The Beginning (Again!)

I always stumble in the beginning with my "who am I and what am I doing with a blog" post. I guess like any story, the beginning is the best place to start. Brace yourself, it's a long one!

I was always an active kid. I played any and every sport I could and it kept me healthy and fit. When I graduated high school - I would venture to say I weighed around 125-130 lbs. Now this is a guess because I never weighed myself, never worried about diet and all that good stuff. So I graduated and went to college and it began. No sports/exercise + excessive eating/soda = FAT. That was the new me...fat. I still don't recall worrying about my weight though until I was around 20/21. I had a new boyfriend and we went out and drank a lot. School was school but what we enjoyed the most, was eating and drinking with friends. I remember stepping on the scale and seeing 145-150 and thinking "oh my God!" and shaking my head, but you know what I did? Ignored it. Didn't worry about it at all. For my height of 5'4 1/2 (don't forget the half!) I didn't think that was bad but I knew I was out of shape. Again, I just ignored it and went on with life. 

I got married on Sept 2005 and found out we were pregnant in Oct/Nov 2005. I was so nervous and excited. I weighed 160 I think at the beginning but had severe morning sickness and lost weight, well after my son was born - I weighed 155. I vowed to lose weight and exercise but I wasn't really into it. We moved Texas (my husband is military) in Dec 2005 and at that point the friends we had, all they did was drink, party and eat. Since I was pregnant, I couldn't drink but boy could I eat! My husband deployed in 2008 and that sent me into a depression - where I reached my highest weight of 216. I lost about 10-15 before he came home, so at the end of 2008 I was around 195-198. Fast forward to June 2009, I found out we were pregnant again. At that point - I weighed 204. I'm sure you see the pattern of yo-yo weight here. After having another case of severe morning sickness, I lost 29 lbs. Then when my daughter was born, I weighed in at 166 lbs. I again vowed to lose that weight but again, it didn't happen. Life with two kids was crazy and well, exercise was not a priority. In 2010, we got orders to move back to Louisiana and I was so happy. At this point, we wanted our last child and tried from September 2010 to May 2011. It didn't happen, fertility drugs were causing me to gain weight and I was fed up. So I started working out and just stopped trying for a baby. I think I did too much at the beginning and it took a toll on my body. I was running 2-3 miles a day in the heat (100+!) I got down to 185 and thought, ok this is it! But then baby fever hit me in Sept 2011 and we started trying again...and this time we did it. I found out I was pregnant on Christmas day 2011 and was thrilled. We had our son on Aug 2012. He was my third c-section and my finally baby. At 4 weeks postpartum, I started to work out slowly and I got down to 185 lbs but then the holidays happened and here you have me today. Jan 2, 2013 and weighing in at 198.6 lbs. 

Crazy right? You may be asking what is so different this time? Well this time I am doing this for ME. I figured out I was always trying to do it for someone else. My husband, my kids, society etc. And you know what? I am making myself and my health a priority this year. As a mom we tend to lose ourselves and put our needs on the back burner but we can't do that! We have to and deserve to be happy with ourselves as well. So that's what I am doing. I have an amazing group of fellow mom's who are in this journey with me. We are starting a Biggest Loser competition from Jan 1 to May 1st. Along with that, Joe and I joined a weight loss competition called 90 Days to a Better You that our base housing is putting on. The top 10 get their Mud Run fees paid. So there you go...my beginning. Now lets see how this journey goes!