My Struggle with Weight

When I was younger, I was quite skinny. My mom, on the other hand, seemed to always be just a little heavy. I always heard people say, "daughters always end up looking like their moms when they get older." I used to always think "nope, that's not gonna happen to me." Here I am! On my way there! At 131 lbs 5'1" I KNOW I need to stop feeding the pooch that's just hangin out!

For the past 4 years, I've struggled with my weight. Well, I struggle, because I absolutely love rice. I can eat it with just about anything. In fact, sometimes when I have nothing else to eat, I'll cook up some ramen noodles, crack an egg in it, and add some rice. If I want any meat, I'll even throw in some vienna sausages. Oh gosh! I know it sounds really gross to some people, but I absolutely love it and when Oli's gone down for a nap, I'll eat this with an episode of "Friends."

Anyway, living in Laguna Beach is so challenging, especially when I can't take Oli to the park without feeling a bit insecure with the skinny and well-groomed moms all around me. This is when you can truly say that yes, where you live can really affect you.

When I used to date this model (believe it or not, he was actually into me lol), he told me he used to do a lot of modeling in France and Milan. Whilst he was there, he traveled a bit with this couple who were also models. He said they were always extremely fit and they had unbelievable bodies. Now, for him to say something like that was something I felt I had to listen to because he had an unbelievable body. So when he's actually acknowledging someone else, it makes you just want to listen.

He said he asked this couple what exercises they did and they said all they did was some yoga from this book by Richard Hittleman. It's called the 28 Day Exercise Plan. Anyway, he said he'd found a copy at a local bookstore in France and actually gave it to me. Well, you can also find it on Amazon for only about $3 or so. So I've had this book since then (about 6 years now) and I've always tried to start it, get to the 2nd or 3rd day and then stop. When I first started doing it, I just followed the pictures and didn't read it. At the time, I thought it was quite stupid, but never really understood how intense it was because I didn't read. So I guess that made ME the stupid one.

The exercise plan requires you to be committed for 28 days. After that period you will supposedly have done every yoga pose there is. The book eases you into every posture so that you don't hurt yourself, while at the same time, gaining the full benefit of each pose.

After actually reading and doing the postures correctly, I found myself taking anywhere from 45 minutes to an hour to complete each session. So I always have to keep starting over because I sometimes miss it for a few days.This time, I thought that if I actually post it on my blog, it might motivate me to keep moving forward. I just completed my 3rd day and the entire process took about 50 minutes. I also had a zone bar as my first meal, one weetabix and banana for my second meal. I'm really hoping that by at least the 15th day, I can start to feel some progress. Feels like nothing right now, except that I don't feel quite as sore as I did a couple of days ago.

Worked out really well as I took Oli to the park this morning, gave him breakfast, a bath, a little playtime, a full bottle, and then a nap.