30 Days of Thanksgiving: Day 8

A month ago today I started a new medication.  I know it was a month ago today because it was the exact same day that I weighed in and announced to all of you that I had lost 42 pounds!  One of the most common side effects of that medication is weight gain.  The nurse that visited my house and taught me about the medication told me that it's very common for patients to gain 5-10 pounds in the first WEEK of being on the medication, and then up to 5 pounds a month thereafter!  This terrifies me, because as you know I've worked pretty hard to take off over 40 pounds and the last thing I want to do it pile it all right back on because of some stupid medicine.  I decided right then and there that I was determined NOT to join that statistic!

Today, then, I am thankful for LeanGreenMama.  In case you haven't been around long, 5 months ago I set out on a journey with LeanGreenMama.  I promised to stick to her 6 week bootcamp for...well, 6 weeks, and tell my readers how well it did (or didn't) work.  The plan worked SO well that I've stuck with it for 5 months now!

I'm thankful for LeanGreenMama this month, especially, because I have not gained the 5-15 pounds that the nurse told me was almost inevitable!  Hooray!  I gained 3 pounds that first week.  It scared me.  I got even more strict about my eating.  I fought those pounds.  I lost 5 pounds!  And then I gained 4 pounds.  As you can see, it's been a bit of a yo-yo month.  Normally I would be terribly frustrated about this, because as you all know women don't like the yo-yo-ing.  But friends?  I am so very thankful to LeanGreenMama for showing me how to eat for life, rather than leading me into another diet.  Because of your encouragement and support, I've been able to essential maintain my 40 pound loss (yes, I'm currently sitting at 40 pounds down) rather than gaining as anticipated!  I'm working on finding some ways to amp up my exercise, so that I can begin, once again, losing and reach my goals!

Dear Lord, thank you for modern medicine.  Thank you for the benefits, which far outweigh the risks!  Thank you for companies and individuals who are will to give of themselves, their time, and their efforts, in order to help others succeed at goals.  Thank you for putting Jennifer from LeanGreenMama in my path at exactly the time I needed her, even though I didn't know yet how vital her role would become.  Thank you, thank you, for always providing!

What? 42? For real?

Four months ago today I set off on a new adventure, a life-changing journey.  Four months ago today I began to follow the LeanGreenMama blueprint.  I joined the LeanGreenMama 6 Week Weightloss Bootcamp.  I decided it was MY time.  I decided I needed to finally make the commitment to do it for ME.  And I agreed that, for at least 6 weeks, I'd share my journey with all of you!

And it's been 4 months.

And I'm still sharing with you.

Which means I must be doing SOMETHING right, right?

I want to remind you (and me!) of where I started.  For those of you who don't know me, I'll quickly share a little background.  I'm mama of 3 kids, ages 6, 4, and 19 months (yes, already)!  There have been losses of children, losses of jobs, (maybe a little loss of sanity?), medical diagnoses, 9 surgeries in 4 years, 5 houses in 7 years (and we've lived in this one for over 5)...a lot of stress.  This mama is a stress eater, and she had the hips...thighs...belly...booty...to prove it!  Here, let me show you:

Yep, that's me in all my chunky glory.  I'll admit it to you now, I was "obese."  Eeek.  See that belly?  Ugh.  Not a pretty picture!  But I followed the LeanGreenMama blueprint and started dropping pounds!  Just changing my eating made a HUGE difference!

Then I started adding in exercise.  I increased my "workouts" to WiiFit step on a 4" step, 30 minutes a day 3 times a week.  And then I added in Zumba classes 1-2 times a week.  And then I found FitBit.  This handy little tracker was like a pedometer on steroids!  Amazing little device that made me want to move more!  It tracks steps, miles, sleep...you can use online tools to track your calorie intake and exercise.  This is a great tool for anyone who is interested in being healthy!

Pounds started falling off.  They took inches along with them!  Pounds and inches just plunking down all around me!  I promise some days I could feel them disappearing.

