#NaBloPoMo – Day 5, The 10 Week Challenge

2,917

That’s how many days ago I started this blog. That’s 7 years, 11 months, and 26 days ago.

Also known as, the more things change, the more they stay the same. For my long time readers, this post will sound all too familiar to you, and I’m sorry for that. Ha!

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It’s funny to look back on my posts from 2009. We were in the beginning of our TTC years, and I was searching for anything and everything I could do to get me pregnant. I was just discovering how horribly irregular my periods were without hormonal birth control in me, and though I was a few months away from figuring out that was because of PCOS, I knew that losing 10% of your body weight could help you get pregnant, so I resolved to do it and totally did it. (11.75% actually!)

It’s always that simple, right? Ha! I went from 170# to 150# over the next 6 months, and holy crap did I feel great!

Fast forward 8 years and two pregnancies, and over that time my weight crept up to 186# (with Stella) and 181# (with Harvey), but I’d immediately lose the majority of the weight (my pre-pregnancy weight both times was 161#), and I was pretty comfortable hanging out in the 160-165 range, albeit not stoked about my muscle tone and definition.

Well, over the past three years I have absolutely fallen apart, and looking at this graph, I just cannot let that go on.

Want to know something funny? I wrote “over the past year” at first – and then looked at the graph and realized it has been THREE years. Three mother fucking years that I’ve let myself just slide and slide up the numbers on that scale until I’m 25# heavier and how the hell did that happen? That literally breaks down to an extra 80 calories per day that I was consuming on average instead of going the other direction. Sure I had moments where I was motivated and working out and losing weight, but overall…? Nope. Not at all. So now here I am, 35 years old, and offically tipping the scales at 0.5# more than my heaviest ever 9 months pregnant weight. My belly is literally .5″ away from my 40w4d measurement with Harvey, and my natural waist is within an inch of when I had a 9#5oz baby boy inside of me. That is depressing.

BUT… here’s the cool part.

My friend Courtney is running a 10 week challenge that starts today, and words cannot express how excited I am to do this with her. A few years ago she was like me – similar height and weight to what I am now – and she worked her ass off and lost about 40# — AND HAS KEPT IT OFF for years now. I want that. I want to change my life and my health and to make it a long term success for me. I am ready.

The cool thing is that she is using all Beachbody workouts in the calendar (I do love my Beachbody on Demand membership!), and she’s super Type-A about charts and tracking (just like me), so I have my spreadsheets ready and my lunch salads prepped for the week and I CANNOT WAIT.

People always wait until January 1st to make a lifestyle change, but why? Why wait? I am going to stick to this program for 10 weeks, and my goal is to have lost at least 16.5# by the end of the program. My birthday is 11 weeks from now, and that would put me at 170# for my birthday.

It’s funny (not funny haha) that my goal for this program is to get to my “HFS line in the sand” number from 8 years ago, but that’s where I am, and I’m ready to own it and do something about it.

Once I hit 170# I will reassess and refocus, but for right now, that is my goal. Wish me luck! 🙂