Help!

People are my passion. I really love people and love to help in any way that I can. I think that is why I am feeling a bit overwhelmed. Since I have been successful at losing 100 pounds in 9 months, I have been getting peppered with questions about how I have done it and what I did. I love answering all those questions and I love sharing with anybody that cares to listen, but I know that what works for one does not work for all. I wish I had it figured out and how to give the right answers that will help everyone, and so I am feeling so underqualified.

I think for me, I finally had my "aha" moment and that is why I have been able to stick with this. And it is mostly because of my stubborn nature. People telling me I had a right to look the way I did and a desire to prove them all wrong. I want to help everyone else have that same epiphony as I did, but I know that is unrealistic. I didn't even know what would do it for me until it happened. But, that is my challenge to you. Think about your personality. Think about the things that are motivating for you. Is it the thrill of a good challenge and some healthy competition? Is it having a piece of clothing that you long to fit into staring at you day in and day out? Is it writing down your goals and reasons for wanting to shed those extra pounds? Whatever it is, search for it and go for it. And I will be here to support and encourage you along the way.

Like I said, I love to help people, so if there is something I can do for you, let me know. I am only human though, so don't ask for some superhuman act like guarding every bite you take throughout the day. But I am here for you. Leave me a comment and let me know what you would like someone to help you with along your journey.

I hope these can be encouraging to you. Here are a couple of my 100 pound celebration pictures taken by my friend at http://www.nhphoto.org/.

Tasty food

So, today I talked to a few people and I was asked about some of the foods I cook for my family since I have started to lose weight. One of the biggest things I tell people is that I tried to find foods that my family liked so that I wasn't making anything separate for me and my whole family ended up eating healthier.  I thought I would share a couple of those recipes with you.

This first one is a really quick and easy dish when I don't have a lot of time. I usually make some instant brown rice and steam a veggie to go with it.

Parmesean Tilapia

1/2c. Parmesean cheese
1/4c. butter (I use light margarine)
3T. mayonaise (I use light mayo)
2T. lemon juice
1/8t. onion powder
1/8t. celery salt
1/4t. dried basil
1/4t. black pepper
2lbs Tilapia fillets (about 8 fillets)

Preheat your oven's broiler. Mix together everything except tilapia. Line pan with aluminum foil. Arrange fillets in a single layer on the pan. Broil a few inches from the heat for 2 to 3 minutes. Flip the fillets over and broil for a couple more minutes. Remove the fillets from the oven and cover them with the Parmesean cheese mixture on the top side. Broil for 2 more minutes or until the topping is browned and fish flakes easily with a fork. Be careful not to overcook the fish.


This next one is a WW recipe that my husband just loved. I think it was the first WW recipe that I tried on him and it convinced him that this wasn't going to be all that bad for him. And after I made it, I realized that I didn't have to make the sweet potatoes and apples with it. They are just a side, so if you would rather make another veggie, or have a salad, go for it.

Crusty Pork Tenderloin with Sweet Potato and Apple

1 T. parsley, fresh chopped ( I used dried)
1t. lemon zest (I use lemon juice)
1 clove garlic, minced
1t. oilive oil
1/2t. salt (divided)
1/2t. black pepper
1lb lean pork tenderloin
1 large sweet potato (peeled and cut into 8 slices)
1T. water
1 medium apple, cut into 6 wedges
1t. packed brown sugar, dark (I use regular brown sugar)
1/8t. ground cinnamon

Preheat oven to 450. Spray a 9x13-inch baking dish with nonstick spray (I use olive oil spray).
Mix the parsley, lemon zest, garlic, oil, 1/4t. of the salt, and the pepper to a paste in a small bowl. Place the pork in the baking dish. Spread the parsley mixture evenly over the top of the pork and let stand 5-10 minutes.

Meanwhile, place the sweet potato slices and water in a small microwavable casserole dish. Cover and microwave on High until parcooked, 3 minutes; drain.

Place the sweet potato slices and apple wedges around the pork. Lightly spray the sweet potato and apple with nonstick spray, then sprinkle with the sugar, cinnamon, and remaining 1/4t salt. Roast until an instant-read thermometer inserted in the center of the pork registers 160 for medium and the sweet potato and apple are tender, about 30 minutes. Cover the pork lightly with a foil tent and let stand 5 minutes.
This makes 4 servings.


And I got my new pictures taken yesterday, but it might be a while before you get to see them, so please be patient. I will put them up here as soon as I can so you can see where I am now. Hope you are finding some encouragement and help here. If you have any questions for me, feel free to ask. I am open and willing to share everything I can with you.

I hit it!

My goal that is. Today I got on the scale and it said 149.4!!! What a day. I had been inching closer for what seemed like forever that I was afraid it was never actually going to make it. I actually weighed in without clothes yesterday, just to see if it would go under 150 and it did. But, being the perfectionist, rule follower that I am, I couldn't count that as officially meeting the goal. And, if I am going to be picky about it, I probably can't even count this as officially losing 100 pounds because the scale I started with was horrible and I believe it was heavy by a few pounds. So, since I got rid of that scale and can't prove to myself that it shows 100 pounds less, I will have to take this.

What's next for me? I'm not really sure. Since I didn't really ever think I would make it here, I didn't give it much thought. I do feel really great, but I think it would be reasonable for me to drop a few more pounds, so I'm going to try. I think I will shoot for another 15 lbs and see what happens. I'm not going to stress about it, but at minimum, I want to make sure that I don't get above 155 again. That seems to be a very reasonable goal for myself.

And Monday I have an appointment with my photography friend who is going to document this weight loss for me in picture form. When we did pictures a few months ago, she told me that when I lost 100 lbs, we needed to do more photos and that she wanted to end up with 100 of them. For some reason, this seemed pretty appealing to me and I think one of the reasons I didn't ever give up the fight for the last few pounds.

Well, I have screaming toddlers in the background, so I will leave you for now. How is your journey going?

Secrets and progress

I figured I would start off this post by giving you a few of my secrets. This one I have shared with a few fortunate souls, but now it's going public. When I would have trouble seeing results on the scale over the course of a week or so, I dedicated one day to only fruits and veggies. I would eat as much as I wanted, but only fruits and veggies. Somehow, this changed things up enough for me to see results on the scale the next day and keep me motivated and feeling like I was making progress. I would have some PB with an apple if I really wanted or dressing on my salad, but other than that, just fruits and veggies.

The other secret is one that I just recently picked up and had to use tonight. When those urges for late night snacks hit, go brush your teeth. There is something about having a minty fresh mouth that seems to ward off those cravings and makes it easier to resist. And it's great hygiene too.