And today?  Today, my friends, I am 4 months into a lifetime of change.  4 months into a lifestyle change that has already made a huge difference in the way I think and feel.  4 months into forever.  What has 4 months earned me?

4 months has earned me a THREE size reduction in pants size!  (Girly pants are funny.  I was a 16 then, and I'm a 10 now!  That's 3 sizes.  Go figure.)  It's earned me the need for a new blender because my blades are dull and not blending anymore.  It's also earned me the need for a new food processor, because the little 3 cup cheapo just doesn't cut it!

4 months has earned me a 25.5 inch reduction in my overall body size!  That's just measuring my chest, waist, hips, and thighs!  I wish I had measured my arms.  I know there's a difference.

4 months has earned me a firm spot in the "healthy weight range!"  That's right.  I am now .2 pounds below the very top of the healthy weight range for my height!  (Maybe that's not so "firm" but hooray!)

So, again, here I am, 191.8 pounds:

And here I am today, 149.8 pounds:

Friends, 4 months has earned me a 42 pound loss!  Forty two pounds!

I have LeanGreenMama and FitBit, in huge part, to thank for that huge change!  Thank you so much, both of you, for all the help and support you've provided along the way!  I can't wait to be able to tell you I've reached my goal (14.8 pounds to goal!) or that I've surpassed that goal and set a new one!

You've got LeanGreenMama and FitBit to thank as well.  You knew it was coming, didn't you?  That's right!  It's giveaway time!

LeanGreenMama has agreed, VERY generously, to give EVERY ONE of my readers a 42% discount on her LeanGreenMama 6 Week Weightloss Bootcamp in celebration of my 42 pound loss!!  If you've been thinking about joining, now is the BEST time to do it!  It'll be a while before you see another deal like this!  You'll need to follow THIS LINK and enter the coupon code THISNTHAT (all caps).  Hurry, though!  You only have through Tuesday, Oct 11, to take advantage of this amazing offer!

FitBit has agreed to send one of my super lucky readers one of the brand new FitBit Ultra trackers!  The FitBit Ultra was JUST released on Monday, so you'll be one of the very first to try it!  It's just like the original FitBit, only with a ton of new features!  You'll love it!  (I'll be reviewing it next week.  What I can say so far is that it is AWESOME!!)

We're going to make this a quick giveaway, because I think 42 pounds in 4 months is pretty quick.  We're going to run this thing for 4 days, in honor of the 4 months of hard work.  And we're going to make it an easy giveaway, because I think 42 pounds in 4 months has been pretty easy.  We're going to rafflecopter it, and we're going to have just 2 entry options.  Are you up for that?

Enjoy, my friends!  I'll update you again on November 8th!

Three months down! A lifetime to go.

Wow.  I can hardly believe it's been three months already since I because the journey to become a Lean Green Mama!  It's been a wild, wild ride these last few months!  There have been things that I thought would trip me up (umm...my Bug had a 13 hour surgery, remember?) that didn't even make me skip a beat, and things I thought were totally manageable (the garage sale last weekend?) that have thrown me off for an entire week!  All in all, it's been a great adventure so far!  

Here's a photo re-cap of how far I'd come before today:

Before Side

Before Front

6 Weeks side

6 Weeks Front

2 Month Side

2 Months Front

And then...and then today.  Today, I weigh 155.2 pounds!  That's a loss of 36.6 pounds in the last 3 months!  I'm just 20 pounds above my goal!  I only weigh FIVE pounds more than my driver's license says!  Hooray!  I'm hoping that in a couple more weeks I'll be able to say my driver's license tells the truth!  I am super duper excited about this loss.  

As of today, I have lost:

3.5 inches off my bust

6.5 inches off my waist

7.5 inches off my hips

4.25 inches off my thighs

For a grand total of

21.75

inches lost!

