A Mommy Story

Queen of Spain has started a Hippo Diet club for the month of March. After being told by her son that her butt resembled that of the hippo in Madagascar, Queen decided to do something about it. As often seems to happen in the blogging world, others joined in. And thus the Hippo Diet was born.

The rules are very open and simple. Post a beginning picture, do whatever you want to lose weight this month, and report in at the end.

The hardest part for me is getting started. I said goodbye to my last Shamrock Shake from McD’s this weekend, and spent this morning getting up the strength to post my “before” picture.

OK, here goes:

Here you can see in detail my double chin, my belly that is out further than my breasts, and my upper arms that are larger than some Hollywood starlet’s thighs. I’m certainly not in my best shape. My starting weight is even more embarrassing: 220.

That just happens to be the exact same weight I was at when I was 9 months pregnant. So apparently even though Cordelia is out, my body is still carrying her, figuratively.

Amazingly, I must tell you, this isn’t my heaviest weight ever. When I graduated from college, I was another 25 pounds heavier than this. No, I have no pictures of it. That part of my life has no photographic evidence, and for good reason.

But I worked at it, and within a year and a half, I took off about 70 pounds. While not my lowest (stress can really be a bitch holding a cream puff), I think I looked pretty damn good at our wedding and on our honeymoon. This I do have proof of:

(Yes, we’ve got mouse ears on – we were on our honeymoon and giddy – shut up.)

I would love to see myself like that (or something similar) again. I’ve never aspired to reach the status of model thin, or even bottom-of-the-recommended-weight for my height thin. I’d be happy at the top of the “healthy” range.

So, my goal for this month is to get rid of 10 pounds. That’s a lot for a month, but then again, I’ve got a lot I’m certainly not using. I want to get back into the habit of exercising again. (Not everyday, mind you. Even once a week would be a start.) And I plan to reduce my portion sizes and make better food choices.

Wish me luck!