Slowly but Surely

In August 2011, I hit my highest not-pregnant/postpartum weight, 172 lbs. I hated the way I looked, I had no energy to play with my kids, my clothes barely fit, and I felt awful about myself. I had a friend who had lost 20 lbs on Weight Watchers, and when I found out that I could try it online, I did.

Over the course of the next year, I lost just over 20 lbs myself. It came in fits and starts, no smooth lines. There were barely any weeks where I lost 2 lbs, and plenty of weeks where I was back up half a pound, or where I gained and lost and gained and lost the same 1 or 2 lbs. But the decline was there there, and I built healthier eating habits.

In August 2012, friends of mine from an infertility forum launched a small exercise challenge -- one month of squats. Start with any number, and add 5 per day.

Starting small like that was perfect for me. There were a LOT of days when I thought I was going to die, that my legs were going to fall right off, but of course it wasn't true. I started to build some strength. I started wondering what would happen if I started slowly adding other exercises. I began doing push-ups -- 10 from the knee, adding one per day, pausing and repeating the same number for few days every time I hit a round number. Then I added in sit-ups. I experimented with reducing the number I did in a row, but doing sets. My strength and energy grew, my body started to change, and I had fewer weeks where my weight bounced back up. In December, I added in some cardio -- mostly biking on a stationary bike that my partner bought years ago and never used.

Today, the scale read 140. I am 10 lbs from my goal, and down 32 lbs in 1.5 years. I'm training for a triathlon with my mom, who turns 70 this summer. This morning, I did 3 sets of 100 sit-ups, plus a set of 85 bicycle crunches. I did 3 sets of 20 from-the-toes push-ups, and one set of 25. I biked 11.6 miles in 45 minutes.

My goal is in sight. I will hit 130 this spring, in the best health of my life.