It's All Over...

Who am I kidding? It will never be over. For the rest of my life I will have to be aware of what I put into my mouth or how much exercise I've done. It's the nature of the beast. The contest is over but my healthy lifestyle is just beginning really. 3 months isn't really that long in the grand scheme of things.

Yesterday was our final weigh-in for the contest. Everyone did so well! Except for the occasional passing by at the gym or Relay for Life, we (the contestants) haven't really seen each other. It was SO fun to see everyone and how FANTASTIC everyone looked! The change has been amazing!

In the end, having lost the most pounds (42) and inches (52) I was 'crowned' the winner! Yay!!!

I REALLLLY wanted to post the before and after pics of me and of the group that MRC took but I haven't received them yet. I will post as soon as I get them!

This was such an incredible opportunity. I am SOO grateful for Catherine and Martha for choosing me to participate. It has been an life changing experience. I feel happier and healthier. And I look DANG good!! (or so my husband tells me!)

Now, time for a very badly needed haircut!

So many of you have asked what I won. Well, here's the scoop:

• 3 additional months free at the gym (Fort Smith Athletic Club)
• Photo session for the fam with Raye Law
• 4 sessions at Malibu Day Spa (which includes the badly needed haircut)
• $50 gift card to Newport News or Spiegel
• One admission to Pink on the Links (part of the Fort Smith Classic) and T-shirt
  
• Metabolic Research Center cookbook (which I managed to go 3 months without and now am glad I have one!)
• Arbonne gift bag including Shampoo, Conditioner, and Body Cleanser and numerous samples
• 4 FortSmithMoms.com Snap Caps (for soda cans to make them like bottles)
• 2 bags of M&M's (thanks, Martha!)
• 5 cards for buy one get one free cookies at Great American Cookies (once again, thanks, Martha!)
• and finally, I got my life back!!!

This has been a lot of work AND a lot of fun!

Six more weeks of stabilization and a year of maintenance should be just what I need.

It's Official

I'M 40 LBS LIGHTER!!

I never thought this possible. Ever. I had only hoped. Never imagined it really happening. And yet, here I am 40 lbs lighter and happier than I've been in years.

What a great gift from Fort Smith Moms. What a great gift that I've given myself. The gift of life. I have my life back. Thank you.

3 Cheers for a Healthy BMI!

I'm FINALLY at a healthy BMI for the first time in a LONG time!! I used the BMI calculator on WebMD when I first started this thing and I was at 31.... that is considered 'obese', people! Obese sounds like such an awful word! Yet, that's what I was!

I used the calculator again on Friday after my weigh-in and I was at 25.2 which is right on the line between 'overweight' and 'healthy'... this was great! After my weigh-in today I was down 2 more lbs and my BMI is at 24.2!!!!! This is fantastic! I feel great! For the first time since having my first kiddo I am in a healthy range!

A friend of mine who has done MRC before (but is preggers right now) said something to me the other day that I will forever remember.... "Success is the greatest motivator." IT'S SO TRUE! I'm motivated by my own success!! I can do this.... I've proven it!!!

Something else that I never thought I could do was become a runner.... I didn't want to. I have TERRIBLE memories of being on the Jr. High track team and running the mile relay. I hated it. I had absolutely NO endurance whatsoever! At a meet I actually quit half way through my leg of the relay... quit.... stopped... I didn't walk or try to keep going... I quit. Boy was my coach ticked! He encouraged me to do the long jump.

Well, I can proudly say that I am officially a runner! More like a jogger. I go to the track at 6:15 AM three days a week and run with my friend Amy. In an effort to help another friend get motivated in the healthy living department I stupidly agreed to run a 5k with her in the fall... what was I thinking?! THREE MILES!!! I must be insane. So far, I'm enjoying it! Amy and I are using a training schedule to get us ready and I'm burning WAY more calories than walking on the treadmill at the gym. I haven't been there in two weeks. I do need to get some strength training under my belt but I'm just trying to focus on one thing at a time right now.

And, for any of you out there that are mothers to pre-teen girlies.... I've inquired about starting a Girls on the Run program here in Ft. Smith!!! Go here to read about it!

