congrats on you weight loss.  Every pound counts.  Well done.

And for what it's worth, this is what I've been doing to fit exercise in; it's taken a few weeks to get the kinks out, but I was able to exercise 5x this week:  My husband and I rotate nights to put the kids to bed.  On the nights that he's in charge, I leave at 7:30 (when the bedtime rituals begin) and exercise for 45 minutes or an hour.  On the nights that I'm on, I put the kids to bed and then when he gets home at around 8:30, I'll go for 20 minutes.  Then we each get an hour on Saturday morning-- we are just going to rotate who gets up earlier.  Right now I'm running, walking and doing yoga.  I'm only able to run about 2 miles at a time now-- the rest is walking, but I hope to improve that to eventually be able to run the entire 45-60 minutes.

My stats:
Weight:  145
Waist:  36"

My goals for this week:
No eating after 7pm
Run 10 miles
Drink a gallon of water everyday
(They are the same goals-- I didn't quite hit them this week, so I'm going at them again).

Also, has anyone tried Jillian Michaels 30-day Shred?  Because I'm in Japan, I'm limited to what I can get by way of exercise programs, but that one is available on Apple TV.  I wanted some feedback before I commit.

Marianne's Introduction

O.K. So I’m a little behind the eight ball but after reading your stories I am feeling motivated and inspired.
I love this idea of my own little community to report my ups and downs on the journey we have all embarked on to uncover that hot and rocking body we all posses.
I am wife to the one and mother to four boys, happily raising my family in Pennsylvania. I grew up with Carrie and love her positive energy!
I would describe myself as a sturdy woman! Great child barring hips kind of gal. I gave up the delusions of going down a size sometime in my early twenty’s. I have been a proud size 12 for a good 15 years. Through the barring of my first two boys, and taking up Marathon running I managed to stay true to my size twelve frame. After a big move from the bustling metropolis of New York City to the country side of Pennsylvania then giving birth to two little baby boys in under two years has rocked my body. My size 12 clothing is resting peacefully in my closet waiting for loves first kiss to wake them from their sleepy slumber.
I have the opposite problem a women with an eating disorder has when it comes to body image, I look in the mirror and say “Boy, lucky I carry my weight well”
My very rude awakening came when I stepped on my boys wii fit over the holidays and it showed me as a very plump figure registering in the obese range. YIKES!!! Yes, I knew none of my clothes fit but I did have a robust little 5 month old baby to show for that. Let me be honest with you, my new little community, I was pushing 200lbs five months after I gave birth. I weight 172 the week after he was born. Let’s review; I had gained over 20lbs after my baby was born!
What are my personal goals?
TO FIT INTO MY OWN CLOTHING!!!
I LOVE running and yoga! So to push me along in my journey I have registered to run a half marathon in seven weeks from this coming Saturday(can you say CRAZY!) through Amish country, should be very pretty. Since a BIG excuse of mine is I can’t make it to the gym with two little ones (I have some of the same issues Lindy is having) I also ordered a power yoga DVD I’ll let you all know how I like it when it arrives in 3 to 5 business days.
Thank you all for sharing your strategies and success’s, I have really loved how real everyone is keeping it. It is SO great to know I’m not the only one “having my cake and eating it too” keep them coming!
My height 5’7
Weight as of today 187lbs (that was harder to type than I thought it would be, I almost fudged it a little)

Lindy-Week 2

Well I am very impressed and motivated by all of your successes! You guys are like weight loss rock stars or something!
This was a crazy week for me: I got a nasty, nasty cold. I ate way too much Valentine's Day candy, and when I dropped off Willem (age 2) at the gym day care he got so hysterical that he vomited all over and they called me back to pick him up after 10 minutes.
So, despite some major challenges, I did manage to lose 1 lb.

Carrie, the cleanse is intriguing--I might try it for a few days. My other question for you, Carrie, is how you are able to work out with all your kids around? I tried doing one of my P90x videos but Willem just kept crying for me to pick him up, or clung to my leg, etc. As you can tell, he is a major mama's boy! Also if anyone has any tips on helping him Willem get over his hatred of the gym day care, please pass them on!

