tonight is the night….the lovely ladies I’ve been posting about find out if they’ve become a Mamavation Mom! Please consider joining us on twitter to support them during the party tonight, 5-7 pm! Just follow the #mamavation hashtag.

BEFORE the party, head on over to Mamavation and cast your vote for these lovely ladies! Just a few clicks, no registration necessary, and you’re good to go

Ladies and gents, last but CERTAINLY not least, I give you Tisha Marie!

I am tickled pink to have an opportunity to write a guest post for Bruises in the Frosting. The reason I was invited to write this post is because I am campaigning to be the next Mamavation Mom and to be blunt, I need votes and lots of them. So I am here to tell my story so that you might go place your votes to make my wish for being a Mamavation Mom can come true. I remember when I voted for Mia to be the Mamavation Mom of her campaign, which was the first campaign I got to watch from start to finish. She has been an incredible inspiration to me from Day 1. I am extremely grateful to have her support in this weight loss journey as my Mamavation Sistah.

First let me tell you what being a Mamavation Mom means to me. Mamavation is an online support group for moms trying to lead their family into a healthier lifestyle. I discovered the group, and pledged to join the Mamavation Sistahood 11 months ago. Everything about this group screamed through all the layers of fat I have piled on and straight into my heart. I am a 300 pound woman who has struggled with her weight forever, but here there were finally other people who actually get me! Over the last 11 months I have watched campaigns for Mamavation Mom, I have voted, but I have NEVER actually considered being one. I have had no desire to actually change, no desire to do before and after photos, no desire to workout daily or speak with a dietician, and the thought of doing the videos, hahaha. So how did I decide to run for this campaign, well…

You can read plenty about the dark place I have been living in over the past two years here, but I can sum it up by saying that my sister fought a battle with Leukemia that was often one-sided and not in her favor. My baby sister, Michelle, was 9 years younger than me and when she was diagnosed at 23 years old she had only just begun her life. It didn’t take me long after her passing to realize how hard she fought against all odds right up until the last second. In fact, the last time I saw her (aside from her deathbed) she was chasing me with silly string in the back yard. It was all too easy to forget that she was dying because she had so much life left to live. How can I throw away the life I have, a precious gift, and how can I destroy my healthy body after watching hers betray her???

She has been gone a month now, and I am determined to live my life fully enough for both of us. I carry her license next to mine in my wallet to remind myself of the responsibility that I have to honor her by living my life more fully. I have a tattoo for her on my foot so that I am reminded why I am stepping on the scale each time I look down to see the number. I have a long road ahead of me, and losing 150 pounds will be not fun and definitely not easy. I fully believe that my sister has her hand in my decision to begin this campaign, and I believe that she knows how much I need the support from my family and friends. Be you a cyber friend, a Mamavation Sistah, a total stranger, or a real life best bud you can help me by voting for me here. Mamavation will help make sure I have the tools to start this journey off right, and the support to see me all of the way through it. Please take a few seconds to help me live a long and healthy life so that I can be around long enough to hold Michelle’s grandbabies for her.

Tisha can usually be found writing here, but you can also find her at twitter as @TishaMarie, on Facebook at this facebook page, and that facebook page. She writes about all things wellness, and just celebrated her first blogiversary at Cultivating A Well Being.

As I mentioned in the post for Andrea, I’ve opened up my blog to the Mamavation finalists to stump for more votes.

This crop of ladies is hardcore and awesome and make me proud to be there for them. So without further ado, I give you Laura Lohr.

I love running! There is nothing like the feeling of a runner’s high.

I often hear people say, “I hate running! How can you like running?”

“How can I not?” I always reply.

Running has been my therapy since I discovered it in college. I never liked running in high school. Mostly, I think it had to do with the fact that I never wanted to be sweaty in the next class period. At any rate, I picked up running as a way to lose weight. I found out quickly that I was pretty fast. I could finish 5 miles in about 35-40 minutes, depending on how much work I wanted to put into it. Not bad for a casual runner.

After college, I started taking running a bit more seriously. I ran my first 5k and I was hooked for life. Of course the 5k lead to yet another 5k and eventually to training for a half marathon, and finally to the full marathon. I ran my first marathon on the day my daughter turned 6 months old. I was in the best shape of my life and I met some lifelong friends running. It has become a part of me. Without that therapy session, I do not feel like me.

After a crazy year health wise (Shingles, cancer, grade 3 sprained ankle in less than a year!), I learned to appreciate those things I once took for granted. I gained weight. I got depressed. I lost my way.

At the beginning of this year, I made a commitment to my health and vowed to get back into running again. It has not been easy. I have to relearn how to run. I need to relearn how to eat. It is tough. I let myself go for so long.

To date, I have lost 11.5 pounds and there is no stopping me now! I joined the San Diego Track Club’s annual marathon training. I am incredibly slow. I have to remind myself all the time that I am starting from scratch and I have to allow myself some time to get there and get there? I will.

I joined the campaign to become the next . I want to change my life and I need some support. I am realizing that I cannot do this on my own. I need the help of my friends and family. Additionally, I applied for . If I win, I will get professional help to guide me through this process, including a personal trainer, a nutritionist, and a life coach.

It’s that time again…where I help support some amazing ladies going through the same process that I went through (this time last year, incidentally!).

They’re out there stumping for votes, just like I did…and I’m hoping you’ll take a couple of seconds (and a couple of clicks) out of your life to vote for these ladies to get this incredible opportunity.

