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.