Commitment to change & the "Chub Challenge"

You know, it's that time of year again when everyone has overindulged in all their favorite tasty treats and start to think about those New Year's resolutions. I have to be honest though, I'm not much of a resolution girl but it is a good time when the holiday's are behind us to get back on track.

Last year was my year to finally get a grip on the weight side of things. I was at my heaviest.

Image courtesy of Bordeaux Studio

My complex about my weight began as a teen. I took every diet pill on the market, tried every fad diet, starved myself, yadda yadda yadda.

I was probably at my smallest when I got married as a lot of people are. Then come the kids. After each one, I held on to more weight then when I started. At various points of trying to lose weight I'd get down to a more appropriate weight but then I would somehow gain weight back. Story sound familiar?

I love to eat. Who doesn't? Everyone has their comfort food and different reasons why they overeat. Some people eat when they are depressed. I tend to be more of a happy/bored eater. Ha, I guess I'm generally happy because I eat a lot!!! I have no appetite if I'm in a depressed mood.

Image courtesy of Sandra Pierce

As a child I was taught to eat everything on my plate. Are you part of the clean plate club too? To this day I want to eat everything on my plate if I can. This has lead to issues with portion control for me. I typically choose to eat off smaller plates now and have to remind myself that it's ok to take home half my meal and eat it later. It will still be there.

It takes a lot of commitment and dedication to make a change. It was finally time for me to make this commitment to myself for myself. We owe it to ourselves to be good to ourselves. To love ourselves. "Nobody is going to love us if we don't love us". We've heard that before. No more excuses. No more being lazy. No more being careless.  This is about being healthy and making healthy choices.

This image is especially painful for me to look at. Ugh! Gross!

When we moved to NY the summer of 2013, I joined Vent Fitness in Guilderland toward the end of the year in November. A friend from Chicago was heading up a "Biggest Loser" weigh loss challenge for the new year. We all had to put in a good size chunk of money and whoever lost the most weight percentage wise won the cash pot. This helped to light a fire under my butt and really I was only competing against myself. It was nice to have a support group to keep us all going. Everyone did really well. And I came in second! There is no money for 2nd best. I think there were 10-12 of us. I forget now. But DANG IT!!!!! Cash would have been nice! Think of the plane tickets I could have bought! Oh well, I came away a loser and that was much more rewarding in the long run. I had lost 32 lbs in about 3.5 months. I went to the gym almost everyday doing a variety of classes and chose to eat Paleo style. It wasn't always easy to get up and out to the gym everyday but I made myself go and sometimes I would still eat that treat I wanted. Fast forward to August and a fitness challenge had begun at the gym. By now I've met my main workout buddy and a few other regulars. We joked and referred to the challenge as the "Chub Challenge".  I continued eating the Paleo diet, worked out everyday, sometimes a couple times a day and tracked my food with MyFitnessPal. By the end of the 12 week challenge I was down another 11.5 lbs. It was a lot harder to lose weight since I had already lost a good bit. But I toned, lost more inches and I was stronger. Best of all, I came away with the best gym family ever! 

Before and After Front

Before and After Side 

Still no 6 pack. It's under there somewhere! But I've got a pretty good start. There's no doubt, since the holidays, I've gained back a few more pounds than I want. I. Ate. Everything.!!!!! I'm scared to step on the scale. And I have to get myself back off refined sugar and flour. Thank goodness another reinVent Challenge is just around the corner. I look forward to working out again with my gym family team and welcoming more people into our challenge family. Go Team Brown!

 Below are a few photos of our gym shenanigans.