Resolution 2012 - 35 Pounds Gone!

I have always disliked the idea of resolutions.  They always seem half serious and there is never much weight behind them and so I have never really had one.  Until 2012.  My weight had bothered me since my son was born.  I had this idea that I would have my babies and the weight would just kind of melt off over night.  Not so much.

I lost most of the weight I had put on within a couple of years of having Wyatt but then Lorelai came along and at 35, it just stayed put.  Well, I should say, some came off and then it started coming back on.  Kids have a way of needing food constantly.  Snacks, snacks, snacks.  Then there is the problem of them leaving bits and pieces here and there for you to throw out.  Which annoys me to no end.  I hate wasting food!  So, I ate with them and cleaned up after them.  And then there is the problem of my sweet tooth.  I have always had one and until this point in my life, it didn't seem to get me in much trouble.  I have a hard time turning down anything sweet.

Now let me make something clear.  I judge no one based on their weight, I just wasn't comfortable in my own skin.  To each there own.  I didn't feel like I could keep up with my kids and seeing my body in the clothes I really liked to wear was, well, depressing.  So on January 1, 2012 I decided to shed the pounds and get my body back. Or what was left of it after have two kids!

I didn't have much of a plan going in.  I knew I didn't want to take supplements or meal replacements.  Those are things I just can't stick with for the rest of my life.  I can't cut out food or replace it with what I consider non-food.  It just isn't my style.  I am not a crazy health nut that won't touch a dessert (Lord help me if I have to turn down chocolate!) or has to eat chicken the rest of my days.  I do love chicken but I won't turn down a steak!  So, I found an app for my phone called MyFitnessPal and decided that at least 5 days a week I would exercise and see where it took me.  The app was truly my lifesaver.  I don't think I would have been able to lose the weight if I hadn't used it for the simple reason that I had no idea how much I ate in a given day.  And I ate a lot!  Remember the snacks?!  With the app, I put in my numbers, decided how much I wanted to lose and what I thought was a healthy time frame to do it in and how much I planned to exercise.  It spit out the number of calories I should eat in a day to accomplish my goals and I was ready to go.  I loved the fact that I could enter recipes and it would tell me calories per serving.  Since I cook a lot, I needed this.  And I really found very few foods that weren't in their database already. If I found a brand that wasn't in there, it was super easy to add.

No, it wasn't easy.  For 2-3 weeks I felt hungry as my body adjusted to what it should be eating.  I found healthy things that I love to eat, namely popcorn.  I could eat popcorn every day of the week!  I am also a bit of a cereal nut at night before I go to bed.  Love my pre bedtime bowl of Lucky Charms!  See, told you I wasn't a health nut!  Since I cook for my family every day, I was able to make adjustments and cut out unneeded calories.  I am in love with Dreamfields pasta.  I had been using it a lot prior to my weight loss quest because my Mom is diabetic and she can have this pasta.  It is low in carbs and tastes no different than traditional pasta.  This is the kind of pasta I use in 90% of the foods I make.  Another food I love is bread.  I grew up in a home where bread was served at pretty much every meal and I have a soft spot for it.  Like I said earlier, I don't like to cut food out of my diet so I adjusted the amount I was eating.  Instead of eating 2 rolls with my dinner, I ate one.  Simple and effective.  I still get to eat the things I love, but I eat it in moderation. 

Regardless, I exercised and ate my way to a healthier, lighter me and 35 pounds later, here I am.  I quit following my app quite some time ago and haven't felt the need to do my daily diary although I have days I feel like I just need to plug things in to keep myself in check.  I use it from time to time when I am eating out and want to know what the healthier items are at a restaurant and it works great for that. 

So, I guess resolutions aren't weak.  It is the amount of time and energy and love you put into them that gives them their strength.  Will I always be this successful when I set a goal, nope.  But I have certainly showed myself that you can do it all by your big bad self and feel good about it.  I haven't totally decided what 2013 is going to be about for me.  I just know that I am going to love every minute of it in my own skin.