This is a little bit different than most #transformationtuesday pics you may see out there on social media these days but these are my before and after and during/before images!
The pic on the left was when my daughter was about 7 months old and since I had only gained 17 lbs. being pregnant, I had lost the baby weight by this time. I wasn’t, however, getting very far otherwise. I was still hovering in the high 190s….still trying to find my way….dabbling in a little bit of running and such. But, definitely didn’t have any plans or specific goals and was very loosely following WeightWatchers online. (btw, I’m STILL totally a WW fan….always will be. If done right, it’s a great program! But, for the majority of my WW experience, I used my Pts for SmartOnes & Lean Cuisines, 100-cal snack packs, and drank Diet Coke like it was going out of style!)
The middle pic is after I had been a coach for a little over a year and a half. I had done programs like ChaLean Extreme, TurboFire, P90X3, several rounds of the 21 Day Fix, Body Pump and most of the time I was utilizing the 21 Day Fix/Portion Control containers with clean eating. I got down to about 154 lbs. from 199 and was wearing a size 6 in some things. I had taught Zumba for a while. (AMAZING CLASS if you ever have the chance to go live!!!) This was a time in my life where I was completely falling in love with fitness! In fact, I fell so in love with it, there was a period of time in this season where I would begin to over-exercise. (I’ve talked about that before and will more but that’s for another blog post for the sake of time!)
During this time, I was learning to break up with the scale. I was learning that strength training was so so important and that I was more concerned with being lean, tone and strong than reaching a goal weight. So, while I was happy with my weight loss, I was working hard to let go of the hold the scale had had on my for so so long. For as long as I can remember before I started coaching, I’d been addicted to and controlled by it. I would weigh every day, several times a day. I let it dictate my moods. And, there were times when if it was up, I said screw it and I binged. There were times it was even DOWN and I somehow convinced myself I deserved a reward….of food…and I binged. This would be a vicious cycle for me between college years and before I had my daughter.
After I had her, I realized more and more I wanted to change…NEEDED to change. Not just for her, but for me, too. She needed to see an example of a healthy, strong woman in her life who didn’t use food as a coping mechanism. It had to start with me. I didn’t want the life I had lived to be her life. I knew from the moment I was pregnant that she would need me, but I had no idea at the time how much I was really the one who needed her…
And, so to talk about that pic on the right for a bit.
This is a stronger-on-the-inside me than ever before. But, this is a girl who needs to get back to taking care of her body. I’ve been taking care of my mind and soul and healing….but somewhere along the lines I kinda forgot the part about my fueling and taking care of my body. And, so many things have suffered. AND, I don’t want B to not see me come full circle. She’s already been seeing some of my not-so-good habits. She’s made comments about my chubby belly…..OH dontcha just LOVE a kid’s honesty lol. She’s changed somewhat from being the kid who lived on fruit and veggies and good food to the kid who cries if she can’t have Kraft mac-n-cheese. Now, I’m totally that mom that wants to let her live a little and not make any foods seem like they are “bad” for her. But, we absolutely do need to find a happy medium in our house of her eating healthier. And, again, it starts with me.
So, this me is 193 on a good week and 199 on a bad week (yes, I’m only weighing in once….sometimes rarely twice a week now ~ YAY, that’s something in itself my friends!). I’m still squeezing into size 12s….whereas before when I was wearing 16s and pushing 18s. Now, I totally get that sizes could have evolved over these 7 years but I also know my body composition is still quite different than back in 2010….but I refuse to go buy new bigger clothes. #notgonnahappen My skin is terrible……I have worse acne now than I ever did in high school. I haven’t been able to get my wedding rings off for going on 2 weeks and talk about a suffocating feeling. I can’t wear any of my tall cute boots because I can’t zip them up past my thick calves. I’m not sleeping well at night and having a terrible time getting up early. My vision is often cloudy. I have serious brain fog and I swear ADHD. And, as I mentioned in a SUPER vulnerable blog post yesterday (you can read it HERE), I truly believe depression and anxiety can improve and be managed with proper nutrition and focusing on several keys things….most of which are totally free and have nothing to do with being medicated! I have a blog post I’m working on to share many things I’ve learned in the past year about overcoming depression and anxiety. It’s good stuff I tell ya! I even have test scores to prove it!
AND, SOOOOOOO, I’m going back to the unsexy things I know I need to do to turn the ship around. If you’re new here and haven’t heard me talk about “the unsexy” things, you can check out this post from a while back. But, basically, I got this from a book called the Compound Effect. If you haven’t read it, you TOTALLY should and as soon as possible lol! You can grab a copy or download it HERE! And, here are a few excerpts.
“This book is about success and what it really takes to earn it. It’s time someone told it to you straight. You’ve been bamboozled for too long. There is no magic bullet, secret formula, or quick fix. You don’t make $200,000 a year spending two hours a day on the Internet, lose 30 pounds in a week, rub 20 years off your face with a cream, fix your love life with a pill, or find lasting success with any other scheme that is too good to be true. It would be great if you could buy your success, fame, self-esteem, good relationships, and health and well-being in a nicely clamshelled package at the local Walmart. But that’s not how it works. … What this book is about, with all the unnecessary noise, fat, and fluff removed, is what really matters. What really works? What half-dozen basics, when focused on and mastered, constitute the operating system that can take you to any goal you desire and help you live the life you were meant to live? This book contains those half-dozen fundamentals; they comprise the operating system called the Compound Effect.”
“By the end of this book, or even before, I want you to know in your bones that your only path to success is through a continuum of mundane, unsexy, unexciting, and sometimes difficult. But as Jim Rohn would say, “What’s simple to do is also simple not to do.” The magic is not in the complexity of the task; the magic is in the doing of simple things repeatedly and long enough to ignite the miracle of the Compound Effect. Jim Rohn taught that we become the combined average of the five people we hang around the most. And, know that daily disciplines compounded over time. Know, too, that the results, the life, and the lifestyle of your dreams can be yours when you put the Compound Effect to work for you. If you use the principles outlined in the The Compound Effect, you will create your fairy-tale ending.” ~ Darren Hardy from The Compound Effect
So, yes, this part is where I got it from ~ “I want you to know in your bones that your only path to success is through a continuum of mundane, unsexy, unexciting, and sometimes difficult things.”
Working out at 5 a.m. 5 or 6 days of the week? Unsexy.
Ha, for some, working out at ANY time of the day? Unsexy.
Logging your food? Unsexy.
Meal planning? Unsexy.
Grocery shopping? Unsexy.
Saying no to pizza? Unsexy.
Not going out to lunch with coworkers? Unsexy.
Drinking water at happy hour with your friends? UNSEXY (if you’re me lol).
Checking in with a coach like me? Unsexy.
Committing to a goal that could take you a YEAR to accomplish? Unsexy.
Sharing with someone else you’re committing to said goal? Unsexy.
Most everything you’re gonna have to do to reach a goal is gonna be unsexy…..mundane….unexciting….and FOR SURE sometimes difficult. And, I’m by NO means just talking about a weight loss goal!
But, you know what isn’t unsexy, mundane, unexciting and difficult? The way you will feel after following through with what you said you wanted.
Stay tuned for my #unsexy health & fitness plans for the next 111 days!
And, Happy Valentine’s Day from B & me!
Gotta love new fun snap filters!!! #peaceandlove