I spent most of my life super duper skinny. Bony Skinny. I even had an awful nickname in high school that I so didn’t love… Chicken Little Legs. {Thanks, Beau.}
I got made fun of for being too skinny which granted was much better than the alternative I am sure.
I gained a little bit of “substance” in college and then even more in the years after I got married. Even more after each kid. I tried exercising more than once to try to get some poundage off, but it just never seemed to work!
Since I had NEVER before had to worry about weight, it seemed impossible as something I had the power to manage.
When Wade was about a year and a half, in October of ‘09, I had had ENOUGH. We were going on a cruise to the Bahamas just five months later for our 10 year anniversary, and I decided I wanted to see if I could get down to my wedding weight in light of that 10 year mark.
I was also inspired by a long time friend of mine who after FOUR kids in SIX years had really dropped some weight, was exercising like CRAZY, and was looking amazing! If she could do it, than MAYBE I could?
Here’s Nicole’s story taken from an email she wrote me in 2009…
I decided back in January of 2008 that even though I was by no means HUGE, not even close, but that I was the heaviest I’d ever been and wearing double digit clothes. So I started working out hard all this year and YES counting calories!
I have read so much about losing weight online, and it’s really as simple as calories in vs. calories out. If you burn more than you eat, you WILL lose weight!! AND you don’t’ really have to live without anything you love. It’s just about choices. I love sweet tea, but I know if I have some, I will have to skip dessert or a second helping of whatever.
I love that I don’t ever feel deprived of anything but just have to decide what do I want more… item a or item b? And I’ve become quite the exercise junkie now and can’t stand to not get my 5 workouts in a week.
I wasn’t exactly Biggest Loser material or anything, but I’m down three sizes. I figure one day, age will take over, and I won’t be able to fight it any longer, but until then..I will fight it!!
Nicole has lost 15 lbs and transformed her life and body! This girl is in shape! I think it’s definitely much harder to lose weight when you’re really not all that big in the first place! She recently made a huge step in reaching a personal goal she has of running a half marathon… she ran TEN MILES!
She is an Insanity buff and crazy exercise addict who thinks the P90x workout doesn’t have enough cardio or something ridiculous like that! If you’re looking for an at home DVD workout, Nicole recommends starting with Jillian Michael’s 30 Day Shred. Just 20 {intense} minutes a day!
Nicole you are amazing!!!
So… in October of 2009, I started counting calories and was absolutely thrilled to lose 12 lbs in just about 2.5 months! For the first time ever I had weight loss success mainly just from counting calories!
Of course we all know what ended up happening AFTER I lost the12 lbs…
Funny how life works.
Sadly, I didn’t have much success initially losing the baby weight after Davis arrived, despite the fact that I was the smallest I had been pre pregnancy, AND I was nursing this time.
DESPITE all of that, I was the BIGGEST I had ever been!
Because of the inspiration from Nicole and the success I had before getting pregnant I was determined that this weight was coming off!
In March, we joined the gym again and about mid-April {after I read Rachel’s tips on tracking your nursing as an “exercise”} I started hard core counting calories using Lose it on my phone and on the computer.
I have now lost TWELVE LBS {for the second time, ha!} and want to lose at least another eight to get to my wedding weight!
{I know it’s not a very dramatic difference, but the hubby said if I’m writing the post I need to include my before & after too. :) Hopefully before too long I’ll have an even skinnier self to shoot.}
Lose it is awesome and free and oh so motivating! It’s so easy. Just enter all your info… age, height, gender etc and tell it how much weight you want to try to lose a week. It will then populate with how many calories you can eat a day in order to reach that goal!
I will say that it won’t work if you aren’t willing to take the few minutes after each meal or snack to enter your calories. It’s unbelievable how knowing you will have to enter the calories of whatever you eat helps you choose NOT to eat it at all!
Soooooo… In honor of my excitement at these pounds finally coming off, I want to feature some other weight loss inspirations that just may be the thing that nudges someone else into taking control of their own weight loss.
Look for some more Weight Loss Inspirations coming up soon!
You will be shocked!
If YOU want to really lose some weight…
1) Sign up for Lose it.
2) Religiously track your calories for 3 or 4 weeks straight.
3) Be amazed at the results!
