Role Mother

The infamous scale. Sorry friend, it's not your fault. 

The moment of truth. 

Yes. That's 230, smack on the dot. I like round numbers. (Insert appropriate fat joke here.) 

Lets see what we're really working with here. 

Enter our leading lady. She's 39. The mother of 2, aged 4 and 3. The wife of 1, aged 41. 

Waist: 49

Chest: 47.5

Hips: 53

R Thigh: 29.5

L Thigh: 30

R Bicep: 13.5

L Bicep: 14

Every moment of every day, we are making hundreds if not thousands of choices. These choices mold who we are, who we become, and who we stay. 

As you can see from the pictures above, my choices involved eating more calories than I needed. I chose a sedentary lifestyle, and I chose to eat and drink foods high in calories. 

Now, the thing is, I'm not a candy bar and potato chip girl. I'm a seconds and thirds girl. I'd rather have another grilled chicken breast than a dessert. About a year ago I noticed I have a gluten intolerance, so I'm not eating pasta at every meal, breakfast isn't stacks of chocolate chip pancakes, and lunch is no longer a stop at McDonalds every day. Don't get me wrong. I'm so addicted to food that I will put up with the stomach pains, the immediate need to run to the restroom, the joint pain, and the irritability that come along with even the tiniest bit of gluten present in what I eat. Just this week I braved the onslaught and feasted on a Double Quarter with Cheese, Large Fries, and a Large Diet Coke. Within 15 or so minutes, I began to regret my CHOICE. 

So what choices will I make to get me out of this current state? I'm not happy being overweight. I look at pictures of me before the kids were born, where I'm a size 8/10, and I wonder how overnight it all changed. But then I look at my 3 and 4 year olds, and I know it wasn't overnight at all. It is simply the result of almost 5 years of bad food, drink, portion size, and lifestyle choices. 

Logic seems to dictate that by making different choices, the outcome will also be different. 

It won't happen overnight, and that's going to be hard for me. I'm an immediate gratification kind of girl. That's one reason I'm putting this in writing. And I'm not thinking of this as a diet. I've failed at every diet on the market, other than when I was in my late 20's and lost 60 pounds following a low carb eating plan. 

This is like any other addiction. It's one moment, one hour, one bite at a time. Will I CHOOSE to sit in front of the TV? Yeah. I will. But I'll also CHOOSE for how long. Will I CHOOSE to wake up early to ride my stationary bike and watch the morning news before the kids get up? I did today, and it was awesome. Will I CHOOSE to remember that feeling tomorrow morning at 6:00am?  I honestly don't know. I really hope I do. Will I CHOOSE to continue to experiment with cooking awesome foods and creating new dishes? YES! But I'm also going to CHOOSE how much of it I eat and drink. 

Every moment we make dozens of choices. I hope the choices I make will inspire my children in every aspect of their lives. Not just with nutrition and exercise, but with being a great person too.