I'll
admit it... we fell off the wagon and we fell hard. You see, my husband
and I are both former members of the military. We took the "time off"
to heart and enjoyed it... maybe a little too much. We were enjoying
life and started a family, we have one son.
During my pregnancy I had gestational diabetes, was that ever a wake up call! After the birth of my son, I dropped the weight pretty quick (breastfeeding helped a ton). However, when I stopped breastfeeding, I kept eating those "extra" calories I used to need. It got out of control and before I knew it I was 230+ pounds!
I'm sad to admit that I wasn't even aware of how large I was and it wasn't until my "crazy" (and athletic) family decided on Thanksgiving (of all days!) that we wanted to train and prepare to run a half marathon together. When I get an idea in my head, I'm stubborn and determined. It had been years since I was in the military and I realized I needed help if I was going to be running with my family, rather than cheering on the sidelines. As soon as we returned home, we went to one of our local gyms and joined. A few of our friends went there and highly recommended it.
At my gym, when you join you get a free health assessment and free session with one of the personal trainers. Again, I had NO IDEA how bad it really was. When I stepped on the scale I was in disbelief, which was made even worse when I found out what my body fat percentage was. I went home and cried, I had never been so out of shape in my life! What had happened? How did I get there? After trying out a few classes and careful consideration, we decided to get a personal trainer. We realized with the goals we had in mind as a family and individually, there was no way we would get there on our own without help.
It has now been 7 months, in the first few months I dropped weight like crazy! In three months I lost 25 pounds... then the plateau hit. We adjusted a few things (exercise & a tiny diet plan) and I started losing again. I completed my first 5k and finished 7 minutes faster than I was expecting. Things were going great! Then my grandmother passed away unexpectedly and being an emotional eater, I gained a few pounds back. My trainer sat down and had a heart to heart with me, if I wanted to get where my goals were I was going to have to buckle down hard.
I started a pretty intense "diet" plan and an even more intense exercise routine. However, I wasn't happy with what I was eating, it felt the same and there seemed to be no variety. That's why I started WW again, I had done it successfully before and lost. I knew I would have tons of resources (meetings, recipes, blogs, etc) to help with my "dieting".
It's almost been a month since I've been back and I feel so happy! I have so much more energy and I'm actually enjoying what I am eating! My trainer can tell a difference in my exercise level (due to more energy from better eating) and he is able to push me harder. I tell him I feel like a machine... if you told me 7 months ago, I would be running 12+ miles, plus walking 3+ miles, plus 3 30 minute training session every week I would have told you that you were insane! But I AM really doing it!
Here's to the machine in all of us, keep going and until next time know that I know YOU can do it!
During my pregnancy I had gestational diabetes, was that ever a wake up call! After the birth of my son, I dropped the weight pretty quick (breastfeeding helped a ton). However, when I stopped breastfeeding, I kept eating those "extra" calories I used to need. It got out of control and before I knew it I was 230+ pounds!
I'm sad to admit that I wasn't even aware of how large I was and it wasn't until my "crazy" (and athletic) family decided on Thanksgiving (of all days!) that we wanted to train and prepare to run a half marathon together. When I get an idea in my head, I'm stubborn and determined. It had been years since I was in the military and I realized I needed help if I was going to be running with my family, rather than cheering on the sidelines. As soon as we returned home, we went to one of our local gyms and joined. A few of our friends went there and highly recommended it.
At my gym, when you join you get a free health assessment and free session with one of the personal trainers. Again, I had NO IDEA how bad it really was. When I stepped on the scale I was in disbelief, which was made even worse when I found out what my body fat percentage was. I went home and cried, I had never been so out of shape in my life! What had happened? How did I get there? After trying out a few classes and careful consideration, we decided to get a personal trainer. We realized with the goals we had in mind as a family and individually, there was no way we would get there on our own without help.
It has now been 7 months, in the first few months I dropped weight like crazy! In three months I lost 25 pounds... then the plateau hit. We adjusted a few things (exercise & a tiny diet plan) and I started losing again. I completed my first 5k and finished 7 minutes faster than I was expecting. Things were going great! Then my grandmother passed away unexpectedly and being an emotional eater, I gained a few pounds back. My trainer sat down and had a heart to heart with me, if I wanted to get where my goals were I was going to have to buckle down hard.
I started a pretty intense "diet" plan and an even more intense exercise routine. However, I wasn't happy with what I was eating, it felt the same and there seemed to be no variety. That's why I started WW again, I had done it successfully before and lost. I knew I would have tons of resources (meetings, recipes, blogs, etc) to help with my "dieting".
It's almost been a month since I've been back and I feel so happy! I have so much more energy and I'm actually enjoying what I am eating! My trainer can tell a difference in my exercise level (due to more energy from better eating) and he is able to push me harder. I tell him I feel like a machine... if you told me 7 months ago, I would be running 12+ miles, plus walking 3+ miles, plus 3 30 minute training session every week I would have told you that you were insane! But I AM really doing it!
Here's to the machine in all of us, keep going and until next time know that I know YOU can do it!
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