About
Started in 2008 (because their jeans were too tight), the Sisterhood of the Shrinking Jeans is a group of women (and one man), chronicling their weight loss on a community blog. The Sisterhood is not just limited to the founding members, though. Others who are interested in losing weight or living a healthier and more active lifestyle are invited to join the site. These members are able to participate in weekly weigh-ins, monthly weight loss challenges, as well as exciting, healthy living giveaways. Through joining the Sisterhood, each member is given just what they need: support, encouragement, friendship, and accountability. And in turn, they reciprocate these cornerstones of the Sisterhood. In short, what the Sisterhood strives to do is take weight loss outside of the individual, making it a group effort.
The Sisterhood is so much more than a weight loss blog. On a daily basis, the Sisters (and Brian) post about their goals, struggles, and triumphs. They keep it real and–more often than not–it’s pretty funny. In addition to the personal angle, the site is filled with valuable information on health and wellness issues, reader-tested recipes, product reviews, fitness and workout tips, and giveaways. The Sisterhood is different from other weight loss sites because we fully acknowledge that setbacks do happen–and sometimes, you just can’t say no to that second (or third) nacho. As a community, we offer tips and encouragement to turn the setback into a step forward, again making this so much more than just a weight loss blog.
From the beginning, the Sisterhood has been a huge success. Our readership has boomed, and our site traffic continues to grow every day. The feedback we’ve received from our readers not only amazes us, but inspires us as well.
Have ideas to share or products/services we can check out? Send us an email, we’d love to here from you!
The articles on this site are sole property of the Sisterhood of the Shrinking Jeans. The opinions expressed on this site are just that, (well researched) opinions. None of us are medical doctors or licensed medical experts. Before starting any diet or exercise program, please consult with your doctor.
_________________________________________________________________________________________
Christy M.
Christy is the work-at-home-mom to BJ, born in September 2003, and Mia, born in November 2007. Born in Dallas and transplanted to Houston, Christy now resides, with her family, in a small town in Texas with a population of 387. She worked for eight years as a marketing specialist and then graphic designer. In 2006, Christy left the workforce to become a stay at home Mom, and she is now a co-owner of ruby & roja design. When Christy has spare time, she spends it reading, gardening, blogging or reading blogs, and apparently eating!
Christy’s weight-loss adventures started back in January of 2006, when she successfully lost 45 pounds with the help of weightwatchers.com and the support of fellow dieting friends! After having Mia, she lost all but 5 pounds of her baby weight only to gain almost 15 back! She’s now decided to divest of those last 25 pounds by joining Weight Watchers online service since she had so much luck with it to the first time around. Oh, yeah, she’s also teaming up with some great friends to help her along the way.
Mantra: I can get by with a little help from my friends.
christy@shrinkingjeans.net :: @reallifeadv :: real-life-adventures.com
Melissa A.
Melissa just entered her 30s and wants to hit the ground running… literally. Married to her husband of ten years and a mother of four, the youngest of which are 6-year-old twin boys, she finally has a little time to focus on herself. She is done with her past ways of yo-yo dieting and is ready to embrace her new outlook on life with healthy eating and plenty of exercise. She has lost 15 pounds and hopes to lose another 50 with the help of her friends –and keep it off.
Apart from spending time with her family and friends, Melissa loves photography, traveling, charity, writing, and loves anything that involves adventure! Melissa was asked to participate as a Blogger Champion for Weight Watchers’ 2009 Lose For Good campaign and truly enjoyed spreading the word and seeing the success and inspiration of so many amazing people throughout the world!
Take a peek into her life here, email her at melissa@shrinkingjeans.net, and follow her on Twitter.
Brian F.
Brian is your typical male who does not see the point in giving a lengthy bio, so in short:
He’d like to lose sixty pounds. He plans to workout four times a week and ride the coat tails of his wife who will undoubtedly prepare delicious, healthy meals for him every single night. (well, she’ll make healthy meals in between getting al fresco from Taco Bell and Veggie Subs on whole wheat from Subway.) She’ll also be sure to curb his snacking habit, which is a bad, bad habit to have. Did we mention how charming, witty and wonderful his wife is? She is, she’s great. And yes, his wife did write this for him.
See? I told you she was great.
Brian is a computer genius by day (and night) and comes home and is a Super Dad and a Super Husband. He loves diet coke, guitar hero, music, driving fast and kissing his wife.
Lisa M.
Weight loss is nothing new to Lisa since she’s been trying to lose the same 20 pounds for about 10 years. Lisa is mother to Sophie (age 5), Sam (3), and Little Anthony (10 months old). Lisa has bitched and complained about losing weight for the last 15 years- first, she needed to lose 5 pounds, then 10 pounds, then 15 pounds….but she never did anything about it.
When her firstborn turned one, she finally did something about it by joining Weight Watchers. By the Fall of 2004, she lost 25 pounds in 3 months, by dieting alone. She was violently opposed to exercising at that time–what if it hurt and made her tired?! After baby #2, she again had a bunch of weight to lose. She became an exercising maniac, working out 5 days a week. The weight didn’t necessarily fall off, but she did build some impressive muscles, and went from a Size 16 to a Size 12. Lisa had never felt healthier or more fit in her life. Her energy was boundless and she could run around with her kids without losing her breath.
