[tripletmom]

Hi everyone!

I am starting a 12-week challenge as of today, January 2nd. I wanted to start on a Sunday, and also enjoy my New Year's Day. I posted this same post on the Challenge board but thought I'd "recruit" over here too as it is so much more read.

I chose 12 weeks because not only is it a good period of time to both see results and not lose motivation, but in 12 weeks I will be going on a cruise. I have a 5-year-old (in 3 weeks) and triplets 13-month-olds, so I am REALLY looking forward to this trip for myself and my husband. My mother and my mother-in-law are going to watch the kids. It is a 5-day cruise, which means really 3 full days as the 1st and 5th day are airplane travel days. We will be shipping out of Galveston, Texas, and cruising the western Carribean, with two stops in Mexico.

I can't wait!!! I love cruises and am really looking forward to a break from the kids, as much as I love them, and from the monotony that my life feels like it has fallen into; my whole life is centered around care of my kids. I chose to stay home with them (although I don't think we could afford daycare for the triplets) and I don't regret that decision, but occasionally a mom (and dad) need a break!

Anyway! I am 153.4 pounds on the scale this morning. This is higher than I normally am, as I kind of let myself go over the holidays. However, I should be in the range of 115-125 pounds. I am 5 foot 5 and of small build (small bones, etc) so probably closer to the 115 mark. I don't think I can lose that much in 12 weeks, but I am setting my goal to lose 2 pounds a week.

That will be 24 pounds, if I am successful, by the cruise. Usually the first week you lose a lot without much trying, so I am fairly confident that if I am "good" and stand firm, I will be in the 120's for my trip. If I am going to put on a bathing suit, I want to feel happy in it, not ashamed and covering up with T-shirts. I haven't seen the 120's since I was married, and have only dipped into the high 130's briefly ever since. If I can succeed (I will!) this will be a real accomplishment, and confidence-builder; I feel like I am starting to look like a frumpy housewife mom at 32 and I want to look like thin, fit, toned, busy Mom!!

My plan is to not focus on the calorie count as much this diet - in the past I get too obsessive and it always backfires into binging. I want to keep it under 1500 but will not obsessively count - after this many years of weight awareness and diet attempts, I know what things roughly count for as far as calories and fat. I will go for low fat and high fiber to keep myself regular.

I also plan to drink a lot of water and do what I really have never done before, which is to EXERCISE!!! I signed the whole family up for a Y membership last month. I started my son in swimming lessons but have not ventured into their quite good workout facilities myself, yet. I kept putting it off, knowing that today I would start no MATTER WHAT. So today when I take my son to swimming (leaving in about 15 minutes) I will poke my nose in there, not to workout today (not enough time during a 1/2 hour lesson), but to at least know where to go so I won't feel so insecure when I do go in there. I hope to start getting down there to workout at least 2-3 times a week, as much as the triplets and their schedule will allow, and as much help as I can get with babysitting.

For the days I can't get to the gym, I have set my Tivo to tape lots of workout shows (there's a great channel called FitTV) as well as diet shows to give me motivation. I always want to have something on the TV if I feel myself losing willpower - a success story, a workout, a diet show, anything. I want to get some kind of exercise that gets my heartrate going EVERY DAY that I can. I also desperately need to tone up; my upper body isn't in bad shape from all the lifting I do, but my abs are pathetic - the triplet baby belly has left my abs missing in action.

I'm also a singer (well, I take voice lessons) and I know that strengthening my abs would help immensely with my breathing. So there's another motivator for me.

I'm going to try taking a 30 mg Phen capsule every day and see if that helps. I tried them last summer and I fell off the wagon, but this time I am a lot more determined. I have a CRUISE to take at the end of March!!!

Will anyone else join me? I would love to have some company. I am going to post to the Challenge thread, or to a similar one, on that board, every day, and am making that one of my goals. I will say what I did that day or the previous one, what I ate and drank, how much exercise I got. I haven't decided yet whether to weigh myself daily or weekly. I'm a scale fanatic and I don't know if I could cope with only knowing how I'm doing once a week. Maybe if there is a scale at the gym I will only weigh when I go there? We'll see.

Anyway, I hope hope hope that at least a few people will join my little challenge; I know there are a lot of new ones out there but maybe there are a few people that haven't started yet that will get in with me? Good luck to everyone! Please post if you are interested! Please post on the identical thread to this on the Challenge board! Thank you and good luck to all on their journey.

Hugs to all,
Karen
TripletMom