July 18, 2010

I'm a Loser Baby...

The day before I went to the hospital to have Evan I was weighed at the doctor's office. My final weight was 215 pounds. That is the most I have ever weighed in my entire life. I brushed it off though, telling myself that it's all baby. When Evan was born and they told me he was almost 10 pounds I thought to myself...see, all baby! The morning after I brought Evan home, I weighed myself again. I was 197 pounds. I was a little disappointed, but reminded myself that I am nursing and it will keep coming down quickly. And I was right, by the time Evan was 2 weeks old I was down to 185 pounds. Great, I thought! I'll be back to my pre-pregnancy weight in no time. WRONG! My body had reached it's plateau and that was that.

I admit, I felt really down about the fact that breastfeeding wasn't going to help me drop the 20 pounds I needed just to get back to my pre-pregnancy weight. I started researching weight watchers and trying to decide if it would be right for me. I talked with my sister who has recently lost a TON of weight. I turned to my Mommy Board where there is a "Get Fit" folder for some information. That is when I saw the before and after pictures from our boards version of "the Biggest Loser". At the beginning of the year some of the mom's got together and started it. I was pregnant during the first two rounds and never participated, but I was in awe at the before and after pictures that the women would post! The transformation was amazing. I knew that I would want to join after Evan was born but I didn't think I could do it this soon. I continued to make up excuses, and I hemmed and hawed and missed the deadline to sign up. The contest started June 18th and if I wanted to do it I was going to have to wait the 12 weeks for the next round. I was bummed and so I figured I could try and do it on my own but I knew I would continue to make excuses. So imagine my excitement when I logged onto the board the following Monday and saw a thread that read "Last Call for Biggest Losers!" I put my name on the thread and got access to the folder.

The rules are simple: weigh in on Friday by midnight Pacific time and you have to post a picture of your feet on the scale showing your number. There is a $20 entry fee that is not required but recommended and in order to win the money, the winner will have to post for the entire board to see their before and after pictures. Yes, I made Charlie take the "before" pictures, and NO, you will not be made privy to them! But I will show you my first weigh in!

Here is my feet on the scale for the first weigh in:


And this is me June 12th, a little over a week before I joined the competition:


It has been four weeks since I started this journey to a healthier me, and I feel GREAT! I am not on any special diet (ie: Weight Watchers, Atkins, etc.) because they don't work, at least for me! This is a lifestyle change. I am making better choices about food and cutting out as much processed crap that I can (Thank you Jamie Oliver!). And because of this I can have my cake (or ice cream rather) and eat it too! Everything in moderation, even Brian's Chocolate Covered Bacon! When you make your own foods, you know EXACTLY what goes into it!

And so drum roll please, my weigh-in as of last Friday:


I have lost a total of 11.2 pounds which is 6.04% of my body weight! My BMI has gone from 33.9 to 31.9!



My goal for the first round of Biggest Loser is to get down to my pre-pregnancy weight of 165. I have 8 more weeks until the end of the competition and I am feeling very confident that I will reach that goal and perhaps even more. But slow and steady wins the race so no rushing this here!

And nothing like a new hair cut and color to make me feel really confident and good about myself!


I owe a lot of my success to the women on my board who are doing this with me. There is so much support when people have a bad day. There are ups, downs, successes and fails, but there is someone always there to offer up tips, advice, and hugs. Another reason for my success is the accountability, and so I am sharing my journey on my blog as well. The more accountable I can be the better I will do! I'll also be using my food blog, Splash of This to post my favorite healthy dishes. And who knows, maybe I'll help motivate someone out there who, like me, kept making excuses while looking for the easy way out.

2 comments:

Nadine said...

YAY! PAM! I have been reading your blog (through Erica) for a long while. Have loved watching your babies be born and grow.

You're starting to look a lot more like yourself, congrats on your success so far!

Boston Pam said...

Thanks!! :)