Skinny Jeans and Money for the Milk Bank? I’m All In!
The fact that I’m about to step out and once again share very personal details of my life with the SEO community shouldn’t come as a surprise to anyone. After all, we’ve all talked or written about my chest and many folks have read the intimate details of my life on my hobby site.
So when Donna approached me to ask if I’d be willing to take part in the SEM version of The Biggest Loser and I heard about the chance to raise more money and awareness for HMBANA milk banking, it wasn’t even a question. (Ok, so there was a slight question about the time it would take to do even more blogging, but I think I can hack it.)
So here’s the deal. I weigh 197 pounds. Oh yeah, you read that right. It’s ridiculous and I have to fix it. Now I’d love to write that off to spending the last four years being pregnant or nursing, but the truth is, I weighed 227 pounds when I graduated college. I lost 30 pounds between then and when I had Elnora, but I’ve never managed to get the next 30 off. Time to stop stalling.
My goal is to drop 15-20 pounds in the next two months. It’s a lofty goal, especially since I’ll be spending a week in Italy during the contest, but money for the milk bank and bragging rights against this crowd are good motivators.
Here’s my plan.
1.) More regular exercise. I already belong to a gym and work out three days a week. Unfortunately, travel and children often mean that gets knocked down to twice a week. That’s not enough. I’m switching to a gym closer to home this week to make it easier to make it there M/W/F during the contest. I’ll also be aiming to do pilates at home three days a week and will either do a bonus day at the gym or some other type of activity on day seven. I’m focusing on cardio conditioning and strength training.
2.) My secret weapon: bento boxes. I’m on the go all the time. Between the gym, errands, preschool, etc, I find myself picking up fast food at least twice a week. I generally eat grilled chicken sandwiches, but my kids end up eating crap. Thus, I’ve got motivation to get back in the habit of packing bento boxes for us on the days when I know we’ll be out during lunch.
3.) New eating habits. I’m generally a pretty healthy eater. I love fruits and veggies and try to avoid HFCS and transfats. I’m looking to kick things up a notch for the contest in the hopes I can jump start some new eating habits. I’ll be working to cut out meat (or at least dramatically reduce it) and to replace it with other sources of good protein. (Whole grains, legumes, nuts, seeds, organic dairy, etc.) I’m hoping if I force myself into looking at options other than meat, I’ll find some great new recipes to try.
4.) Accountability. If I can figure out how to get Flickr working with this blog, I’ll be posting pictures of everything I eat. I figure if I have to admit to you all that I’m eating it, I may think twice. 
So, here we go. If I pull this off, I’ll have a great excuse to go buy new clothes before SES NY.
