Another birdie leaves the nest.

So Meghan’s stint here on the blog has come to an end.

Here are her thoughts on the journey:

On July 11th, my husband and I both weighed in at the Y and made a silly little bet about who could lose 10lbs. first. I weighed in 128 that day. Soon after that weigh in I contacted Susie and on July 25th I took my first pictures. Unfortunately, I hadn’t really put any effort into eating better and working out consistently since the 11th. August 4th I was supposed to give Susie my first week’s photos. I had worked out probably once and had just spent the weekend eating and drinking celebrating my husbands 40th and taking the kids to the state fair. I was not looking forward to delivering those photos, and you can kind of see the look on my face that says that!

Yeah. I’d say she looked pretty pissed.

The next week I finally kicked it into gear. I downloaded the Lose It! app to my phone and started working out six times a week. Over the course of the 12 weeks when life got busy (around week 8 I only made it to the gym 4-5 times a week, but I stayed true to watching what I ate. I cut out sweets and fried foods, two of my big cravings at the time. I cut down on dairy and breads. I did allow myself little cheats.. I had half a cupcake on my birthday, a fry or two with my son at Navy Pier, and my Fiber One chocolate and oat bars.
I think the biggest surprise for me was around week 10, my boys both caught a bacterial infection and I couldn’t take them to the Y. We we’re home bound for about 8-10 days and I made it to the Y I think three times. I was shocked that my body kept losing weight because my metabolism had started to change and work better for me due to all my hard work the previous weeks. I still lost 2-3lbs. the last two weeks!

I weighed in this morning at 113lb., that’s a 43lb loss since giving birth to my second son 6 months ago! I’m now 3lbs. less than pre-babies weight and 3lb. away from the weight I was when my husband and I met eight years ago. My goal is still to reach 110 and tighten my stomach as well as tone my legs and arms. It feels so good to do this. If you just tell yourself, “I’m going to put everything I can into this for 12 weeks”, by week 4 you will start to see real changes and you will WANT to workout and eat better.

I’m amazed I lost 15lbs in just 12 weeks and by no extreme measures, just eating healthfully and working out consistently!

I don’t know if Meghan remembers this, but in her original message to me, she wrote this:

My husband and I are going to Jamaica in January for his 40th birthday, I’d like to look kick ass by then! 

Hmmmm.

When she wrote that message she looked like this:

And this:

And now she looks like this:

And this:

Yeah.

I’d say mission accomplished.

She looks pretty smokin to me.

Great job Meghan. You look amazing. Don’t be a stranger.

And enjoy that trip to Jamaica.

But not too much,

or we may have to see you back on here next October 😉

Next week we start the third 12 week journey for not one,

BUT TWO readers here on the blog!!!

I’m very excited to share this experience with them and with you.

Check in next Monday to hear their stories!

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