I guess I'm blogging now.....

First off, let me say, that this blog is more for me than anyone else. I'm not even sure anyone else is interested in what I have to say here, but it's a cheap form of therapy....to share your thoughts and emotions....to be humbled and vulnerable.....so here goes.....I guess I'm blogging now.

The reason I thought to start this blog is the new journey that I am on to become fit. Let me explain what I mean by "fit". I don't mean "thin" or "hot" or any other term used to describe physical appearance. I mean "fit"! There is so much more to being fit than looking good. Looking good is just icing on the cake (no pun intended). I have come to realize in the past few months how important my choices are to my family. I always knew that the choices I made financially, emotionally, spiritually and even mentally had an impact, but my food choices? My exercise routine? How do these effect my family? They do!!

It first came to me when I was thinking about my daughter, Caitlyn. She was playing a basketball game and I started thinking about all the sports I want her to play when she gets older. I want her to be active and have a passion for sports. How is she going to get that passion?? I can't wish it on her. I can pray for God's supernatural power to move on her, but I have to move in the natural before the supernatural can do it's part. So, I have to live by example. I have to show her what being healthy is all about, and not just physically, but mentally, emotionally and spiritually. I want to be able to practice basketball or volleyball with her and not get winded. I want to run with her and play with her. I don't want to be the mom who is too tired and sends her kid outside to play with someone else. I want her to play with ME!

So, I started making changes, we all did. Late last year, my family and I decided that we weren't going to be eating white pasta or white bread anymore. Now, we eat whole wheat pasta and wheat bread. The only thing we use is white sugar and that's for our tea. We don't sweeten it very much, but it's still there. We also decided to cut out as much caffeine as we could. We never had cokes in the house, so tea was the only drinking choice we could change. We went from regular tea to decaf and from regular coffee to decaf. I, an avid coffee drinker, was concerned about how decaf coffee would taste. Would it wake me up in the morning? What's the point of having coffee if it's decaf, right? Well....I have come to find out that if you are eating right and working out, you sleep better. When you sleep better, the mornings are easier and you don't need caffeine to wake you up. Nature does it for you!

I have been struggling with my weight for a while. I wasn't even fat in high school, but I was always on the verge, ya know? You could look at me and just know that weight would be a struggle for me for the rest of my life. I wasn't born with great genes. My father's side is obese and apparently, I got his genes. My mother's side is fine, which is where I suppose my little sister, Karah, gets her genes. I kept a decent weight up until I had my daughter. I had Caitlyn when I was 20 years old and did ok for the first 6 months of her life. It's been an uphill battle ever since. I know that they tell you when you have a kid, your body is just different. I didn't believe it until it happened to me. Now, I'm not blaming my weight on having a baby, it was my choice to eat unhealthy and not work out. However, it does take a toll on the body!

Last year, about September, my husband and I decided to quit whining about our bodies and do something about it. This was about the time we cut out the white flour and the caffeine. We got a gym membership at the town club and never looked back. We were at the gym....ALL THE TIME!! We made small choices in our eating habits. We never really ate bad before so only small changes needed to be made. I was working out 6 days a week (3 days strenth training, every day cardio). If you're gonna do something, do it all the way, right?

WRONG!!! After 3 months of going to the gym 6 days a week, I had lost 3 lbs. 3lbs after 3 months!! Are you kidding me?? It wasnt' worth it. What was wrong?? I got frustrated....very, very frustrated. Why work out 6 days a week and have nothing to show for it. Sure, I was feeling better and sleeping better, but in my mind, at the time, that wasn't enough. I quit going to the gym. I stopped at the end of November and didn't step foot in the gym again for the rest of 2009. I then decided to talk to my doctor. She ran some tests. There it was, the problem that had been taunting me every day at the gym.....my thyroid. I had read in all my SHAPE magazines about how important your thyroid is to weight loss and energy levels. I asked my doctor if my thyroid had anything to do with not being able to lose weight. "Absolutely", she said.

Praise the Lord....finally, an answer to my struggle. My doctor put me on a thyroid pill, it regulates how my thyroid works. Luckily, it's only $4 a month because I have to take it for the rest of my life. My doctor says that my thyroid will always need help to regulate itself and I'm ok with that. After 6 weeks of taking the pill, I went back to the doctor to see if my levels were normal and if the pill was working. It was....my levels were great and they got the correct dosage on the first try! No more excuses.

So now, my husband and I are back at the gym, but not 6 days a week. Something else I've learned, both through experience and literature- You're body does more in recovery than it does at the gym! I wasn't giving my body time to recover. That's when the weight comes off, that's when your muscles tone and your heart recovers, during your days off. So now, we go 4 days a week. Instead of an hour on the bike, we do 45 minutes on the elliptical. Another news flash- my cardio wasn't intense enough. That bike does not hold a candle to the elliptical. I was burning 315 calories in 45 minutes on the bike and now I'm buring almost 3x that much (925 calories) in 45 minutes on the elliptical. And....I'm finally losing weight. I'm finally seeing the fruits of my labor.

But, the most important thing I've noticed, is that I pray more. I have learned that I can't do everything myself. If I burn 925 calories, it's because God gave me a strong body and wants to see me happy and successful. Everytime I'm on the elliptical and I feel like I can't go on, instead of blasting my iPod, I pray....I pray for strenth and endurance to win this fight with my weight...once and for all. Not just for me and how it would make me feel, but for my little girl, who looks up to me and wants to be just like me. I don't want her to struggle like I have. I also do it for my husband, who thinks I'm beautiful no matter what size I am....and tells me everyday how much he loves me. I want to grow old with him, we want to grow old together.

So....this blog is the first of many to come about this journey that I'm on. I weigh every Tuesday morning to check my progess. I have lost 8 lbs. in 4 weeks. It may be slow weight loss, but the numbers on the scale are on a steady decline.....and that's all that matters. I hope to write another blog on Tuesday......declaring yet another 2lb decline on the scales. Here goes......