Guest Blogger: For The Love of a Challenge

As soon as I see the May Day Challenge by the girls of Sparkle.Pounce. I am instantly excited! I love a challenge and I know I will be participating in this one. Did I just say I love a challenge!? Sure did! Have I always been this way? Nope! As someone who has struggled with her weight pretty much most of her life and hasn’t been very active since mid-high school, I was definitely never the person who was thrilled to work out, let alone someone who would get excited to do a fitness challenge. Yet, that is exactly who I have become.

So when did I become someone who gets excited about a fitness challenge?!?! It all changed for me after I had kids. After I had my first daughter (she is now 6) I knew I wanted to lose weight and live a healthier life style. In the 3 years after I had her I lost all the baby weight (50lbs!) plus almost an additional 25. I started to exercise more and even took up running. I then got pregnant with my youngest (now almost 3) and told myself I would stay active and be healthy. For a variety of reasons (okay, I stopped trying), this did not happen and I gained a lot of weight this pregnancy as well (52lbs, yikes!!). I swore I would lose the weight right away and get back at it. The first few months after I had her I really struggled to lose any weight. I knew I wanted to be healthier and I knew I needed to change my habits but was having a hard time getting motivated. At the end of December 2012, my sister in law and I decided to host a Largest Loser contest.  That’s one of those challenges where everyone pays into a pot and the person who has the highest percentage of weight lost at the end wins the competition. This coupled with the fact that it was about to be a New Year was the motivation I needed to get going.  I told myself I wasn’t making a New Year’s Resolution (who really keeps those anyway?). I was making a life time commitment to myself to get healthy and stay healthy. I took the motivation from being in a competition and my attitude of no matter how long it took I would never give up and ran with it. 

Since that first competition, I have challenged myself in ways I never thought possible from trying Zumba (which I love, even if I have no rhythm), to running a half marathon (I have now done 2 and have 2 more planned this year), from logging 100 miles in January to working out for 100 days in a row. I have done them all and given them my all. Now here I am just having finished up the Full May Day Challenge-24 hours of working out in the month of May won’t be that hard right? It really wasn’t that hard, okay I am lying it was hard, because on top of committing to 24 hours of working out, my friend Kattee and I decided to commit to doing something active every day that month. And let me tell you something, there were days I wanted nothing more than to lay on the couch and do nothing, (especially after I completed my 24 hour goal), but I was committed and I refused to give up, so I kept going and was able to log just shy of 37 hours of activity for the month.

Throughout the past 2 ½ years I have learned that I love a challenge and I am so much stronger than I ever gave myself credit for! Through all the ups and downs, through all the competitions, through all the hard work, I have done it! I am proud to stand here today 55lbs lighter than I was in December 2012, 70lbs lighter than I was the day I gave birth to my second daughter and 94 lbs lighter than I was when I had my oldest.  Sure, I have struggled, who hasn’t? But I refuse to give up. No matter the challenge I will always give it my all!

Sparkle.Pounce. Chase Your Challenge. Chase Your Dreams.

Mary