The New Healthy Me Adventure :o)

Over the past 15 years I have yo-yo'd drastically in my weight and my eating habits. That is until I had my third child, and I saw a picture and saw my weight on the scale and I said "STOP! ENOUGH IS ENOUGH!"

At my heaviest, I weighed 210lbs. Don't believe me?  Here's the picture that made me, and still makes me cringe:

This is me March of 2009, and my son is 6 mo old there. I weighed the same as I did 1 week before he was born back in September. Yes a whole 210lbs. :o( Not only that but I also had many health issues, as you can see on my arm. I had a form of psoriasis, that at one point had me hospitalized because of a staph infection on my leg happened as part of my struggle with psoriasis. But that's in the past now. The skin issues and the weight.

Fast forward to October 2011, and I weighed in at an amazing 142lbs!!! YES! That's a total loss of 68lbs= 10 pants sizes!! I used to wear a tight size 16, and in October I was able to fit into a comfortable size 6! It only took me almost a full 3 years!

Here's the picture that was taken of me in October 2011:

So you are wondering HOW DID SHE DO IT???

I'll tell you. I started the journey through Herbalife. I just had a cup of herbal aloe drink in the morning followed by a cup of steaming hot tea, and then a nice cookies and cream flavored shake, then had a normal lunch, and then the same aloe drink, tea and shake for dinner. Using that plan, I lost a total of 30lbs in 8months. Then I went to Mexico for 2 years. There I actually ate more food, but I was also more active. I took up running, which my husband could not believe his eyes. I also started to attend Zumba classes. My husband challenged me one day to do 20 sit-ups and I surprised him by doing a total of 50!! My eating habits were also changed during that time. Unfortunately, I did not have the financial ability to continue to order the Herbalife products while I was in Mexico. But that didn't matter, because all the nutrition advise I received during those 8 months of consumption is something that I can take with me for life.

So in late October, I moved up a state, got severely depressed, and resorted to comfort foods like coffee heavily loaded with flavored creamer, cinnamon rolls, danishes, cookies, brownies, mac and cheese, sodas, etc... you name it I ate it. I gained 18lbs between the end of October to the beginning of December from all that lovely food and lack of exercise. I decided to try out the gym down the street from me. I did a few free classes of Zumba and yoga, loved them and decided to get a membership. Official weigh in was December 12 and I was 160lbs.  So two months after getting back from Mexico I had gained 18lbs. At least I was still in a comfortable size 10 pants. I was right where I was before I got pregnant for the third time. Which was fine with me. However, I needed to make a change in my lifestyle or I would quickly go back to my former weight, which I DID NOT WANT!  So I started going to the gym no less than 3 days a week.

So far, my weight has not changed, but I have started to notice a difference in my muscle tone and profile views. :o)  I will go in and weigh myself on Monday before my workout and see where I am.

My workout routine goes as follows: minimum 15 minutes on the elliptical. Then leg extension @ 30lbs- 12 reps then 15 reps. I actually started out at 20lbs and just added another 10lbs this past week. Then I do the chest press @ 40lbs- 12 reps then 15 reps. Next is the back row @ 40lbs- 15 reps then 15 again. Then I move to a funny looking machine called the Gravitron. This machine works on upper body, and is basically pull-ups based on weight. So I do three different hand positions. I started out doing only about 6-8 reps per hand position, and I am now able to do 12, 12, then 10 (each in one position), so instead of only being able to do 18-24 reps total I can now do 42!! I doubled the number!!! :o)  It feels soooooo good. Here's a picture I had taken of me while I was working on that machine (I'm using the second hand position):

I do that routine 3 days if I can, but lately have only been doing them one or two times a week. I also have been going to a few classes. Monday is a one hour Cardio Pump class, and we work the entire body with step aerobics and weights, then on Tuesday I do a full hour of Zumba. Thursday is 30 minutes of Zumba followed by 30 minutes of core training, and I stay for an hour of Yoga as well. Saturday, if I can wake up in time there is a 30 minute Zumba class followed by 30 minutes of Yoga.

So that is what I am doing right now to change my life around and get healthier. I am starting to work on my diet aspect, because that is just as important to my heath as the exercise is. I will try and keep track of things as I go through this adventure. Accountability is key, and I don't want to get off track ever again! ;o)