Back at it

I have climbed back onto the wagon... well on to something at least. July 13th I started my second go around with Slim 4 Life. Here is the back story to that choice:
In Feb. of 2009 I stopped going to Slim 4 Life after losing about 63 lbs. Starting weight was 267 and on my last weigh in with them, the scale read 204. I was pleased with my progress, I had actually reached my clothing goal of wearing a size 12, and I was pretty much sick of not getting to enjoy the life of a 25/26 year old (i.e. drinking beer) and getting dirty looks if I did. So I just stopped going. I continued my journey on my own for a while and dropped down to about 195.

How nice it would have been if I had stayed there, but a few things are wrong with that picture. 1) I hadn't stuck around long enough to learn how to maintain once the restricted foods were allowed again. 2) I was too obsessed with how far I had come to focus on the little bit I had left (my goal was to end the program at 180). and 3) I wasn't really paying attention to anything I gained again. So inevitably I gained some weight back. HOWEVER, I am pretty excited to say that I never gained it all back!!! Since I had gotten rid of so many of my bigger clothes I had no choice but to wear the smaller sizes. Once those started to get a little tighter I knew I needed to fix it so I would start eating healthier again.

Fast-forward to the beginning of July 2011. I noticed my pants were starting to get tight again and unfortunately I couldn't seem to get the motivation to get on the right track and stay there. Luckily, Cerner Health came out with this fantastic motivator for me. the KC Slimdown Community Challenge. It is a 10 week challenge that is encouraging people in the KC area to lose weight either as an individual or on teams of 4-6. The winner(s) get an all expense paid trip to Flagstaff, AZ. I was sold!!! I joined the team along with my mom, her best friend, and a couple other co-workers! This also told me I needed to find my power to stay on track again. With that in mind, I made an appointment and walked through the Slim 4 Life doors again.

I joined a different center, a little closer to home and just for some new faces. When I stepped on the scale I weighed 218 lbs. Ok so not exactly where I left off but not even close to where I started. With a new found determination, the motivator of a trip plus a built in support system of my Challenge team, and now an accountability to the center and my bank account... I am on board! ending goal this time is 165 lbs... or in other terms I have 53 lbs to lose.

The Challenge ends on Oct. 10 and I am supposed to be done with the plan by Nov. 16. I won't hit goal by the end of the Challenge but I will still have made pretty good headway!!! I also decided to start up my blogging again. I found this REALLY helped me the last time plus I know that I always wanted to learn from "real people" who "really lost the weight" when I was trying to lose weight. So here is me sharing my story all over again...are you ready???