I don't know if I mentioned this here or not, but I know that I told several people that I was not a runner. I was a firm believer that I would never run nor did I ever believe running was fun. I was wrong. I have started to run. Not because I think it's better excercise, but because it's fun. I know, I'm a little sick and twisted, but I am enjoying it. I would like to run my next half marathon in April 2012, so I have started the couch to 5K program. I jumped in at the end of week 3 with a friend and that was pushing my limits. I did the first day of week 4 yesterday and made it. I'm quite proud of that. I do find it a little overwhelming though to think that when I am done with that program, I will be trained to run 3 miles and a half marathon is 13.1 miles, but I guess I will get there, hopefully.

For those of you who get jealous or discouraged to know about my progess, you can stop reading now, but I really like to keep track of this part too because it's so awesome to be able to look back and see where I was at.  I weight 153. 97 pounds down only 3 to go. I am having a bit of trouble because I feel I have hit a mental block, but I am trying to power through it so that at least I can hit this HUGE goal and feel I have succeeded. If after that I gain 5 pounds back, I'm not going to sweat it. And I am wanting to schedule a final photo session to document my achievement and I will make that happen.

The Marathon Experience

I don't even know where to start. Completing a half marathon (13.1 miles) last weekend was such an amazing experience. If you have given any thought to doing one, go for it. I don't think you will regret it.

We had to go the day before to pick up the race packets and to check out the expo.

A side note that I find interesting is that auditions for the tv show America's Got Talent were going on that same day in that same building. Kind of cool seeing some of that.

We went for dinner and back to a friend's cottage to hang out together, watch an inspirational documentary, and head to bed somewhat early. We awoke on race day at 4 am. (That part was not so much fun.) Then took off towards St. Louis at 5. We arrived and traffic was not as bad as I was expecting, so we got parked and headed on foot about a mile to the race area.

Another side note. I have heard about homeless people. I have been close to those that ministered to homeless in St. Louis, but I have never seen it with my own eyes and been so close. During our walk to the race area we passed several people sleeping in store doorways and I was completely humbled. Then, on the way back to our cars after the race, we saw a tent community and signs about the bad economy and how it needs fixed. Wow! I think I have it bad when I can't afford new shoes to run in. Talk about perspective.

Once we got to the race area we stretched and found our corral. And we watied, and waited, and waited some more. See the funny thing is that if you aren't really racing or planning to run very fast, they put you at the back. And in a crowd of 21,000, that's pretty far back. The first racers started at 7:30, but we did not get to cross the start line until 8:00. But, off we went. And after all that standing and waiting, I was ready to start sprinting, but I didn't. We walked, and walked, and walked.

Jim had planned to come see me cross the finish line, but he texted me during the race and said that he wasn't going to be able to make it, but he also told me that he was tracking me on the computer. You see, you wear a tracking device and at the start line, you cross a tracker and at a few other intervalls along the race, so he was able to see how quickly I was moving and a projected finish time. After about 9 miles, he said I should finish in 3 hours 8 minutes. One of the other girls said that she would love to finish in under three hours, so we decided to make that the goal. So we ran some. At mile 12, we split up and decided to make our own best effort to get to the finish line. I have never ran so much in my life (and it wasn't even that much). I crossed the finish line after 3 hours 1 min and 41 seconds. I am not sad. I am ellated. That seems to be a great first finish time.

After crossing the finish line, I was handed a medal. A really cool medal. I am so proud of it.

The experience was one of a kind. They were so many people there to support their loved ones and even strangers. There were people holding signs and ringing cowbells, there were cheerleaders and bands. I had a lot of fun. And it wasn't as hard as I thought it would be 5 months ago when we began training for this.

I am already planning my next one. I think these are a bit contagious too, because Jim says he wants to do the next one with me. And several of the girls said the same about their husbands. So, unless you want to be sucked into running a half marathon, don't get too close to me.

Time for a little catch up

I'm sorry I haven't posted in a while. It's not because I haven't been making progress.  I have great intentions and then, it just doesn't happen. Life gets in the way. It goes to prove that whatever you make as a priority in your life will get done and the things that aren't a priority won't. And sad to say, this has not been a big priority of mine.

Now, on to the exciting stuff.

My half marathon is tomorrow!!!! I am really excited! I feel that I could be better prepared for it because I haven't walked all week, but the 4+ months prior, I have, so I think it won't affect me too much. My fellow Bacon Lovers (anonymous) are all geared up to leave town around 2pm to go pick up our race packets and spend the night together in anticipation of this big event. Surprisingly, two of the girls in my group are planning to run a full marathon in the spring and two others are considering running a half marathon (because we are walking this one).  I also have been contemplating running a half marathon. I have really been enjoying this form of excercise and I would love to see myself pushed a little farther. I also know several people that I could run with, so that makes the thought of it so much better. Anyway, I will let you know after the race tomorrow how it goes.

On to other news. I have reached my WW goal weight of 155 lbs!! This is not my official goal weight of 100 lbs lost, but only 5 lbs away. I know this sounds kind of silly, but I have a reason. When I first thought about losing all of this weight, I never thought I would really lose 100 lbs. It seemed so unrealistic and out of the question, so when I signed up on Weight Watchers the highest healthy weight for me was 155, so I plugged that in. It seems so long ago now and I am completely amazed that I am about to reach 100 lbs lost. It also seems crazy to think that I might even lose a little more after that. We will see. I am going to do it in a healthy way and not get too crazy with it, so please don't worry about me, but now I feel that it is possible and that is an amazing feeling.

I went shopping last weekend to spend a Macy's gift certificate that I received for Christmas last year, and although very overwhelmed in that store, I had a blast. I tried on so many things and loved that everything fit well, and I wasn't examining myself at the store, just the clothes. Wow. Really, that is huge for me. I hope you are doing as well and finding great things to be excited about. It does take time, but when you reach it, it's like nothing else.

Keep yourself inspired somehow. I am finding new inspiration from watching this season of Biggest Loser. I really love that show and it gives me the motivation to keep going. I have heard lots of people say that they have quit watching because they end up sitting on the couch eating ice cream while watching. I know that feeling. I have done that. But, there is an alternative. Let it motivate you. Let it inspire you. Get up and move a little, even while you watch it. I mean, I have a hard time getting out my step and doing some aerobics while watching CSI or House, but when I'm watching Biggest Loser, I have the motivation to do it.

