Warm Hearts Happy Family

I have lost 40 pounds…my main success factor? I stopped giving food the power.

It started with the 30 Day Shred. If anybody can do what was promised in 30 days I believed Jillian Michael’s could. After I saw such great results I didn’t stop. I joined Weight Watchers with my cousin and great friend and haven’t looked back.

Here is another before and after picture example.

Here is my husband and I Easter of 09

And here we are Easter of this year

Weight loss IS possible, once you believe you are worth it. Once you believe you are worthy of being thin. And we are all worthy of living an energetic and fulfilling life.

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And not just a better mom but a better wife, a better employee, and a better member of society.

I am feeling fantastic because slowly…very slowly…I am recognizing the person in the mirror. I am seeing my old face. I am feeling energy instead of exhaustion. And I am feeling skinny(er).

Jillian Michaels and her 30 Day Shred really gave my battery a jump–gave me the motivation to claim my health and body back. I am now on my fifth week of Weight Watchers and am down another 15 pounds! Go me!

I turn 30…in one month. And damn-it I want to be a MILF. I want to feel hip and cool, pretty and successful. I want to have it all and my thick layers of fat were keeping me from the person I want to be.

Like it or not when you are fat, you are discounted in society. You are invisible. And you are not taken seriously. When I hit 220 pounds I experienced this for the first time.

I find it extraordinarily interesting they way people interact differently with me during the different stages of my weight. Weight shouldn’t matter but it does. Your weight–right or wrong–says something about you (accurate or not). I am done feeling fat and inadequate.
I am ready to feel young, empowered, and in control!

My house is a much happier place when I am in control. A much more tranquil and doused-in-love place when I feel good. My family has filled me up with love so strong I practically have joy seeping from my pores and sunshine beaming from my ass. It’s good stuff.

So taking control of my weight and my happiness is the least I can do for them.
I still have a long way to go—as in 50 more pounds to go—but I started. And starting can be the hardest part.

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Why did I do that?   I really really hate looking at fat pictures of myself because then I have to face how people really see me; and that is embarrassing.  My cheeks are already turning red. 

 But promise I did so here they come.  And I am even in the same dress, making comparison even easier!

Here I am at a shower in May of 09 (I started the Shred at the end of June but my weight was the same).  I look like a plump centerpiece to all of my fit and pretty friends:

And here is me from this past weekend:

 The lovely lady next to me in the second set of pictures is my beautiful little sister.  And I am starting to hold my own next to her again, ya think?

I realize that the time frame of comparisons is 2 months (and not the toted 30 days), but it was all the Shred.  And I did the Shred for about 5 weeks of that time.  So in my experience, it works. 

The numbers on the scale did not go down much, but you can clearly see a difference in inches, and in my overall appearance.

I did the Shred again today, and am going to give it my 100% effort again.  I also just finished my first week of Weight Watchers to kick my weight loss into high hear.

Wish me luck! 

PS:  If you are questing the drastic change in my hair color, see this post.

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If you landed on my site trying to research if the 30 Day Shred works let me start off by saying it does.  Stop contemplating and just go out and buy the DVD.  If you push yourself your body will change and you will feel on top of the world. 

At least this is the experience I have had.  I have been shredding since June 19 (holy crap, almost to my 30 days!) and my stamina went from non-existent to pretty impressive and even though I am still fat, my self confidence is soaring.  Because I am stronger and healthier and I can see my body slimming down.

I’m shredding.

And I have a slight woman crush on Jillian Michaels.  She is just bad ass in every which way–kind of ballsy and mean yet motivational at the same time.  You can’t help but to push yourself because Michaels makes you believe you CAN push yourself, that EVERYBODY is capable of working out and working out hard. 

I needed to hear that.  I needed somebody to tell me that just because I am overweight doesn’t mean I can’t work out hard–she leaves zero room for giving yourself excuses.

My overall experience has been beyond positive.  My original goal was to be down a pant size in the 30 days and I am almost there.  I am going to have to really turn it up this week if I am going to make that happen.  

 When I started this adventure I was about to bust my fat pants up to the next level–up to the pants that have the W for Woman after the size.  Like once you hit the point that your silhouette resembles that of an overweight upright brown bear (or polar as is my pasty case) you have made it–you are a woman baby.  

Not the look that suites me best.  So Shred I will continue to do–push myself I will do until I am down another full size.  After that who knows!  I have always categorized people (judge me if you want) and one of my biggest categories were people that work out (hot) and people that don’t (lazy). 

I have jumped (and jumping jacked, plank rowed, high kneeded and crunched) into the workout category and that feels incredible.

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I am on day 12 of the 30 Day Shred and I am kicking my own ASS for not taking a before picture.  I also want to punch myself in the face for not taking any measurements because this is the type of plan in which these two activities are essential. 

You see as things droop stand I am building muscle for the first time in years.  A decade really.  And being almost 100% body fat, the process of burning that and building muscle is actually making the scale go up.  UP.  And seeing those brutal numbers rise makes me want to crawl into bed and never come out. 

So by not having a before picture, or any measurements, the number on the scale is making me feel like a failure.

So I am going to have the husband do these things for me tonight (hopefully he will have managed this insane task called getting the kids bathed and in bed before 10pm when I am due home) so I can get a more acurate representation of my efforts. 

And…

I am going to post the before and after pictures when I am done.  And if you know me, you know how hard this will be for me.  Because when it comes right down to it I am just vein, and absolutely mortified at the way I look; with they way I have let myself go. 

But…

This is necessary for a number of reasons.  The first being I need to own my body, and stop pretending like the world hasn’t noticed I got fat.  I need to embrace myself at this weight and stop letting the extra layer(s) validate me as a person.

 The second reason is to help motivate others.  When I googled 30 Day Shred before and after pictures, most of the results I found were ladies that were already thin to begin with.  Not so much help for me, or others that may have 50 or more pounds to lose. 

And besides the self therapy and the motivation for others, I want to have documentation of my journey.  While this will never be a fitness blog, having a place to track my progress and results will be huge for keeping my fat ass off the couch eye on the prize. 

And the prize is huge, the rewards many.  To name a small few… 

• Self Confidence
• Pride
• Healthy Sex Life
• Active lifestyle
• Success
• Cute Clothes
• Enjoying the Summer (for the first time in years)
• Accomplishment 

So here begins my documented journey and I pray that I stick with my plans…because if I attempt and fail at losing weight one more time, my husband better just order a crane to lift my obese-ness and break me out of the bedroom through the roof of the house.

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