Sunday, April 26, 2009

What does it mean?

I've decided to start this blog to try to help encourage others to do what I'm doing, lose weight! And the reason for losing weight is to gain my life back. About the start of February 2009, I was afraid. I was terrified of dying. I have a daughter, Olivia and I'm the only one who can do the job of being her mommy. I take my job very seriously and I know she needs me. I hit rock bottom and I knew a change just had to be made and it had to be done right away. I have been overweight my whole life just about but I always shrugged it off and avoided the mirror as much as possible. It wasn't until I truly looked at myself and the way other people see me that I realized I had to do something. After tearfully talking it all out with my husband into the wee hours of the morning, we decided on a strategy. We decided I would start very slowly to get active. I had a bellydancing video that I started to exercise to and although I couldn't do every move, I was able to get in a good 20 minutes of exercise a few days a week. I cut back on my calories very slowly so that I wouldn't send my body into starvation mode and honestly didn't see many results right away. In a month I lost maybe 3 pounds and I was a bit discouraged. My sister sent me her Wii Fit and I decided to try that out. I couldn't even use it when I got it because there is a weight limit and it wouldn't allow me to do any of the exercises. Thanks to this youtube video http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U-j8tYpZxvY I found a way to trick the system into letting me use it. Again I started out slowly and still didn't see much of a difference on the scale but I did find myself more balanced and I recovered pretty well from the broken ankle I got in late November. After March break, I was devastated to find I had gained back one of the 3 pounds I had lost previously. I decided to change my workout and make it more structured. I now alternate between strength training and aerobic step each day doing 20 minutes of each 5x a week. Two weeks later, I had lost 12 pounds! I couldn't believe it and I know that I had a lot of help from God in order for me to lose that much that quickly. I again decided to change things up and started tracking everything I put into my mouth at sparkpeople.com . I limited my calories to below 1800 and it seems to be working still. Another 2 weeks later (and this brings us up to April 21st) I had lost another 9 pounds. The total now is 23 pounds which is the exact weight of my 21 month old daughter. I kept telling everyone I lost a Livvy. It's now Monday April 27th and I probably won't weigh myself until next Monday unless anyone thinks I should. I hope I can encourage others to either start to live more healthily or continue doing what they're doing or even kick it up a notch. I want to again mention that I in no way can take full credit for this loss and continuing motivation. I give it up to the Lord and the people He has put in my life to love me and help me keep going. Thank you Jesus and thank you friends, I love you all. Oh, here is a before and after photo or should I say before and in the process photos. The first was taken in February and the second was taken a few days ago.









5 comments:

  1. Great Job! Can't wait to hear about you losing another "Livvy"! I hope to lose some this summer as well as the nice weather permits me to get out and be more active!

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  2. I love the before and after, well I should say "during", photos. Looking forward to reading the blog. Congrats on the success so far.

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  3. That's awesome Marissa! Never give up and you will reach your goal! I love the belly dancing videos, I have 10 if you would like to borrow a few just let me know.
    Jessica

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  4. Great job Marissa, I know that losing weight is diffucult. I found that if I was busy I never really thought about eating. You look good, don't give up, YOU CAN DO IT.

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  5. wow thats inspiring!!
    i hope you reach ur goal!
    i think i might take up dieting in the summer, before i start my 1st year of college

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