It's OK

Good friends are priceless. I have been struggling lately and I just didn't know what was going on. A friend walked with me the other day and we just talked. And we vented. And we got some things off our chests. It felt really good and I realized some of what my problem was. See, I was (and still am a little) struggling with vanity. And to compensate for feeling so bad about feeling this way, I was eating lots more junk than I have in the past 7 months. I was self-destructing because I thought I was a horrible person for enjoying seeing my reflection in the mirror. The person on the other side looks nice. I'm not sure if I have ever felt that way. I guess after having been so overweight and hating what looked at me in the mirror, the reflection I now see has so much more appeal. I thought it was a severe case of vanity because I caught myself looking in the mirror every time I went past. After talking with my friend, I came to realize that what I thought was vanity, really wasn't. I think it's alright to like the way you look. I do. And that is OK. It's ok to like the way I look. It's ok to want to see myself in the mirror. And it's ok to want to have my picture taken once in a while. (After years of avoiding a camera, it feels strange) I still feel a little wierd about it, but I am coming to terms with my new look and I am not going to let it get me down. I am not going to stuff my face with cookies to try to sabatoge myself anymore. I am going to lose these last 14 lbs. I can't wait to celebrate this success.

The walk

Last Saturday I made it 3/4 of a mile! You read that right 3/4 of a mile. I know, my normal walk is about 6 or 7 miles, so why is this little distance so significant? Well, it's because I was carrying an extra 80 lbs. I was attempting to carry all the weight I have lost. I say attempting because my goal was to make it the whole 4 or 5 miles with it, but I did make it a good distance and I am still proud of myself.

It was certainly an eye-opening experience. Just loading up the backpacks was shocking. I found two 22lb dumbell wieghts that I put in a backpack. When I zipped it up and tried to get it on my back, I couldn't even put it on. I had to have help. So, I decided to put them in separate backpacks and carry one around the front and the other on my back. Once I had figured out the legistics, I thought I was ready enough.

I woke up at 5:00 am (way too early for any human to be awake), and starting loading myself down. I wrapped beach towels around each of the weights in the backpacks to keep them from hitting me as I walked. I put on backpack #1. Then I put on backpack #2. Then I took off backpack #2 and then backpack #1. With them on I couldn't put on the ankle weights that I had. So.... I put on the ankle weights (4 lbs a piece) and put the backpacks back on. Then I grabbed my handweights (10 lbs a piece). Once I got all this on, I wasn't quite sure I had enough weight, so I hopped on the scale to check it out. 251 lbs. Wow, never thought I would see that number again. So, I grabbed my water bottle, oops, couldn't carry that and the handweights, so I left the water bottle and headed out the door.

As I got started I began to appreciate the fact that we began so stinking early in the morning. It was still dark, and so no one was able to see me in this ridiculous get-up. I do kind of wish I had a picture to share with you, but just trust me, it was quite amusing.

There were two others who decided to carry their weight with them. They had about 25 and 45 lbs to carry, so not quite as bad. (Awesome, isn't it) So, our walking plan was to make a large figure eight from our starting point so that we had the option of dropping weight if we needed to. I had to drop my handweights before we made it back to the starting point because the pressure on my shoulders was just too much for me. That was the 3/4 mile mark. Then, maybe less than 1/4 of a mile later, I was able to drop my front backpack. I probably could have carried the weight if it had been distributed a little better, but the strain on my shoulders was just too much. So, I carried the other backpack and the ankle weights for a while longer, but then when I finally shed it all, it was so freeing!

I am so glad to be free of that bond! It feels great to know that the hard work that I have put in over the past 6 months has been such a success and I have been able to shed so much weight. It comes off so slowly, that at times I wondered if it was really making a difference, but now I see. It has!

Stife, Struggles, and Stress

Wow, it has been way too long since I have blogged. You may be asking yourself, what's been going on with her. Well, let me tell you. The reason I have not blogged is because of all the stuff going on in my life. I have been getting thrown curve balls from every direction. I have stumbled a few times, but have gotten right back up.

I'm not really sure what all to say. Most of what I have been going through is personal and stuff I don't really want to share.

So, now that I have your curiousity peeked. I will change the subject.

I have slowed down my weight loss. I haven't stopped all together, just toned it down. I guess for a couple of reasons. #1 is because I think it was necessary. I lost a lot of weight really quickly and to keep it healthy, I think it was best that the process be slowed a bit. #2 I had given up so many things, that it was time that I gave in and treated myself to some of the things I hadn't eaten in over 6 months. #3 is that I finally spent my Christmas money from last year on some new clothes and I would kind of like to wear them for a while before I have to give them away.

Which brings me to my shopping trip. I went a couple of weekends ago to spend the money I had been saving on a new wardrobe. I was a bit intimidated because it had been a long time since I had done any serious shopping and even then, I pretty much hated it. I remember going into the dressing room with about 7 items and coming out with nothing or maybe 1 thing that actually fit. Well, this shopping trip was not like that at all! I took 6 things into the dressing room and everything fit me wonderfully! So, I took 6 more things in, and they all fit! Wow, now I was faced with an actual decision to make. I had to choose what items I would purchase and what items I would leave behind. That decision was not made for me based on what fit me. It was an awesome feeling. I really can't wait to shop again!

In case you were wondering. I'm down to 168 lbs. 82 lbs lost and only 18 to go. I can't believe I have made it this far.

New things

So, I got my new shoes on Saturday (none too soon) and so far, I love them. My wonderful MIL decided to buy them for me for my birthday, which is tomorrow in case you were wondering. She took me to a New Balance store and they measured my feet and had me stand on some sort of computer that checked how I stood and I eventually got size ten running shoes. So, running shoes, walking shoes, I guess it doesn't really matter that much, but a ten. I used to wear a size 8. After having my three boys, I have started wearing a 9, but she gave me a 10. I didn't really like that, but she said that when you are walking, you need to have plenty of room for your toes, so I guess I'll let someone who knows a little more about shoes than me make that call. I have walked in them three times now I think, and they are really comfortable. I am hoping they last through all my training and get me through this half marathon in October.

Oh, and I forgot that on Monday, I reached my 6 month anniversay of weight loss. I don't remember my exact weight from Monday, but I'm guessing it was around 172. So, 78 lbs lost in 6 months. I am pretty happy about that number. Now, just 20 some pounds to go and I will reach my goal of 100 lost. I don't really have a set date in mind to have this goal reached, but I did tell my fellow bacon lovers that I want to be down to 158 by the time we walk our half marathon on October 23.

Man, this is a long journey.

