Something New

When I got pregnant in July of 2007, I weighed 218 pounds. I was starting to feel pretty gross and thinking about trying to lose weight. Oddly, having a baby turned out to be a great weight loss plan for me: my net gain while pregnant with my first son was 3 pounds, and I came home from the hospital 22 pounds lighter than the day I got pregnant. Breastfeeding helped with losing even more weight, and I was feeling pretty good when I got pregnant with my second child in 2009. After he was born, I got more active and had more energy and continued to lose weight until I was down to 169 pounds. I felt great! I felt like I looked good! And I was maintaining.

Then came what we call The Summer of Loss, which was the summer of 2013. A long series of personal events happened that took over life and left me with little time or emotion left to devote to fitness, my weight, or anything beyond getting through the next day. The barrage continued well into the next year, and in the spring of 2014, as the seasons changed, I realized that I had gained back a huge percentage of the weight I had lost. I had crossed back over my dreaded 200 pound mark again, nothing fit, and I began to realize that my lack of energy and stress level had much to do with the weight gain. I took steps and started walking and working out again, though not quite as consistently as I should have. Still--it was working, and I was starting to slowly go down again. However, I had a huge setback last fall when I developed plantar fasciitis in my right foot, and my doctor put me on rest for 3 months, right as the holidays hit. I can't tell you how demoralizing that was for me--all that progress disappearing before my eyes. And in the end, here I am, back where I started. My fat pants aren't my fat pants--they're just my pants.

I need motivation, a plan, and accountability.

I have signed up for a 90-day weight loss challenge at my gym, and I am hoping it will provide the kick start I need to get my body back on track. Here are the details:

Lifetime Fitness Weight Loss 90 Day Challenge

My weigh in is on Sunday, August 9th at 9:30am, and my challenge will officially begin then. Subsequent weigh-ins will be on Tuesdays. I plan to record everything here, including pictures, stats, and anything I learn along the way. I am not in it to win the national competition; I am in it to hit my own goals and to get my body to a place where I feel better, both physically and emotionally. This is the beginning.