Get Motivated

Our last email I talked about tips to help you reach your weight loss goals. One of my tips was to sign up for a local walking or running race. I am attaching a link with local races in the Indianapolis area.

www.search.active.com

Here you will find races throughout the remainder of 2010. A perfect way to help reach your weight loss goal is to train for an event. Also I do the Race for the Cure every April so if you are interested in joining my team this year let me know. We will be wearing pink Skinny Mom Challenge t-shirts to support breast cancer!

Shrimp Pad Thai

Tonight's dinner was Shrimp Pad Thai. It was easy to make and with moderation it was definitely a healthy alternative to eating out at the local Thai restaurant. I have some pictures to show you what I used including; light coconut milk, steamed fresh veggie packs, pad Thai noodles, raw tiger shrimp, and Pad Thai peanut sauce. All of these items can be found on the ethnic food isle in your grocery located with the Asian and Thai foods with the exception of the shrimp. The Pad Thai noodles are about the only bad items on the list, but if you can find whole wheat Pad Thai noodles then you're better off. But since I couldn't find them at Meijer or Marsh I decided to just eat a small portion of the noodles. It took me about 20 minutes to prepare. This is a quick and easy meal for you and your family to enjoy.

Fall Challenge has Begun!

We are beginning our fall challenge now! First on the agenda is everyone needs to complete their goal sheet, send intial weights and measurements, and the dreaded before and after pictures.

Just think in 12 weeks you will be so much closer to your big goal!

I will talk to you soon!

Upcoming Skinny Mom Challenge

Registration deadline for the new Skinny Mom Challenge is September 5, 2010. If you need to register please email: skinnymomschallenge@yahoo.com

There are a lot of new faces for this upcoming challenge. The challenge will run for 12 weeks to help you get ready for a new you for 2011!

Are you ready to make a lifestyle change? Are you tired of being miserable? Are you ready to fully commit to a change? Then this challenge is for you! Get tips on lifestyle changes, nutrition, recipes, one-on-one and group coaching to push you past your plateaus, and much more.

Latest news:
Available soon...t-shirts, tank tops, and sweat shirts!
New website launching details to follow.

Preparing for the Mini

The alarm clock went off at 5:15 this morning and I hit the snooze button only once, while thinking to myself, do I really want to do this? Today is the first day to help me reach my next goal. My goal is to run the Mini Marathon and finish it.

Going to the car I realized it's cold and drizzling rain and I am going to soon be running in this. I was nervous about how far I could even run. I do cross training cardio but I don’t run long distances. I love spinning, kickboxing and HITTS but this is the extent of my cardio. I am not a runner! I get to the gym and meet up with a few of my friends from there and we head out. My goal is to make it the 3 miles they have determined we are running. At this time I have butterflies in my stomach because I get a little nervous running outside and I'm more nervous because it's dark. I suck it up and off we go. We're running down roads and into neighborhoods, by about the 3/4 mile mark I am huffing and wondering what the heck was I thinking? I don't have running shoes and I am going to run 3 miles! I stopped to walk for about a minute and I continue on while Penny is saying, “you can do this, you're doing great”! I keep pushing and I'm pushing myself past my comfort zone. I think I walked about 3 times during this entire run but never long enough to really get my heart rate down. It really helped having someone encouraging me along the way and someone to talk to while running just to keep my mind off of running.

I didn't love the run but I loved the feeling of accomplishment knowing I just ran 3 miles for the first time in my life. I ran 3 miles and walked very little of it. Like I said before I want to achieve many more goals and this next goal is to finish the Mini Marathon. I believe with the group started at the Community Life Center and all of us training every Saturday morning I can reach this goal. Having others to encourage me and push me during our run makes me really push past my limits. I am looking forward to my next run!

When you are trying to lose weight you really need to set goals. Set physically challenging goals to help you accomplish what you are setting out to do. Losing weight is one goal but breaking your journey down into several goals will help you reach your potential and realize you can do so much more then you really think. I honestly don't run and I have always hated running but I know I have wanted to run the Mini Marathon and always put it off. Not anymore! New me, new life!

Break down your BIG goal. If you want to lose 55 pounds then take that number and divide it by 2. It should take you an average of 27.5 weeks to reach this goal. Now all you need to do is break this goal down by 8 week goals. This is about 3-4 Skinny Mom Challenges! During your 8 week goals set goals to accomplish a fitness goal you have wanted to achieve. Like taking up spinning and completing 8 weeks worth of classes. You will be amazed at what you will lose by adding spinning to your workouts on top of eating healthy. Try this out and let me know what kind of goals you are setting and how you are reaching your goals.

GOOD LUCK!

It's Almost My New Life Birthday!!

Meet the old me. The above pictures are from the summer of 08' and then Halloween 08'. Believe it! It's me! I weighed about 180 lbs. at this point and was wearing a size 16. Many of you know my story and why I started the Skinny Mom Challenge. For those of you who don't know, I was a mom of four children who had given up on my life at one point. I was a binge eater, I was depressed and I was fat. Somewhere along the way I stopped living my life and started taking care of everyone else and going through the motions to get me through the day. I became overweight over a period of 4 years. It didn't happen overnight it gradually occurred and along the way I knew it was happening but I kept putting off doing anything to prevent it from going further. This picture is 2 days before my "new life" began and on my husbands birthday, January 10, 2009. I weighed 178 pounds at this point. I started Skinny Moms after I lost all of my weight. It took me from January 12, 2009 to August 2009 to reach my goal. I had a lot of friends and family approach me wanting help with their weight loss goals. I wanted to put together a group for women to feel encouraged, empowered and I wanted to help hold them accountable during their weight loss journey so Skinny Mom Challenge was hatched. I am the cheering squad for my challengers and I cheer during their progress and I encourage them when they feel like giving up. I have met a lot of strong women and great friends during these challenges, women who have inspired me and keep me motivated. I have pushed many of them past anything they ever thought they could accomplish. In doing this I have decided to become a personal trainer and I am going to school to become a Nutritionist.

