Who am I?
Who am I?
I am almost 33 years old and a stay at home mom of two boys – Michael Robert, age 4 and Mason, age 1. I am married to Michael the most wonderful and supportive husband in the world. I also have two dogs, Maggie and McGuinness.
How did I get here?
I can’t explain how I got this BIG. Well, I can explain it I guess. I ate too much and didn’t move enough. If I had to pick one, I’d say eating was the biggest problem. I have been big all my life and to be honest it never really bothered me until after I graduated from college. I was the “big cheerleader” but I was still pretty good at it. I had fun in high school and college and never thought much about my weight. Actually I really have NO IDEA how much I weighed back then. I do know I lost a lot of weight while living in France in college, but of course gained it all back after returning.
In January of 2001, my husband was a PhD student and started working out at our apartment complex every morning before going to campus. He lost some weight so I decided to give it a try. After awhile we bought a very cheap elliptical machine to use in the apartment and I used it every morning. I also changed my eating habits, basically following the Weight Watcher points system. I lost 37 ½ pounds between January and November 2001. In that same year we bought a house and once the holidays came I had basically stopped paying attention.
Between 2001 and the end of 2003 I tried a few different things such as exercising before work and changing eating habits, but nothing felt right and nothing was working for me. Knowing what I know now its simple – I wasn’t committed enough. During that time I gained all of my weight back plus 5 pounds.
In January 2004 I decided I wanted to lose weight before having kids. So I started again. This time I made it to 19 pounds lost by the end of May. Then I was pregnant for the rest of 2004 where I gained the 19 pounds back during the pregnancy plus 5 more. Although according to the doctor’s scale I only gained 15 (I had actually gained about 6 pounds before my first appointment!).
During that pregnancy I had gestational diabetes. After Michael Robert arrived in 2005 I tried a few things to lose weight again – eating habits, exercising before he woke up in the morning or after he went to bed. I lost a few pounds here and there. But nothing that stayed off or was significant enough to notice.
By the time I was pregnant again in 2007 – I was at my heaviest weight. I prepared myself through the entire pregnancy that I was going to commit to losing weight after the baby turned 3 months old. So I spent a year talking to myself about it. During this pregnancy I didn’t gain very much – maybe 12 pounds – but it didn’t matter. I was SOOOOO big and I could feel it. I had gestational diabetes for my second pregnancy as well.
After my son Mason was born in early 2008 I went to the doctor for a follow up appointment and my blood pressure was extremely high. He referred me to another doctor immediately. I saw the new doctor right away and he sat me down and told me that if I didn’t change that I would be diabetic by the time I was 37. That was my rock bottom and the day I said I had to do something. He also put me on blood pressure medicine.
I left that appointment on June 16, 2008 and called Michael and told him I HAD to do something and we had to figure out a way for me to do it while also having two kids at home. On his way home from work that day he stopped by the YMCA and purchased a family membership for us. That was the day I started to make changes.
For the first three months I worked out at the YMCA doing cardio workouts – the treadmill or kickboxing class. I also changed my eating habits and lost 9 pounds. I returned to the doctor and he was happy with me and told me to keep going. During the fall and holiday season I managed to lose 9 more – and gain 6 back.
January 1, 2009 – I had lost 13 pounds all together.
Lucky for me I was able to join the Shape Up the Y Weigh program at the YMCA. That started on January 5, 2009 and runs through early April. This program combines cardio workouts, weight workouts and seminars about food and exercise. It is a great program and since then I have lost 17 1/2 more pounds for a grand total of 30.5 pounds!
On March 10, 2009 I met my first goal of losing 30 pounds!!
Where to go from here?
My plan is to keep going with the exercise program and eating changes that I learned about at the YMCA. I am also excited to see my doctor in mid-April! I think I may be able to stop taking blood pressure medication!
The funniest thing of all of this is that I have started RUNNING on the treadmill. Trust me, this is VERY amusing. I HATED to run. I’d still rather kickbox or take Zumba than run, but for some reason it doesn’t bother me. In fact — I’m visiting friends in DC in April to run in a 5K race! Me!?? I’m shocked too. But it has been really fun for me to try to beat my times on the treadmill. Since starting in January I have already cut my time by almost 10 minutes.
What are my new Goals?
My next goal is to lose another 20 pounds. The third goal is another 25 pounds. It might take awhile – that is a lot of weight to lose – but I KNOW I can do it this time!