My goal this week is to exercise 4x, drink more water, and try a day of cleansing.

Weight: 164

Keep up the hard work everyone!
--Lindy

Shelley's Week 2

So I delivered Valentine cookies to my neighbors and was able to salvage the week.  I exercised 4 times this week, ran 6 miles, and lost 2 pounds.  Yeah!  I would like to really work to exercise 5 days this week and run 10 miles this week.  (Carrie, I'm in awe of you-- 30 miles in one week.  Wow!)  Here are my short term goals-- by 3/14, I want to lose 10 pounds and be able to run 3 miles with no break.

Stats this week:
Weight 150
Waist 36"

My goals for the week:
no eating after 7pm
drink one gallon of water each day
run 10 miles

So I will just say a little bit about the cleanse- mostly what I modify. Now let me say that this cleanse is not easy. NOt easy at all. Especially your first time. This is my fourth time so it is not as hard for me. You can look up the basics of it on google and you will see that is is pretty drastic. It is 10 days of drinking pure organic lemon juice mixed with pure organic maple syrup and talking laxatives and cayenne pepper pills. Yes it is bit crazy but it works for me. I am on day 8 and from my new scale I have lost 11 lbs but a some of that is water weight and what was in my intestines. I will probably lose about 13-14 lbs but about 1/3 of that will come back. If I eat right after and I work out I can keep most of it off and my body becomes much more efficient losing weight. I do not do the salt flush and after the first 4 days I only take the laxatives in the morning becuase I am up with the baby at night and I don't want to be awakened by my bowels too! Also I don't drink the tea. I go to the good earth and get these tablets called Innerclean. I hate the tea. So if you have more questions let me know!

Hey girls! Great Melona ! I think that is a great idea. I try to just make weekly goals for myself like I am going to run 30 miles this weeks. Or I am going to lose 3 lbs. Then I don't feel so everwhelmed. Lindy , the cleanse is called the master cleanse and I am on the 8th day. I fell awesome. IT may not be for everyone but I love it. THese are the things it does for me:

resets my hunger signal

helps me realize that I really don't need to eat so much

gets all the toxins out of my body wich I believe helps me not crave sugar!

helps me get a jump start on my weight loss.

clears my head and makes me want to get my whole life in orde- yes I celan and organized my house from top to bottom this past weekend

cleans out my liver and helps it get ready to metabolize my stored fat ( i believe it can't do that unless it is clean)

it is called the master cleanse Lindy and I do make a couple of modifications so if you decide to do it I should tell you about those.

So this past week, although very hard and stressful because my husband was out of town, I feel like I accomplished a lot!

Stats: weight 179

thigh: 24

House: clean! (for a minute)

laundry: done! (for a minute)

husband: home!

children: clothed and happy (this second)

Week 2

Well ladies, self control was no where to be found this week! Hopefully it was because he was so busy at your houses he forgot to visit mine. ;) It was a pretty bad week... let's just say, I had my cake and ate it too, several times! That is the bad news.

Now for the good news. Despite my terrible week (I don't think there was one day where I didn't eat after 7, made cookies 3x and exercised maybe once), I did not gain any weight! Of course, none was lost, but I am very thankful that I maintained in inches and weight.

I have made a new goal for myself this week. I find that sometimes when I look at the end goal it can be a little discouraging. I have to lose 60 lbs! It's a little overwhelming. SO, I have made a short term goal. I would like to lose 15 lbs by my birthday in 7 weeks. I can do 15 lbs! My husband and I are planning a get away for that weekend (since this weekend for our 10 year anniversary will not be possible) and I'd like to be slimmed down enough to fit into some of the more attractive outfits I have in smaller sizes.

SO here are my goals this week:

Do not eat after 7 pm
Drink lots and lots of water
Eat less and move more

My challenge for each of you, is to set a short term goal w/ a reward at the end... new outfit, trip to the hair-dresser, special night out, whatever motivates you! If you reward yourself periodically, I find it's a little easier to keep it up.

Have a good week ladies!

