INTRODUCTION to "ME"

rekus73

:happy: I was always on the slimmer size when in high school, but I was always active and involved in sports and never paid much attention to what I was eating. Then I met my husband who work afternoon shift and we started going out at night. I put on few lbs here and there, and I wasn't much worried about that. I never had problems losing weight before, why worry about it now? So by the time we got married I put on about 35 lbs, I was size 12 but my husband adored me and weight was still not an issue.
Then I had my daughter. I gained 75 lbs during pregnancy and I only lost 35 after she was born. So the scale was close to 200lbs at this point and I started to feel the weight on me. I was size 14, unhappy about how I looked, hated the way I felt, and I had hard time tying up my gym shoes. It was time for a change. I started doing exercise videos at home when my daughter was taking naps, as that was the only time I could find to work out. The weight started slowly coming off, and a friend of mine suggested doing some light weight lifting to help shed pounds. I bought another DVD by Kathy Smith...which was "Lift weights to lose weight" I loved it as it was easy to follow and I could break it down. It has 20 minutes of upper body, 20 minutes of lower body and 10 minutes of abs. I would do different section 3 times a week in addition to about 45 minutes of cardio 5 days a week. I supplemented my library with some other workout videos to avoid boredom and I cut most of the sugars and bad fats out of my diet. I lost weight, I had definition in my arms and legs, and I felt great.

Then I got pregnant second time with my son. Morning sickness started and then cravings hit, and then my exercising routine was out the door and my eating was out of control, as I was constantly reminded that I was eating for two. So again I put on about 75 lbs, and I was back to where I started. I lost some weight but I was never smaller than size 10-12 and I was always unhappy about my muffin top and having to wear lose fitting clothes to cover it up. I work in a medical setting and I see obese, unhappy and sick people every day. Some of them are younger than me. So I thought to myself, I will be different. I will be healthy, reasonable size, and I will feel good about myself and about how I look in my clothes. And I set a time frame for myself. I will be where I want to be by the time I am 40. I must add that my husband ALWAYS complemented me on how I looked and never told me I needed to lose weight. When I decided to go on a strict diet and exercise regimen for the second time he was very supportive of me, but always reminded me that I look beautiful to him no matter what size I am, which I think made all the difference in the world, as I wanted to feel the way that he saw me. Needless to say, I lost most of my weight with hard work at the local gym...where I spend about 1 1/2 hours 5days a week and thanks to MFP I am very concious of what and how much I put in my mouth.
I started cooking healthier foods for my family as well. I am well aware of portion control. I purchased some healthy cooking cook books to have wider variety of options. Pressure cooker, crock pot and oven are now staples in my kitchen and frying pans are rarely used, unless it is breakfast and cooked with PAM or olive oil. No deep frying of any sort!!! I feel great, I feel that I will accomplish my goal. I do weigh myself every morning as I don't want to wake up one day to find out I am 15 lbs heavier since my last weigh in...I figured it is easier to worry about 1 or 2 lbs than 15 lbs. I have about 8 more pounds to lose to be where I want to be by the time I am 40. I do realize that this is lifetime commitment so I do try to find healthy versions of my favorite meals and I do have cheat days about once a week to keep my sanity and to not feel deprived and not to feel guilty when I do indulge. Most of all I do believe that it is possible and that I can do it! And mind if a powerful thing!!!

mpaige1969

Your story is very similar to mine...muffin tops...trying to hide it...feel awful...I however lack time and motivation to work out...will start yoga soon. Work in a dr office as well and see the health issues weight is causing. I am 42 and don't want to have that same problem. Will add you as a friend...can use all the help I can get as well!

rekus73

One thing that I changed is to make sure that I "book" time for myself. I found that I always have time for kids, family, hubby but never enough time for myself. So now I make sure that everyone knows that from 7-9 I am unavailable, as I will be at the gym. The fact that my teenage daughter tags along helps as she can talk to me about her school etc...while we're working out...so we have some bonding time there... My husband is very supportive and helps around the house. And if the carpet didn't get vacumed that day? It would drive me crazy before....now it just has to wait till the weekend! Good luck to you!