This Fall, I want to hit my goal weight. Won’t you join me in That Weight Loss Challenge 3? In two years I’ve gone from what you see on the left, to what you see on the right.

What I’m shooting for is a little bit closer to this. (Albeit a decade older with several more stretch marks, of course.)

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I was a complete fail at TWLC2. 

I stopped checking the #TWLC2 Twitter hashtag (and stopped using it), stopped checking in with our Facebook group, didn’t write any update posts here, and didn’t keep up with the group Google Doc. My Statistics class (and mye efforts to reacquaint myself with math that started in the beginning of November) was such a monumental effort that I had to let something go. Things got so bad near the end that I started buying freezer meals for T1 and TH to eat, stopped working out, stopped doing pretty much anything other than math and Statistics all day every day. My marriage and my family needed me to drop some commitments, and TWLC was one of the first things to go.

But now that’s behind me! I’m breezing through my Brit Lit class (1/3 of the way through in a matter of days) and looking forward to an action packed Spring/Summer/Fall. And so many of the things I’m looking forward to are things that motivate me to reach my goal weight!

I had my sister take a picture of me with my iphone before church on Sunday. I’m almost exactly where I was when I started TWLC2, waffling between a size 8-10 (in today’s vanity sizing system), and happy with how far I’ve come but not at all willing to settle in this spot. I’m still carrying far too much excess weight around my middle, and I don’t want to be one of those women talking about how I just kept gaining with each child and never got it off. The best thing I can do for myself is look at the big picture and keep reminding myself that 6 months of working insanely hard, denying myself some of the small pleasures, pushing myself to keep going for one more mile will be something I never regret.

I not only have Thailand in September (less than 6 months to reach my goal weight!), but family pictures on the 19th of April. I obviously won’t lose much before our pictures, but I can make the kind of choices that will have me feeling fabulous while Kelli Nicole snaps away. And I’ve devised yet another plan to act as motivation. I have 6 baby-free, husband-free weeks in Provo this summer where I can really push hard and eat what I want, when I want, exercise as much as I can, etc. One of my best friend’s works as a trainer at The Lab, and I really want to spend time training with her. I’m going to set a list of *completely achievable* goals, and if I reach them, I get to hire my friend as my trainer!

I’m also going to run a half-marathon this summer! I did 10 miles (on a bit of a whim) before I stopped running this winter, and so I think 13 is completely doable, especially if I start training now. And I’m going to start posting to my food blog again.

I asked this question in That Weight Loss Challenge Facebook group, but I’ll ask it here as well. What did you like and dislike about TWLC and TWLC2? I would like to keep the Facebook group, add in some sort of system for checking in weekly/biweekly that will kick people out if they don’t check in, increase the entrance fee (more money invested means more motivation!), utilize the #TWLC3 hashtag on Twitter, write weekly posts on That Wife about my progress, and possibly do some monthly chats hosted by different moderators (I still have no idea which service to use for this and would love suggestions).

And even though I’ve failed, there will still be several winners of TWLC2 walking away with cash and photo sessions! I’m really excited to see your after pictures, even if I can’t really provide any of my own.

(And please, don’t go on and on about how you most disliked me dropping the ball on TWLC2. I feel bad about it, but admit I wouldn’t do things any differently (I’m going to graduate from college soon!!!!!))

The list of things I’m constantly thinking “I’ll post on this soon” is growing. Time for a Brain Dump.

Jenna Cole

My Aspirations full day session is approaching capacity. Anyone else out there who might have been putting off finding out more? Email me! And in the spirit of my latest post on Jenna Cole, I decided to cancel the half-day session due to lack of interest. Whew! That was hard for me to admit, but sometimes we try things and they don’t work, right? I think I’m ready to keep trying new things, even if it means failing sometimes.

Try This

I discovered a fun new game. Put your camera on the floor and teach your toddler how to push the button. Do all sorts of crazy things in front of the lens while they peer at the screen on back. Laughter and smiles will follow.

School

I am currently allowing myself to write this post as a little pat on the back for making it through two whole sections of Statistics today! I’m on track to getting to where I need to be. To fill you in since my last psot on this topic, I decided to take Calculus online, but first needed to bump up my math skills to the algebra level. After almost a decade of no serious math classes, my skills were rusty, as in write 2x+2=10 on a piece of paper and I will rip that paper up and tell you it’s impossible for me to figure it out. After dedicating myself to Khan Academy for two months, I was working with linear equations once again and felt ready to give Calculus a try. Before I could start on the course material, I had to take an algebra pre-test to prove I could handle the course.

