Halfway there

Well, as I climbed onto the scale this morning for my "weekly weigh-in", I was thrilled to see that I have officially made it halfway to my goal (by the way, that's actually 3/4 of the way to my birthday goal). So, in honor of this amazing accomplishment - and because I loved this idea so much when I saw it on Natalie's blog - I am posting half of an "after" picture. (NOTE: I took my "30-day pictures" this week and can actually see the progress in some of my trouble areas. And there is no way that I will be posting those pictures!)

And for the remainder of the year, this will be my guiding theme:
You can be fit at any size, age or time of life. That's the good news.
And there are only two rules to achieving fitness.
1. Begin
2. Continue

Those of you who know me well know that I have struggled with my weight for what seems like forever. I have tried so many different diets (no sugar, reduced calories, high fiber, low carbs, etc). I have even dared to take diet supplements (which ended up messing up my liver functioning for a couple months - learned my lesson the hard way). And once - in desperation - I had my doctor prescribe appetite suppressants (I know, I know. But you have no idea how discouraged I was at the time).

At the beginning of the year, I made a list of resolutions.
One of my goals was to lose 30 pounds (at least 20 by my birthday).
And the part I did not specify publicly was that I had to do it "the right way". No crazy diets that I can't stick to. No herbal or medicinal aids. No starvation. Just good old fashioned exercise and healthy eating. (Yeah, Dad. It finally sunk in.)

January went pretty well. I ate better, only cheating on the weekends. I exercised regularly at the YMCA. And I lost 4 pounds - a decent beginning.

February was tougher. My life got busier (if that's even possible) and so did the kids'. I found myself having less time for exercise and less motivation for preparing healthy meals. I also found myself snacking late at night while I tried to get things done. Not the best way to lose weight. By the end of the month, I had gained back 2 of the pounds I had worked so hard to lose. Frustrating!

Then March came along. Spring break for those of us in Bloomington. Warmer weather. Less layers of clothing to hide the unsightly bulges. I was still hovering around my beginning of the year weight, and I was getting really depressed about it. The hardest part for me was the fact that I usually worked out for an hour at least five days a week. I taught intense fitness classes at the YMCA. I lifted weights. I ran. But I seemed unable to curb my eating habits. I started to feel like I had no willpower or self-control whatsoever!


This magnet hangs on my refrigerator.
I usually laugh at it.
Come on, it's pretty funny!
But I also feel sad.
Sometimes it describes me so well.


I found myself sitting at the computer late one night looking for a "quick fix" again. Shouldn't there be a pill you can take to make your body lose the extra weight? Or some combination of prayer, hope, and magic? Couldn't a genie grant me this wish? Isn't there some easier alternative to eating right and exercising? Hmmmm. Guess not.

What I did end up finding was a home exercise program (yeah, I had to give up the YMCA for a while) that included several boot camp style work-out videos and a guide to eating right (including "easy" and delicious recipes - ok, I read these but promptly put them at the bottom of the pile of things to do later).

Here's the thing. It wasn't so much the videos or the eating plan that helped get me over the first hill. It was the pictures. Not of other people, but of myself. The first thing I had to do for this exercise program was weigh myself, measure myself, and take "before pictures" of myself. The theory was that then I would really be able to see how far I had come by the end of the 90-day program. The reality is that it shocked me to see what I really looked like in a bathing suit! (When I told my therapist about the pictures, she said, "Kim, that's really more like torture, isn't it?" She's right, but I guess that's what it took for me.)