Big Loser

A year ago, I started a journey towards a healthier me. It was hard at first, getting into the groove of working out on a regular basis when I had basically been a couch potato for the majority of my life. After hitting the gym and not seeing a lot of results, I knew I needed to make another change; this time, to my diet. I went through a healthy lifestyles program with my husband, and worked very hard to change the way we eat, and not on a short term basis. The changes we made were changes we knew we had to make for the long haul if we wanted to be healthier. Everything was going great...until early June...

The company my husband worked for was purchased by a larger company. Thankfully, he was offered another job at the larger company, but the new position meant a change in schedules for both of us. Mr. Morning-Person, who happily went to work at 6am in order to get off in time to pick our kids up from school, had to move to a regular 8a-5p schedule, leaving me, Mrs. Not-A-Morning-Person-In-The-Slightest, to have to make the change to 6am-3pm. Due to this change, I started slipping on my workouts. In May last year, I was right in the middle of running a Couch to 5k program. Once I completed the program and ran my first 5k on July 4, I couldn't muster up the desire to run any farther than that. So, I just quit.

With the switch to mornings came the craving for caffeine in order to keep my eyes open at my desk, which meant back-sliding back into a Pepsi habit I thought I'd kicked.

Now that I've been on my new schedule for 6 months, it doesn't feel like getting my butt out of bed every morning is any easier, but I am much more well-adjusted to it than I was. I started training for my first half-marathon, which will take place in April. And I entered a Biggest Loser type contest. Weigh-ins are on Mondays, with cash prizes awarded weekly and a big cash prize awarded at the end. What could be a better motivator than cash money? Here's hoping that the fifth set of pictures I add to the one above will have me with a lower weight than pictures 3 and 4.

Check back here often, as I hope to post at least weekly updates about my progress.