I am also about ready to spend my Christmas money. (I know, I'm a saver) Now I'm going to have some birthday money to go with it and I am going to get me some new clothes. I have been waiting since December for this and it's going to feel good. And I am going to LOVE it! I haven't enjoyed shopping for clothes in so long. I even remember a time not too long ago that some friends and I went out and stopped into a store for some of them to buy some new jeans. Well, I wouldn't even try anything on because I hated what size I would have to try, if they even carried that size. Now, I can't wait. Lately, all I have to wear is my borrowed clothes and I am ready for some new stuff of my own.

Walking

I have been walking alot. Just ask anyone in this town. I get comments all the time about how somebody saw me walking the other day. It's really a bit commical. But, I have also had some people ask me about how I track my walks. I have borrowed a case that straps to my wrist and holds my phone and I use an app that tracks wherever I go on my Android phone. It's called mytracks. I'm not going to say that it's the best app you can find, because I just heard someone else say they use it and so I downloaded it and that's what I have been using. But, it works well, so why fix something that isn't broken. The app uses a gps signal and tracks the length of time that I walk, the number of miles that I walk, and the average speed for my walk. That's really all I need to know. Oh, and it also shows a map of where I went. That's kind of neat to look at once in a while, but not really important info.

I like to average at least 4-5 miles for each walk and lately I have been walking over 4 miles an hour. If you aren't a big walker, that might not mean much to you, but for me, this is monumental. When I started, my fellow bacon lovers figured that we would need to average at least 3.6 miles per hour in order to finish our half marathon in the 4 hour time limit. And let me tell you that I was not sure I would be able to do it. So, to be walking at 4 miles per hour or greater for 5 miles or more is just thrilling for me. Now I'm thinking about making my goal to finish the half marathon in 3 1/2 hours.

The other day I was talking to my husband about the amount of weight I have lost and how I can't hardly wrap my head around the extra 75 pounds I had and how that felt and he suggested I take one of my walks with that amount of weight in a backpack. Now, I have been thinking about this and it sounds like a great thought provoking assignment, but I am kind of terrified at the thought. I might give it a try. But, I think I might have to do my walk at the high school track so I never get too far in case I'm not able to carry all that weight for the entire walk. That seems so weird to think that I couldn't carry that weight, when just a few months ago, I was carrying all that weight around 24/7. So, I will let you know if I attempt this experiment.

Weight Watchers

Can I just talk for a minute about Weight Watchers? Why sure I can, it's my blog. I started my weight loss with Weight Watchers in February. I tried it once before, years ago when I didn't have much weight to lose. I went to the meetings and felt very out of place. When I decided to do WW this time, I was a bit skeptical of the meetings, so I signed up for the online version. I was a bit skeptical of that too because I was worried that there might not be enough accountability there to keep me going. But, the online program was really good. There were lots of recipes and tracking features. My points plus allowance was around 40 per day with an extra 49 flex points for the week to use. I also liked that you could earn extra exercise points for each week. I really did well and the fact that the new program allows you to eat almost any fruits and vegetables without using any of your points was a huge plus for me. I filled my day with fruits and veggies and continued to cook a lot of the same things for my family. The online program also has a recipe builder so I could put my recipe into the system and it would tell me how many points it was. So, I could just eat a smaller portion of what I would normally eat, add a big serving of steamed vegetables on the side and feel really good.

After three months on the program, my subscription was up and, being the cheapskate that I am, decided that I knew enough of what to do that I didn't need WW anymore. This was the same time that the Biggest Loser competition was starting and my team was trying to use MyFitnessPal online to be accountable to one another. This website gives you a calorie limit for each day, mine was 1320 and that's it. I tried it for a few weeks, but it didn't seem to be working very well with my personality and what I needed, so I bit the bullet and subscribed to WW again. I knew that it worked well for me. For some reason, I needed to be able to not feel guilty about eating a bowl of strawberries for a snack. I know that it's a great choice, but having to count those calories against my day, just didn't help me.

So, back to WW and the points that I am allowed each day continues to go down each week. Now, I'm allowed 29 points per day, with the same 49 flex points each week. It's getting more difficult to stay within my points allowance. I thought it was hard at 40, but now thinking back, 40 would be so nice. I'm also having troubles spreading my points out throughout the day. Since I am still trying to not eat anything past 7 pm, I need to make sure that my points are used up at dinner. That's a hard thing for me. I don't know why. Early on, I had those extra points left at the end of the day and I would snack on some popcorn or something else after I got the kids in bed, but not anymore. I just need to really work on getting those used earlier in the day. So, that's something I am going to work on in the next couple of weeks. I will let you know how I do.

One more good choice

I know I've written a lot about my story, but I can't help but think that I've left some gaps. So, if there is something that you have a question about, feel free to ask me. Either here on this blog, or in person. I really want to be able to help others because I feel so blessed to be where I am today. Sometimes, it's hard for me to really understand how much weight I have lost and where I used to be, but then, there are times like today, that I feel so fortunate to have made this change and to be able to feel this good.

It really comes down to choices. Like this morning, someone always brings breakfast into Sunday School for everyone. Sometimes it's a breakfast casserole, sometimes it's muffins, but today it was dougnuts. I have really missed dougnuts. And I really wanted one. But, I made a choice and did not eat one even though it was a tough decision. I didn't need it, and I had already had my breakfast at home. Before I was paying attention to what I was eating, I would have taken that dougnut (or two) without a single thought. It feels good to make the right choice. It really does.

A quote that I have heard recently and has stuck with me says "Nothing tastes as good as being thin feels". I am starting to realize that more and more. I love to eat sweets, but I have to realize that no matter how those foods taste in the moment, they really aren't worth the consequences. I know all about consequences. I am a very logical person. Even in my anger, I am too level headed to act in a rash way because I don't want to deal with the consequences. Why didn't this logic follow through into my eating habbits? I don't really know, but I think that it's starting to get there. Now I understand, if I eat a blizzard, I have to work it off or deal with the consequence of added pounds. I hope that this stays with me and that I don't fall back into my old way of thinking. I am going to do what I can to not forget these important things that I have learned.

Committments

It's the second day after the Biggest Loser has ended and I'm still having some tendencies to slack off the diet and do whatever I want. But, I have made committments. I have committed to this blog and if I revert to old ways, I will feel like I have let down everyone who is keeping up with my journey here. I have made committments to my Bacon Lovers. We have decided to continue to keep each other acountable with bi-weekly weigh ins and tracking measurements. I have made committments to WW. I have a goal to get to 155 lbs. These committments are helping to keep me on the right track and not to give up.

Also, I have the encouragement of everyone around me. I have received numerous congrats and compliments from everyone I know. I even received flowers yesterday from an unknown source. Really, who can give up or feel discouraged when surrounded by so many great people. I truly am feeling the love and I think that maybe this is how some of the contestants from the Biggest Loser tv show must feel. It's such an incredible high.