-Melona

Hey ladies. I have had one heck of a week. WAit thats how I started my last entry. But I am so happy to report that Naomi is finally sleeping- I got her on Zantac. She had acid reflux the poor thing. I feel so bad for thinking she just had a bad attitude. Ok enough about that, just warning you, don't be alarmed by what I post tomorrow for my stats. I have been on a pretty rastic liver cleanse. I do it everytime after I have my baby, both to get my liver cleaned out so my body can better metabloixe my stored fat and so I can get a jump start on the weight loss. IT is not for everyone I know but I love it and I feel awesome. And it saved my from gaining 5 lbs this week (my husband was out of town, David had the stomach flu, Naomi wasn't sleeing etc ) And I was under a lot of stress . If I hadn't beein on the cleanse I would have eaten myself out of house and home! Ok see you tomorrow ladies. Oh ya- Greta and I are starting to train for a half marathon in OCT. If anyone wants to join us we are working up to running 3 miles over the net few weeks and then we will start a training program. Let us know if you want in! Carrie

Shelley's Week 1

Hi ,

Sorry I'm late in updating. As of Monday, I was down 3 pounds. Yeah! I exercised only 3 x-- so I need a bit of improvement there, but I did run 4.5 miles! My problem is that we made Valentine cookies for FHE on Monday night, and I'm having trouble staying away from them (it's already Wednesday here in Japan), so I fear I'm going to undo what I did. I guess it's time to take cookies to my neighbors!

Good job everyone!

Stats on Monday:

weight: 152

waist: 37"

Goals for the week:

no eating after 7pm

exercise 5x this week

Melona's Update- Week 1

It's funny how rarely I eat sweets on a normal basis and this week I have been craving them like crazy! The more I think, I can't have that... the more I crave it :) Ah, such is life.

Well, I am surprised that I actually did so well this week. I probably would have done better, but we had a family celebration this weekend and, of course, I ate way more than I should have. Also, I have been sick all this past week. Fighting an awful cough that makes it really hard to exercise w/out hacking up a lung! I really hate being sick.

But enough of my excuses. Onto the results. I am down 2 lbs this week and have lost an inch everywhere! I am feeling really encouraged by this and am excited to continue on with my new changes this week. I even convinced my husband to start keeping track with me!

Weight: 198
Waist: 44"

Yeah for me! And congrats on your triumphs this past week Lindy and Carrie.

My commitments this week:

Keep up the no eating after 7
Exercise 5x @ 1/2 hour
Challenge for everyone: Keep hydrated! Water, water and more water ladies :)

-Melona

Lindy's Update--week 1

Go Carrie! A loss is a loss! Great job! How are you fitting so much exercise in with all of your little ones around? I tried doing my P90x video while Willem was awake--big mistake!

I'm still at 165. I really fell of the wagon this weekend. Even though I exercised, I made a batch of chocolate chip cookies and ended up eating a ton of them. I guess I should be happy that I didn't GAIN anything. My goal this week is to not eat after 7pm. That's a really, really tough one for me, but I'm going to try it.

Take care and here's to having a great week!
Lindy

165lbs.
Waist: 34inches (yes, i carry all my weight in my mid-section. I'm total "apple"!)

Hey ladies- so the first week is always hard. I had a hard one. I am really mad at the scale this morning because it is registering that I only lost one pound. So I am going with my thigh measure ment instead. It was 1/2 inch smaller!

