Biggest Loser

On January 26th I began a biggest loser competition with a group of moms from an online bulletin board. To enter the competition you needed to contribute a $20 Target gift card. The only diet rules were that you couldn't do anything that involved medical intervention. The prize was the combined amount of the target gift cards contributed by the contestants.

I debated entering but in the end I decided that I was motivated to lose all the baby weight I had gained and at the worst case I would pay $20 and lose some weight....best case I would win a lot of target gift cards!

As I started to lose weight I got asked a lot about what plan I was following or what secret I had for losing weight. I really hate to give away my secret, but since I know you can keep a secret I will let you in on my trick......eat less, exercise more......ok--don't tell anyone else.

I actually followed a pretty strict regimen of 2 45-minute workouts per day, 6 days a week (either 2 cardio or 1 cardio and 1 weight lifting session). I can only think of a handful of days the entire 13 weeks that I missed one of the workouts, and never did I miss both workouts in a single day. My eating consisted eating of all my carbs before 3pm, no white flour/sugar/pasta/potatoes, no sweets, no soda (not even diet drinks), and lots of veggies. For dinner I would usuallly have a piece of meat with a couple of cups of veggies. No eating at all after 7pm.

I also had another way to keep myself motivated. Every time I started to get tired of what I was doing I would go here and look at all the things that I could get with the prize!

Well....the competition ended Friday, May 1st and I won!!!

I lost 21.81% of my body weight (all the baby weight plus some) and got the first place prize of $735 in Target gift cards!

So I didn't take an official before picture--but this picture is from Christmas morning--a month before the competition started.

In true before picture fashion I'm wearing pjs, no makeup and it is poor lighting :)
Here is my after picture--better clothes, better lighting and makeup :)
I have to admit that I'm pretty proud of myself. It feels great. I still have more to lose, so I'm going to modify my weight loss plan to allow for a little more flexibility and a slightly slower weight loss, but I know I can do it!