Welcome to the “Weight Loss Chronicles of the Cupcake Girl” blog.

My name is Kristen. I’m a mother to one handsome and active 4 year old boy we call Goose.  I always considered myself a busy person running Goose to sports or baking cupcakes for preschool events, joining the PTA, having a blog kreativekristen.blogspot.com, and throwing parties whenever I had the chance.  I was never really actively busy…meaning I never really worked out or for that matter ate properly, mostly sweets or whatever I would bake.  Until one day while at work someone suggested the “Biggest Loser Competition”, this sounded like the perfect opportunity that I had been waiting for, someone outside my family to hold me accountable for my weight loss/gain.  One problem---by the end of the first week all but me and two people had dropped out of the competition.

              I can’t remember how it actually happened but I remember one co-worker we will name him “Magnum” telling me I eat crap, and should stop going on the internet with my phone to look up recipes.  He is what you could say a voice nobody wants to hear but everyone NEEDS to hear kind of guy.   He will tell it like it is and does not care if you like it or not but on the other hand will surprise you and give you a complement when your least expecting it.  So one day I asked “Magnum” what he suggested I do. He wrote out a list of good foods and bad foods as well as different exercises to start with for the following three weeks then we would go and add more of them as my ability got stronger. I felt a little unmotivated in the beginning, suggesting lying that I was actually doing the exercises on the list.  We only work together on Tuesdays and Thursdays so as long as I had a salad and water for lunch on those days I would be ok…but then I got asked what kind of exercises I was doing by my neighbor the Zumba teacher and exercise warrior otherwise known as “Sweet-T”.  Let’s just say I’m glad she did not ask me demonstrate any of these moves…major fail!  We will get back to “Sweet-T” later. 

              Week one and two went by and I did not do anything in the form of exercise or weight loss except bring the salad and water on Tuesdays and Thursdays, we ordered out and getting whatever I wanted because nobody was holding me accountable on those other days.  This was a problem sure I would say I was eating good and doing everything I was supposed to do but when it came down to it I was not holding up my end of the bargain in this weight loss journey and Magnum was going out of his way to make every attempt to help me.  How long could I really lie…at 289 pounds sooner or later someone was going to see I did not drop a pound.  Approximately week three “Sweet-T” suggested we do workouts in the morning at 5-6am…oooo yah perfect plan “Sweet-T” I thought to myself damn it what was going to happen now?  I went to her house that first day feeling well and left winded, weak and worried about my ability of actually completing this journey.  She had me doing all kinds of crazy shit, working my abs and walking on the treadmill for 30 minutes…whew this was hard work here is an almost 300 pound fatty possibly on the verge of breaking the treadmill belt or having a heart attack pretending that I had already been at this workout shit for 2 weeks.  She never knew… you fake it till you make it ;) I continued to go over every Monday Wednesday and Friday except for the occasional times I forgot didn’t set my alarm.  Everything was starting to work its way into place by I had someone accountable for me at all times during the week. 

              I went over to “Sweet-T’s” house on random weekends also.  Her kids came downstairs one time to see us working out.  I can’t even tell you how much I wanted to punch those little bastards in the face. They were mocking me with their little screaming and carrying on of “Wow it’s Crazy Kristy” “You go Crazy Kristy” “ooo Crazy Kristy”…I literally wanted to go Crazy Kristy all up in their faces. Picture it me trying to use the ab roller with these little freaking kids screaming and being idiots as I am just trying to concentrate on getting 5 sit up thing done they are jumping around on the freaking floor like monkeys and one was holding a 5 lb weight very close to my face that could have been dropped at any time due to the jumping around.  Not soon after I was begging those very kids to come downstairs to see me do 100 sit ups on the ab roller.   They didn’t care! Apparently the fatty struggling to lift her head off the mat was much more entertaining.

              One day I decided I would start sending “Magnum” pictures of what I made for dinner.  Why you ask? ACCOUNTABLITY of course! I started putting what I was doing on Facebook also so now I had all these people holding me responsible how was I going to let my fans friends down.  I couldn’t so I continued to update everyone every week and show pictures of progress.  That’s where “Gibbs” comes in he’s a motivator.  Every day “Gibbs” hounded me to join the gym.  Okay maybe not hounding but asking many times why I haven’t joined the gym.  I do not do stuff alone or at least I never did before.  I will not walk first into a room; I will not join something unless someone is there that I know, I will not join the gym alone!!! Sure “Gibbs” would have been there but he is no help he’s back in the beefcake weight room I wanted someone by my side.  So I had a game plan one of the other co-workers who also joined the weight loss competition MUST go with me she is a girl and we would be able to tackle our weight together. It was the perfect plan (they always are in the beginning).  I informed “Gibbs” and “Magnum” of my plan…then she backed out of signing up and said she would do it the next day. This was not good.  There were about 26 stairs up to the gym I would have to walk alone and sign up BY MYSELF hoping that she was going to still sign up the next day. I never felt so freaking scared in my life, sure I looked cool on the outside but I thought this was the worst thing ever.  It really is surprising that at 32 I couldn’t even do one simple task by myself.  I took the long walk up the stairs and went on the little tour talked with the owner and prayed to god that I didn’t make eye contact with anybody I knew so they wouldn’t see my nervousness.  When I left I was officially a gym member and I snapped a picture of the key-tag and sent it to “Gibbs”.  I felt proud, nervous and excited that a new door was opening again.   By the way my friend did sign up for the gym the next day I was VERY happy!

              Little by little we worked out on the treadmill and I updated my status on Facebook.  I took my first embarrassing and humiliating measurements and pictures…what a fucking porker I was then. I remember that the day after Thanksgiving “Magnum” texts me and says “No food pictures? Did you fall off the wagon?” I think I did pretty good and plus I had a whole 24 hour Black Friday shopping day planned searching for Littlest Pet Shop crap and Batman Arkham City PlayStation games the following day so I would have burned off those extra slices of pumpkin pie and loaded ladle full of the most creamiest mash potatoes a girl could eat.  At any rate I took the first pictures on November 28^th 2011.   I picked after Thanksgiving because I wanted to start before the New Year.   Get 2012 off to a good start.   Then a new member joined the gym from our list of drop out competitors “Potter” who has been there every day walking side by side on the treadmill from the day he started.  Although he never rats me out to “Gibbs” and “Magnum” about the soda consumption on MWF or maybe he does, he has been a great exercise partner.  Plus he is my personal therapist and i-pod updater.  There was one time he did not show up and I was sweating working out alone, but I did it and worked out alone! Yay me!

              Still going to the gym I realized that the powers of true friendships were beginning to form.  I would like to say that I had a lot of friends but the people I was starting to surround myself with really cared or at least appeared to care about me and that felt good. Little by little we started encouraging each other telling each other what we did and if we had questions about workouts or when to eat a banana (before or after the workout) we text like crazy mostly gym and weight loss stuff.  Although never in my vocabulary before the term ‘Crushing it” became frequent thanks to “Gibbs”.  Never knowing how competitive I really was this new encouragement of “you can do it, dam impressive or holy fuck” became sort of a drug.  I couldn’t stop now!  I now have a team of people friends that encourage me and make me believe I can do it and they will never know how much I thank them for becoming some of the closest friends I hope to have in my life forever.  Thank you from the bottom of my heart “Gibbs”, “Magnum”, “Potter” and “Sweet-T” (they are in alphabetical order…)

  I think this blog will make you laugh and I hope you will continue to follow my journey of losing weight, making friends and building a better me.