Two more weeks in the competition!!! Peace out!!!

Cheater, Cheater, Pumpkin Eater!

So, I 'cheated' (or as they say at MRC.... ate Off Plan) for the first time in almost 10 weeks!

My family went to Branson (basically just Silver Dollar City) this weekend for my daughter's birthday and Mother's Day. Before I went I had tossed around the idea of having some funnel cake and Culver's frozen custard. Why? Because I love those things! I finally decided that it was worth it to me but I would only have a very small amount. And then stop. And that's exactly what I did.

I bought a funnel cake at SDC and cut it like a pie into 8 small pieces. I had one. And I was satisfied. I didn't want anymore. It was the perfect size.

Before we left to come home we went to Culver's Frozen Custard.... which I LOVE! I had a chicken salad and a mini scoop of chocolate frozen custard. I shared it with my 2 year old but truthfully, I ate most of it. Still.... I was happy with the little scoop. It satisfied my craving and I was happy.

Do I feel guilt? Not one bit. I didn't 'cheat' because I lost control and I didn't go on a binge. I think because I was able to have a choice and control the amounts I had no guilt. Curiosity? Yes. VERY curious how my weigh-in would turn out on Monday morning.

Drum roll, please...... DOWN 2LBS!!!

I couldn't believe it! I was truly shocked. I would've been very happy to have just maintained my weight but to be down was such a treat!! I guess it was from all the excercise! I walked that whole park pushing a stroller with at least one kid in it at all times for two straight days AND I went running Monday morning.

So, there you have it.

I reassured Danny at MRC that there was no way I was letting this experience be an excuse to do it again! Game on! Just 3 more weeks left in the contest!

Something is Still Working!

At my weigh-in yesterday I was down another 3.5 lbs! And after measurement I was down a total of 42.5 inches! 7 in my waist! I just think this is incredible... almost too good to be true. But it is true. I will have to be extra careful once I've reached my goal weight not to put it all back on. Thank goodness MRC has a maintenance program too so they help you with that!

So, some of the things that have been going through my head lately: almost daily I want a peanut butter sandwich. Not 6 sandwiches.... just 1. I'm tired of cooking all the time. Just once I'd like to order a pizza. I'd like to have a bowl of bran flakes every once and a while for a snack. Not Captain Crunch... just bran flakes. Cher at MRC reminded me yesterday that I can have those things I just have to decide if it's worth it for my weight loss efforts. After my weigh-in I decided it's not... I can wait a few more weeks!

As of tomorrow, I will have been on this life-changing journey for 8 weeks... what a difference 8 weeks and some protein jello can make!

A Slow in Coming Update

I noticed today that I haven't blogged in almost 12 days! What a slacker!!

Well, here's the update!

I'm still going strong. I still haven't cheated yet! I can hardly believe this! I love my chocolate and other various forms of junk so I am surprised that I haven't given in! Easter was kind of hard and I really wanted to taste some of the yummies that were presented but I didn't.

My only real struggle has been getting to the gym and drinking all of my water. I've made a concerted effort this week and I hope it will be paying off.

I'm going to run a 5K with a friend in September so I started running (really just 'jogging') this week and hope it will help burn some of this extra fat I'm carting around!

I read Martha's plug for the run this weekend so I thought I would throw mine out there too! This Friday night me and 11 other Mothers of Preschoolers will be taking turns walking through the night in an effort to raise money for the American Cancer Society and our local Relay for Life. You should all come out and bring your families! There will be a lot of fun activities and food all for donations! I'll be at the big inflatable boxing ring if you want to come say hi!

All in all things are going really good and as of Monday I'm down a total of 24 lbs!!! Only 23 more to go!!! And I feel great!

I Feel Fantastic!!!

Aside from the enormous stress I've been under.... I feel fantastic!!! I can't believe I haven't done this sooner! Idiot. The last couple of weeks my loss has been a little slow but as of today I weighed 2 lbs lighter for a total of 24.5 lbs!! I've pretty much gone down 2-3 dress sizes and it feels great! When I started, I had 47 lbs to lose. I've officially lost half of that!

