I had my last baby eight years ago. For the last six years, I have been planning on being fit and trim by the time I turned 40 -- if not earlier than that!!! Imagine how surprised and shocked I am to find that my 40th birthday is only 3 months away. As the months have drawn closer to my deadline, I have found myself both discouraged and angered at myself for my lack of motivation and self control. In fact, over the last month I have found myself thinking that because I have procrastinated for so long, why even begin? Then the thought occurred to me. What is so magical about my birthday -- it is only one day in what I hope to be a long life. To have a long life, though, I need to get healthy. I almost never exercise, I drink far too much soda and eat way too much food -- no wonder I am over weight and am suffering from high blood pressure.
Don't get me wrong. I am definitely doing this because I need to get healthy. However, my number one reason is that I would just love to look good (and feel good) in a nice pair of jeans. Plus, I would love to look good for my husband. Of course he always says I'm beautiful BUT I am sure he wouldn't mind a few smaller and a few less curves. How cool would it be to walk into a room and have my husband of 18 years do a double take?
I am also doing this for my children. They could use some improvement in their eating and exercise habits. I think it is also important for them to learn the importance of making, working, and keeping goals. As their mother I am an important example and teacher of these values.
So why this blog? I am hoping that by writing my thoughts, challenges, and successes down, I might be more accountable to my goal. My ultimate goal is to lose 30 lbs. I hope to lose 15 - 20 lbs by my birthday (July 8th). I am also hoping that my friends and family will follow along with encouragement and helpful suggestions. Please check in often. I hope to write a little each day.
Let the trim down begin ........
Yay! Yay! Yay! We've talked about this before and I am so proud of you. I think the blog is a great idea and a wonderful way to stay motivated and keep others motivated as well.
ReplyDeleteLet me know if you want to go walking together sometime ...
xoxo
I think this is so awesome and I hope it will inspire me along too as I try to drop 20 more lbs...isn't life great?:)
ReplyDeletego chantel! i think this is a great idea and i'm going to join you after august. i'm sure you'll see awesome results, but don't forget that you are already beautiful!
ReplyDeleteThis is great Chantel. I am very proud of you. What guts and courage it takes to post this to all of your friends. I hope we call all offer you the support and motivation you need. Maybe this will help me a bit too. I have no problem running but cutting out food ... now that is hard!
ReplyDeleteI am not sure if you have the time or money, but one of the best investments I ever made was getting some personal training for like 4-6 sessions. Man, I hated the guy ... would call me at 5:30 in the morning if I wasn't there for my session. I guess you might have to join the gym for this though and I don't actually think that is necessary. What was important was that it made me comfortable working out and lifting weights and stuff. Now, when I feel like it, I have weights here at home and I am comfortable about what I need to do. (Ok ... that is when I do lift weights which since in France is very uncommon.)
I think that the first 3 weeks are the hardest. For me the first week is always easy because I am motivated. Week 2 I start lossing motivation and by week three it is gone completely, or I just feel bad about myself that I have not kept it up. If I get past 3 weeks then I can continue on. this of course is all with workign out because as I said before cuting out yummy food is something I ahve never been good at.
I LOVE running now. For me, that is my thing. I find that I am seroiusly grumpy when I haven't run in a while. I also find that if I run in the morning (I now get up at 6:00 to go before Steve goes to work) then I eat much better for the day because I got my focus started first thing. I hope you find something that you love too.
Once again, so proud of you. You have always been a beautiful person, but I know how it feels to want to look in the mirrow and see a healthier person.
You go Girl!!!!
You go girl! I can relate -- 17 lb in the last two months, because - get this - I decided to go sugar-free. I am astonished at how fast the sugar-free food packs on the pounds. I can guess the mechanism, though I don't know. Insulin has two basic functions in the body. One is to push the sugar in our blood into all our cells except our brain cells (which can absorb glucose without the help of insulin). The other is to convert our food to fat. So, eating sweet things causes your blood sugar to spike, your insulin to spike, and then more of your food to be converted to fat. But it is so much worse if you eat something sweet that doesn't provide any glucose. Then ALL of the insulin activity is to convert your food to fat.
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