My sisters and I took our mom on a quick wine tasting getaway to celebrate her birthday. It was so nice to spend the time together with just us girls. When Carolyn, second from the left, posted pictures of our super awesome trip, I was appalled. I just couldn't believe how big I had gotten.
Immediately after Harper, my second child, I had gotten to a pretty reasonable weight. Somehow (I say somehow like eating dessert constantly and not exercising would warrant any other outcome) I gained ten pounds by the time she was 2 1/2.
I tried from Christmas until March to lose weight using what I remembered from Weight Watchers. I lost three pounds. That just wasn't going to work.
Jori, third from the left, was having a lot of her own success on a weight loss program, so I joined too.
On St. Patrick's Day, I began Take Shape for Life. I quickly adjusted to the small meals eaten every few hours. I never felt hungry or tired! Also, I realized how little water I had been drinking once I really started downing 64 ounces a day. Being a vegetarian, my veggie intake was already pretty high. However, I hadn't realized how high the carb content for my meat-replacement meals was. Add in high carb veggies and it's no wonder I was losing weight.
The program says to expect an average of 2-5 pounds of weight loss a week; I was thrilled lost 25 pounds in two months.
The tricky part is, of course, not gaining it all back. I followed the plan set out by Take Shape for Life and my health coach and was able to stay at or below my goal weight.
When my brother-in-law decided to join us on the weight loss journey, my health coach asked if I'd be interested in becoming a health coach myself. It's been such a fun experience sharing this program with my family and friends.
I dreaded putting the before & after pictures online for anyone to see. The after picture could be posted on street corners, and I'd be fine...it's just that before. Ugh.
But I realized how few pictures of myself I had taken when I was unhealthy. If I went through my Facebook photos, they were all of my kids. I was being erased from my family's memories because I was too embarrassed of how I looked. I'm thrilled to say I'm happier and healthier. You'll be seeing a lot more of less of me!
If you are interested in more information, look at my coaching site Meals with Mel.
