Christy

I’m a little confused as to where to start this post. Since I’ve been on this journey for more than 4 years now, and had a baby in the midst of it, I guess I’ll look back to day 1 of my journey.

It all started way back in January of 2006, when saw a picture of myself holding my son at the Christmas tree farm (in November of ‘05). Here, I’ll just share it with you.

Yeah, great visual, huh? Well, after I got over the shock of that picture and the fact that I was outgrowing my size 16 pants, I decided to do something. It was the hardest decision and also the easiest. I knew I had to do something, but I was so scared because of how much I needed to lose. Sixty pounds just sounds scary and hard and damn near impossible.

Now on to the project. If I had waited 2 more year? ACK. I shudder to even think about it. At the rate I was gaining weight, I would have no doubt been well in to the mid-200s. I would have been miserable, and honestly, I think I might have felt completely helpless. If I had waited 2 years, I might not have ever done anything about it, and just resigned myself to the fact that I was meant to be fat. In actuality, if I had waited 2 years, I wouldn’t have done it because I would have been pregnant with my daughter 2 months later. Or maybe I wouldn’t have. Wow.

If I had waited 2 more years:

• I would not be where I am right now.
• I would not be running, or training for a 1/2 marathon
• The Sisterhood would not exist
• I wouldn’t know any of you. Probably. Wow. That makes me really sad.
• I would probably be too embarrassed to do much of anything.
• I would be setting a HORRIBLE example for my children. I would be leading them down the path to obesity and an unhealthy lifestyle.
• I would probably hate myself.

Gosh, I really need to pull myself back to the present, because living in the past is really hard. It makes me think of things I don’t even really want to consider. So hello! I’m back. It’s 2010 and I am healthy. I did not wait 2 years to start my journey. I ended up joining Weight Watchers online in January 2006, and here I am. I am 7 pounds from my goal weight. I am training for a 1/2 marathon. I am a happy wife, and proud mom to 2 amazing, healthy children. I am happy. I am strong. I am proud.

January 29, 2001

Dear Christy,

Grab a cup of coffee before you read this letter, because right now, as you write this letter, it’s cold and rainy and you’re enjoying a cup of coffee. Mia’s napping and the house is quiet…..

Congratulations on an awesome year. Two thousand and ten was really your year, and I’m so proud of everything you accomplished!

The Sisterhood of the Shrinking Jeans has become an amazing place. The support you’ve given and received, and the connections you’ve made over the past year are something you should really be proud of. You’ve touched so many people and changed the way people look at weight-loss and fitness, and the site continues to grow and touch more people than you can imagine!

I’m proud to say that you FINALLY reached your weight-loss goal, too. Yes, you finally did it! WOOHOOO! I know you struggled to get here, but just wait until you see your rock hard abs, girl. You’ll be really impressed with your HOT self, and realize that all the hard work was SO worth it. You are lean and mean now, hooker. Okay, not really mean, but you know what I’m saying.

About that first 1/2 marathon, you ROCKED it girl. I know you had your doubts and you were nervous about being able to keep up with training because of the whole ‘training with a jogging stroller’ issue, but you did it! Not only did you kick ass with the training, but you kicked ass with the fundraising. Your personal fundraising exceeded your goals, and the corporate sponsorships were more than you could hope for! Team Shrinking Jeans really made a huge difference in the lives of so many people touched by blood cancers.

When you arrived in San Diego in early June, you were met by all of your Sisters and it was such an emotional time. The whole weekend was, really. You had all done this together and were about to complete your goal. Running 13.1 miles. As you ran, you looked back on how far you had come, and you looked ahead to where you wanted to go next. As you crossed the finish line, you were a hot mess, but YOU DID IT, and you did way better than you thought you would. I’m so proud of you for not giving up and for following through with your goal.

Also, you had an amazing time with your hookers that weekend. Just wait and see! You cemented the friendships with all these wonderful ladies, and the friendships will last a lifetime.

After the 1/2, you didn’t stop there! Remember that other goal that’s in the back of you mind right now? The goal of running a 5K with BJ? Well, you’re going to do that to. You’ll train with BJ over the summer, and the 2 of you will run a 5K together, and when you cross the finish line, it’s the best day of your life. Well, close the best day. You will be so proud of how BJ does. He’s amazing, that boy of ours. And that 5k? It will be a turning point in his life as well. It will only be the start for him. He’s working on developing a lifetime love of running, and it’s all because of you!

What about Mia, you might be asking? Well, she’s 3 now. HOLY COW. I know you’re asking, ‘when did that happen!?’ Well, she’s growing into a fine little girl. A little girl who loves to workout and oh how badly she wants to run. She’s ready to bust out of that jogging stroller and hit the ground running! She’s learning so much from you. You are totally achieving your goals of instilling a love for healthy living in your kids. ROCK ON!