So, I'm going to let all that be the fuel I need to power through this and keep it all up.

On a side note, I want to explain my nickname on this blog. I did not come up with that on my own. A week or so before I started this blog, someone at church came up to me and said that myself and a friend of mine were like the incredible shrinking women. I kind of liked it and it stuck with me.

If you are trying to lose weight, make sure you make some committments, whatever they may be. They can help you to power through those little road blocks that could otherwise trip you up. And one more thing. I want to share with you a quote that I have seen multiple times lately that has also stuck with me.

"Nothing tastes as good as being thin feels"

The thiner I'm getting, the more I see this as being true. Don't give in to that temporary pleasure of something that you think is going to taste great, but think about the long-term effects of that food and decide to make the best decision.

It's not over til the fat lady sings

Our Biggest Loser competition ended last night and it was awesome. The Bacon Lovers (anonymous) finished in first place and we won $1500 for our charity. It was so great to see this team of ladies come together and lose some weight together over the past 12 weeks and benefit a great cause. I also took 2nd place as the biggest losing individual losing 18.4% of the 210 lbs I started the competition at. And even though I did not come in first, I did win the MVBL award (Most Valuable Bacon Lover). My team is so sweet and made me a special award to commemorate all my hard work. I just love those girls.

We were very proud of our team and had to celebrate last night. We went to Bobby's custard stand and got whatever we wanted (with bacon on top) and then finished off the night at Burger King for some french fries. I am trying to remember that this was a rare indulgance and not the end of my journey altogether, but for some reason, I'm having trouble. The end of the competition and the celebration last night has me feeling like I am done. I know I'm not. I mean, we are still walking a half marathon in October that I have to continue training for. I just need to take charge of the day and get back into the groove of my WW system.

I also need to remember all the reasons I am doing this and all the benefits I have reaped from losing weight. I was able to kneeboard this summer. Something I haven't been able to do in several years. I can cross my legs again. Seriously, this doesn't sound like much, but it is such a big deal. Not being able to do that was a constant reminder of how bad I needed to lose weight. I am wearing a size 12 instead of a 20. All of these are reaons to keep doing what I am doing and not throw in the towel. So, if you see me out, don't let me start slacking. I still have 23 lbs to reach my ultimate goal.

And here it is

I almost forgot. I have my new picture. Thanks to my wonderfully talented photography friend. She took me out and did a mini photo shoot with me. It was only midly awkward.









Here is the before.









Now remember, one of these pictures I was trying to wear a terrible Christmas sweater, so don't judge me on that. The other is our church directory picture and I was just one month out from having our third son, but nonetheless, that was me. (What I really want to know is if I can take a new family picture and replace the directory picture for everyone that got one. All 500 or so of them. Not sure I can make that happen.)

































































And here is the current one. The picture quality itself is much better on this one, but I think the improvement is pretty dramatic.













































I still have about 24 lbs to lose to reach my goal of 100 lbs lost, but I'm getting there. Just a few more months.

The one where I hide my emotions

The title of this blog post is a play on the titles of the Friends tv show (ok, I know I am really showing my addition to tv). I just love Friends. Anyway, lately things have been very emotional and I don't really want to post about anything that will get me crying or make me rant about things that no one really needs to hear, so I will blog about my shoes.

It seems like I just bought these tennis shoes a few months ago, but they seem to be nearing the end of their life. I have never gone through tennis shoes very fast. Mostly because I'm not too rough on them, but my husband says it's because I never wear real shoes. But, since I have been walking every day at least once, I seem to be wearing them out a little bit faster. Shortly after buying them I stepped on a rock that went all the way through into the inside of my shoe. It wasn't until a few days later when I got really tired of that rock that I dug it out, but ever since then there has been a little "puff" from the air through that hole every step I make. The other day, I stepped on another rock with the other shoe and it seems to be stuck in there somewhere because it is really bothering me. I also noticed that the tread on the bottom of them is pretty much gone.

This all sounds like I probably need to get some good shoes that are a little tougher for all the walking that I am doing. The problem is that I am a cheapskate. I am not afraid to admit it. I usually buy the cheapest pair of tennis shoes from Payless that I can find. Since that doesn't seem to be working for my new lifestyle, it looks like I should probably consider some other kind, but I just don't know what to get. I'm sure someone could recommend a super expensive awesome pair of walking shoes, but I want something at least reasonably priced but good enough to handle my training and walking a half marathon.

So, do you have any suggestions for me? Where should I go? What kind should I get?

Bad Day

Yesterday, I was having a bad day. I'm not really sure why. I just woke up feeling sleepy and ready to crawl back in bed. I couldn't of course because my three sons (ha, wasn't that the name of a tv show?) were awake and needed me. I also felt like eating everything I could get my hands on. For some reason, I couldn't decide to eat things I knew I shouldn't, but I did lounge around on the couch for most of the morning. When my husband got home early in the afternoon, I decided to get out and go for a walk and that seemed to boost my mood. It's amazing how excercise can turn my day around, and that I let excercise be my go-to thing instead of frozen dairy products or choclate. Fortunately, I had salvaged enough of my attitude for the day that when my husband suggested pizza for dinner, I was able to make a smart choice. A fellow bacon lover told me that when her family gets pizza, she always orders a small thin crust veggie pizza for herself and so I remembered that and fought every urge I had to give in to soft, doughy crusted meat pizza and went for the veggies. I must say that I thoroughly enjoyed my little pizza. From Dominos, the small veggie pizza is only 6 WW point plus for 1/4 of the pizza. I ate a little more than I probably should have because I was exceptionaly hungry, but I made the best choice given the circumstances. I also knew that it was best if I got full at dinner time rather than be hungry again an hour later and give in to something less healthy or end up eating after my cutoff at 7 pm. Funny thing is that if you check out the nutritional information on Dominos website, they give you suggestions on how to lighten up your choice, and they had no suggestions for me. I guess that's because I made some pretty good choices. I feel that even though I was in a crumy mood at the beginning of the day, I stuck with the good habbits that I have formed and didn't cave to old habbits. I'd say, all in all, that was a pretty good day.

