The biggest loser is over

Here is my ending thoughts on the biggest loser contest I have been in since January. I would love to hear other's advice. For what it is worth, here is mine.



I have never before tried to lose weight. I have never been particulary obsessed with my weight nor my appearance. I suspect I weighed about 138 lbs when I got married. I am not too sure because I was happy with my appearance, did not own a scale, and felt great. By the time I got pregnant the first time (4 years later) I weighed 149 lbs at my first appt. Following my first baby and the 8 pregnancies and 5 kids over 11 years I did start to pay attention to my weight. After each baby I managed to get down to 154 lbs and that is where the scale stayed. . . and stayed . . . and stayed. With each baby it seemed harder and more work to get back to that 154, but I was determined to do it. In 2008, I actually posted my weight on my blog. I determined that 154 was the highest I wanted to be and that if I took the "embarassing" step and made it known then that would be enough motivation to maintain it.

And it was. There was something about posting it out there for all to see (granted my blog readership isn't exactly high) but it wasn't about how many people knew -- it was about me accepting that weight. The next year I weighed 153. And the next year I weighed the same (and I even owned up to another big reality -- that my hair is grey!). And now we came to this year. I had baby Owen in October and so wanted to hit 153 by my birthday, but it did not happen. I worked really hard but on the morning of my birthday I weighed 156.

My first advice for anyone trying to lose weight is to own up to the number. My weight does not define me, but it is a part of me and a part of me to accept for good or bad. By keeping track over the years it really did motivate me. I knew that 153 was doable and maintainable and so I worked hard to get back to at least that number.

My second piece of advice is to plan for weight loss. I joined this biggest loser team. I registered for a triathlon. I joined a gym. I got the Lose it app for the iphone. I included my husband and family in it all. Trent and I decided to start watching the tv show 24 (which we had never seen) but made a deal to only watch it on our netflix iphone app while on the treadmill. We rarely miss those 42 minutes on the treadmill each day and are currently on season 4 episode 3. (crazily the TV show 24 was the most motivating part of it all -- especially when Trent would get a few episodes ahead of me). I don't know what will motivate me for treadmill time when I run out of that TV show (I am open to suggestions!!!).

We stopped eating after the kids went to bed.

I have found new recipes for some of my favorites. I have chewed a lot of gum while cooking dinner so that I didn't consume an entire meal while I prepared a meal. I truly never felt deprived through it all. I still had chocolate chip cookies on Sunday. I still had chocolate when my children were stressing me out (yes, that works for me).

My starting weight for the biggest loser was 158.0. My ending weight was 144.4. I lost 8.61%

My starting BMI was 27.1 which is considered overweight.

My ending BMI is 24.8 which is (barely) considered normal (18.5 - 24.9 is considered normal)

I am not done today. My first goal was to get to "normal". I made it.

My next goal is to get into the 130's. I won't post any more about this until I reach my next goal. I am not all that far away. More than anything I want these changes to be slow and sustainable. I am changing me for the better just for me -- not for anyone else, not for any event, not for the short term. I will continue to own up to the number each year on my birthday.