Holy cow!  I had NO idea it was that much!  36.6 pounds, 21.75 inches!  Yay!!!  I am in size 10 heaven!

That's right.  You heard me.  Yesterday I was at Target for diapers.  I was wearing sweatpants and they were literally falling off of me as I walked through the store.  I decided to stop in the women's clothing section and look at the price of sweats.  I didn't buy any ($17 seemed a bit pricey to me!) but of course I glanced at the clearance section.  They had capris for 75% off...$5 a pair!  I'm not typically a capri pants wearer, but they were cute and I wanted to try them on my new body.  I held up a pair of size 12s, but they looked a little big, so on a whim I bought a pair of size 10s right off the rack without trying them on.  People...they FIT and I am wearing them today!  (Target has different "fits" in their pants now!  I bought a Fit 4...with curvy hips and thighs.  Someday I'll be able to buy the "straight" ones!)  I probably shouldn't say this, but I am SO proud of me! 

And here they are, folks...once again, the before pictures...and then today's 3 months in pictures.  I think the results so far are amazing, don't you?!?  (Oh, and I know I really need to go shopping for some...umm...undergarments...we'll get there!)

 Before Side

3 Months Side

Before Front

3 Months Front

What was that sound?!?

I jumped out of bed this morning, eager to start my day.  It was 4:46am.  As my feet hit the floor, I was startled by a funny plopping noise behind me.  I turned around just in time to see a pound fall off and bounce across the room!

Okay, okay, so the only thing true about that entire story is that it was 4:46am.  Have I ever told you I'm NOT a morning person?  That's a whole different story, though.  What I'm here to tell you about right now is that mysterious pound that plopped.  

A quick catch-up if you've missed out...

I am two full weeks into a 6-week bootcamp with Jennifer McCay of www.leangreenmama.com.  The bootcamp is designed to coach mommies like myself into healthier lifestyles.  Jennifer encourages *gasp* healthy eating as well as exercise to revamp your body, regain your mojo, and generally feel healthy!

As I said, I'm two weeks in.  This last week's challenges were to eat at least 2 healthy meals a day and get moving!  Easy peasy.  I knew I could do this!  Overall, I rocked this weeks challenges!  Almost every day, I had 2 (or 3!) healthy meals.  I got moving a few more times than normal.  I'm trying, folks, I'm trying!  In fact, yesterday at the grocery I bought less than a dozen items from the "inside aisles" and that included several cans of beans!

I'll be totally honest, here, and tell you that Saturday I stunk at the challenges.  My kids were out of town, which means the hubby and I go out on a date!  YAY!  This time, we hit up Olive Garden.  I did choose relatively healthy.  I had salad and minestrone soup, no breadsticks.  BUT then he remembered that a local (delicious) ice cream shop had free scoops for dads in honor of father's day.  So, I had a single (read: ginormous) scoop cone of deliciousness.  Then, my cousin got married!  (Congrats, Britty!  Love you girl!)  Wedding food is not notoriously healthy.  I only ate fruit during the appetizer round.  I loved the spinach and strawberry salad!  I kept myself to green beans and chicken with spinach and mushrooms during the main course.  But the cake.  Ah, the cake!

Did you know that when your body is out of the habit of having a lot of sugar, you get a headache after you eat a lot of sugar?  Did you know that when you eat a lot of sugar, you wake up SUPER hungry the next morning?  NOT pretty.

I quickly want to mention, too, that Jennifer and I have been communicating individually in addition to my participation in the bootcamp.  I'm blessed to be able to take advantage of her Personalized Web-Coaching program and it's super helpful already!  In one recent "session" she coached me a bit extra on meat/dairy intake.  She addresses this briefly in her information anyway, but for certain health conditions, she suggests a totally meat and dairy free diet.  Honestly, I thought that was crazy.  It does seem, however, to be working well for me!  (I am not TOTALLY meat and dairy free, but have almost completely eliminated both from my diet for nearly a week.)   