I am a much happier person and soon I will be celebrating my "New Life Birthday"! January 12, 2010 will mark my 1 year anniversary since I began my own journey to lose weight and I have become a much happier and healthier person both physically and mentally.

This picture is of me and my husband one month to the day from my one year birthday! I am so much happier and I want to thank all of you who gave me support and encouraged me. I want to think my family for not giving up on me and for Ed for really encouraging me and telling me he could see a difference especially when I couldn't. I really enjoy working with all of you challengers and I look forward to many more challenges to come. Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to all of you Skinny Moms! Thanks for believing in me and following me. Remember as Ali Vincent (First female Biggest Loser winner) says; "Believe It, Be It"!

Sincerely,

Jennifer Sherlock

Finding the Courage

Here is a wonderful success story by Lauri one of our Skinny Moms! If you want to share your successes please email me.

Before

When I was in high school I was always athletic and never worried about what I ate or drank. I was on the go all the time, so fast food became a way of life. My first year of college while most people gain weight I stayed pretty slim and maintained the same weight that I was in high school...I kept the same eating habits, which weren't good. Fast food at least once a day and the other stuff just junk like chips, sodas, candy, etc. Dorm food!

I met my husband and had a baby and packed on a ton of weight. I was 123 lbs when I got pregnant with Cole, and was 193 lbs when he was born. He had a rough time and I was stressed so I managed to get down to about 150 lbs pretty quick after he was born, but my eating was terrible. I would eat late at night and I would eat out every single day usually for breakfast and lunch! About 9 months after Cole was born, I got pregnant with my second child, Belle. Again, I ballooned up to about 210 lbs when I delivered her and I was so big they did 3 ultrasounds just to make sure I wasn't having twins (how embarrassing!!!). At this point I was going crazy trying all kinds of crash diets trying to lose the weight I had packed on, but nothing was working.

My marriage was not going as planned and so I think I just ate to comfort myself! I lost some weight when I would get stressed, but gained it right back. Finally, after calling my first marriage quits, I decided to lose a little weight. By this time I was about 190 lbs! Still way over what I should have weighed. I started dating my current husband and he had lost a ton of weight and he and my mom had even bought me a gym membership to trial, but I was too lazy to go and came up with a million excuses not to go. When Rodney asked me to marry him, we knew we wanted a beach wedding and I didn't want to be embarrassed in a swimsuit, so I tried dieting and going to some exercise classes and lost about 25 lbs. By that time (late 2006-early 2007) I was about 165 lbs. After we got married in February, I gained back all that I had lost and maintained a constant 185-190 lbs.

I was so embarrassed to even go to the doctor because I just couldn't keep the weight off. Finally, fed up with myself, I asked for help from one of the ladies I work with. In January, 2009, I weighed 189 lbs and decided I had had enough! We started a competition at work to lose some weight but we had to do it healthy. She taught us how to eat the right portions and to count calories. She gave us hints for snacks and dinners and how to order out at a restaurant. Slowly, the weight was coming off. The first week, I lost 6.5 lbs and felt great! I felt like I could really do it if I put my mind to it and that was my first real effort to lose weight the right way. By April, I had lost about 20 lbs and it was warmer so I added walking to my daily things to do. I started just walking around the block, but within two weeks I was walking about 3 miles a day. By this point it was a consistent 2 pound per week weight loss.

We started a second challenge at work and I won!!! I also joined the Skinny Mom Challenge as a second challenge to myself! I had lost some serious weight and felt great. I even went out and bought a new wardrobe. I looked and felt better than I had in years!!! I was a size 10 at that point and was thinking to myself, "You won't get any smaller than this, so just be content!" I was so wrong! I kept up with my calorie counting and every time I went to eat with my family I would plan ahead and know exactly what to order! I even got my kids eating healthier like getting the apples instead of fries and chicken instead of the other meats!

Since this past January I have lost a total of almost 52 lbs. All by just getting off the couch and making an effort to change the way I thought about food. It is your bodies’ fuel! I don't use it as a crutch and I don't starve myself, I just make healthier choices and watch my portions. I also cut out ALL soda (even diet)! I drink lots and lots of water and unsweet tea and eat lots of nuts, almonds, berries, apples, veggies, etc. I also count calories and maintain my count so I know exactly what and how many I have to spare. I now belong to a gym where I try to go 3-5 days a week AND I work out at home with my Wii fit! The Skinny Mom Challenge has also helped me to hold myself accountable. When you are held accountable you seem to make better choices!! I love the feel of walking in the sunshine and going to an exercise class and how your adrenaline gets going! It is amazing to think that I weigh what I did in high school, only now I am actually healthy and eating the right things for me!

The most important thing to know is that anyone can do this!! I never thought I would wear a size 6 again (I didn't even wear a size 6 in high school!!!!!), but now I look and feel a thousand times better than I did a year ago. This is a life change so make the leap! It's well worth it!!!!!

Lauri

Success!