Goal Weight

three weeks ago, i hit my goal weight.  it took me almost two years. i wanted to share what things worked for me to lose the 54 pounds... to maybe help others out, but also for me to look back at my blog and remember what i had in place to be successful.

• FitBit- i love my FitBit. i love how it tracks everything from sleep to heart rate. i love how it keeps track of my exercise. i love how it lets me connect with friends and join challenges every week to hold me accountable and stay on track. i also love reading the FitBit community newsfeed to learn about others and their struggles and successes. i love getting badges. (silly, i know... but it totally motivates me!) i love all the data it has collected since i started wearing it in June 2017. it has been amazing watching my stats and seeing how my lifestyle affects my health. if you don't own one, i strongly recommend putting it in on your christmas list. and then i can add you to the workweek hustles!

• Instagram- i joined instagram in may thanks to a great friend. i didn't know much about it, but i decided to use it more as a fitness tool than social one. i follow marathon runners, running pages, and moms who run! i follow jillian michaels and health pages. my newsfeed is all about fitness and being healthy with of course pictures of my friends' adorable children in there too!

• Exercise Buddy-my brother was my running buddy all summer. he would meet me every saturday morning for a long run. i loved having him meet me and it held me accountable to get out of bed and get moving. but... my brother is a busy man. he owns a pizza place and has a wife and three children of his own. i knew he couldn't keep meeting me every weekend. luckily my best friend from high school stepped in! she has been meeting up with me on the weekends and running. we do tend to get busy sometimes with our families, but we text each other and keep each other in the loop with our exercise if we can't get together. 

• Moving on-i am a binge eater. i have been one my whole life. especially at social events. i eat even when i am full. i can't get away from the appetizer table or dessert table. back in the day, if i binged during a weekend, i would then binge again on monday, tuesday, and then forget the "diet." i have been working really hard at moving on from tough eating days. it's okay to have a rough day of eating or two... i have been working really hard at bouncing back after a junk fest. i try to always have healthy breakfasts, lunches, and dinners ready to go on Mondays to help get me focused on being healthy for the week. 

• Stepping on the Scale-i've been trying to step on the scale a couple times a week to keep myself in check. i would dodge the scale if i knew i was eating terrible. i didn't want to admit to the damage i was doing and then i would be shocked after a month of ignoring it. it would always be up 20 pounds. i especially make sure i step on that sucker after a rough eating weekend. knowing that number helps guide me to healthier choices on a monday. i also step on it after a good workout to keep me working out as well. 

• Taking Pictures-definitely the hardest thing because i hate myself in photos. there are not many pictures of me around and i am okay with this. but, taking pictures really can show progress when the number on the scale isn't moving. this definitely helped keep me motivated when i got frustrated.

                                       (197 pounds)                                                   

(143 pounds)

so here i am. i am at my goal weight. my wedding day weight. now i have to maintain. this is so much harder to me than losing. hoping all the things i have in place can help me maintain this weight. i am happy here. i no longer am trying to lose. my only goal is to not gain... especially that dreaded 20 pounds.

Routines.

i wanted to take some time and share some things that i have changed in my life to help keep me on track with eating healthy and exercising.

i think sometimes as mothers we start to put ourselves on the back burner. we put our children and husbands front and center. which i think is instinct. part of being a woman. our job is to care for our family. meet their needs. give them love. care. and direction. however, while taking care of everyone, i forgot to take care of myself. taking care of myself takes time. one change i made my was to start making time for me. to take care of myself.

finding the time to exercise, plan meals/shop, and sleep became very important to me over the summer. every sunday, i spent Nolan's nap time planning the week ahead in my wellness log.

i wrote out my workout plans. in my mind, i had to stick with the exercise plan i wrote for the whole week. I would use Nolan's nap time to do my workouts during the week. landon would have his quiet time playing in the basement while i did my exercise. i did this throughout the whole summer. i prepped and made breakfasts, lunches, and dinners. i also was in bed by 10:00 and up around 7:00. it was the best amount of sleep. i spent my days eating healthy, exercising, and resting. but then something happened... august 20th.

reality hit. i was no longer home anymore. it was time to go back to work. the sunday before august 20th, i sat and planned out my exercise and meals. i tried to squeeze my workouts in first thing in the morning around 5 AM. i tried for a few weeks, but it was terrible. i felt miserable. i didn't put my "all" into my workouts. i would stop early. and then i would be EXHAUSTED by 2 in the afternoon. sometimes i would even end up with a headache at work. i decided that exercising in the morning was not for me especially when i had to work the whole day afterwards.

i had to figure out what to do. i knew i didn't want to do my workouts after work. i already have such little time with my kids being a working mom that i didn't want to use that small chunk of time. so, i decided to exercise at night. after the kids are in bed. i usually get on the treadmill or pop in a Jillian Michaels DVD around 8:00. some days it is hard to get myself going. but since it is written in my wellness journal, i know i have to do it so i can check it off. i'm usually done by 9 and in the shower and cozy in pjs by 9:30. i relax with a sparkle water and a book until 10:00 and then to bed i go. this has been my routine since the middle of september. that has been one change. making and sticking to a routine. making it a habit. i've had a couple rest days here and there, but i can always feel myself ready to get back into my night routine. another change i made was to take time to fill in my wellness log. taking the time to fill it out and following through has been really motivating to me.

i'm sure any calendar would work to keep track of your health, but i got my journal here! i love erin condren and all her products...this journal was worth the twelve bucks! :)

A Runner.

i got pretty quiet when school started back up again at the end of august... and even more quieter after the half marathon in september. i'm not exactly sure why... one reason for sure is because i didn't want to annoy everyone with my running. i fell back in love with it again after such a long break from it. i never thought i would be a runner again, and having the opportunity to be healthy and race has been... well... FUN! it feels like i never stopped.

i also was never shy about posting my weight. i've been as high as 218 pounds pregnant. and i stayed around 197 pounds for five years until i took the 100 days of no sugar challenge almost two years ago now. that is when my lifestyle started to change. i realized i had a huge sugar addiction and that sugar was causing my weight gain and the difficulty to lose. i had no problem sharing my weight loss. posting updates. cheering for losses. frustrated with gains. i loved sharing all that over the past two years. but then... the end of august hit. and something happened...i dropped a good amount of weight quickly. with no crazy dieting. just running and eating healthy. i think i broke the plateau i was sitting at and it really surprised me! eating healthy has come so easily to me with my new love of running. and as i continue to eat healthy and run... weight continues to come off. for some reason, i am having a harder time posting my weight the lower i go than the higher i go. another reason i may have been a little quieter.

looking back, i wish i wrote more over the past couple months. my goal in september was to make it to christmas without gaining 20 pounds. fall is the hardest time of year for me. it can be stressful with a new school year. stress means food. it can be fun with fall and holiday activities. fun means food and drinks. running has helped with the stress. running has helped with the fun. i don't mind having some fun with food because in the back of my mind, i am exercising and being healthy. balance. i think i am finally understanding how to have a healthy relationship with food.

i'm hoping to update this blog a little more. i'm hoping to share the path i have been on since june that led me to where i am today... my lowest weight.  i am also hoping to write about the strategies i used and am currently using to help keep me exercising and eating healthy.  it is a lifestyle change... and i'm hoping i can keep this change going for as long as i can.