Week One- Motivation not Starvation

Well I have survived since Monday. I was quite surprised to learn that a weekend of childrens parties and BBQ food had actually left me a kilo and a bit heavier than the my "guestimate". Turns out my official starting weight was actually 96.9 kilos.

Now this photo brings to light two really important things- 1) I need a pedicure and 2) I am really over my bathroom tiles.

So everyone this week has been asking me "what" are you doing to lose the weight- like they expect me to tell them the "brand" of weightloss. My standard response is to tell them "I am not doing anything really just exercise a bit more and eat good food" and realistically it is probably more to do with the mental shift I have had since making a public declaration against my fat and wanting to really raise the bar and get people on board by having a good week myself. I have my kilosforkids website in construction and there has been an amazing bunch of people want to come on board and lose some weight too. So I really need to keep doing a good job now and I think that is a better plan- using motivation rather than starvation!

So at this point I would like to share some of the thoughts I managed to turn around- more of what I DIDN'T do this week-

• What a crappy day! Where is the chocolate.
• Sure cheese and biscuits are a meal
• Its too windy to walk today
• I know I bought salad for lunch but maybe I could have a pie as well
• I will be late to daycare if I walk today
• I have done well this week perhaps it is ok to have cake with my coffee
• Weigh in tomorrow but exercising today probably won't make a difference now
• Weigh in tomorrow- I shouldn't eat today.

And this weeks results from not choosing my old way of thinking are-

Thats 2.5kgs my friends!!

And no I don't have a fungal nail infection- I decided after the last dodgy photo that this week I would paint them in honor of the pies game- because we are Geelong Supporters and I really wanted Collingwood in the grandfinal cos my husband is a pies supporter and I think it will make the game more fun!

But I digress! 

So 2.5 down and probably at least 20 to go.

If you haven't already... please pledge as a comment below (and Follow me!) the amount of dollars or cents per kilo you would like to donate at the end of the month! This is really important for my success as it has been a really big factor in my belief in myself this week- so get on to it!!!

Thanks to everyone who said nice things this week too. I really do want to make people proud of me!

Have a great week and can't wait to see what happens for Week 2!

XOXO Shrinking Violet

I had to change my call sign cos "itstimeforlife" was googling pro-life websites and gospel choirs! LOL

NOW GO PLEDGE!

Don't all diets start on a Monday?

Well.... what to write on the first post of my first blog. Must write something pretty interesting or I won't be able to keep any followers. Whats so interesting about this blog? Well, short of going on The Biggest Loser and taking my gear off on national television (P.S I am not posting any nudie photos along the way) I want to be accountable for my weight and my efforts to reduce my weight. So far hiding my dieting (and hiding my eating for that matter) has not helped my constant battle with the scales.

So far I have tried (and failed) at

• Weight Watchers,
• Meal replacement shakes
• Slim Fast,
• Opti Fast (there must be something tempting about "Fast")
• Starvation (not much fun)
• Atkins-like Protein no Carbs (I do love carbs...)
• Coffee only
• Smoking (much more fun but that was a hard one to give up)

But like most things you can't blame the tool only the operator. So as much as I am not getting paid for any endorsements here I am sure that some of the reputable dieting companies would actually work assuming I really followed the instructions!

The best one I liked was actually not weighing myself so I didn't know how much I weighed. Should have tried it this way;

So how much weight are we really talking about? When I was pregnant with my first son (yup- I have two boys)  my weight crept up to nearly 120kgs. I know what you are thinkin.... "her poor ankles" yes my poor little ankles and swollen feet carried around 120 kilos of baby, fluid and chocolate. Luckily for me my weight quickly fell again to 5 kilos less than my pre-pregnancy weight of 102 kilos.

Just as I was about to get serious about some exercise I fell pregnant again! Seems that sex is probably not a good weight loss strategy (sorry oh husband of mine). The second time around I only peaked at about 108 kilos so now 8 months of breastfeeding later and I am currently around.... (drum roll please....)

95 Kilos 

If I were gold I would be worth a small fortune. We could pay off Nigeria's national debt with that kind of money. I was thinking along the way, whilst trying to find some motivation for getting stuck into my weightloss, that I need to do this for my kids. So I can run around with them, have the energy to be with them and later in life so that I am not an embarrassment to them.

And then I thought- what if I could raise money like a read-a-thon. What if I made it a "fat-a-thon" and got people to sponsor me for every kilo I lost?

I could raise some  money for needy kids along the way. Charities that give Christmas gifts to kids whose parents can't afford Santa and children overseas who don't have access to clean drinking water or who live and work in rubbish dumps.

and then Kilos for Kids was born.

So here is the deal. I am going to start- NOW. Tomorrow I will officially weigh in to a decimal place.

What I want is for people to get onboard and support me. I will post some links along the way to each month's charity and you just tell me how much you will put in per kilo and I will aim to raise as much money as possible every month. If you would like to join me and lose weight and support some important charities- just send me an email to kilosforkids@gmail.com and we can all band together.

This months charity is World Hope Australia a really worthy cause doing wonderful work around the world.

This I promise- I will post a weekly weight. Perhaps a photo of the scale for prosperity- but always an honest reading. I will try not to bore you with ridiculous anecdotes about crying in front of the lolly section in the supermarket. I may even post some photos of the journey as I go- after all what else is an album full of "before" photos good for if you never get any "after" ones. What is my ultimate goal? Well for one I am hoping to have enough confidence to go to the mail box in a bikini (cos I can) but realistically- for my height I am told that 68-75kilos is a pretty healthy weight range. Anything in the mid 70's is a good start I reckon and then we will see! (don't worry if you support me by the kilo at least you know it won't be more than 30!). I am hoping to make this a project over about 12 months which should see 12 charities at least benefit from my efforts!

Anyway- welcome aboard. I hope you enjoy the ride! I have a feeling that this is not going to be easy- but I do have faith that it will be worth it :)

It is time for life.
XOXO