Ahhhh, the New Year. Everytime the first of January comes around, I get excited with what all my big plans are for the coming year. This year, I have MANY plans, and you'll see a lot of them show up here on everydayoptimist.net. However, the big over-arching plan is to be less, well, big. And this year, I'm not going it alone. I've teamed up with two of the coolest ladies I know, Sam and Kate, to support, encourage, and hold each other accountable. Accountability is also the reason for this new area on everydayoptimist.net. We figure (or maybe just hope) that having to share how things are going with the whole wide world once every two weeks will help keep ourselves accountable and on track. We have varying reasons for doing what we're doing, (and the other two will introduce themselves and lay out those reasons below) but Sam, Kate and I have a wedding to attend in July, and we want to look extra awesome, so that's a nice goal post to aim for. Sam is a bridesmaid, and I'll be doing the emceeing, Kate, well, she'll be the one in white walking down the aisle.
Ladies?
Kate:
When I was 18, I was 5'7 and weighed 120lbs. I'd spent my entire life eating whatever I wanted, exercising only when forced, and generally not giving a second thought to weight gain or body image. I figured I'd made it through puberty with no boobs, hips or butt to speak of, and while I sometimes wished I had a little more "curve", I was pretty content with myself.
Then, hormones happened.
In the space of 6 months I gained 30lbs, most of it in the aforementioned boobs, hips and butt, and then spent the next 12 years yoyo-ing up and down the weight scale (mostly up) while fighting those ubiquitous enemies of good intentions: Motivation and Accountability. I've had to deal with some pretty major self image issues, trying to reconcile the image I formed of myself when I was a teenager with the image I see in the mirror today. I'm never going to be that 120lb girl again, and I've finally reached a point where I don't want to be, but neither am I going to allow myself to keep getting bigger and bigger, and less healthy. It's time for a change!
Course, I've said this exact same thing many times over the years. So what's different now? Well, for starters, motivation. In 7 months, I need to fit into my wedding dress. And instead of just relying on the magic of corset backs and clever photography angles, I actually want to look good. To feel good.
Then there's accountability. That's where Sam and Andrea come in. The three of us are going to work together on this, to keep each other accountable, to keep eachother motivated, and more than anything, to support eachother and make this all feel just a teensy bit easier.
In short, we're gonna rockstar the crap out of this.
Sam:
I’ve struggled with weight most of my life. When I was a teen it was the same mental struggle that most teens go through. I thought I was fat and overweight, even if the scale thought otherwise. When I was in my twenties I made that thought become reality tipping the scales at over 260 lbs at one point. I would go through various diets and exercise plans, nothing stuck. Then I hit my thirties and there was this one moment, this one point in time when everything changed. It just clicked. I lost 90lbs. It took about 2 years but I did it. The moment that scale fell below 200 lbs I said to myself NEVER AGAIN. I didn’t exercise any more than I had been, but I did change what I was eating. I stopped eating at fast-food restaurants every day for breakfast and lunch. I stopped getting the fancy coffee drinks from Starbucks and I stopped eating out for dinner 6 nights a week. Slowly as the weight dropped, I started to feel better about myself and started to become more confident and started to do things I never thought I would.
The last year however, I started to make bad food choices again, gaining weight that I promised myself I would never do again. While I haven’t gotten a handle on losing the weight I’ve gained, I have managed to stay at my current weight for the past 2 months, and that it a feat in itself during December.
I have to buy a bridesmaid dress for a July wedding and I refuse to purchase the dress at the weight I am at now. I would also love for my clothes to fit better again, everything is just too tight, and I’m not even able to wear some of my clothes. I’m also cheap when it comes to clothes; I have better things to spend money on so I really don’t want to get an entirely new wardrobe. So with the help of my friends, we are going to diet, exercise and blog together and all work towards getting healthy and comfortable in our own skins, starting on January 1, 2015 with the Polar Bear swim. It’s going to be a rollercoaster of a ride, with many ups and downs.
Andrea:
I've always been a big girl, and despite being fairly comfortable in my own skin, my weight has always been the thing that has made me the most uncomfortable with myself. For a long time, I've let it define me as 'the chubby, funny sidekick' type and I think it's about damn time to become the superhero in my own life!
My motivation to stick with this is that I truly want to experience the world to its fullest, and get the most out of life, and while my enthusiasm knows no bounds, sometimes my size prevents me from doing this. I want to be stronger, faster, healthier... I would say happier, but I've got that covered I mean, I'm already the Purveyor of Sunshine and Rainbows.
While I do have said enthusiasm, I sometimes lack willpower and follow-through, and that's where my 'Jedi council' comes in. With Kate, Sam, and I all working towards a similar goal, coming from a similar place, we can call on each other to be that willpower and follow-through. And with the looming deadline of letting you (yes, Interwebs, I'm talking about you!) know how we're doing once every two weeks, there's a little bit of extra motivation to keep on track. It's going to be tricky, but more than that it's going to be interesting, and most importantly, with these ladies by my side, it's going to be fun!
So, that's us! And to be honest, this post was supposed to go up January 1st, to be all 'New Years-y'. But we decided to jump into to Pacific Ocean in 8 degree weather to ring in the New Year and start our quest off on a fun (and freezing) note! So here we are, cold, excited and rearing to go!
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