Celebrating 2 Years with a Giveaway and a Story!!

2 years ago today is what I am officially calling the "beginning of the end!" The end of making excuses and being so obese that the doctor was telling me I would die young!

On March 25th, 2009 I went to the endocrinologist for an exam. I wanted him to tell me what was wrong with me. Why am I fat? Why can't I sleep? Why am I always tired? Why? Why? Why? Make me better! Give me a pill or a swift kick in the arse so I won't be fat the rest of my life!!

He said, "Listen you are 43 years old and on the verge of diabetes, your blood pressure's high, your cholesterol is high and you weigh 226.8 pounds! Do you want to live to see your child (5 at the time) graduate from high school? Do you want to take medicine the rest of your life? Do you want to go through life continuing to gain weight? OR do you want to really start living and get this weight off?"

So...I ask you what would you say? I told him, "I don't want to die young or live the rest of my life taking a bunch of medicine. I want to get this weight off. How do I start?"

So...he told me to stop drinking sodas you think 2-32 ounce sodas a day might be a contributing factor to the weight gain, huh? and start EXERCISING. Start watching my calorie intake and on a consistent basis eating less than 1700 calories a day!! So...I left the doctor's office and drove to the local convenience store and bought myself a 32 ounce soda and drank it while I cried and drove home! I knew that this would be my last soda for a long time. I also knew that some serious changes were going to have to happen. Calorie counting had NEVER been a part of my life but it was about to become an important part of it. I knew I needed to really get serious about losing weight. I had a follow-up appointment scheduled and I wanted the doctor to SEE that I was serious about getting this weight off.

So...that night I started exercising and busting my butt. Every morsel of food that went into my mouth was accounted for and I started reaching out to my friends that I had made online and in real life for support. Of course, without the Sisterhood I probably would have not been nearly as successful as I have been so I owe them a bunch!!

Over the past 2 years I have accomplished losing and keeping off some 30 pounds during some extremely challenging times in my life. I am a stress eater and some days it is really hard not to just dig into the pantry and eat till I'm sick but then I think, "Do I really want to go there?" and I always have to say a resounding, "NO"!! I still have around 40 pounds more to lose before I am in a really good BMI according to what I've been told...but every day I get up and think back to that day 2 years ago I realize that "I'm worth it"!! and my kids are worth it, too!! I've started running (which I was always afraid of) and I'm working every day to make the right choices to get me where I want to go!!

This summer my oldest son will be turning 21 and going off to Marine Corp boot camp. He will likely be gone for many months once he is done with boot camp...probably in some land FAR, FAR AWAY!! So before he leaves it is my goal to be in better physical condition and thinner than he can ever remember. I don't want his last memory of his mom to be of me being FAT and unhealthy! I still have a few months to work on this and so over the next couple of months I am working on trying to bust through my plateau that I hit and really get this weight off. I've always been the kind of person who won't stick with a "diet" so I'm looking for ways to get the weight off safely and with no "special formula". This isn't a diet...it's a lifestyle!! I want my lifestyle to be a healthy, safe one!! Lots of exercise, no stress eating, and limited soda drinking are key to this for me.

This past week I have had some kind of stomach virus food poisoning from crap food and haven't been able to eat much or exercise but last night I finally felt normal again and exercised! It felt great and I'm looking forward to exercising a lot this weekend!! Over the past week I have come to realize that I really need to concentrate on eating healthy, fresh foods and very little processed crap food! That's what I have done this week and it's been a real eye opener as to how much better I feel so that is the new plan of action!

So..this morning my weight is 196.4 . In 2 years I have officially lost 30.4 pounds. In the next few months I want to see the number on the scale go down dramatically so that I can get this process over and done with! Accountability is a key for me so I'm going to be logging into my LoseIt program with my food and exercise, and keeping up my blogging and reporting back here with my progress.

To celebrate my 2 year anniversary I want to give ya'll something special too. You are my support system. You are my cheerleaders, my friends and I want to give something back to you. At my local Target they have their Jillian Micheals DVD's on sale. I personally owe a lot of my beginning weight loss to her 30 Day Shred DVD so I want to offer a give away. So here we go...Tell me one of your fitness/weight loss goals over the next few months and tell me how you plan on getting there. On Wednesday night, March 30th I will choose a winner and send you either the Banish Fat, Boost Metabolism DVD or the 30 Day Shred DVD (your choice)!!!

so.....come on ya'll tell me what you want to accomplish!!! It'll help me, too!!