I know you’re sitting there right now, pondering whether or not to register for that Disney 1/2 marathon….Well, you just finished FINISHED it, girl. WOOOOHOOOOO! You rocked it, too. You totally blew you first 1/2 marathon time out of the water, and having your friends AND family there when you crossed the finish line was just the icing on the cake. You’re going big places, girl. BIG!

There are so many other wonderful things that are going to happen this year. So many victories. You will have the most amazing year. I do want to tell you one thing though. Slow down. Enjoy each of those victories. Soak them in, and OWN them, because you worked hard for them. You need to acknowledge each setback, too, because there will be a couple. You’ll get past them though, trust me, and as you get past them you’ll grow so much.

So right now, finish up that coffee, fill up your water bottle and get moving. Two thousand and eleven is looking to be an even busier year! Lots of races to run and people to inspire. There’s no stopping you.

Love,
Christy

p.s. Go fill up your water bottle now!

With my travel last week, I didn’t have an opportunity to write my post out for the 1st Monday Project. Well, maybe I did and I was just avoiding it…

What about 2009 (and beyond) did not work? What were my goals? Did I fall short of achieving them? If so, why? What were my biggest obstacles? What were my patterns? What was my “rock bottom” moment? What are my bad habits? Sit down and think about each question and answer them as fully and completely as you can in your mind. Target your patterns and obstacles that have impeded your efforts in the past, the potential hazards for this time around. Is it sweets at work? No support from your family? No motivation to work out because it’s too early or too late? Eating at night? Emotional eating? Negative self-talk? Are you stuck? No time?

Last year was the first full year of the Sisterhood of the Shrinking Jeans. I started out the year with a gigantic gain of over 6 pounds due to terrible eating over the holidays. It was a huge slap in the face for me. Throughout the course of 2009, my weight went down, but I had so many weeks with gains. I know that tracking my points using Weight Watchers online worked for me, because the weeks I tracked diligently, I had loses.

In April of 2009, the Sisterhood starting Shredding using Jillian Michaels’ 30-Day Shred DVD. It was the first time I had added consistent exercise into my routine, and it was also the point when my Points tracking went by the wayside. I think I got a little arrogant, and figured that working out was more than enough, and while I still tried to eat healthfully, I wasn’t keeping track. Huge FAIL.

Looking back, it’s so obvious to me now that I needed BOTH. I needed consistent exercise and I needed to track everything that went into my pie hole. Without BOTH, I was basically struggling for very small losses, maintaining, and even gaining small amounts each week. That struggle gave me a poor attitude and kept me from finally reaching my goal.

On a positive note, I did dip into the 130 briefly in 2009, and my overall loss for the year was 18 pounds. Really not shabby, but as I said before, there were lots of weeks when I gained, and if I’d been in the right frame of mind, I probably wouldn’t have had as many of those weeks.

Then, take a look at 2009 and beyond and think about what did work. Because you don’t want to fix what ain’t broke. If something worked for you, if you felt progress somewhere, found successes, (because along the journey there are a million tiny victories, many of them non-scale related!), what were those? All of your victories are a very big deal! Give yourself a high five, out loud, to everyone!

In 2009, I incorporate physical activity into my routine, and that WORKED. I had more energy, felt great, and started to feel muscles in places that were just soft before. I loved the way working out made me feel, and the compliments I received from people only fueled the fire. I had a HUGE ah-ha moment when I realized that losing all the weight was great, but not being toned and fit when I reached that point would leave me short of my goal. So I exercised. I shredded, jumped on the EA SPORTS Active train with Personal Trainer, More Workouts, and the 5K challenge.

Looking back, I also realize I really woke up and started thinking about what I was putting in my body. I realized that processed foods were just bad, and I really cracked down on my intake of fruits and vegetables. I also started focusing on my water intake, and noticed a huge improvement in the way I felt as a fully hydrated person.

The part three of this project is to work out those bugs from 2009. For anything that didn’t work, think about your proposed solutions to the issues.

As far as solutions go, since I know working out worked for me in 2009, I am fully committed to continuing down that path. With the Sisterhood 1/2 marathon training about to kick off, I’m totally psyched about where my body will take me in 2010. I also plan to keep up with my strength training so my body will be in top condition for training and running.

I know where I need the most work, and that’s in the food intake accountability area. I NEED to track my points. I need to know what’s going into my body. I need to make sure I’m staying within my Points allowance if I want to see the scale move down. I also realize I need to tweak what I’m eating in order to fuel my body for the physical activities I’m taking part in.

This year will be the year it all comes together for me. I will reach my goal weight through tracking Points on Weight Watchers online, decide whether my goal weight is the right place for me, will train and run the San Diego Rock ‘n Roll 1/2 marathon as part of Team Shrinking Jeans, and will do it all consistently. No more arrogance. No more slacking. No more excuses.

The end.

p.s. Thank you Christie. Thank you so much for putting together this awesome new feature for the Sisterhood. Thank you for posing the tough questions and making me really, really think about my journey. You rock, and I love you.