Just about 11 months ago now, I made the decision to come out of the fat kid closet* and own up to having lost a massive amount of weight. It was a major move for me. I found incredible strength and support in sharing my journey with an incredibly loving online community and, in turn, great motivation to keep moving forward toward my weight and fitness goals as I approached our July wedding. To this day, I think opening up and sharing my “fat kid” photos was one of the best decisions I could have made. It was liberating and to my great surprise, inspiring for others, something I never would have imagined.

{Here is a fat kid photo. Approximately  270 lbs. Yikes!}

So, what this have to do with present day? It’s quite simple really. My weight loss journey is not yet complete, but you wouldn’t know it from the way I’ve been eating and totally slacking off on work outs since the wedding. How easy it is to start settling into newlywed life, ease off the pressure a bit to look fabulous in an overpriced dress and wham! The next thing you know your jeans are just ever so slightly uncomfortable. Not good, friends, not good. So, with just a touch of bitterness, I’m doing what I’ve done so many times in the last three years. I’m gearing up, buckling down and getting ready to put up a good fight. I’m still convinced I can reach all new heights of being physically fit and improve my approval of what I see in the mirror along the way.

To that end, I decided to take matters into my own hands and visit a prospective new gym this week. The trainer I met with started rambling off about a number of different group fitness programs and I quickly found myself annoyed. Couldn’t he just get to the part where he told me how much a membership cost so I could show up, do my own thing and go home? However, once I’d left our meeting I realized that doing my own thing, while successful to date, is getting less so as I move along. I fear I’m quickly approaching the point where I haven’t the skills to coach myself to the next level. Having lost 100lbs is no small feat, but I swear losing the last 30 is proving to be the most difficult part of the journey! And I’m finding myself oddly and unexpectedly tempted to sign up for their 12-week Loser Program.

{Here is another fat kid photo. Also about 270 lbs. Yup, 270 lbs.}

The Loser Program is based on The Biggest Loser and it’s an intense 12-week program intended for people of all fitness levels with both large and small amounts of weight to lose. It includes three intense group workout sessions with your Loser team each week, unlimited access to the gym, nutrition counseling, and weekly measuring of weight/measurements/body fat percentage. The walls of the room where I met with the trainer were basically wallpapered with before and after photos of participants in the Loser Program and I found myself really really inspired. I like to think I have all the answers – I’ve been a card carrying member of the weight loss club for so long – but obviously, I don’t or I would be even farther along at this point. So, quite shockingly, I’m actually thinking of coughing up the cash (and it’s no small amount of cash!) to join the Loser Program. One of the most appealing parts is that the next round starts September 18 and runs until just a week or so before Christmas, essentially getting me most of the way through the holiday grazing season, which is always so difficult for me to navigate on my own.

{Here is a more recent photo with my cute nephew and my little sister on the right.}

So, here is where all of you come into play. I’d love to know if any of you have ever participated in a group weight loss program. Were you successful? And, most importantly, am I the only one who is obsessed with The Biggest Loser and really just wishes Jillian and Bob would show up and whip my butt into shape?

*Please take no offense to the “fat kid” terminology, a phrase dubbed by my friends and I to refer to my much heavier days. I have no problem admitting that I used to be really fat, so hopefully you don’t have a problem with me sharing that with you.