Weight Loss Wednesday

To start my first Weight Loss Wednesday post I really want to share with you where I am at in terms of my weight loss journey.  Actually, filling you in is almost laughable.  My DH reminded me that yo-yo dieting was just as bad as yo-yo "gymning" and that I need to stop viewing my workouts as if every day is Day 1.  Thanks to a new "friend" in Lysa TerKuerst, I have come to a couple realities that I need you to know before I go any further on this road to weight loss. 

First, my body is the body of a mom.  What I mean by that is simply this, I have struggled for years with body image issues, especially after the birth of my children.  I think a lot of moms deal with this same mental block.  I see myself as that itty bitty little 98 pound college student wearing size 0 jeans, but the girl in my head is vastly different from the woman of my reality.  My body was stretched to the very limit and while I can admit that I was a very fortunate preggo that didn't end up with stretch marks, my body changed in other ways.  One way, in particular, that is really hard for me was the expansion of my rib cage; it was stretched and pained to accomodate Connor.  Stretch marks, expanding hip size, exploding rib cage or whatever your babies did in the process of growing in the womb made you a momma.  What a powerful thought.  I may not be always happy with the changes my body underwent throughout the pregnancy process, but without those changes, I wouldn't have become a mom to two of the most beautiful, precious gifts ever bestowed to me.  My first step in this journey to better health is to work hard and eat well because I want to become healthy, not because I am trying to change in unrealistic ways how pregnancy affected my body.

Second, I need to stop being a slave to the scale.  Scales are NOT my friend and I don't think they are yours either.  This isn't to say I don't step on the scale at the gym, just to see.  But I am not on it everyday and I certainly am learning not to live and die by the number is reveals.  I mean, seriously, the scale can't tell me what time of the month it is, it can't tell me if I ate a little more salt the night before and am retaining water and it certainly can't tell me if I lost a pound of fat but am building lean muscle mass.  Judging how I am doing in the road to a better, healthier me is now becoming based on how I am fitting into my clothes.  Running an extra 1/2 a mile on the treadmill and feeling great, lifting the next dumbbell during strength training to challenge myself.  It is about asking myself these questions: Did I eat well during the week?  Did I give it all my during workouts?  Did I make time for workouts?  Am I not as winded when I walk up and down the stairs or when I play with the kids?  Aren't those more important than a number on a scale or the one inside my jeans on the tag?  I think so.  I am understanding that this is a process, not a snap your fingers and you're there.

I hope that are you loving the body and person you are meant to be and that you are becoming the healthiest you you can be.  You owe it to yourself to be healthy without being a slave to what society says you should be.  I mean, let's face it, the Bionic Woman (otherwise known as Heidi Klum) doesn't help us mom's out in the body image department when she is walking down the catwalk in a barely there bra, thong and angel wings merely weeks after giving birth!  Don't let noise fill your head or heart.  Be the strongest, healthiest you you can be and that is all we can happily do.