Five years ago, I had my first child, and eighteen months ago, my second. With both girls, I battled severe postpartum depression and used food as a coping tool. I had lost all focus on myself and my health and was giving my daughters a terrible example of a healthy mother. I have an amazingly supportive husband who has been my partner in all arenas of life for nineteen years; we’ve certainly been partners in weight gain and unhealthy choices.  I want to be healthy to have adventures with my family. I want to be able to play chase with my girls without needing to sit down after just a quick sprint. I want to make healthy food choices that nourish my body and I want my girls to want to make those choices too. It’s not just my future at stake. With every choice that I make, I am giving my daughters an outline of how life is to be lived.

During the initial progress check at the start of the challenge, I was encouraged to set my goals and indicate why. My goals were simple: to lose weight and gain endurance. My reason why was and still is that I am tired of quitting on myself. I deserve to live a healthy life and to be capable of doing all the things I want to in this life. I set a numerical weight loss goal for myself and worried it was too ambitious, but my coach encouraged me to set the goal and see what I could do. I realized I was trying to quit on myself minutes after I had promised not to do that anymore.

I began researching my food choices, learning what calories I was eating and how much protein and fats were in my food choices as well. Major lightbulbs went off for me during the How to Shop, Prep, and Cook to Lose Weight information session. I began planning my weekly grocery list and placing online orders with my local grocery store so that my list would be adhered to without the temptation to try anything new or buy things that felt impossible to avoid. I love the simplicity and ease of using the “plate method” for my meals.  I now batch cook our chicken and vegetables for three days at a time making healthy choices and the actual process of preparing dinner much easier.

I felt very anxious to begin group classes, but the class instructors always made me feel very welcome and I gleefully accepted their praise for my hard work each class. I now have class friends that I chat with and commit to seeing at the next class.  During the specialized 60Day in-club events, I learned so much about the basics in healthy movement and what I am capable of. In the Body Weight Basics in-club event, I learned how to properly plank and during the Team Challenge event, was able to hold my plank for three minutes and thirty seconds. After that workout, I realized how much I had grown not only in my physical strength and endurance but mentally.

I was taken back to see my progress photos at the beginning of the challenge, and now I am stunned at what I have been able to accomplish in 60 Days. My journey isn’t complete, but I am motivated by a desire for lasting change and now I have the tools to succeed. In moments where I may feel lack of motivation, I just need to pick up my cherubic eighteen-month-old to remember how far I have already come, as I have lost more than her total weight.