Biggest Loser

For most of my life I have been blessed with being tall and slender (if slender is a word that you can use for a big girl)... I've never been small, or petite by any means. I'm 5'11" and have always stood in the back row for school pictures :) I've never struggled with dieting or been overly concerned with body image. Fast forward to nearly 30 years old and 3 babies later and I'm not so happy with this body of mine anymore, my once extremely active metabolism must be taking a bit of a hiatus!

I'm still not concerned with trying to be skinny, or a specific number on the scale, but I want to FEEL GOOD. (and I would really like my cute jeans to fit comfortably!) I fell to peer pressure on Tuesday and signed up with some other local peeps for a Biggest Loser competition. It was a $40 buy in, and will pay out prizes for 1st, 2nd & 3rd place. We're pinching pennies the best we can these days, and I got a phone call within the last week that the child support I am so thankful to receive will be disappearing for the near future while Ashlyn's dad is out of work with a shoulder injury.. thankfully I've got a very supportive family though and my parents offered to "sponsor" me in this competition! They know first hand that I'm pretty competitive and motivated by money, lol. I'm hoping to be able to pay them back with my winnings!

Anyway, now for the specifics! I weighed in on Tuesday at 243.4 (a little heavier than on my scale at home, so I'm going to try and not weigh myself at all in between.) This competition lasts for 6 weeks with weekly weigh-ins. Now I'm thankful that we never followed through with canceling our gym membership even though we had considered it for the time being while we're trying to watch our budget very closely.

I'm going to keep reminding myself that 6 weeks is a short period of time in the grand scheme of things, and I can do anything I put my mind to when I can see the light at the end of the tunnel. I knew going in that the biggest struggle I will have will be each night after the kids are in bed and we relax and watch our shows, thats my biggest downfall--munchie time for sure! I'm not trying to follow any diet during this competition and instead focus on eating healthy foods, portion sizes and general awareness. I don't do well with cutting things out entirely and I don't want to set myself up to fail. I'm trying to drink more water and less soda/juice/alcohol. Last night on my way home from the gym I had to stop at the store for coffee creamer, and I picked up strawberries, bananas and yogurt. (so what if I dipped them in the new chocolate cream cheese, right?)

My overall goals for this 6 week period are:
15lb + total weight loss
10 minute mile on the treadmill (I was at 15:20 last night)
30+ gym visits or approx 5x/week
FITTING INTO MY XLONG MAURICE JEANS (that still have the tags on them)

.... and being the Biggest Loser would be pretty darn cool too :)

3 days in and I'm feeling like I've done pretty well... 40 mins of cardio day 1 and day 2 and a racquetball court for Bob and I reserved at the gym tonight! The real challenge will be sticking to it, and making good habits that will carry over after the competition has ended.