A Healthier Me

This is me on my 40th Birthday. Not a happy day. I was very depressed on my birthday and the months leading up to it because of my weight. I was not fat until I turned 30. Two weeks before my 30th birthday I gave birth to my third child and due to various circumstances I was never able to lose the weight or go back to the gym as I had always done in the past. So I not only kept my extra 65 lbs from my third child but I gained about 30 more on top of it.

The thought that I had spent my entire 30's fat and ashamed of my body really depressed me. In my mind I still think of myself as thin me so when I see a photo or get a good look in a mirror it always shocks me at what I see looking back. I also have no energy anymore...... I NEED TO LOSE WEIGHT.

I want to join a gym but cannot for financial reasons and the fact that the affordable ones do not have daycare for my 3 year old. Go at night you say? Well, hubby works well into the night at the home computer and he needs to.....it is a necessity that he is able to do his work. My teen works most nights and then does karate on the nights she doesn't. Do it from home you say? It's hard when you try to do a video and the kids keep barging in on you. Lock the door you say? Yeah, they know how to pick the locks. Get on your treadmill at home you say? The 3 year old tries to hop onto it every single time. He thinks it is a game. If I manage to lock them out they bang on the door or fight in front of it. I could almost believe there is a family conspiracy to keep mom fat! When I try to do anything I get so aggravated and upset by how many times I get interrupted that it just became not worth the effort anymore.

UNTIL I TURNED 40.

This is my year. Period. I have been raising children and caring for a family/hubby for almost 18 years now and it is my turn to take care of me. The consequences to my health if I don't are looming. Things are already breaking down and drooping if you know what I mean. Yep, this is my year. I am pulling the two middle children out of karate to make time for my evening workouts. It's my year. I am making the 12 year old babysit the 3 year old so I can go walk when it is not so freezing cold outside. I am going to do my videos and if they interrupt me then instead of getting frustrated I will punish them so that they will learn not to interrupt me. Yep, it is my year.

I have already been cutting back my portions and I have abstained from eating sweets numerous times. At what point in my life did they become comfort to me? I think after my husband's layoff almost 3 years ago. I like to weigh in on Fridays so I weighed last Friday, today is Monday. I weighed 198.5 and I will weigh in on every Friday. Friday is a good weigh in day because it frees you up to enjoy the weekend if you want to splurge a little food wise and then you have the whole week to work harder to get rid of any extra splurging that may have occurred. Wednesdays are another good day but let's do Fridays shall we? I want to put in a Mr. Linky and hopefully a bunch of us will pop in on Fridays for a Mr. Linky weigh in and we can all post about our week and be accountable for our results or lack thereof. Wouldn't that be fun? We can all visit each other and post pictures of our progress and share ideas and tips. LOVE IT. Anyhoo, that will take some work on my part because in order to do that somebody would have to know about this blog right? So, if you know of anyone who wants to lose weight and do it with some other fine people along the way please send them the link to the blog and we can get this party started.

And now I am off to do some exercising, I will no longer do any housework until I have done some exercising. Yep, it is MY year.

Jennifer