Starting again and my history
Well, here we go again!
A lot of you reading this blog probably remember when I went through this in 2003, but just to recap for those that didn't know me then or don't remember, I discovered Body For Life by Bill Phillips in December 2002 when my husband heard about it on the radio. He got a copy of it at Half-Price Books, read it in a night, begged me to read it, I read it in a night, and I was inspired.
I then embarked on a journey to transform my body. I started at a very chubby 228 lbs and size 22. My mission was to slim down to 150 and a trim size 6, which, as I know now, was totally unrealistic. I completed three twelve-week challenges. We converted our storage room to a weight room and started with a treadmill and a very simple Weider bench and weight set. Eventually, we upgraded that weight set to a Gold's home gym, and then eventually I got a membership at 24 Hour Fitness. Overall, I trimmed down to 161.5 lbs, a tight size 10, dropped my blood pressure and cholesterol levels by such astronomical amounts that my doctors were amazed, got my belly button pierced, had a tattoo on my hip redone with a flower and butterfly design to signify the process, and totally revamped my entire wardrobe. This was the result:
However, this process was not without its price. I decided at the end of my third challenge after being contacted by an area trainer to give figure competition (aka body building) a try. I trained with that trainer for about six months before starting a pre-contest diet (aka starvation) in March 2004 for a competition in June 2004. After about two weeks on the diet, I fired my trainer and went it alone with the help of other competitors. I finally realized about a month away from the competition that it wasn't going to happen without doing astronomical amounts of cardio, cutting my carbohydrate intake to an extremely unhealthy level, and about going insane in the process, and threw in the towel. I ended up having to see a therapist for obsessive compulsive disorder related to food and exercise habits, and thank GOD I escaped without developing anything worse.
In September 2004, my husband and I decided to start a family. I got pregnant in October 2004, and miscarried in December at twelve weeks. The resulting sadness and depression put on some pounds for me, and that added with the baby weight took me out of my slim size 12s. I got pregnant again in February 2005, which immediately upped me to a size 16, and it went on from there. I did my best to stay active and not eat the farm, so to speak, but when you're pregnant, you start to not care about much else but survival!
This is my last belly picture at 36 weeks...
And what was inside!
After my daughter McKenna was born and I started breastfeeding, my hunger reached new and interesting levels. Even though I dropped 35 lbs almost immediately, being hungry constantly combined with eating easy snack foods while I adjusted to being a temporary stay at home mom and eating out a lot put on about ten of it back. Excuses, yes, but there it is. I'm now 1.5 lbs in weight above where I was back in December 2002. It would drive me crazy if I obsessed about it, but instead I look at it as a good thing. If I had NOT lost that 60-something lbs before I started my family, where would I be now? Bordering on 300 lbs, that's what. Not good.
And here we are! Seven weeks post-partum, and I'm ready to start losing the weight. And what better way to do it then the program that got me there the first time!
A lot of people who don't blog wonder why people like me put their personal life out on the internet for all to read. I can't answer for other people, but the reason why I do in journals like this is so I have somewhere to come to be accountable and record what I've done.
I don't have a lot of thoughts about the next six months other than to say that it's going to be easier...and harder. Easier in that now I know how to do it. I know how to eat. Changing my eating habits isn't going to be the struggle it was before. I am now used to drinking diet soda and eating sugar-free things. I know how to lift weights and do cardio properly. And since I know this program works and I know HOW it works, I won't be sitting there boo-hooing the first month when I see no progress. My cholesterol and blood pressure levels are still very low. But it will be harder in that now I have a baby to keep up with and a very demanding schedule as a working mom. I won't have tons and tons of time now to spend hours in the kitchen each night grilling chicken and making protein pancakes for the next day. Since we're doing daycare, we don't have all the funds in the world to buy the latest brand of protein powder that is out there. I'll be coping on less sleep. My workout room is now my nursery, which means that I have to go TO the gym every time to lift and work out. And the hardest of all is that I plan to breastfeed until McKenna is a year old if I can, which means that I will have to make sure that I'm not dieting excessively so as to not disrupt my milk production, I'll be hungrier a lot more than I anticipate since I'm literally eating for two, and those last ten pounds most likely won't go until she's weaned.
I still plan on taking a free day, but it's more likely going to be a free meal with extras and not the full blow-out that I did every challenge in 2003.
So, here goes! Wish me luck! I'll post a food journal every day and a record of what exercise I did...it will help keep me accountable. Enjoy!
A lot of you reading this blog probably remember when I went through this in 2003, but just to recap for those that didn't know me then or don't remember, I discovered Body For Life by Bill Phillips in December 2002 when my husband heard about it on the radio. He got a copy of it at Half-Price Books, read it in a night, begged me to read it, I read it in a night, and I was inspired.