Andrea is the first of three ladies who took me up on my guest post offer, so stay tuned for other awesome posts as well!

but HURRY and vote! Voting ends Monday!

I play many roles in my life. I am a mother to two funny, smart kids. I am a wife to my soulmate. I am a best friend of 20 years. I am a daughter and a sister.

And I want to be a Mamavation Mom.

What is a Mamavation Mom? Well, it’s a 7-week online boot camp where two Mom’s lives are put on public display. They learn basic and essential skills from professionals while sharing their struggles and tribulations with the Mamavation community. The goal is to start the path to healthy living so they can then in turn pass along the information they learn to their families and stop the obesity trend.

For most of my life, I have also felt like I was the chubby kid. I was active – played softball, basketball, was outside until the streetlights came on. But I always felt like the odd girl out. When I reached high school, I was a full blown binge eater. I felt like the fattest girl in school. I can remember sitting at my desk and making sure my thighs weren’t entirely on the seat so they wouldn’t look so big. I was 135 lbs.

After high school, I ballooned to 200 lbs. I spent a lot of time smothering my misery in food. I’d drive from place to place, ordering many meals and then sit in my car, eating everything before I went home. I hid my binge eating from everyone – from my parents, from my very best friend. I hid my eating but I couldn’t hide my weight.

After meeting my husband and having kids, I stopped caring about myself. I put myself on the back burner. Everyone else needed me and well, I couldn’t let them down. Food was my “happy place” and fulfilled that empty spot in my life. It was always there, it never disappointed me and I could always count on it for comfort.

It wasn’t until my daughter recently saw a diet pill commercial on TV and told me to get some so I would “be skinny too” that I realized I needed to do something. My motivation became selfish – I didn’t want to embarrass my kids. While I know I need to be a good role model and I need to show them how to be healthy…I don’t want them to be so embarrassed by my weight to not want me around. And this is when I joined Mamavation.

Since joining Mamavation, I’ve completely accepted that I have an eating disorder. I’ve already changed my eating habits. I’ve started exercising and while my weight loss isn’t huge and I’ve had my set backs, I have found a wonderful group of women who have gone through, or are going through, the same situations I am and support me no matter what.

Why do I want to be a Mamavation Mom? I need the accountability and motivation that the Mamavation Moms receive. I need to work with the professionals who give their time for the campaign. I want to learn how to eat better and how to exercise to my full potential. In return, I hope that I am able to provide a learning experience for anyone following that is in the situation I am in. That by making my journey public, someone else won’t feel like they are alone. I want to inspire other closet binge eaters to come forward and deal with their eating too.

Please, watch my video HERE (@AndreaEmilien), think about my story and vote.

You can find me on Facebook and Twitter - I would love to connect!

Hey y’all…continuing the guest posts today with one from Miss Katrina. (Read yesterday’s from @rachhabs)

Don’t forget, these ladies want your vote! It just takes a couple of clicks and you’re good to go on sending these ladies to a healthier life!

Hi everyone! You probably don’t know me, but my name is Katrina. I blog over at Life With Katie and Welcoming Weight Loss. I’m a 35 year old mother of two and if I don’t stop now, this is going to sound like an advertisement for something! Then again, in some ways it is. You see, my fiance and I are up for a pretty exciting opportunity. If we get enough votes, we get to be a part of the Mamavation Couples Campaign. This means that we could get the help we need to not only lose weight but to live healthier lifestyles. So, I’m over here telling you all about us in the hopes that you’ll go and give us your vote.

So, like I said, my name is Katrina and I’m a “single” mom of two boys. I put single in quotes because while I am engaged, Justin lives about 2300 miles away in Arizona. Ours is a pretty typical tale these days. He has a great job in Arizona and can’t find one in Michigan. I’ve got two great boys and because of them, I can’t move to Arizona. Still, we do our best to make the most of a pretty crummy situation. That leaves me on my own though to handle a lot of things.

One of my favorite things to deal with are my boys. They’re 10 and 11 now. I never thought I’d be old enough to say I had a child who just attended his first school dance. I am though and those two keep me really busy. Since they’re pretty awesome kids, I love every single second of it. What I don’t love is that I can’t keep up with them anymore. My 10 year old can run rings around me while I stand there and pant. My 11 year old has cerebral palsy and will be having leg surgery in the next few months. It kills me that he has to go to his dad’s house to recover because I know I’m not strong enough or in good enough shape to help move him as he recovers.

I want to be the best mom I can be to my boys, just like any good mom out there. I come from a family full of heart disease, various cancers and diabetes. I don’t want to become another statistic. I want to be a young(ish), healthy and happy mom who can run up and down the football field without having to stop to catch her breath. I want to live to see my kids grow up (but please God, not too fast, ok?) and to see them (someday) happily settled down with families of their own. I want to give them a good foundation of how to be healthy. I want the statistics to stop with us.

To do this, I need your help. I need you to head on over to the Mamavation website and vote for us. There’s no registration. All you have to do is check the box by CraftsByKatie and Justinvation and then scroll down and click on the vote button. Could you do that for me? Just remember, two minutes of your time could be adding years onto our lives.

Katrina

(A huge thank you to Libby for allowing me to hijack her blog to post this. She’s an amazing friend.)

Good luck lady! (and YOU are an amazing friend for listening to me through my campaign!!)