This Big Girl Is Gonna Do It!

I keep starting and stopping this blog. I get really into it when I’m on a new diet, then after a few weeks, when I’m back to my normal eating, I abandon this page. Sure, I lose 10-20 lbs, but I put it back on, with some interest within weeks.

I’m a sugar junkie. And I mean junkie in a very real sense. It’s a drug to me. I can’t remember the last day I went without a sweet treat. But it isn’t just sugar, it’s carbs as well. And cheese.

I look like I’m 8 months pregnant. I have front butt. I’m a size 20. But my husband and older son struggle to GAIN weight (fuckers). My younger son and I just look at food and another jelly roll appears.

THEY can eat whatever they want and do. And unfortunately my husband does the shopping, so chips, cheezits, cookies and junk are always in my house, no matter how much I ask him to stop.

Jasinda Wilder is one of my favorite authors. As author of the Big Girls Do It series of romance books, Jasinda herself was a big girl!

But she isn’t anymore.

And she wrote a book, Big Girls Do It Running, outlining the “Wilder Way” that she follows with her husband and 6 kids. She did it not so much for weight loss, but for health. She talks about all of the small ailments that have improved in her family, and speaks candidly about her weight loss struggles throughout her life. She is funny, relatable, and totally gets it when some of her concepts seem off the wall, like kids eating veggies.

I know a few people in her beta group that followed her program for 8 weeks and say it has changed their lives. I, for one, know I can’t go on like I am, with an extra pound or two adding up every single month.

I’ve been diagnosed with Lupus, Lyme Disease, psoriatic arthritis, fibromyalgia, auto-immune connective tissue disorder, auto-immune thyroid disease and a pituitary brain tumor that was just removed. But maybe, just maybe, I’m poisoning myself with all the crap I eat.

I’ve tried every fad diet. I’m a lifetime Weight Watcher member, but the last few times I went back on, I ate all my points in WW snacks. I barely cook. I like very few vegetables and spices, and I eat like a child. Pizza, chicken nuggets, pasta, Mac and cheese, hot dogs, tacos, burgers…those are my staples.

But it’s the sugar that I’m really hooked on. And Diet Coke. I know I have sugar belly. I know quitting sugar and getting off my ass is probably my best bet, but waaaaaahhhhh…..it’s too hard! I mean, I can give up protein, no problem. But sugar? I’m not even sure I can go a day. My most successful diet ever was “the cookie diet” where I ate 6 special cookies a day instead of food. But of course as soon as you are back to real-life, it all the pounds come back, and they bring friends.

So how do you make a huge lifestyle change when your family is not willing to join you or help in any way? You just DO IT. And Jasinda is leading the way.

I read her book. It scared me because it seems like such a big lifestyle change. But Jasinda walks you through, step by step, and changes are made gradually. I think though, that the best part of the program is the group. 5,000 women are all starting this journey together. Jasinda giving weekly challenge videos. We are helping each other find products and get motivated. There are women with tons of health issues and we are all doing it together.

I’ll be honest. Jasinda’s program is not groundbreaking in any way. It’s a mixture of two common ways of eating, and it challenges you to move. But it is brought to you with easy, relatable humor and personal support.?I wish I started this in January when it was cool enough out to actually leave the house in South Florida and really try to walk/jog daily but nighttime and treadmill will have to do.

The 8 week challenge starts Monday, 5/23. Thank goodness it’s not sooner because I’m at a music festival this weekend eating food truck food!

I’m going to do it. I’m committing to 8 weeks. 8 weeks is nothing! I can do this! Who is with me?

Purchase Big Girls Do It Running by Jasinda Wilder

HARDCOVER ?| ?KINDLE

Join the challenge

Keep checking back here for updates, and let me know how it’s going for you! Guest blog posts are always welcome!