Weight: 188

Thigh: 24.5

-CArrie

I do know Lindys Dad and that is pretty funny. So ladies I am finding it very hard not to overeat when I am not getting enough sleep (due to my 2 month old) I find I try to compensate for extreme fatigue with more food. But I am trying my best and I do feel a couple pounds lighter than I did on SUnday. Well see on Monday! Remember we report our stats on Monday and it doens't matter what they are, I really think it helps to keep the mindset of what we are working towars. Who cares if you have a few setbacks, love yourself through all of them. Love yourself for eating 4 truffles ( I did that monday) Love yourself for working out. Love yourself for getting one load of laundry done or 4 if your were so lucky. Love yourself because you can do anything you want, including changing your body for the better. As I watch my body change a tiny bit each day I am amazed at houw resposive out bodies are. THey are perfect calculators. You can't trick them My son got his first calculator yesterday. I was teaching him how to use it. ANd I was thinking...no matter how many times I put in 4+3 it will never give me any answer but 7. Same with our bodies. Yes we all have different metabloism rates etc starting out but we actually can change those by what kind of fuel we put into our bodies and how efficiently we expend that fuel. When ever I think, I don't think I will be ever able to lose this weight I remember that show the biggest loser. Heck, if those people can be dropping that kind of weight ( yes they are exercising 4 hours a day and eating 1400 calories) but they are dropping 12 lbs a week! For all their hemming and hawing in the intro videos (It just is impossible for me to lose weight!) suddenly they realize that their bodies are exact calculators just like eeryone elses and if they are consistent and really work hard that calculator will give them the same result every time Less calories in- More calories burned= fitter healthier me! I t is comforting to know that it is impossible for my body to give me any other answer!

Lindy's intro

Hi girls,
I'm very happy to be starting this journey with you all! Carrie and I have been friends since high school and she has always inspired me with her resolve and discipline to get in shape!

I currently live in Georgia with my husband and my two boys ages 4 and 1 1/2. My husband and I both teach at Augusta State University. He is an English prof. and I teach basic composition part-time. What else? Hmmm, I really like to eat, read, take pictures, and blog here: Righteous Lou.

As my dad likes to say, "I come from a long line of fat a****!" If you knew my dad, you would know how funny that is. Anyway, as he so eloquently puts it, I do, indeed, have lots of heavy people in my family and I've struggled with my weight since I was in like 4th grade. I know that it will be lifetime challenge for me and I've come to terms with that (kind of). My weight has fluctuated between 150-160 since high school. But then I had two kids and like most of you gained a ton of weight with both pregnancies. I literally would gain like 2 lbs overnight even though I was vomiting 3x a day. I seriously was defying all the laws of physics. Anyway, I weighed over 200lbs with my second pregnancy but now (just a short 20 months later!) am down to 165lbs. My goal weight is 150lbs. I just started back at the gym a couple of weeks ago and I feel so much better when I exercise consistently (for me that's 4-5x a week). My biggest downfall is good food. A life without desserts is a life without living in my opinion! So, I'm just trying to eat really healthy and then save up 200-300 calories for a little dessert at the end of the day.
My stats:
height: 5"8
weight: 165
--Lindy

Woops Stacy!

Welcome Stacey! Great to have you!

Oh good gravy ladies. I have had a crazy few days. I had a good day Monday, got my exercise in and ate pretty well. THen TUesday, it was like everything in the universe was conspiring against me getting on the treadmill. Lets just say that we came was too close to oweing 33,000 in medcial bills. Luckily we dont...long long story. So my exercise consisted of powerwalking around wal-mart while enduring funny looks from the likes of Wal-mart patrons. (we had no milk, no bread, no fruit, no eggs,) I had to go last night because I vow never to take my 4 children under 5 anywhere together by myself. (exception: going to county health dept to get a birth certificate that would add youngest child to the insurance plan in the nick of time )Also I ate way too much, I was insanely stressed, and I really felt like I couldn't help. Had a great day today. Ran 4.5 miles. Well I should say I walked 4.5 miles in one hour and I ran 1.5 miles of it. I burned 750 calories. Yippee!!!! only 75000 cals to go. Just kidding. How is everyone doing? I am pretty much a prisoer in my own home these days so I find this pursuit invigorating!---Carrie

Stacy's Story

Hi my name is Stacy and I live in Southern California. I heard about his blog from my aunt Melona and thought it sounded great. I have struggled with weight my entire life but haven't really had major problems until after I had my children. I have two girls and before I got pregnant I was 170 and now I am 237. It is the highest weight I have ever been at. I went through a lot of emotional ups and downs with my relationship with their father and depression and other things has caused my weight to seen uncontrollable. I have left all those problems behind and am now started my journey to recovery. I have been going to the gym 6 or 7 days a week for the past month unfortunately I still havent lost any weight altering my diet more is my next step.