Too much tv

I believe I am a tv junkie. I don't watch much tv during the day because I am busy with my boys, but once they get in bed, the tv comes on and I have several things I like to watch. A few shows have been really inspirational to me. Extreme Makeover: Weight Loss Edition, The Biggest Loser, and Jamie Oliver's Food Revolution are three shows that have inspired me lately. The Biggest Loser is something I have watched for several seasons. I have watched amazing transformations in people and been amazed at what they achieved, but for a long time, I never saw myself doing that. It wasn't until the two sisters were on last season that I really connected with the contestants. I saw where they started, they started where I was at. I saw the progress they were making and I put myself in their shoes. I think that's when it hit me, that I could do the same. Following someone so personally was the key difference between sitting on the couch eating my junk food and making changes to follow their example.

I have also really enjoyed Extreme Makeover: Weight Loss Edition. This is the show that takes one person, who is usually heavier than most people on The Biggest Loser, and works with them for a year. These people have so much work to do. They usually have at least 200 lbs to lose and I can't even imagine how they feel. I have seen them lose the total of weight I need to lose and are still only half way done. I have such a respect for the hard work they put in to make big changes and I know that it isn't easy.

One more show I enjoy as an inspiration is Jamie Oliver's Food Revolution. This isn't a show about weight loss, but about eating foods that are good for us and I know those two things go hand in hand. His goals are mostly geared towards schools, but I believe he truly cares about people and showing them how to eat right. I know that dieting sometimes consists of lots of processed foods, artificial sweeteners and foods with lots of preservatives. This is another thing I know I should avoid, but don't do the best job. I do try to eat lots of natural food and avoid processed foods, but sometimes it's hard to avoid. His general rule is that if the list of ingredients has things that you don't know what they are, then you should not eat it. This kind of hit me the other day when I was drinking some diet lemonade that I had bought. I had no clue what 90% of the ingredients were. I guess this is one area I could really improve.

Are you a tv junkie like myself? Do you have shows that inspire you? Don't just sit there and admire them, take action and make changes for yourself.

Working hard

Just in case you are really curious, I am still working on getting a picture taken so I can show you my progress. A friend has volunteered to take some for me tomorrow, so hopefully, you can see soon. But, before I show them, I just want to make sure you know that this did not happen to me overnight. I know that sometimes it's hard to see that transformation in someone else and forget that it took a lot of hard work to get there. Before I started to lose weight, I felt like this was something that would take me "forever". And I think that's one of the reasons I waited so long to begin. I thought the road would be way too long and way too hard. Well, it has been long, and it has been hard, but nothing beats the satisfaction of all that hard work paying off. The weight does come off slowly and so make sure that you have small goals set for yourself to prevent getting discouraged. For me, it was hard to see that 240 lbs go to 238 lbs. It doesn't really seem like much of a difference, but I didn't gain all that weight in a few weeks and it's not going to come off in just a few weeks. Just know that all those little successes do pay off. Each pound lost is one less weighing you down.

Another thing that I have learned to do is to get rid of all those clothes that I used to wear. I mean really, why would I want that stuff clogging up my closet. I think it would be too easy for me to slip back into some of it if it was still hanging around, but now that it is gone, I have no excuses. And let me tell you, the thrift store has seen some big deliveries from me lately. And, instead of going out to buy clothes for myself during this transitional time, I have relied on some good friends who used to be this size. They have lent me their items that are too big, so at least I have something. If I bought a pair of size 16 pants, I think I could have been tempted to stay in them a while and get my money's worth out of them. So, if you have lent me clothes, bless you.

One more thing for today. I found the Weight Watchers official Facebook page the other day and noticed that they are looking for people who have met their goal weight to star in some commercials for them. Now, I am not looking for fame or stardome and I'm not really sure if I would be comfortable with that, but I am bummed that I am not eligible because I haven't hit my goal weight yet. I am about 20 lbs away from my WW goal. I just love being able to share my story and find someone that can relate and realize that they can do it too. I think that is what helped me get started. Finding someone that I could relate to and watch them make those changes.

Kids

I love to talk about my kids. I have three wonderful boys. Chase turned 7 last week, Joel will be turning 2 in September, and Isaac will be 1 in October. They are a handfull and keep me very busy. I guess that's one of the ways I stay active. And, now that I am feeling better, I want to be more active with them. They love to be outside and go to the park. When I was heavy, I used to sit on the side at the park and not want to exert myself at all. Now, I look forward to playing with them and letting them help me stay active.

They also help me to eat less. Joel is best at this. He is always by my side wanting to take a bite of whatever it is that I am eating. I have said a few times that I think WW needs a "shared with a toddler" option so that it takes away a few of the points for your serving. It never fails that I fix myself a sandwich and I end up with only 3/4 of it. But that's ok. Before I thought about what I was eating, I would probably have fixed a second sandwich to make up for what I had shared and probably ended up eating about 1 and 3/4 sandwiches. Now, I still count my whole sandwich even though I lost a few bites and call it good. So, if you don't have your own hungry toddler at home, I highly recommend getting one, they are great to have around.

Chase, who is the oldest, is a great helper. I can ask him to do just about anything and he is willing to do it, but I used to use this as a reason to sit on my rear end and do as little as possible. I would ask Chase to go get me this and take care of that. I even made sure Joel knew how to throw away his own diapers and get a kleenex when I needed it. Now, I am very conscious about asking the kids to do something that I know I am capable of doing. In a pinch, I will still ask for their help and I do still expect them to help out around the house, but it's not because I am being too lazy and don't want to get up. Before I ask them to help, I really think about if I really need assistance or if I could do it myself and get moving a little more. I believe all those little things really do add up to make a big difference in getting active.

Things I've learned

I knew a lot about healthy eating before I started. I think most of us do. It's shared with us in every way possible, it's just up to us if we heed that advice and put it into practice, which is the hard part. Here are some things that I learned along the way that have made this possible for me.

Don't go "cold turkey". Don't start out so hard core that you are ready to give up the first week because all you've eaten is chicken and broccoli. Ease into it slowly. You will still see results and it will give you a place to make changes later when things get a little harder.

Treat yourself. I don't mean every day. I have learned that dessert is a treat. It does not need to be eaten every day (or after every meal for that matter). But, if you give up your favorite sweets, forever, you will probably feel deprived and want to overdo it. I keep a bag of hershey's kisses in the house for when I need some sweets. They are small and I can have about 5 of them without hurting my points allowance very bad.

Chew gum. I found the dessert delights gum that was sweet and kept my mouth busy for a while and that kept me from going to get something to eat just because I was bored. And that is one of my big reasons for eating, so it helped a lot.

Have a back-up plan. Lots of advice I had seen said that you needed a plan for your day so you knew what you were going to eat and didn't eat junk because you didn't know what else to eat. Well, I am a busy momma of three little boys, and I can barely think ahead to the next diaper change, let alone all my food intake for a day, but what I did have was a back-up plan. When dinner time rolled around and I hadn't figured out a nice healthy meal to fix, I would fix myself a sandwich. Regardless of what I gave everybody else to eat, I at least had something that fit well in my day. I found Healthy Life bread that is only 1 point per slice, used lunch meat and one slice of cheese.

