Walking, working out and for the love of Zumba!

Here's the thing about becoming fat, you don't realize how fat you are until you have a picture like this one. I was a size 17 and needing to buy new clothes because they were tight. And justified why I had no time to workout. Why I felt like I had no money to spend on losing the weight I put on. But needless to say I ate out regularly, along with drinking all the Coke my heart desired! And wow!!! And not wow in a good way. Even after getting these pictures developed I told myself that I was "still" smaller then many of the Americans out there eating out just like me. Only I was in denial that I was getting bigger by the moment. And it wasn't until my dad was diagnosed with diabetes that I started to look at myself and my eating habits that I realized that I NOW had a 50% chance of becoming a diabetic. Not to mention that my mom and dad would check my blood sugar levels many Saturdays when I would go in to visit. This started to scare me. I have three young children that need me, and I need them.

Brandy my best friend and partner in fast food crimes, decided that once our kids were back in school end of August 2011 we no longer had excuses. She had a goal to lose weight before she hit the big 40, and me I had a goal to lose weight for the cruise we were taking to the Caribbean in March of 2012.

We started two days after the kids started school, and would walk and talk for an hour or more, gradually increasing the amount of time we would walk. Shortly after we started walking, I joined the gym and added weight training and resistance. I decided that it truely was a lifestyle change, I adjusted and tracked my eating and I upped my exercise, but most of all I never went without, I didn't deprive myself of anything, just reduced. I found I loved the way I felt and that I would listen to music and zone. Thinking about how wonderful it made me feel and that I was FINALLY taking care of me. I wasn't just a mom, I really was a person again. It reminded me that I had needs as a person that I had neglected for 10 years.

 Then Brandy found a deal for Zumba... It made it super cheap. Brandy tried many times to try to talk me into going, she even convinced her two other best friends to go but to no avail I wouldn't budge. We kept walking and she kept talking about how much fun Zumba was and how I was really missing out. I made the mistake of telling my mother in law how much fun Brandy was having at Zumba and how she kept asking me to go, my mother in law said the next time there was a Zumba class she wanted to go and she wanted me to go with her. Needless to say I did... I was beyond awful. So bad that I went the wrong direction every move I was not trying to mirror my instructor, I was trying to go opposite. I had no sense of rhythm, but something about it screamed to me. I knew if I tried I could get better I would lose the weight I had gained during my wonderful mommy diet moments, and through my love of greasy fast food. I also knew that this was something that would mentally make me stronger. I felt like if I could do this I could do anything....


This is when I started tracking my measurements :

September 28, 2011 Waist 38.75, Hips 43.5, Chest 41, Thighs 25, Arms 13

November 8, 2011 Waist 36.5, Hips 42.5, Chest 40, Thighs 24.5, Arms 12.25

November 22, 2011 Waist 35, Hips 42, Chest 40, Thighs 24, Arms 12

December 30, 2011 Waist 34, Hips 41.25, Chest 39, Thighs 24, Arms 12

February 1, 2012 Waist 3.5, Hips 40.5, Chest 39, Thighs 23.25, Arms 12

It was almost time to go on vacation and I hit a plateau BUT  I was down 25 pounds and these measurements were what I lost. I had to buy a whole new summer wardrobe, I was now a size 10~

I was super stoked to go on another cruise, and this time I wasn't fat. I was able to feel good, look better, and make my kids proud. They loved that mommy looked good and was much happier. My favorite part of losing the weight is myself confidence is back. The thing I have to say I love most about my hubby these days is he knows I have a need to workout, that I am a bear if I miss my Zumba to many days in a row. That it isn't just for my physical health it is for my mental health also.

As of today I have lost 25 pounds and a total of 13.5 inches. I feel that anything is possible with a lot of hardwork.

 I guess you never know where life will take you if you never try, I am grateful for my wonderful best friend for trying Zumba and for the most amazing instructors in the whole world. I am better for knowing them and having my Zumba friends. I really do love you GUYS!

The MOMMY Diet

The mommy diet may sound funny, but many of us are very guilty of this very thing. Eating the extra pieces of our young children's lunches so we do not waste food. This is part of what got me to an embarrassing weight.
It all started almost 12 years ago when I got pregnant with my first child Jacob. I let myself go, I ate what I wanted when I wanted and figured it was just extra baby weight, no big deal. But when Jacob started eating table foods there was always quite a bit of left over. I didn't want the food to go to waste, so I began eating that one or two extra chicken nuggets. Then two years later I had Dylan, now with two little boys who never seemed to finish any meal, I was eating my breakfast, lunch and dinner, PLUS their left overs. But the story doesn't end there, Two years after having Dylan, Jenavieve my daughter was born.  And now I had three children who never could seem to finish a meal, but mommy always seemed to help with that.
I was the happy chubby mom of three beautiful children and justified in my mind that I didn't have time to workout. I didn't think that I should be away from my kids.  I was getting fat and flabby fast.
Once Jacob started Kindergarten I started helping at his school and became quick friends with another mom who was as devoted to her daughter as I was my three kids. We spent time hanging out and taking our children to lunch so that we could visit while they played in the playgrounds. I look back and almost choke when I think of how many calories I was ingesting. We were famous for eating at Carl's Jr, a taco salad and large Coke for me...940 for the salad & 490 for the Coke a grand total of 1,430 calories. More then my full day of calories in one meal.  Once I became PTA president in 2010-11 for my kids school I had hit calorie rock bottom...  I was eating this Carl's Jr meal and drinking a full 2 liter bottle of Coke also at 800 calories. That didn't include my breakfast or dinner, or any snacks or dessert. And at the time I made a lot of cookies. The facts of my story are this by the time I was done being PTA president in the spring/summer of 2011 I weighted a grand total of 180 pounds. I was going to have to buy new clothes because I had put on enough weight that my size 16 clothes no longer fit, I was a size 18. My clothes were so uncomfortable that I couldn't wait to go to bed so that I could wear anything and not care how I looked. This was a turning point for me, I decided that when the kids went back to school fall of 2011 I would have a lot of extra time on my hands now, all three kids were in school full time. We, my husband and I decided that we could afford for me to continue to be a stay at home mom, so now what?


This is where the mommy diet ends, and my life began again...