A Bulge-Battling Blog
You can shop online, you can bank online, you can watch TV online — why not lose weight online? Seven women (one for each day of the week) have joined forces to get themselves in shape via their own small online community: “losing weight in Cincinnati.”
Full disclosure: I am one of these seven women. A few months ago, in a discussion on Twitter, seven of us decided that enough was enough and that it was time to lose weight. We are all professional, internet-savvy women who spend a lot of our lives behind screen names and avatars, so it was natural for us to strike up friendships with each other and turn it into a way to motivate ourselves. We come from different blogging backgrounds: food, wine, shopping, politics, motherhood, general women’s interest. And we all had different approaches: Some of us use SparkPeople.com, others Weight Watchers and others simple portion control, but our ultimate goal? Lose weight, have fun, feel good about ourselves and motivate each other.
The most important part? Being a support for each other. “Hearing about each of the other gal’s ups and downs keeps me on the right path. I love knowing they are celebrating right along with me and I’m honored to cheer them along” says Amy Cribbs, writer of “Amy In OHio” and one of the most successful “losers” (as we call ourselves). Katy Crossen, of “Kate’s Random Musings” agrees: “Weight loss alone can be really scary, especially when you’re single and really don’t have anyone to hold you accountable. Our blog is a total team effort, and we only allow encouragement and positive thinking on the page. I have six other women who are encouraging me and cheering me on as we do it together!”
Although pounds are important, those little victories that have nothing to do with what the scale says help, too. With better eating and exercise, we’re finding our clothes fit better and we feel better. This is a change for several of us, who were used to judging success solely on pounds lost. “This time around I’ve really tried hard to ignore the scale and worry more about how my muscles are developing and how my clothes fit. I want to feel healthy and be able to do more things,” says Michelle Lentz, of “My Wine Education,” who (like this author) has the added challenge of writing about calorie-laden food and wine. By focusing on how we all feel, we’re more successful than we have been in the past — and we have our own, built-in cheerleaders to encourage us.
The other bloggers include Laura Deaton Morarity, of “World’s Best Burger,” whose goal is to lose weight for her honeymoon, and Shannan Boyer of “Mommy Bits,” who is trying to re-lose weight she lost in 2006. Together, via Twitter (where it all started) and the blog, we help each other navigate the waters of weight loss with a lot of humor, a lot of compassion and a lot of friendship.
PHOTO CREDITS
Photos: Neysa Ruhl Photography
Location: The McAlpin
Makeup Artistry: Trina Paul
Hair Styling: Liz Carter of Rustic Pear Hair Designs