Be prepared. I'm not talking boy-scout level preparedness here, but when you know you are getting ready to go somewhere that there will be food that isn't exactly on your diet, take some fruit (or a fiber bar) with you and eat it on the way. That way, you aren't famished and eating anything you see just because you need something. Then, if you want to have a taste of a couple of things, you can stop after just a couple bites. This goes for all those BBQ's, picnics, family get togethers, weddings, funerals, birthday parties, etc. If you give yourself freedom to forget the diet for these "special ocassions", you will end up having one every week and not have changed your habbits at all.

Fit activity in wherever you can. My outlook on activity has completely changed. Before, I would really hate having to be the one to drag the trash out to the road once a week and bring the cans back up, but now I am eager to do it because it's a small opportunity for me to move around a little more and be active. Walk to places that are short distances, like the park, store, or bank. For me, this ends up being easier than the car since I have to load everyone up in and out of car seats and carry them into each building.

Well, I hope some of this advice is helpful and something you can use to make your journey a successful one. Don't be scared, just jump in and do it.

Excercise

I mentioned in an earlier post that when I started losing weight that I started very simple and worked my way up to where I am now, so I just thought I would share a bit of where I am now. I began in February with no excercise. I knew I needed it, but just didn't want to. So, I found a couple of excercise videos to do at home because I really didn't know how else to fit excercise into my day with my three little guys. I didn't enjoy doing them all that much and it was aggrivating to see all those fit little girls doing the same excercise as me, but I kept doing it because it was getting easier. When I started the Biggest Loser competition with the church in May, my team (Crystal and Chrisy) decided we should train throughout the competition to walk a half marathon by the time we were done. These two have ran half marathons before, so they had room to talk about getting us to walk one. I, along with a few other members of our team, thought they were crazy. But, I figured even if I don't get to the marathon part, training with some friends and getting excercise with them would be worth it.

We began walking a couple of miles at a time and I must tell you that our first long walk as a group was way too fast for me. My side hurt and I struggled to keep up til the end. But, as with everything else in this journey, I had to keep plugging along even if it was hard, because I knew it was the right thing to do. Since my husband is gone all week, it has been a challenge to walk with the group. We started walking in the middle of the day, but June, in the mid-west, is just a little HOT. And, I was pushing a double stroller with two little ones with my oldest tagging along and it just wasn't working. The girls started walking early in the morning to avoid the heat and I decided to find a wonderful girl to get up very early for me and sit at the house while I walked and my children slept (ha). My kids have been getting up early, so the sitter has to get them out of bed, but I get up around 5:30 to walk by 6:00. We typically walk about 4 or 5 miles and since I am not wealthy, I can only afford a sitter two mornings a week. I generally get out Saturday mornings because my husband is here and we are starting to walk more like 6 or 7 miles then.

I have never been a morning person, but getting up early to walk really energizes me for my day and I have really come to look forward to those early morning walks and get really bummed if I have to miss them. I must admit that I do feel sorry for myself sometimes and want to throw a little pitty party because it is such a challenge for me to get out to walk in the mornings, but I get over it pretty quick and have learned to just make the best of my situation. One morning my sitter forgot and didn't make it (I totally understand and I don't blame her one bit), but I wanted to throw my little pity party again, but instead I buckled down. Since I was already up and dressed to my shoes, I just decided to put in an excercise video and make the best of my morning.

I am starting to make better decisions for myself. I am amazed. Never in a million years would I think that I would be getting up at 5:30 or 6:00 to excercise and not go crawl back in bed if things didn't go the way I wanted them to. I also got stressed to my max the other day and instead of vegging out in front of the tv with a giant bowl of ice cream, I made a way to get out after the kids went to bed and walk off my stress. It really is a lifestyle change for me now. It's not just a temporary fix. I hope this is inspiring you in some way to find a way to make your situation better and not sit at your pity party feeling sorry for yourself.

Oh, and one more thing about the picture of me. I am still working on getting a current picture and as soon as I do, I will post a before and current one, but our church directories finally came in. My family posed for pictures for this in November (?). I took one look at my picture and couldn't believe my eyes. A good friend of mine said she wondered who that girl was that ate Angie and she is so right. I am so happy that I am making changes to live a healthier lifestyle.

Denial

I tried to find a picture of myself before I started losing weight to put up and show. In finding one, I took a good hard look at it and was in total shock. Wow, I can't believe that's what I looked like. Now, it was also taken at an event where we were supposed to wear the most terrible Christmas attire we could, so the bad Christmas sweater doesn't help matters at all, but what I realized is how much denial I was really in. While I was 250 lbs, I never weighed myself. I didn't really want to know what that number was. I knew I needed to lose weight, but I thought of myself as just overweight. After seeing this picture, I know I was a lot worse off. I can't believe I let myself get to that point and not see it for what it truly was. I think the denial was helping me to cope with it though, and coping was just fine for me at that time. Now that things have clicked and I am feeling so good, I really can't image what that girl was thinking. I know that you probably want to see this picture that I found, but I just can't put it up until I have a current one to put beside it to show you how hard I have really been working this past 5 1/2 months. So, hopefully, I will get a new picture very soon and you can see for yourself.

Are you living in denial, knowing that you aren't were you need to be, but not really wanting to face reality? If so, stand strong, make a change, and decide that today, you are going to make a turn for the better and never look back.

Sacrifices

Ok, so by the title of this you are probably thinking I am going to be writing about the foods I have had to sacrifice in order to lose weight, but you would be wrong. I am going to let you know a few of my secrets. Are you listening? Here it goes. In order to make time for the excercise and extra effort a lot of the healthy foods are, something has to give. I am working as a single parent most of the week and that doesn't really leave much extra time to add anything else, so I have to give some things up or let some things slide. Of course I am not going to neglect my kids or quit cuddling them and playing with them. Because, let's face it, this journey is just too long for them to be on the chopping block. I have sacrificed several things including ........... sleep (I used to love to sleep as late as possibly 7 or even 8 am), personal hygiene (I know you are probably grossed out by this one, but hey, sometimes I just can't justify a shower at 9 pm when I am going to be getting up the next morning and sweating again), and

housework

This is just the tip of the iceberg, but I didn't want to show too many pictures in case you called family services on me or something. But seriously, I'm ok with this. I normally like to keep my house fairly clean and would never dream of showing this to anyone, but it's ok. I know that in order to spend more time doing what I need to do to lose weight, things like this will happen. And I have reminded myself time and time again, that this is just a season of life for me. It will be different soon enough. I plan to continue to include excercise and healthier eating in my life, but not to this degree once I get to my goal weight. If you feel really sorry for me and want to come clean my house for me, I am ok with that too. I have come to grips with accepting help at an earlier stage of my life.

