And it's not what you think.
I have met some wonderful creative women in the last 6 months. A few of them have started a new web site called Losing it in Ottawa. It is the story of 6 women and their journey over the next 8 weeks to lose weight and be more fit. I can relate to their stories.
I may not be the heaviest I have ever been, but I have been there. All my life I struggled with my body image. I was never fat but I thought I was, and really, that is all that matters. When I was 13 and my friends all weighed 80 pounds I weighed 110. When I was in college and they all weighed 110 I weighed 130. It isn't a big deal I know, but in my mind I was always the big girl. The biggest of all my friends. The fat one. That image sticks with me to this day. No matter how hard I try to ignore it.
When I was pregnant for D I clocked in at 210. Along with weight gain I swelled a lot and I had to stop wearing my wedding ring. After I gave birth to D I settled at 185. I was at that weight for over a year. I wanted to be able to wear my wedding ring again. I decided to call the jeweler who made our rings (our rings were made by a local jewelery designer). I asked him about having the ring made bigger. He warned me against it. It has an intricate design on it and he felt it would not hold up to being enlarged. I was so upset. Not upset at him, but upset with myself. Why had I let myself get so big, I felt terrible about myself and I was so unhealthy. Of course this sadness just fueled my eating. Instead of taking this as my wake up call I let my habits get worse. I decided to buy clothing that fit "me" and got rid of all the clothing I couldn't wear anymore. I think dropping off the bag of perfectly good clothing at the good will bin was the bottom of the barrel for me. I had bought some very nice +size clothing but i hated them all. I didn't want to wear these clothes. I wanted to lose the weight.
I joined Weight Watchers and a gym. A coworker came to the gym with me at lunch 3 times a week. Over the course of a year I dropped 40 pounds. I felt great, I was so fit, and I weighed 15 pounds less than I did when I got married! Then I got pregnant for M. I had a wonderful pregnancy and only put on 35 pounds. But after the pregnancy I couldn't get back to my pre-pregnancy weight. I tried WW but the new leader just didn't motivate me like the previous one did. I got back to the gym, but without watching what I ate I wasn't able to lose like i wanted. The year before I had D2 I started jogging and even go to the point where I could run 5K without stopping, but the weight never budged.
Now I have had my 3rd pregnancy. Maybe it is just luck, stress, or maybe breastfeeding but I managed to get back to my pre-pregnancy weight fairly easily. I wanted to get back to exercising but D2 had other ideas. The first few months were near constant nursing, now he is older the nursing isn't as intense but now I have all 3 boys home and I can't just go for a run when I want. The heat and humidity of this summer have also had me opting for the shade instead of getting out there and just doing it. I have many excuses in my pocket for why I am not exercising or eating right: no time to plan, no time to cook, wait till the boys are back in school, I can't leave D2 to go the gym... the list goes on. None of these are very good reasons.
The Losing it in Ottawa group are tracking over 8 weeks. So these are my measurements and my goal. I want to lose 10 pounds over the eight weeks. I want to get back to jogging.
My measurements are:
Waist = 38" (danger zone according to heart and stroke)
Hips = 46.2"
Thigh = 23"
Weight = 165
BMI = 28.3 (overweight)
I have never taken my measurements before, I am hoping they will tell a more accurate tale than just tracking my (fingers crossed) weight loss. I have also signed up for myfitnesspal. My profile name is twohandsfull if you want to add me as a friend. Lets do this together!
Thanks to all the ladies at Losing it in Ottawa! I really needed this kick in the butt!
11 comments:
Awesome Chantal! Do it!
I'm so glad we inspired you. We can all do this, and doing it together will make it so much easier!!
I commend you for the very open and honest manner in which you wrote this post.
I am at the other end of the weight spectrum and have struggled all my life with being the *smallest* in the group. Yes, struggled. For some people it is just as difficult to gain weight as it is to lose it. In any case, I won't be joining in on with the *Losing It In Ottawa* project but I will definitely be cheering you on to help you reach your goal.
I look forward to reading about your progress and sincerely wish you well with it.
I am struggling to lose the weight. I have lost the pregnancy weight but I wasn't in the greatest condition before that!
Totally watching what I eat and working out daily, But it is exhausting to do with three kids ... worth it but exhausting!
I look forward to reading your progress!! GO GIRL!
Can't wait to see you when I get back in a year! The new svelte you! We'll have to do another photo session then! How's that for motivation?
Good for you to start this journey! You can total do it! Yay!
Wow. I just joined WW again last week. I worked HARD to lose 40 lbs after my daughter was born and over the past 8 or so months, 20 of those pounds have crept back on and pants and jeans that I wore out not long ago can't be done up *sigh* .. I may not be in Ottawa, but I'm gonna "lose it" right along with you. Good Luck! We CAN do it! :)
awesome chantal. if you ever want to come into the city, i'm trying to get my lazy butt off the couch and start running again. it's hard with the list of excuses, but you need do it for yourself. and you seem to have realized this already and that is half the battle.
Way to go, Chantal. I'm so pleased that you've linked up and are speaking out and making plans!
Congratulations for taking this step, you guys are all so brave, you can do it!
Chantal I think it's great that you're following along with Losing It! I know what you mean about not feeling inspired by your WW leader. I felt that way so many times and kept shopping around for meetings. To be honest, I haven't felt the same kind of motivation to lose weight like I had when I first joined WW, since I started Losing It! We're all here to support eachother and we have a community of people who genuinely care about each other and our success. I know you can do it!
You know, when I was nursing M, I kept thinking that I should try to lose weight because I'll have the nursing as extra calorie burning. I think I gained weight when I was nursing because I always just ate what I wanted and justified it that I needed extra calories to make milk!
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