A little accountability...............

*Let me preface this post by saying that I love and respect my body.........no matter what size!*

Today I have the luxury of both of my kids napping at the same time....doesn't always work out that way, as Garrett has mostly dropped his nap. So I felt ambitious enough to do my Jillian Michaels 30 Day Shred dvd. But not before stepping on the scale..........yikes! I knew all that ice cream I ate over the weekend would come back to bite me in my (not insubstantial) ass.......158 lbs! No lie. I didn't know you could even put on 3 lbs having a bowl of ice cream 2 nights in a row!

In the past few months the hubs and I have cut out most sugar, save a small amount of honey in the morning oatmeal/tea, trips to the in-laws (where sweet things are unavoidable), and the once a month ice cream treat(which I'm now recovering from). Healthy living is the major reason for the switch, although after being pregnant or nursing for almost 4 years, having a body that resembles the one I had pre-kiddos is a huge motivator for me.

For those of you who've known me since my teen years, you'd know that at the end of high school, I weighed WAY more than my present day fat weight of 158. In fact, around the time I graduated, I was about 190lbs and a size 16. Today I'm a size 10/12. After HS, I moved to the lovely hippy town of Ashland, became a bit more health conscious, and spent the next few years eating organic and walking about 50lbs of chub off.

Fast forward to now: I've had 2 kids, both breastfed, which La Leche League will tell you makes you lose weight faster. What they don't tell you is that you'll drop a lot of weight fast, but your body will hold onto a little chunk so as not to jeopardize your precious milk supply (this way, if you don't eat enough, baby will still get what they need). My youngest is now 19 months old, and after the sugar cut, I dropped 15lbs fast without doing much. Now it's time to step it up a notch.......hence the Jillian Michaels.

My goal for myself is this: To be able to work out for 60 minutes without feeling like I'm going to die, to tone up my arms/abs, and to feel fit and healthy. I'm not going to put a number on how much I want to lose (I'd rather be a toned, healthy size 10 than a thin-but-flabby-size 6), but I'd also like to lose a few inches overall and not break into a cold sweat at the idea of a bathing suit without board shorts over it.

Why, might you ask, am I telling you all this? I'll tell you why............ACCOUNTABILITY! I'm the kind of person who doesn't like to fail publicly. I figure, the more people who know about my shape-up goal, the better. In fact, if you're still reading this, feel free to ask me if I've worked out today (actually, ask me tomorrow....I just did Jillian!). Now if you'll excuse me, I'm going to stand up on my still-shaky legs, drink about a liter of water, and go shower......later.