So, what do you need to let go in order to make time for some healthy changes in your life? Don't be afraid to sacrifice a few things to get yourself in the place you really want to be for the rest of your life.

Bacon Lovers (anonymous)

I had a few new blog ideas for this morning rolling around in my head, but after last night, I feel I need to post about my night. I mentioned that I am participating in a weight loss competition at my church. It's called Biggest Loser (after the tv show). We began this competition in May and we are nearing the end. The group of 6 other women that I am teamed up with are called ............... Bacon Lovers (anonymous). We are a very competitive group of girls. There are about a dozen other teams and most teams are made up of at least 10-12 members, so we are one of the smaller teams. I wasn't really sure how we would fair compared to some of the other teams because we all didn't have huge amounts of weight to lose. We have meetings every other week and at the meeting last night, we won the team weight-in! We (as a team) lost the highest percentage of our weight. This is the second time we have come in first. We have been in third or fourth all of the other weeks. The exciting part of this is that the stats were sent out and right now our weight loss is the highest percentage (at 9%). That means we have a great shot at winning this. The prize is $ for our charity (which is Bond Christian Service Camp) and the thrill of victory. I love to win! So, that alone would be very cool. We just have to keep this up for two more weeks. I will still be continuing on my weight loss journey as I was before this competition started, but it has been awesome to have this going on. It has given me great inspiration at a point when I might have been ready to give up or slack off.

Another really cool thing is that the individual with the biggest percentage of weight loss will win some money for themself. She sent out some stats for that and I think I am tied for second. There were no names given, but I am pretty sure that's where I am. First place is only 1% above. This is totally within reason for me to get this. Like I said, I love to win! The money would be cool, but winning would just feel so good. Although I know that even if I don't win, I have done a great job and did my very best.

One more encouraging note from last night is that people are making all kinds of comments about how I am looking. It is hard for me to take compliments, but I have learned to just say thank you and leave it at that. I used to try to come up with some other sort of response that would down-play my success, but I am not doing that anymore. I do feel great, I do like hearing those things, and so I will accept the compliments for what they are. So, if you have been one of them, keep 'em coming! Thank you.

More tales from the beginning

So, I just got back from my morning walk and had my breakfast. I am in training to walk a half marathon in October. It's not something I ever thought I would be doing, but I am part of a weight loss competition through my church and my team (namely Crystal and Chrisy), decided we should train for this, so I am. It has really been a lot of fun, but when I started my weight loss journey, I didn't do much excercise.

Ok, so when I started my faithful journey on Valentine's Day 2011, I didn't really tell anyone other than my husband that I was trying to lose weight. I felt that if I ended up failing, at least no one would know and (gasp) judge me. So, the first 20 lbs came off and I was waiting. Waiting for somebody to say something about this change in me. But, nothing came. I faced the harsh reality that 20lbs just wasn't that noticable. Which hurt. But I didn't let it stop me. I knew that I just had to keep plugging along.

When I started, I wasn't as hard core as I am now. I started pretty simple.

I cut out all other beverages and drank as much water as I could get in. This really helped with the hunger (which wasn't that bad).

I found some healthy recipes for me and my family on the WW website and cooked them for my family. My husband was very skeptical at first because he doesn't like "diet" food, but he loved the recipes so much, that he was insisting we add them to our normal meal rotations. I cooked things like pork loin, tilapia, salmon, and of course, chicken.

I added lots of fruits and veggies. I know this is an expense, but I told myself that this expense was worth it. Money has been tight for us several different times through this, but I decided this was one place I was not going to let that be a problem. There are so many times and so many different reasons to say that I can't do this right now, it's too hard, I have a good reason to cheat or put it on hold and I wasn't going to let that be my future. I sucked it up and bought all those healthy expensive foods. And made sure I ate them. I mean really, when you spend $11 on a bag of cherries, you're gonna eat those suckers.

That was pretty much it, along with following the WW points plus program and not going over my allowances. I did have days which didn't include the most healthy of foods, but I don't consider it cheating. With WW, I was able to make it fit into my day and my week and maybe make some sacrifices to help make up for it.

One more thing I must mention is that if you are looking to start losing weight, keep some records. Take your measurements, record a starting weight and maybe even take a picture. The measurements will be a good motivator later if the scale isn't cooperating like you think it should. I did not get a picture of myself at the start, mostly because I avoided cameras like the plague and wanted no part of that, but looking back I really wish I had it, so do it. Hide it somewhere if you need to, but take it, you will never be at that place again.

The beginning

Ok, so I've never thought about blogging before, but a good friend suggested it to me today and that's all I can think about, so I guess I should go for it. I mean what's the worst that could happen? I could fail and never write anything again or no one would ever read this, but how bad is that really? When compared to world hunger or something like that, not bad at all. So anyway, here it goes, my very first blog post! Wow!

I'm starting this to hopefully inspire others with my journey of weight loss. It's been a long road and I'm not finished yet, but one day, I hope to have accomplished my ultimate goal of losing 100lbs. There's a lot going through my mind about what I want to write and advice that I have for others who are looking to lose weight, so I guess I will start by telling the begining of my weight loss journey.

February 14, 2011, I weighed in at a whopping 250lbs and I was tired of it. I had been one of those people sitting on my couch eating ice cream and watching The Biggest Loser. I knew that I could lose weight like those people on the show, but I just wasn't ready to put in the hard work that I knew it would take. I had seen so many commercials for programs to help you lose weight and I picked one. I started Weight Watchers online. My husband was getting ready to start a new job as an OTR (Over the Road) truck driver and I knew that with my three little children, making it to weekly WW meetings would be next to impossible. So, I signed up, used some money that I had recieved for Christmas that I was saving for some new clothes and took the plunge.

You might be thinking, "Why make this decision on Valentine's Day?" or "What made you decide to start losing weight?". Well, my friends, I was tired. I was tired of being fat, I was tired of the size of my clothes, I was tired of seeing other people lose weight and look great. But the biggest reason of all was the excuses that other people were giving me for being so fat. I know, they were just being nice and trying to help, but it wasn't, or maybe it was. If that's what got me here. 70lbs lighter and on my way to my ultimate goal.