Thank you, Catherine and Martha, for giving me this fantastic opportunity!!

Slowing Down

Weighed in another pound down today! Better down than up, I always say! Truth is though... I realize that it has kind of slowed down. Reason? I cut back at the gym. My stress levels on this whole house selling and buying are through the roof and I haven't dealt well in the exercise arena. I haven't cheated on the diet. But, I haven't been going to the gym like I should. Realizing this and actually writing it down gives me some incentive to change it. I'll see what I can do this weekend to boost the exercise thing!

One Month Later

Today is April 2. I bet you didn't know that. (: We started this weight loss journey on March 2. Wow. 4 weeks makes a big difference. These last 4 weeks have changed my life. After weighing in today I've lost a total of 19.5 lbs. And I really don't care to look for where those lbs have gone! I really like them missing from my life. Don't really care to have them back... ever. It's a new me.

Moving Right Along

My weight loss seems to moving right along.

I was worried for my Monday weigh-in. With last week being spring break I didn't get to work out as much as I wanted. Plus the ENORMOUS stress of trying to get our house in Durant finally closed so we could meet the deadline with the new one. It has been EXTREMELY stressful. I was worried that I might fall of the wagon with the diet but I actually ended up doing the opposite. I didn't eat as much as I was supposed to. I guess my mind wasn't really on eating food... just getting things done.

Needless to say, I was worried that I had screwed up my 'fat burning' mode. When I weighed in Monday morning I was down another 3.5 lbs!! Crazy. That made 5 lbs for the week and a total of 18 lbs since I started!!

Now, I have a couple of people who have said that I need to put up a before picture (and my bff thinks I should post pics of me trying my skinny jeans on throughout the process...not!). I have struggled with this. Only because I'd really like to just forget that the whole fat thing happened! But, for some reason people are highly entertained by before and after pictures! And really, before and after is so realtive! 'Before' like 20 years ago? Or 'before' like 2 years ago? So, for entertainment pictures I will share with you the 'before'.

This is me before:

Hee hee, just kidding! I'm pretty funny aren't I?

I thought I would start with a picture of me when I was 20 yrs old. I see now that I was pretty skinny. (Back then I didn't think that!)

I love this picture of me! I'm having fun and seem relatively happy. I also do not have issues with weight to bogg me down.

Fast forward to present day.

Seriously, I was trying to think back to when it really hit me that I was too overweight. I say 'too overweight' because I've known for years that I was overweight. But when did something really say, "Okay, this is ridiculous!" There are a few pictures that prompted this thinking. Like this one:

This is me with one of my dearest friends - Amber. When I looked at this picture I thought, "OMG, I have really put on the weight."

Then there is this one:

Just a quick snapshot of me and my hubby. I remember seeing this and HATING this picture of me. Frumpy... flabby.... miserable.

Then there is this one... The Kicker:

I just look miserable. I felt miserable. My cute skinny little legs... gone. My face... too round. My arms... thick. Truthfully, I felt miserable. When I saw this picture I knew I had to do something. It was shortly after this picture was taken that I submitted my entry for the Slim Chance Competition.

And the rest... is being written into history!

Perfectionism

When I was seeing a therapist last year he helped me discover that I am a perfectionist. At first I laughed at him. "Have you seen my house lately? It would prove your theory wrong!" I've always been somewhat of a clutter bug (clean toilets, mind you, but clutter laying around). And then we started discussing what a perfectionist is I realized that he might be on to something.

The definition (found here): a person who demands perfection of himself, herself, or others.

Notice that this doesn't say 'achieves' perfection. It says 'demands' perfection. This is what I do. More so from myself but I find myself demanding it from others too. I think I have an issue with clutter because I give up. If I can't do it 'perfect' then I won't do it at all so I can avoid the frustration it causes!

So, how does this work with my diet? Well, as I mentioned in my previous post, I've made little mistakes here and there on the plan and it is literally maddening for me. When I realize what I've done it drives me crazy! It's all I think about. It's hard to let go of that mistake and move on. I guess the upside is that for the first time in MANY years I'm determined to not give up. I want this so badly that I find myself working twice as hard not to make the same mistake twice.