I then embarked on a journey to transform my body. I started at a very chubby 228 lbs and size 22. My mission was to slim down to 150 and a trim size 6, which, as I know now, was totally unrealistic. I completed three twelve-week challenges. We converted our storage room to a weight room and started with a treadmill and a very simple Weider bench and weight set. Eventually, we upgraded that weight set to a Gold's home gym, and then eventually I got a membership at 24 Hour Fitness. Overall, I trimmed down to 161.5 lbs, a tight size 10, dropped my blood pressure and cholesterol levels by such astronomical amounts that my doctors were amazed, got my belly button pierced, had a tattoo on my hip redone with a flower and butterfly design to signify the process, and totally revamped my entire wardrobe. This was the result:
However, this process was not without its price. I decided at the end of my third challenge after being contacted by an area trainer to give figure competition (aka body building) a try. I trained with that trainer for about six months before starting a pre-contest diet (aka starvation) in March 2004 for a competition in June 2004. After about two weeks on the diet, I fired my trainer and went it alone with the help of other competitors. I finally realized about a month away from the competition that it wasn't going to happen without doing astronomical amounts of cardio, cutting my carbohydrate intake to an extremely unhealthy level, and about going insane in the process, and threw in the towel. I ended up having to see a therapist for obsessive compulsive disorder related to food and exercise habits, and thank GOD I escaped without developing anything worse.
In September 2004, my husband and I decided to start a family. I got pregnant in October 2004, and miscarried in December at twelve weeks. The resulting sadness and depression put on some pounds for me, and that added with the baby weight took me out of my slim size 12s. I got pregnant again in February 2005, which immediately upped me to a size 16, and it went on from there. I did my best to stay active and not eat the farm, so to speak, but when you're pregnant, you start to not care about much else but survival!
This is my last belly picture at 36 weeks...
And what was inside!
After my daughter McKenna was born and I started breastfeeding, my hunger reached new and interesting levels. Even though I dropped 35 lbs almost immediately, being hungry constantly combined with eating easy snack foods while I adjusted to being a temporary stay at home mom and eating out a lot put on about ten of it back. Excuses, yes, but there it is. I'm now 1.5 lbs in weight above where I was back in December 2002. It would drive me crazy if I obsessed about it, but instead I look at it as a good thing. If I had NOT lost that 60-something lbs before I started my family, where would I be now? Bordering on 300 lbs, that's what. Not good.
And here we are! Seven weeks post-partum, and I'm ready to start losing the weight. And what better way to do it then the program that got me there the first time!
A lot of people who don't blog wonder why people like me put their personal life out on the internet for all to read. I can't answer for other people, but the reason why I do in journals like this is so I have somewhere to come to be accountable and record what I've done.
I don't have a lot of thoughts about the next six months other than to say that it's going to be easier...and harder. Easier in that now I know how to do it. I know how to eat. Changing my eating habits isn't going to be the struggle it was before. I am now used to drinking diet soda and eating sugar-free things. I know how to lift weights and do cardio properly. And since I know this program works and I know HOW it works, I won't be sitting there boo-hooing the first month when I see no progress. My cholesterol and blood pressure levels are still very low. But it will be harder in that now I have a baby to keep up with and a very demanding schedule as a working mom. I won't have tons and tons of time now to spend hours in the kitchen each night grilling chicken and making protein pancakes for the next day. Since we're doing daycare, we don't have all the funds in the world to buy the latest brand of protein powder that is out there. I'll be coping on less sleep. My workout room is now my nursery, which means that I have to go TO the gym every time to lift and work out. And the hardest of all is that I plan to breastfeed until McKenna is a year old if I can, which means that I will have to make sure that I'm not dieting excessively so as to not disrupt my milk production, I'll be hungrier a lot more than I anticipate since I'm literally eating for two, and those last ten pounds most likely won't go until she's weaned.
I still plan on taking a free day, but it's more likely going to be a free meal with extras and not the full blow-out that I did every challenge in 2003.
So, here goes! Wish me luck! I'll post a food journal every day and a record of what exercise I did...it will help keep me accountable. Enjoy!
posted by Erica @ 2:06 PM
1 Comments:
At 6:13 PM,
Carol said…
I've got some shopping to do too. Seeing what you're eating really give me a idea of the proper way to eat and lose weight, especially since you've done this before. How tall are you, Erica? I'm 5'3" and 164 lbs. When I worked out and lost weight previously, I got down to 138 which, for me, seemed ideal. I've been working out with the Joyce Vedral tapes and light weights because that's what I used before. Next week I'm going to add in 20-30 minutes on the NordicTrack 3X a week also. I'm rooting for both of us!!
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