I have childbearing hips. This is fantastic in the delivery room, but not so fantastic in skinny jeans.
And then I had twins. That's the title of my life now. AND THEN I HAD TWINS.
My hips have never been the same. So, I just ignored them for awhile. Tucked them under flowing skirts, pretty dresses, sweat pants. This was fine because, hello, I was busy with preemie twins.
However, I also procrastinated. I acted like my hips would slim down all by themselves. Finally, my husband was all: "You know, we can lose weight by being more organized about our eating habits."
And then he made a spreadsheet to prove it. Organization is my husband's favorite word, with spreadsheet running a close second. Thank God one of us is Type A. (Hint: it's not me)
Anyway, thanks to Matt's spreadsheet, my spread has shrunk. I've lost 12 lbs. Of course, my husband has lost like 20 lbs., so unfair.
The hard part about eating right is that it's forced me to acknowledge other areas of my life that are out of control. Once you start telling the truth in one part of your life, it's hard to go on telling lies in other parts.
Once you start being honest in one, small area of your life–honesty starts spilling over into other areas, too.
The other difficult thing is that change doesn't happen overnight. Every day I have to recommit. This is a real challenge for someone who struggles with self-control and impulsivity (hello, ADD).
For me, losing weight is equal parts physical and emotional. Whenever I felt hungry (which was usually fake hunger), I started asking myself: What am I really hungry for?
It was humbling to realize that I'm hungry for a lot of things–all non-food related. I'm hungry for love, affirmation, success, meaningful friendships, financial security, validation. These are all hungers that cannot be met with food.
Am I really just hungry for a deeper relationship with God?
I don't know yet. What I do know is that after 3 months, I'm finally seeing some results.
A couple of weeks ago, I did a Very Brave Thing. I tried on my pre-pregnancy jeans.
Here's the shock that registered on my face when I realized they fit!theyfit!theyfit!
OK, wait. That doesn't look like shock. That looks like horror. Yikes.
Here's a better pic: me dressed up for my birthday dinner. I've lost 3 more pounds since then, but it's the only pic I've got, so…here ya go (sorry for the bad indoor lighting):
[In case you're wondering, we've been following the Zone Diet. We especially love the easy-to-use Week In the Zone book. You can also find frozen Zone meals in select grocery stores--we found them at Ralphs]
And cheer me on? I still have 8-10 lbs. to lose.