Having said all this, I weighed in today. Down another 1.5 lbs! I was genuinely surprised! This just helped me realize that even when I make small mistakes I can still have good outcomes!

This message brought to you by the letter 'P' and the number '8'.

Things Are Going...

Pretty good! Monday I had my weigh-in and was down another pound. That put me at about 3.5 lbs lost for the week. Not bad! If I keep this up I will make my goal weight in the time frame prescribed!

This week my kids are off for spring break and I've found it difficult to get to the gym. They are just young enough that I don't really want to leave them home and there are four of them so I don't ever feel like I can take ALL of them with me. A conundrum for sure. I anticipate that my weigh-in tomorrow will not be stellar. But, I'm okay with that.

Things have been a little crazy with the diet too. I haven't 'cheated' or as they say at MRC - 'eaten anything off plan'. But I have noticed that I haven't been perfect with the 'schedule' of food and supplements. For example, I'm supposed to be taking a cap full of these liquid minerals twice a day. Sometimes, at the end of the day, I'll realize that I've forgotten to take the second dose (usually it's the next day that I realize). Or I notice that I haven't eaten in the last 4 hours and missed a protein drink that I'm supposed to take as a snack. This frustrates me. I feel like I am planning my food ALL DAY LONG. I'm constantly writing in my food journal and looking up doable recipes online. I guess this is just an adjustment from the 'don't think about it - just go through the drive-thru' mentality. I hope that eventually this just becomes second nature. Cuz it's driving me bonkers!!!

Today is a Different Day

I feel like I have NO TIME ANYMORE!!! This weight loss competition is REALLY time consuming!!! Not to mention the back up of laundry I'm experiencing!! I feel bad that I haven't been better at chronicling the day to day stuff!

Monday I had another weigh-in. I think that I deliberately avoided blogging about it because it wasn't 'great' news. I was only down 1/2 a pound. Realistically, I realize that this is still good news. Half a pound is better than no pounds. But I had just lost 4 lbs at my last weigh-in so it didn't make sense to me. I think I was depressed about it. And the fact that the people at MRC told me that I couldn't work out 4-5 days a week like I had been. I am REALLY enjoying the gym and I was a little sad about this news!

Today? Today is a different day. I weighed in again today and was down 2.5 lbs! Back on track. Plus, they took my measurements again and I've lost 24 inches total! 24 INCHES! 2 of those in my boobs (thank goodness)!! Amazing. I celebrated by going to the gym. (:

Twitter

There are several of you who have expressed an interest in working out with me or following along with the meal plan. So, I have been trying to come up with a way to let people know when I'm working out, etc... The answer came to me in a vision ~ not really. But I did think of Twitter. I've heard of it and I know one or two people that use it so I thought it might be the answer. Basically, it updates in real time what you are doing. So, I can put on Twitter that I'm going to the gym at a certain time and hopefully those who want to go with me will see this and meet me there. Clever, huh? I'll see how it works. My Twitter updates are to the right directly under my weight loss ticker! Let me know what you think. Or if you have any other bright ideas. Or if you think it's stupid. I'm strong, I can take it!

Incredible!

With MRC they require that you come in and weigh twice a week. When I heard this I told myself that I would weigh in on Monday and Thursday mornings but that I would only count (for myself) the Monday weigh-in because there really wouldn't be a huge difference in the weigh-ins. WRONG! In the rain and sleet this morning I dragged my kids to MRC and weighed in. DOWN 4 MORE POUNDS!!! That's a total of 9lbs so far!! How exciting is that?! I'm sure I will hit a snag sooner or later but... holy crap! After this glorious meeting I hit the gym to 'keep up the good work'!

One More Thing...

This is what I affectionately call BLOP {Butt-Load Of Pills}.

I take these before every meal.

What a Weekend!

I have A LOT of things swimming around in my head that I want to share with you all but I need to do it so that it makes sense... so bear with me!

I guess I need to back track a bit...

