Thursday, January 16, 2014

I finally have a BLOG!!

Well, here I am after months & months of talking about starting a Blog. It's official, I now have one. Yay me!

Anyway, I have been wanting to start a blog for a long time because I do a ton of research on a lot of different things & would like to store & share that information & I have A LOT of stuff going on upstairs.

So here I sit, thinking, "what in the world should I even write for my first post"? I guess I can start with a basic rundown of me. Makes sense right?

I am 33 years old, married to my BEST friend & man of my dreams. I have 2 beautiful daughters who keep me on my toes.
Let's go back to what actually brought me to create this blog & that is being a Beachbody Coach! Had I never taken that step, I would not be writing this blog today.

Ok, now let's go back a bit further to my teen years. I grew up in a small town. I was a bit of a wild child. Got into my share of trouble. Grew up in a household that didn't have the greatest of habits. Got into the bar scene in my early twenties. Fluctuated with my weight & never held a single healthy habit. I lived on Burger King, Taco Bell & Denny's, especially after a night of drinking. I wasn't unhappy with my self or my body at that time. I went through the break up diet a few times & got pretty thin, but always gained it back. When I met my now husband in 2003, at the bar (go figure), we were at the bar 5 -6 nights a week! We dated for about 4 months & then he had a job transfer to a town about 3 hours away. I decided on a whim that I would pack up & go with him. I started going to school for Medical Assisting & working part time at a drug store. We lived in a TINY one bedroom duplex. We shopped at Costco for CHEAP foods in bulk & we ate out fast food frequently. After living together for a few months I vividly remember one day we went to Old Navy to buy some clothes for work. I walked in, confidently, & walked out in tears. I grabbed a size 12, since that was the size I had been wearing for as long as I could remember & went to the dressing room. I couldn't even pull the pants up over my butt. I figured it was just their sizing that ran small. So I grabbed a size 14, I got them on but they were snug. Refusing to try on a bigger pair, I got in line to pay. A moment later my husband joined me in line & asked what I had gotten. I turned to answer & show him the pants & it hit me, I WAS FAT, & I burst into tears! I put the pants on the counter & ran out of the store. He followed not knowing what the heck was going on. I told him about the sizes & he just hugged me.
After that I just couldn't figure out how it happened. I didn't see anything WRONG with the burritos, corn dogs, mac & cheese, sodium laden deli meats or any other of the boxed processed foods that we had filling our freezer & cupboards. So, for the next year we just continued on. Both of our families had a history of illnesses & bad eating habits. Now that I look back the writing was on the wall for sure, but we were blind. I really don't know how much weight I actually gained. On Christmas day of 2004, he proposed! 8 months later we got married. I knew I needed to lose weight. I started weight watchers & Curves after Christmas. At some point in there we decided to join a gym. We paid about $1600 for 2 memberships for a year, in advance. I went to that gym exactly ONE TIME!!
I ordered my wedding dress online & I remember ordering in a size 14 knowing that I could have it taken in. On my wedding day, according to the seamstress, my dress was a size 10. I was beyond happy!

Just 2 months after we were married we went on our honeymoon. I have no idea how much weight I gained in that 2 months but when I compared these pictures, I was speechless.
We got back into WW & it helped a bit. About a year later we moved away & lived with family for a few months while we looked for a home to buy. Living with family did not work out well. We ate out constantly. Eventually I found a job at a Weight Management Physician's office working the front desk. I started with their laid out meal plan full of medical grade, high quality protein foods. When I took my before picture, I didn't even recognize myself. (I wish I had the picture to show.) I weighed in at about 210 lbs & I am 5' 6". In all honesty I am not sure if this was my highest weight at that time. I never owned a scale or bought clothing in fear of the truth. I lost about 40lbs just following a low calorie diet with these (processed) foods, in about 10 months. I hit got down to 170 lbs & hit a plateau, so I thought. Turns out, I was PREGNANT. This, in my head, meant I could shove my face with whatever I wanted! I recall my mother in law talking about how it was entertaining to take me out to eat because I would eat all my food & then finish hubby's plate as well. I gained 70 lbs with that pregnancy. I was UNBELIEVABLY MISERABLE weighing in at 250 lbs!
After the birth of our first baby girl, Mackenzie, I hoped right back on that plan I was so successful with before. I shed a whopping 96 lbs in the next year!! 

This picture was taken 13 months after I gave birth. I weighed about 155 lbs here. Did I mention that I NEVER once did any form of exercise other than occasionally a few sit ups, girl push ups & some walking. I did not think that under any circumstances I NEEDED to exercise. I mean after all I shed 96 lbs without it, WHY in the world should I start now. Exercise SUCKED!

In late 2009, Tom, had a career change & we had to pack up & move away. I went from working to being in a TINY apartment in a tiny town up in the mountains in the middle of winter, with a toddler. I didn't know anyone. I didn't drive in the snow. We didn't go outside for more than 15 minutes because it was so cold. All I did was cook. I started doing a lot of research online for low fat, low calorie, fat free etc etc etc. recipes. I had already made the switch from white flour to whole wheat flour & I had removed refined white sugar from the house in whole form & replaced it with splenda. I was a splenda-holic! I did everything with splenda! Over the course of 2 years I gained about 20 lbs back. We had a lot of late nights watching LOST on netflix with a 24 pack of Pumpkin Ale & each our own package of Oreo's. Good times. Tom slowly got me to start running, (well, if that's what you want to call it). The first time we tried it, I couldn't even make it around a 1/4 mile track at a slow jog. We decided to start this in the middle of winter mind you, in the snow! We made a goal to run 3 times per week & go just a 1/4 mile farther each time. Eventually I was up to 3 miles, 3 times per week. I do not remember what my times were. We took a trip to visit some friends & while we were there another couple was telling us how they just ordered P90X & were going to be starting it. On the drive home we decided that we should do the same. So I got online & ordered it. We received the box a few days later. Opened it up, looked at the fitness guide, chose our plan then looked at the nutrition guide & calculated our calories. I told my husband that there was NO WAY I was going to eat that many calories! So we started the program & continued to eat the same way. We had a cruise booked for the summer & wanted to look good for that. We completed 60 days before we went on that cruise. When we returned home, we never picked it back up. Then summer was all about Beers & BBQ. Eventually we moved into a bigger house & one day decided to give P90X another shot. We stuck with if for a week then slacked then back to it etc etc. We scored a FREE treadmill & I tried to stick with that. Then we got word that we could transfer back to the first town we lived in together. So we decided to move back to the mother in laws house to save up money to move. We joined the local gym & started attending classes 3 mornings per week & taking my daughter to the day care there. I didn't lose any weight but I really enjoyed the classes. In May 2011, I found out I was pregnant with baby #2. This time I was the exact same weight I was when I found out with my first pregnancy, but I was more aware of my eating & only gained 50 lbs. This pregnancy was different. Post partum depression hit me like a ton of bricks before I gave birth. I recognized what was going on & sought out help. I saw an MFT for 3 months before giving birth. I remember days that my husband couldn't even look at me with me starting to cry. I was miserable. This continued for about 2 months. I slowly got better as I continued to see my MFT. One day I was browsing Facebook & saw a friend of mine post how she just starting P90X. I literally laughed out loud because this friend was like me in school & neither of us had an athletic bone in our bodies. So I messaged her saying that I already owned it & that I wanted to lose my baby weight as soon as the doctor released me. She encouraged me to join her challenge group & to try Shakeology. And that was the very beginning to my Beachbody story. I'll post that in my next blog post. 

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