My struggle

Such a weird word, right? Struggle? Well, that’s how it feels to me! I’m Cheryl. I’m a 28 year old mom of two wonderful little girls. Lauren who will be 3 on the 20th of January and Jillian who just turned 1 in September. I’ve always been unhappy with my weight, even when I was “thin” I thought I was fat.

I started gaining weight when I met my husband (obviously then, he was my boyfriend) but, I quit jogging everyday so I could spend more time with him. And what did we end up doing? Watching movies and EATING. Yep! Nothing healthy either. It didn’t really help either that our cafeteria at university served fries ALL.The.Time. not good.

After Adam and I had been married for almost a year, I got pregnant with my daughter Lauren. I gained 19 lbs- not too shabby, but I was still overweight. In September 2007 I had MAJOR jaw surgery (for medical reasons) and lost 52 lbs very rapidly, not healthy or safe, but, once I could eat properly again, I gained ALL of the weight back (well, almost) then, I got pregnant with Jillian and gained 30 lbs in 30 weeks. Um, let’s not talk about that fact. Lost that weight quickly, but I was still MEGA overweight. I was so ashamed as to how much I weighed.

In August, I decided to take charge of my situation. My inlaws were doing the Zone diet (as well as my sister in law). They had lost weight in a little amount of time, healthily and safely. So, Adam and I started doing the zone. which is basically a low carb diet. I allowed myself to eat carbs first thing in the morning because it was better than what I had been doing- ie- not eating until 3pm and then BINGE eating every night until I went to bed. I lost 32 lbs from the end of August until October 22.

October 22 is a pretty solid date, don’t you think? Well, my youngest daughter was diagnosed with cerebral palsy and I was too stressed to think about myself or take care of myself. However, I haven’t gained any weight back (in fact, I’ve lost another 5 lbs) I need to get back on the bandwagon and I need to start exercising again, it made me feel great to exercise.

So, what worked for me? The zone and doing Wii Fit and EA Active. I love both of the programs. I felt that I was too fat to go to a gym, plus, I can’t really afford a gym membership monthly when I could buy EA Active (or Wii Fit) for the same amount as a one month membership. I need to do this for me and my girls. I don’t want to be one of those mothers who get winded by walking up the stairs… I need to feel better about myself.

Cheryl