Cathy in 2000    

Cathy in 2000

The update to this post can be found at: Atkins Attacks

So this post is about losing weight so if that sort of thing doesn’t interest you, then this might be the one you want to skip. However the voyeur in you wants to delve deep into my pants size (easy now) so keep reading.

This picture here was taken about six months after I got married and Eric and I were traveling across the US from GA to CA in our first cross country move. I love this picture because Jerome, which is where this is taken, is a great little hippy town that we had a blast visiting, I’m wearing my Vortex t-shirt (coronary by-pass anyone?), my hair is dyed red (which we’re back to again) and the look on my face is so classically Cathy. This picture also remind me that I’ve, yes in fact, gained weight in my marriage. Although I thought I was “fat” then, which is a recurring theme in my life, I was in fact just fine. In my attempt to get myself re-revved up for weight loss, I figure I’ll (ha ha) let it all hang out in my own public motivational speech on my, um, big fat ass. :~)

I can already tell you that my husband, in all of his sweetness, has already rolled his eyes when viewing the title and is probably on his way downstairs to smack my bottom and tell me to shut up. In all fairness, he does believe me to be beautiful and sexy and I do recognize and appreciate his honesty. If all it mattered to me was how he felt, then I’d say bring on the Doritos and cheese poppers but I think every woman has to be happy with how she looks. I’m not saying we should all be exactly the same. Frankly, I like the fact that we all look very different and I celebrate all different types and body styles. I will also interject here that the media does nothing to help an American woman’s body image and I think that at least the Dove campaign is trying to make a difference along with a few select others. I am saying that I  am not happy with how I look. So, I’m thinking that maybe it is time for me to try a little bit harder at reducing my waist line. So that in mind. Here we go.

I have several things going against me in my weight loss challenge. The first is genetics. I am built very similar to my birth mother and she has struggled with her weight her entire life. In fact, I am certain that she has already had at least one gastric bypass surgery. She and I both are pretty evenly built but carry our excess weight in our lower stomach, hips and thighs.

The second thing I have against me is the fact that am very short. I have a very short torso and very short legs. Because of my short torso, and the fact that I carry my weight there, it is really hard for me to see a difference in my weight loss. Also, when I bend over, no matter how skinny I’ve ever been, I’ve always had that little “pooch.” That pooch is one of the reasons that I was too embarrassed to try out for cheerleading in highschool even though I would have been excellent because of my flexibility and core strength.

Thirdly, I’ve had a baby and like a lot of women, my body has been permanently altered. I know that there are a lot of women who have had children and look the same and I think that’s great. But it ain’t me so it doesn’t really apply here. Because of my pregnancy, things are not really where they were five years ago. It’s fair here to note that I only gained 17 pounds with Porter so he wasn’t particularly huge and I didn’t pack on the pounds either.

Fourthly, I LOVE to eat. I love it and I’ve got a hard time deciding when to stop. Because we eat very low fat in our household, I tend to think that when I eat something that’s “bad” for me, that it’s okay to gorge myself on it because I eat low fat foods, stay away from salty snacks and drink low fat milk. 

Lastly, I have two wonderful children who are at the age where they just don’t care if I want to work out or not. I’ve been working out with kids for four years now and it isn’t easy. I can’t just decide to go out for a run, or get on the Wii Fit and expect everyone to quietly wait until I’m done. I might also interject here about the Wii Fit. It’s a great tool for working out but I have two flaws to report. First off, for yoga and strength training you have a trainer who does the exercises with you. Great, except once you’ve done them 100 times or so, you really don’t need the trainer to assist you with each exercise. Because of that and because he/she loves to TALK TALK TALK after each exercise, it adds at least an extra 15 or so minutes to complete a full set of exercises. When you have two kids who are demanding something, or finished eating, or chasing each other, or creating mess and chaos around you, those 15 minutes could be better suited actually working out instead of repeatedly hitting the “A” button hoping the trainer will just “shut the hell up and get on with it.” Secondly, the Wii Fit gets too redundant. Once you’ve unlocked everything and gone to “expert” level you get a little bored with the repetition.

Things in our lives have been very upside down the last several months with two cross country moves. We’re still trying to get ourselves established back in Atlanta and get things into a pattern where they are consistent. I’m hoping that soon my family will be back to what we consider normal and that will help me. We have been a little lazy lately in looking for things that make us happy because things have been so difficult for us. When we get like this, we take joy in eating the things that make up happy. I’ve been known to consume my fair share of ice cream, cook up too much chorizo and eat way too much bacon. So I think my first course of action is to begin limiting the things I eat. I’ll keep a journal of calorie consumption and update it each day. I also think that I’ll concentrate solely on my caloric intake instead of trying to combine both a calorie reduction and a work out routine. As I stated before, trying to find a consistent way to work out is impossible with two small children but here’s to hoping that my follow up to “My Big Fat Ass” might be a little lighter. (ha ha)