In January, I weighed more than I'd ever weighed before. Way more than my heaviest. 

I was binging. All the time. Eating and drinking whatever I wanted because I wanted it, not necessarily because I was hungry. But I was hungry. All the time it seemed, or at least thought I was. Huge portions for dinner, decent size carby breakfasts. Fairly normal lunch. Dinners weren't healthy. A small amount of veg usually accompanied by large portions of pasta, or fish with lots of chips, etc. You get the idea. I had to have my afternooon chocolate bar as well. 

I knew I wanted to lose. I had tried to lose last August/September using a program I had (successfully used before) with no success. The scale wouldn't budge... but I wasn't changing my eating habits much either.

In January, my friend announced she was doing Dietbet with Blogilates (Cassey Ho) and did anyone want to join? I contemplated for over a week and with the deadline for my brother's wedding less than 4 months away, I joined.

Dietbet was the kick in the butt that I needed. I completed the first one (boy was it hard). I started following the blogilates meal and exercise plans. Even though I haven't compeltely stuck with the meals, I've taught myself to eat MUCH healthier, clean for the most part even, and much, much smaller portions. I did another diet bet4 after the January db and won. There were definitely times I wanted to give up, like after Valentines weekend when I gained everything back I'd lost from the start of the second db, but kept going (it was all back off in about a week, plus some!). Then I did another db4 and won!. By this time... my brother's wedding time, I'd lost almost 23lbs. I was much happier going back home knowing I wouldn't be 'the fat girl' in the photographs (how I saw it in my head anyway!). When I got back after the wedding, I did another diet bet4 (blogilates db). Boy was that hard after having been on holiday, but I kept going... and won. Now it was getting a lot harder to acheive that 4% each time and I was about 10% away from my overall target goal...

So I started the DB10. I'm back into the 'normal bmi' category now (one of my little, much needed goals along the way!).

I've continued doing the blogilates workouts from the start, which are always challenging and varying. The workouts are getting easier. I don't feel like a beached whale trying to do some of the moves anymore, hurrah! I actually feel like I'm getting back in shape!! Don't get me wrong, it's still hard work. I workout 6 days a week and pass up a lot of the goodies that are always around including alcohol during the week!

A huge bonus for me is I'm fitting back into clothes I love. I have a dress I want to wear on my birthday in September that I bought on our honeymoon and couldn't wear. I'd like to wear it and rock it. That's just one of the things I'm working toward.

Overall though, the goal a healthier lifestyle. I don't want to be a bad example for any future children I have. I want to be an inspiration and I want to teach them healthy habits. I'm getting there. The last few days my husband was asking if we were having salad for dinner which is encouraging. Our bodies are starting to crave the healthy foods over the greasy, fatty foods we were eating before. 

Most of all I want to be able to maintain a healthy weight and lifestyle and eventually not need dietbet to kick my butt into gear. When I meet my overall goal, I've told myself I have a 5lb fluctuation in either direction, and if I want to reevaluate and go lower after that I can. 

It helps to have a great support system; husband, family, and friends as well as my co-workers. Then there's the dietbet community where most seem as though they genuinely want others to succeed because it's not really about winning the money, it's about getting to our goals and achieving amazing things through body confidence and healthier lifestyles. So when you think it's tough, and you're going through hell, keep going! Push through and it will be worth it. Your body will thank you.