I opened up the open book pre-test, and within 10 minutes had giant tears running down my face because even with Google’s help I had absolutely no idea what they were asking me for. Khan Academy had been (and is) great, but once you rephrased the questions into a different format I felt lost, confused, and frustrated that the last two months I had just spent were a waste of time. And if the pre-test was this hard, how would I ever make it through the actual course?!?!?!

Within the last week I switched to Statistics and things are much, much better. This stuff is interesting to me, much more applicable to my normal life, and so far I’ve been doing really well on my Speedback quizzes. I have to have the class finished by the end of March if I want to have time to finish my other online course, Brit Lit, so That Wife posting should continue to be sparse (if I’m posting everyday again, feel free to remind me of my responsibilities).

This summer I’ll be taking Managerial Communication, American Lit, and the class I’m most looking forward to… women’s culture, women’s folklore as my senior course. If ever God gave me a sign that I was headed in the right direction, this is it. I cannot imagine a class that’s a better fit for me, as the Intro to Women’s Studies class and multiple Folklore focused courses at BYU were my very favorites. SQUEEEE! I’ve actually had the professor before (in one of the aforementioned Folklore courses) and I really enjoyed working with her.

House Hunting

We want to live somewhere along the peninsula south of San Francisco. I thought we had a great lead on a house, but it’s not the right situation for us. We’d really like to rent, but I can’t seem to find anyone to advise us on when we actually need to be digging in our heels and trying to find a place if we are moving in this August. Everything on Craigslist right now is listed as available immediately.

T1′s Therapy

We’re still loving our speech therapist, and haven’t sought out a new developmental therapist. He keeps having these wonderful mini-explosions which are delightful to hear. Last night it was the word “cracker”. He used it over and over and over, and we kept giving him crackers until he stopped asking for them. This morning on the changing table he tried out poop, diaper, pants, cup, up, and down. We’re making progress!

Weight Loss

Are you a part of That Weight Loss Challenge Facebook group? Because I haven’t been doing a good job of checking in here regularly regarding my weight loss efforts, but you’ll find all sorts of motivation and support over there! To try to summarize where I’ve been, when TWLC2 launched I weighed about 155 lbs. I went all sorts of crazy eating truffles over Christmas and when I came back to Chicago I weighed in at 160 lbs. Of sugar and refined-carb induced bloat. After a week of drinking my calories, mainly via fruits and vegetables, and a few more weeks of really trying to limit carbs, I’m back down to my pre-Christmas pants again. My plan is to continue limiting carbs and drinking lots of soup/smoothies to get where I haven’t been since my wedding day… below the 150lb mark.

As far as exercise, I’ve fallen hard for the Ripped in 30 workout DVD by Jillian Michaels. Remember that time I said I wouldn’t Shred? Well I still won’t Shred, but not because I think Jillian is a hypocrite selling diet pills and making unrealistic weight loss claims (she is) but now it’s because I like her other DVD better. Ha! After almost 3 months of doing the Ripped in 30 DVD an average of 4+ days/week, you can actually see my biceps when I flex. I don’t know that the rest of me looks any different yet, but my biceps are significantly bigger than they were in this photo. (A note to say that I’m working out to build muscle, not to lose weight, as I think that’s where diet comes in). We’re probably about halfway through, right? I should do some progress pictures.

Julia put together a Facebook group for TWLC and I think it has a lot of potential to become a really great group forum. But we need more members!

Request to join here. Then we can discuss things like how to make it through the holidays and our favorite go-to snacks.

I’m not sure I believe it myself, but somehow I managed to convince over 75 of you to send me your before picture. 75!!! If I manage to collect money from everyone who pledged the $10 AND sent in a picture, the winner of TWLC2 is going to come away from this challenge feeling very, very happy. I don’t want this round to be like last time though, with dozens of people signing up but only a handful sending me a results picture at the end.

Unrelated picture from Poland. I needed something to break up the text.

The key to lasting change, is going to be vocalizing the changes you want to make right from the get-go. Here are the changes I’m committing to over the next few months:

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