The only stats I have as of now are
Height 5'7'
Weight 237

My goals are to drink more water.
Not eat after 7.
Not eat my kids leftovers.
Stick to my workout regimen

Konnichiwa!

I'm Shelley. I grew up in southern Indiana, spent long enough living in Los Angeles to feel like a true California girl, and for the past 2 years I've called Tokyo, Japan home. I have a 4 year old, a 20-month old, and a 2-month old. Now I'm a bit squishy.

My goal is to get back into shape (I want to run a 10k this year) and back into my size 8 jeans. That means I have about 25 pounds to lose. I have had great success with Weight Watchers in the past-- both with losing weight and with keeping it off. I love the focus they put on eating fruits and vegetables as well as the flexibility of having no "forbidden" foods. It's all about moderation. So that's the program I'll be following. If anyone wants more info on that diet program, let me know. I've been doing it long enough, I consider myself a mini-expert:)

I love food! (That is probably self-evident by the fact that I'm a bit squishy.) I love finding recipes and cooking and then finding more recipes and cooking some more. I know from the past that a big part of my success has to do with not feeling deprived. For me that involves still being able to create and eat. I will be on the lookout for new recipes that fit into a more healthy eating plan. So please pass on any good, healthy recipes that you find and I'll do the same.

I definitely need to work out more; but honestly, I cannot even image working out 6 or 12 hours a week. How do you do it? How do you juggle your lives and your kids so that you can do that? I feel like if I get 30 minutes every other day, I'm lucky. I would like to improve that-- I actually really enjoy working out, but I just never seem to have the time. My saving grace is that I live in Tokyo-- which means I have to walk just about everywhere. But walking does not really get my heart a-pumpin' or leave me with that "I just worked out" feeling. This is definitely the area that I need the most improvement.

My stats this week:

Weight 155

Waist 38"

My goals:

No eating after 7pm

Stick to the Weight Watchers plan

Record everything I eat

Exercise 30 minutes 5x this week (babysteps)

I'm excited to be part of this group. It's really good for me to be accountable to someone other than myself.

"That which we persist in doing becomes easier, not that the task itself has become easier, but that our ability to perform it has improved." -- C.S. Lewis

For me the first 2 weeks are always the hardest.

Melona's story

So, here's my story: Like most women, my weight has fluctuated up and down by 10 lbs or so since high school, but I never really had a problem losing it when I wanted or keeping it off when I wanted. That is, until I had children.

Before I had my oldest son almost 7 years ago, I was in the best physical shape of my life. I was 138 lbs a size 8, and looking and feeling fabulous! Then I got pregnant and my weight struggles really began. I gained 60 lbs! And I wasn't just sitting on the couch eating bon-bons. I was simply so sick all the time, all I could was work and sleep. I tried to keep up the exercise, but it just never worked out for me. Afterward I struggled with postpartum depression and never really felt motivated to get the weight off entirely. All my pregnancies have been pretty much the same (with different starting weights, gains and losses in between each) and I have accumulated 15 extra lbs from each of my 4 children.

SO, if you are doing the math, I am currently topped out at 200 lbs (on a 5' 5" frame). Mostly, I want to lose weight now so that I can really play with my kids. I want to be a healthy, fun mom, and right now, I'm not.

I have found that I do the best at weight loss when I have someone to do it with. Since we recently moved to AZ and the only person I know here is my pregnant sister-in-law, I am excited to have a forum to come and report my progress and get support. I am very excited about this blog and hopefully it will be what I need to really push me into losing weight. Best of luck to us all!

The stats I will be reporting on are thus:
Weight: 200 lbs.
Waist: 45.5 inches (YIKES!)
Thigh: 25 inches

My goals for now:
Eat smaller, healthier meals (and nothing after 7 pm).
Keep hydrated (lots of water)
Exercise 6 days a week... at least 2x a week w/ my kids.

-Melona
PS- Hopefully this makes sense, it's 2 am & I am drugged w/ nyquil :)