I know that motivation is key to living a healthy lifestyle. I go through periods of time where I do not feel motivated, and have to try to re-motivate myself. Luckily I have great family and friends that are always there for me when I need them. I hope you all have that in your lives too. The best thing to do is to surround yourself with positive people who believe in the goals you set for yourself.
This is my biggest problem with motivation. I have come a long way on my journey, but I know there is still so much more I want to accomplish. I do not look at what I already have accomplished. My husband reminds me of this all the time. I focus on what areas I still need to work on. He has to tell me to stop that. Look at what areas have changed so much. I have been trying to focus more on that. So that I can be comfortable with where I am, and also to keep myself motivated to go even further.
We went to the beach last year. I did not feel too bad about myself. I know I did not look great, but I was not too embarrassed. We will be going to be the beach in a few weeks. I am much more excited about my pictures this year than I was last year. I like looking at old pictures of myself to see how far I've come so I never let myself get that way again. So I will be doing a throwback photo of myself every Thursday.
What a difference a year makes!!
I was a relatively healthy child and teenager. I was not really overweight. I did active things. I also enjoyed food, a lot. When I got into my 20's I started noticing I was putting on weight. After I was married in 2004 we decided we wanted to start having children. We started trying and it just wasn't working for us. I went to the doctor after almost a year of trying and was told that I would never have children. This sent me into depression. We finally found PREG. A fertility clinic. They tested me and my husband. It turned out I have a tumor on my pituitary gland. This was caused from the birth control I was on. The tumor is benign thankfully. After they got me on the right medicines it took about 2 months and I was pregnant finally. We ended up having 3 wonderful children. As long as I was on my medicine I was fine to conceive.
Even after having our wonderful children. I still felt depressed. I stopped working and stayed home to take care of the children. My wonderful husband works very hard to support our family. I just could not get myself motivated. I could feel the weight coming on. So instead of doing something about it I just kept eating. I tried several times to lose weight. I would lose 10 lbs or 15 lbs. Get excited and "celebrate" it. I was the biggest I had ever been in my life. Bigger than at 9 months pregnant with any of my children. Last September I turned 30 I said all year I wanted to lose weight, be a certain size by my birthday. The day came and went and I was still at the same size doing nothing about it. I was the parent I never wanted to be. I was the big soccer mom standing on the side lines. I would not play with the kids at the park because I was too tired to. I could not fit down the slide with them. So I just turned back to eating. I had an addiction to sodas and food. I would drink a 12 pack of soda in 2 days. I remember eating an entire pack of Oreo's by myself in one sitting. Feeling bad about it I went and got another snack. I looked at my children and said what kind of example am I setting for them. I want to be there for them, and want them to live healthy lifestyles. My son's birthday is in January. Getting things ready for his party I finally realized that I needed to change something. I started working out and lost 15 lbs. I felt great about it. Then I "celebrated" again and gained it all back plus some more. At the end of February 2013 I was almost 270 lbs and in a size 22 pants. I was miserable. I saw pictures of myself from my sons birthday and it sent me into a deep depression. This time was different though. I finally was motivated. I finally was going to do something about it. I joined a gym and got a personal trainer. This was the best decision of my life. The workouts at the gym have been amazing. I also started doing some things at home. I found I like to walk and run. I joined a wonderfully supportive group of fellow mama's. We do monthly challenges, support each other, keep each other accountable for what we eat, what workouts we do etc... This group of ladies has been amazing for me. I also found the blog Muffin Top-less. I got a lot of information from her. She has wonderful recipes and workouts. I joined her group for the bikini body program. I started that program as well. Those ladies are also very supportive and motivating. I also started eating clean. I cut out processed foods, sodas, limited sodium and sugars. I upped my daily intake of proteins and water. My family is also eating this way which is very helpful. I am not surrounded with all of the unhealthy choices I was making before. I have surrounded myself with positive, motivating people. I am finally on the right track. Because of all the changes I have made, and all the love, support, and motivation from everyone in my life now I am down 61 lbs and am now in a size 12. I still have a ways that I want to go. I started this blog to help keep myself motivated and on track and hopefully help motivate some other people as well.
This is me last summer with my daughter at the park. I didn't want to play or anything with them. The second picture is this summer while we were hiking. I love including my family in my healthy journey.