Our trip to Fayetteville was a success! I didn't feel tempted at all by the delicious Chick-Fillet that everybody else was eating and I was not starving at all with my salad and protein drink! This is great news for me! So, I CAN eat out with other people and make good choices on food!! I will say that I'm not sure how ANYONE can eat 8 oz of salad vegetables. This coming from a salad lover. I really do love salad. But, 8 oz!!! It's as big as my head! I'm only able to eat about 5 oz which is mostly cucumbers, green peppers, and cauliflower for heavier weight (with some romaine lettuce and spinach)! I'm working on it though!

Dinner on Saturday was spent at my dad's house to celebrate my brother's birthday. I had to make my own dinner because they were having spaghetti. I was fine with that. It really wasn't that bad. I did have a tinge of desire for some of the Better Than 'Six Flags' Cake that everyone else was scarfing down but I just went into the other room and the desire left!! I guess I'm learning that I don't really 'crave' food I just eat bad stuff out of habit. But now that I have a commitment there is no craving. It's great.

Sunday night and last night I made food for my whole family and strangely enough they all LOVED it!! Who knew that two of my kids would love raw cauliflower? I've never bought it for them before so I had no idea! Turkey patties one night, grilled fish the next.... I'm scoring big in the "Best Mom in the World" competition now too!

This is what I eat for breakfast each morning (at least for the first 4 days):


Measly, isn't it? Truth is, that purple protein drink has 15g of protein in it and fills you right up! So, I really never feel hungry!!

I've been trying to go to the gym everyday... that way if I miss a day it's not that big of a deal. Sat and Sun aren't added into that equation. So I'm trying for 4-5 days a week. We'll see if I can make it happen!

Yesterday was my weigh in (drum roll, please)... 5 lbs lost! In one week! Can you even believe it?! I realize that a lot of that might be water retention but hey... I'll take it!!

Tomorrow starts the next menu where I will be allowed some other food options. Thank goodness. This is hard but not impossible. Especially, when you are in the zone!

The MRC people suggested pulling out an old piece of clothing that we can't fit into anymore and using it as a visual motivater. Uh. Here's the deal. I don't have any. Like Angela, I gave it all away. And even if I did have something it would probably be totally out of style! Well, as I was poking around in our storage unit for something I came across a tub with my name on it. Well, I'll be! Some old clothes that I just couldn't let go of!! I found a pair of jeans that I was wearing the night that I met my husband. Before you look at the picture let me just warn you that it was a "Disco" themed dance so the jeans are a teeny bit bell-bottomy (if that's such a word). But they are going to be my motivator!!! For now anyway, until I can find something totally cute and girly that I would look fabulous in!!


Wish me luck!!

Food Scales on Fridays

...don't try to buy them. Really. All those people who just received their food instruction on Friday from MRC just bought out all the food scales. Unfortunately, I was too exhausted to go looking at other Walmarts. But, luckily, a light from heaven shown down on the Walgreens sign across the street and that's where I snatched mine.

The food instruction was a lot to process. I'm not sure I felt fully prepared to start tomorrow but I'm going to do it! Our family is going to Fayetteville to see the Magic Tree House Musical (which we're very excited about) but I'm concerned about eating on the road on my first day of the diet. Wish me luck!!

I really have a lot of thoughts going thru my head that I just can't seem to formulate here right now. It doesn't help that it's already 11:30 PM and I just want some sleep. I'll do some major formulating tomorrow!

So Far, So Good.

The last couple of days have been great. I have more energy and overall, I feel happier.

I'm assuming that the momentum and excitement will taper off at some point. But, I'm enjoying it right now. Speaking of motivation...

After years of wanting to get healthier and not having the motivation to do so, I have this fantastic, extrememly generous opportunity given to me. This is my motivation. I have accountability now. Time will tell, but I really think this is what it's going to take to get me to where I want to be.

So, I'm curious... what's your motivation? What is it that is going to get you moving in the right direction? What can I do to help that along?

Tomorrow we get our food menus. Maybe I won't be so chipper tomorrow? (:

Who Needs Appetite Suppressants?

When you have to drink copious amounts of water to take down 8 horse pills!!!! Oh heavens.

Met with the trainer today... I'm so excited!! I love the facility and the trainer was great. Such a positive energy as I left that place with my two little punks! I'm actually going to do something to make a difference!!!