So, I know you all want to know whether I'm seeing results.  Two weeks in, surely I've noticed SOMETHING, right?  

Right!

Last week I weighed in at 186.0.  If you remember, that was 1.6 pounds down from my "official" start, and about 5.5 pounds down from my "unofficial" start at the beginning of June.  Today, I can proudly tell you that scale read:

181.8!!

That's right, folks!  I am down an official 5.8 pounds from the start of the 6 week challenge, and 9.8 pounds this month!  I promised myself I wasn't going to take measurements until the very end, so that I could wow myself with the results...but I lied to myself.  I took measurements last night, and I have lost almost 

5 inches!!

I know this will all slow down.  Soon I will be reporting to you that I lost 2 pounds, or 1 pound, or .4 pounds in a week.  I know that and understand that.  I also know that some of you are thinking the weight is falling off too quickly and I need to eat more because I'm starving myself.  I want to remind you that in the beginning of any "diet" (although this isn't a diet) weight tends to drop quickly and then slow down or level off.  I assure you that I am eating well...and a LOT...but it's healthy food.  I'm satisfied, and occasional stuffed.  I don't like the stuffed feeling.  I'm still learning.  But it's healthy and it feels good!

If you haven't already, please PLEASE check out www.leangreenmama.com!  If you're interested, there are 4 FREE videos that will certainly help you start your weight loss journey at http://www.leangreenyou.com/!  I highly encourage everyone to at least give health a try!

My journey to becoming a LeanGreenMama!

Someday I'm going to be a LeanGreenMama.  Someday.  For now, though?  This:

Pretty, huh?  Or not!  These snaps were actually taken a few weeks ago.  Some of you have seen them before.  We're using these as the "before" pictures.  

Before I found LeanGreenMama.

Before I got serious about my eating.

Before I started on a new life adventure, a journey to create a healthy lifestyle.

Before.

And now?  Now, it's week 2.  I weighed in at 186.0 yesterday morning.  Hey, that's about 5 pounds in the last 3 weeks, folks!  Five pounds since I found Jennifer and LeanGreenMama.  That's 1.6 pounds down from last week when I officially started the program.  That's progress!

I'm loving the program.  Jennifer is dedicated to helping her clients change their lives.  She's not there to teach you a great diet secret.  She's not there to give you a quick fix.  She's there to change your life!  And so, each week of the Six Week Bootcamp challenge, she proposes a new challenge.  Last week?  Eat ONE healthy meal each day.  ONE!  I don't know about you, but I though one healthy meal a day was easy!  This week?  This week she's challenged us to eat TWO healthy meals a day.  Just two meals.  And get moving.  Just a little.  A little more than normal.  A little harder than normal.  Push just a little.

Today I had a smoothie for breakfast.  Strawberries, blackberries, pineapple, mango, banana, spinach and (eek!) just a little bit of broccoli.  The broccoli somehow didn't make it into my lunch bag, so I just threw it into the blender.  I didn't taste it, but my body appreciated it.  For lunch, I had a couple handfuls of grapes, about 10 baby carrots, and a bunch of broccoli.  Yay!  Two healthy meals!  And then, dinner time.  Salmon patties.  Usually we make homemade macaroni and cheese.  Tonight I grilled potatoes, onions, green peppers, and green beans!  See how I healthified my dinner?!?  Go me!

Thank you, Jennifer, for allowing me to participate in your 6 Week Weight Loss Bootcamp!  What an amazing program.  Thank you, thank you, for your weekly videos and downloads!  I've printed everything and created a binder.  I'm working on reading through.  I'm working on watching the videos.  I'm trying my hardest to make changes.  I've tried to diet so many times before, but your lifestyle changing program seems to be a perfect fit for my (imperfect) self!

I'm looking forward to sharing with all of you readers my progress over the next 5 weeks (and beyond)!  I can't wait to see where this journey takes me!

