I am a stay at home mom of a 3 year old boy and 8 month old girl with a college degree and a teaching licence expiring in a drawer somewhere. I never planned on being a stay at home mommy but love getting to watch my kiddos grow and learn each day. However, being stuck at home with two kids who don't care about how I look I started to form some really bad habits. It started small, not getting dressed in the morning, no hair, no makeup. Sweatpants all day. No one to see me eat little debbies for breakfast. Chips and chocolate chips for a daily snack. Pepsi as my beverage of choice. I became a couch and floor potato. I continued to wear my maternity jeans to avoid buying bigger regular jeans. I used having two babies as an excuse for the extra jiggle I wasn't so proud of. I let myself go. I felt pretty crappy about myself. My life was dedicated to my kids and I wasn't taking care of myself. Worse, these bad habits that I thought no one could see, my son,who was no longer a baby, was taking notice. He wanted chips and cookies too. I needed to do something.
After seeing a friend transform her body and lifestyle by doing T25 I reached out to her to ask how she did it. She invited me to try shakeology, purchase a workout program through her, and join an accountability group on Facebook. It sounded too expensive and gimmicky to me so I declined and decided I could do it on my own. I bought a workout set on Amazon and started working out in my living room. I failed miserably. I didn't put a lot of effort into my workout, got bored and quit. I continued eating junky snacks and having coffee for breakfast.
I felt really bad about myself, not just unhappy with my post baby body, but aggravated that I lacked the initiative and perseverance to improve it. So, I reached out to that friend again and jumped on the Beachbody bandwagon. I made a 60 day commitment to workout every day and drink shakeology. Why was it different than doing it alone? I joined that accountability Facebook group.
My challenge group was full of women just like me, they were busy moms and working professionals unhappy with their bodies. We all set goals for ourselves on day one and shared a little about ourselves. We measured and weighed ourselves and took our before pictures. To make it official I emailed those pictures to my coach, Renee Schopmeyer, the women who helped start my journey. That is a scary thing. To put your body on "film" so to speak, for others to see your imperfections can be intimidating but also very motivating. I wanted her to be able to see a difference after 30 days, she would know if I slacked off! The group did not just focus on working out, but changing your eating habits and water intake. More goals of the group were to plan out yours meals and snacks each week and drink half your body weight in ounces of water. The focus was on clean eating and having regular snacks, not counting calories or starving yourself.
Each day I checked in with the group. There was an assignment each day: post a sweaty selfie, share a struggle you are having, post a pic of your healthy snack, etc. Small things. The women in my group were so inspiring. Doing double workouts, running miles at a time, shedding inches. It was sooo motivating for me! These people were strangers to me but I got to be a part of their journey and they were a huge part in mine. Feeling down? Post it in the group and receive five posts telling me to keep going and that I could do it! And I did do it!
Here are my before and after pics after only 30 days!
I lost 9 pounds and several inches. I fit into all of my pre-baby jeans. I had more energy and felt better about myself than I had in a long time. In 30 Days! It only took 25 minutes a day!
After 60 day I lost a total of 13 lbs. and way over 14 inches (I didn't do all the correct measurements at the beginning.) I lost 4 inches just from my waist! For the first since high school the weight on my licence is actually true!
My challenge group is over and I am going to start doing Piyo next. To keep myself accountable I am becoming a coach myself and putting my story out there for everyone to see.
My goal is to help motivate at least one other person to change their life for the better. If I can do it so can you!
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