My motivation to lose weight: my online weight loss journal!

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My motivation to lose weight

By this caption, you may assume that my husband is my motivation to lose weight and keep a weight loss journal online (it would need to be something that powerful to inspire me to bare my soul in this way!) Or perhaps that another trip or Disney World vacation is my motivation to lose weight.

Sure, both of those things motivate me, but just stop and look at the picture above: I’m with my favorite person in one of my favorite places on earth and all I see is the body of someone I don’t know.

Did you know I used to be a professional tennis player? Did you know that I was “Young Woman of the Year” for Illinois and competed in the Ms. North Carolina USA pageant? Did you know that I’ve acted on stage and screen (and no, I’m not just counting my days in the now famous “Glee” showchoir, New Directions – I don’t think I’m brave enough to post those blue-eyeshadowed, red-sequined, big-haired photos!)

I don’t mention these things to brag. Of course I’m proud of what God has allowed me to accomplish in my life. However, I mention these little known facts because by looking at me now, you’d never imagine this body could possibly have done any of those things.

In fact, just a few weeks ago I was at my daughter’s school and one of her PE teachers commented on my tennis t-shirt:
“Do you play?” he asked.
“Actually, I used to be a pro,” I replied meekly.
….(wait for it)….(you know it’s coming)…..
“REALLY???”
“I know; you couldn’t tell by looking at me now,” was all I could think of in response.

Now I recognize I’m not grossly obese and I do feel like I’m a fairly healthy person. However, now that I’m not depending on my body for a living (don’t put that quote on Twitter!), I don’t watch what I do or eat as closely.

Of course the fact that most free food is not healthy hasn’t helped this frugalista either!

So after returning from Disney last month and taking a closer look at our pictures, we decided (as a family) that it was time for a change. I decided I would rather invest a little time and money on good food practices  up front than spend that same money on the back end on doctor’s offices and Emergency Room visits.

Of course the next logical questions was, “What do we do and how do we do it???”

I knew right away that I wanted to journal my weight loss journey online for two reasons:
1. So that as I learned more and more about health, nutrition and food, I could share that knowledge with you (which is really what this blog is all about: taking what I learn and passing it on to you).
2. For the accountability: I knew that if I shared this journey with you, I couldn’t slack off!

Get ready for a journey. I’ve enlisted my friend Jenni from HealthyOates.com to help educate us in making better food choices and do we have a treat for you! Over the coming weeks, you’ll be seeing short videos taking you inside every facet of my pantry to discover what’s good,what’s bad and what we can live with until I can convince my husband otherwise 🙂

I’m also going to be partnering with some grocery stores to show  you how you can still eat healthy and save money at the same time.

It was important that whatever means to lose weight we chose, it was something our ENTIRE family could do together. One of Jenni’s top suggestions to start losing weight while getting healthy was the Cinch: Inch loss program. Even though they do not need to lose any weight at all, Jenni and her entire family (including her 3 young kids) have one of these shakes every morning, just for the health benefit. Of course, we’re also  revamping the type of food we’re putting in our body as well as varying the type of activities we participate in…but more on that to come.

So for any of you that would like to learn more or even join us in this journey, we’d love to have you! As I mentioned, I’ll be sharing some very specific tools and tips so you can educate yourself and make this work for your family in the weeks to come.

I will continue to post my meal plans every week as well, but know that for the next two weeks, I’ll be replacing my breakfast and lunch (for the most part) with the Cinch protein shakes.

Thanks for living the life with me! If you’d like to get healthy with us (in whatever form you choose), will you post a comment below so we can cheer you on as well! Remember, making small changes can make a big difference in your health, so what are you waiting for?