Where do I begin?

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Permalink Reply by Mom Bloggers Club on November 20, 2008 at 12:21pm

Hi Brandy,

I think we all have that problem. I know I do. There are a few groups here that you can join for support: Moms Shaping Up and Biggest Loser Moms. Joining a group will give you the support and motivation to lose the weight you'd like to drop.

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Permalink Reply by Rachel LeRoy on November 28, 2008 at 3:41pm

If you want it, really want it, then you know deep down this is not how you are supposed to look or feel. You should look hot and you should feel strong and proud. If you really, really want it, then you know what you truly have to do, and it will be hard, but if it were NOT hard everyone would be doing it and no one would have this problem.

1. change the way you eat. Rely on fruits, vegetables and whole grains - with some lean meats. You should be feeding a body, not enjoying food that messes with your health. Cut out hydrogenated oils one month, high fructose corn syrup the next month, artificial colors the month after that. Cut out cigarettes and cut back on alcohol. Your food should be things that grew on Earth for the last 500 years, not things invented in a lab. If the junk food is not in the house, you can't eat it, so don't buy it. Drink water. You really don't need to drink anything else but water.

I swear you will find that after 2 wks of limiting fake foods and fake sugars, your taste buds change and suddenly all natural foods like strawberries, raisins and green peppers are more flavorful then you could have ever imagined.

You know they say you need 6 servings of carbs. And 2 things happen when we hear that. 1) we think carbs are evil and 2) we don't really know what a serving is. Watch your servings, don't take in 10, just 6, and make them from WHOLE GRAIN carbs - like quinoa, rice, whole wheat, flax - not white bread, white pasta, puffy pastries. Those aren't carbs, they are junk.

2. Change the way you move. Make physical movement part of your life. Exercise 4-7 days per week. Walk places you can walk to instead of driving. Park in the back of parking lots. Stop thinking about convenience and instead think about health.

3. Join Sparkpeople.com. It's totally free. You can track every calorie eaten and burned if you want to. You can learn tons of exercises by watching videos and instructional clips. You can meet people and make a goal chart for yourself. You can get recipes and tips and articles and newsletters and much more.

4. There will be days that this will all suck and you will eat chocolate pie, and that is OK. You are human. But you are a human who should be able to run a mile without panting and do 20 pushups without stopping. (Unless you have a physical handicap.) You are not a human who should sit back and get diabetes and heart disease because life is easier and more fun when you eat fake cheese and crappy meat.

I have been there, I have done that, I have daughters who pack their own all natural lunches for school, I go to the gym about 5 days/wk, I can out-push-up my big brother and my 11 year old daughter can outrun the boys in her class. Make being healthy IMPORTANT to you - more important than TV or chocolate or convenience or not insulting aunts who bring cake, because deep down your HEALTH should be the most important thing. Without it, you can't really function to make anything else happen, can you?

Then, teach these lessons to your children so they grow up eating whole, real food - not junk that has more whole grain in the cardboard packaging than in the food itself.

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Permalink Reply by Sylvia Marino on December 1, 2008 at 9:51pm

The Moms Shaping Up group is great so do check it out. Also, for daily support on your quest, try The Daily Plate.

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