Mama Mojo ~ (Giveaway)

CLOSED

Mama Mojo.

Have you seen yours lately?

You know what I'm talking about.  Your sparkle.  Your zing.  Your zazzle.  Your pizazz.

I haven't seen mine lately.  I'm pretty sure I know where it is, though.  I think I left it at the bottom of too many empty ice cream buckets.

Truthfully, it's been missing for quite some time.  My zip, my drive, my spunk, my energy...my self...they're still there, somewhere.  I can feel them trying to get out from time to time.  But overall?  Overall I've become dull.  I'm not shiny anymore.  I want that back.  I really really do!

A huge part of the problem for me (and I suspect for some of you as well) is that I am not happy with myself.  I'm a bit of a perfectionist, to be honest.  If I can't do something right the first time, I tend to give up.  If it isn't going to be done well, I'm just not going to do it.  I haven't been happy with the way I look, the way I feel, the way I clean, the way I...  You name it, I'm probably frustrated about it!

Lately (and by lately I mean for the past 5 or 6 years) there have been a lot of "imperfections" in my life.  Incidentally, that time roughly corresponds to the length of time I've been a Mama.  Now, I'm not saying my kids are imperfections by any means!  Quite the contrary.  God has created some pretty amazing little humans for me to grow!  But life circumstances have been challenging over those 5 of 6 years, and I tend to be a stress eater.

I was recently contacted by Jennifer McCay, the founder and weight loss trainer of Lean Green Mama.  Jennifer has recently published videos 1 and 2 of a FREE 4-video series on healthy weight loss called "Get Back Your Mama Mojo and Lose the Weight for Life!"  Here's her first video: Success Factors!  If you're like me and haven't seen your own Mama Mojo in a while, I encourage you to check out the videos.  As I mentioned, videos 1 and 2 have been published.  They're great!  There are tons of great tips and ideas in each of the videos.  You'll want to be prepared with a pen and paper, and (if you're like me!) a video for the kids and a set of earphones for yourself, so that you can have 30-45 minutes of hopefully uninterrupted time to watch the videos.  They're worth the time, though!  I've picked up and used some of the tips already!

You know what I think my favorite thing is, so far, that Jennifer has said in the Lean Green Mama videos?  She told me it's okay if I'm not "perfect" at it.  In fact, she understands that I won't be, and that's okay!  Even that is a huge encouragement for someone like me!

I'm super excited to tell you about the Lean Green Mama program that's getting ready to start: 6 Weeks to a LeanGreenYOU!  I have to admit, I don't know much about it.  I know that it's going to be awesome!  I know that it'll be a 6 week program that includes a combination of videos and live phone chats.  I know that if it's anything like the video series, it'll be full of amazing ideas to help you regain your mojo!  (I'm pretty sure you won't find it at the bottom of an ice cream tub...but I'm hoping she'll let me have just a little dish every now and then!)  This 6 week program kicks off on June 8th!  You'll want to read about it on the site, Lean Green Mama, and get connected through her free resources that are already available!

Jennifer from Lean Green Mama would like to send one of you on the 6 week journey with me!  Who's ready?  Anyone?!?  This program is a $497 value, and she'd like to GIVE it to one of you!  Isn't that awesome??  I'd like to have the support of one of you on the journey as well.  We can do it together!

Are you interested in joining the 6 Weeks to a LeanGreenYou program?  You can read more about it at http://www.leangreenmama.com/.  If you're ready, REALLY ready, to get your mojo back, I'd love to have you enter to win!  (Contest will end and a winner will be drawn June 1, 2011 at 11:59am EST.  That's soon, so get ready!)

How to Enter:

*Leave a separate comment for each entry*

*Leave your email address with each entry*

Tell me why you would be a great 6 Weeks to a LeanGreenYOU candidate!

Enter Jennifer McCay's OWN giveaway for the program, here, and tell me you did!

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Tell me where you lost your "Mama Mojo!"