So here she is, with baby #3 born last September and baby weight still clinging to her 5′6″ frame. Food still tastes too good, there’s no time to exercise, and with 3 kids with all of their own needs, it’s quite a struggle for her. Can you say tired? She broke down crying the other day because she wants to eat right, she wants to find time to exercise, and she wants to fit into her clothes again. And, she desperately wants to feel good about herself again.
Lisa’s goal is to lose 20 pounds.
Thea R.
Thea is a SAHM to two kids (Jake is 6 and Emma is 4) and married to an incredibly hard-working man (his name’s Dave). She first joined Weight Watchers in 2002 and after two pregnancies, many speed bumps, and LOTS of support, she managed to lose nearly 40 pounds and become a Lifetime Member in 2007.
She has recently signed a peace treaty with her body. For her, maintaining an “ideal weight range” is much more realistic than trying to maintain an “ideal weight”. She is now taking her maintenance one week at a time. Her goal for 2010? Complete a 10k in 1:15 or less!
You can reach Thea via e-mail (thea@shrinkingjeans.net), follow her on Twitter (@imadramamama) or read her blog (www.thea.shrinkingjeans.net)!
April H.
Rewind, September 2007. April knew it was bad. She didn’t know it was that bad. She weighed in at 206 lbs.
For most of April’s adult life, she struggled with the constant failures of yo-yo dieting, and finally one day she decided to change her life. She learned that not only did she have to work out, but she needed to eat healthy, too. Once she had all of the pieces of the puzzle into place, the weight started to melt off.
April is down to the last 15 lbs to reach her goal weight of 130 and will have lost 76 lbs total!!! She cannot wait to get there!
April is a 31 year old single gal who live in a tiny little house with her two dogs and two birds. In her spare time she likes to blog, read, paint, and spoil her nephew. You can visit her personal blog here and follow her on twitter here!
Heather D.
Heather is a SAHM to one brilliant little boy, George, born in January 2008. Before embarking on the journey that is motherhood (and being laid off in February 2009), she worked in both the corporate real estate and legal fields – clearly using her English degree to its greatest capacity (sarcasm intended). Except for a brief stint abroad, she has lived in the Seattle-Vancouver, B.C. corridor her entire life. She currently lives in the ‘burbs outside of Seattle. Heather is an avid reader, watcher of bad television, sporadic domestic goddess and wannabe foodie (which may be how she got into this mess in the first place!). Current fitness activities include training for her first half marathon, working out with her Wii, and a love/hate relationship with Jillian Michaels. And chasing a toddler who is trying to break the land speed record.
Heather has yo-yo’ed weight wise most of her adult life – but she is determined, and has decided that now is the time to get healthy, feel good about herself and be a hot mama. Yo-yo, no more! Heather has lost nearly twenty pounds with the Sisterhood, and is about halfway towards meeting her weight loss goal. She wants her old jeans to fit…with the top button actually BUTTONED.
Keep up with Heather here at the Sisterhood, at her personal blog, and on Twitter. Oh, and you can email her at heather@shrinkingjeans.net.
Christie O.
Christie O. is a mommy to two little boys first, writer and journalist second. And if her post-baby weight-loss journey were a song, it’d be called, “Panic in the Dressing Room.”
She probably could’ve gone forever gaining weight if that awful picture of her at a birthday party didn’t surface. She never thought she was that big from looking in the mirror, although the picture, her jean size (16) and the habit of crying in the dressing room told her a different story. Oh yes, and the sweating. Oh God, the sweating. The night she saw the fateful picture in April 2008, she cried, then she logged onto the computer and signed up for a 5k and decided to do Couch to 5k. In May 2009, one year later, she completed her first half-marathon and couple months later in July, her first triathlon. Somewhere over the past 40 pounds, fitness became fun and a way of life. She has successfully tricked herself into working out by having a race to train for and even though she still has that awful babybladder issue and finishes at the back of the pack almost every time, she finishes. And crossing the finish line is sweet every time, even in spandex. She’s stuck in the mud on the last 10 now, but she’s come a long way. Her metabolism hates her so she suspects she’ll probably be doing races for the rest of her life (gotta have a goal, right?) Now, which race to do next…
Crooked Eyebrow
A mid-westerner born and raised, Crooked Eyebrow makes her home in the Chicagoland area along with her husband of ten years and their school aged son, JC and infant daughter, Eden. A full time nurse by day and wanna be super mom/wife by night, her free time is either spent doing laundry, changing diapers, practicing photography or blogging.
Crooked can be found at Crooked Eyebrow and on twitter as @crookedeyebrow. You can also email her at crookedeyebrow@shrinkingjeans.net
There was a time long ago when Crooked Eyebrow didn’t have to lie on her drivers license or on physical forms. Those were the good old days
. Of course that was before the late nights in nursing school, marriage vows and way before the excuse of “its just baby weight” were ever used. Even though she is no longer 135 pounds, she looks forward to the day where she can be proud of her weight again.
Crooked Eyebrow is back from maternity leave and now struggling with her ever growing hips. With new goals to lose fifty pounds, become healthier and run a 5K by her daughter’s first birthday, Crooked Eyebrow has her work cut out for her this year. “I know with every beat of me heart with the help of friends, the sisterhood and bloggers alike, I too can be a weight loss success story (and never have to lie about my weight again).”
