I'm back...(LJ)

It has been WAY too long since I last wrote. I haven't forgotten, though. Since I last wrote, I have started a fitness boot camp! I didn't know if I was going to like it completely, but honestly I look forward to it daily. A friend and I call it booty camp so about every other day my son says, "Mom, do you have booty camp tonight?" Since starting booty camp, I've gone down one pant size. That's super exciting! I've got to run for now, but I just wanted to post a quick update.

OJ, I love you girl and am praying for you. We can do this!!!!!!!

Too Long

It has been way too long since I blogged. This whole thing was to hold us accountable and I have not gotten on here in FOREVER.
I stopped going to curves because I am broke. The down side to that is I do not have a scale at home and I do not have a measuring tape. Both things I plan on purchasing this weekend. I have been working out almost every morning for the last three weeks and I am praying that I will see the fruit of those efforts.
I have not however gotten on board with my eating (though I look forward to trying that recipe LJ). My husband and I separated about two weeks ago and I have been eating crap here and there as I go along. After the kids go to bed, I indulge in pizza bites and chips and soda as I mope in front of the tv or facebook. Even though I am going through the devastation of a failed marriage, I want to continue to move forward in my weight loss journey. The week prior to our separation, I began working out hard because I wanted to grab my husband's attention. It seems in that respect it is too little too late, but I want my life back. I want to be healthy and wear my cute clothes and not be embarrassed to tell my mom what size clothes to buy me for Christmas.

Crazy Times (LJ)

I haven't posted in a while. I have gone through a MAJOR life change in the past few weeks. One that I had never intended for, but I keep pluggin' away. My weight seems to keep going up and down. I am down under 200, again, and this time I'm not going to be lazy and think that it's okay to back off the healthy eating just because I'm under 200. I'm going to continue to make good choices! One of the meals that I've been making lately is Chicken Salsa Burritos. It's super simple! And it's healthy, especially when I forgo the tortillas and put it on salad instead. Here's the recipe:

1 lb. chicken (I use chick. thighs, but you can use whatever type of boneless chick. you prefer)

16oz. fresh salsa

1 can black beans

3/4 cup corn

All you do is place all ingredients into the Crock Pot, cook on low heat for 6-8 hours and it's done. About a 1/2 hour before I take it out, separate the chicken with two forks to make it a shredded chicken.

Next, either put the mixture on tortillas or top a salad with it. It's so simple and my kids love it, too. You know it's a good meal if everyone in the family likes it and asks for more. Ha!

ugh

So, this past week a close family friend passed away so I have lost all control and have eaten like crazy. And sadly it shows with a two pound gain. I am such an emotional eater and I absolutely hate it. I do not know how to break that cycle and I do not know how to find balance in my life. I really need it. I feel burned out on all ends. I do not know how to bring the focus back on myself. I do not know how to make myself a priority. I do not think that my motivation is strong enough to put in the hardwork that it needs to take to lose the weight. I keep setting the alarm early to do exercises, but then I turn it off. I have the intention of bringing healthy food to work, but then I eat out. I am just at the end of my rope.
This morning, I got up and did my exercise video and the kids were climbing all over me and getting into trouble, so I had to stop it before the end to take care of them. The kicker is that it was my husbands day off and he just laid in bed (wide awake) and did nothing. Yet, he is the first to complain that I have not lost the baby weight. I hate this.

SOOOO LONG

It has been so long, WAY too long, since I posted on here. I am trying really hard to stick with my diet, but I am under a lot of stress and right now and am only doing so so. I have totally fallen off the wagon with the no soda and have been very sporadic with exercise.
I read a success story on the weight watchers website that struck a chord with me. The woman said that a friend of hers had gone through a divorce and then lost a gigantic amount of weight. The woman thought to herself that this was the best revenge. Then she got thinking to herself, "I am in a good relationship. Why not do this for myself and my husband now." It struck a chord with me, because I have thought this a hundred times. My relationship with my husband has been very rocky for a little over a year now and is a major contributor to the weight that I have put on. I got thinking to myself why wait until my marriage falls apart to try to be healthy and happy. I am not sure where my marriage is going to end up, but my health and my body is not going to be a victim any longer. I am recommitting myself to this process, to weight loss, to no soda and to you LJ. I love you dearly girl. We can do this. ALL of this!!

OJ, Where you at, girl?

So, this is going to be a short post. I have had a very stressful, relationally challenging week! I know that it won't always be like this, but this has been a VERY hard week. However, I lost more weight, which is always good! Just 2 more pounds and I will be out of the 200's!!!! I've still been taking the stairs, and my diet has been seeing a lot more green in it. Hopefully, next week will be better. I'm going to take my dad's advice and "keep my mind on things above because we are just pilgrims passing through". Thanks, Dad! Until next time. OJ, you need to post an update!

Slightly discouraged, yet SUPER excited!!!! (LJ)

Okay, so I got on the scale today knowing that I did not too very well with food in the past two weeks. We have had guests in town and were out of town and all that comes with "being on vacation". I knew that this week would not be a good one for the weigh in AND for measuring myself. However, I weigh 2 pounds less than I did a month ago, I have only taken the elevator less than a dozen times in the past month, my measurements have changed a bit, and I have great news!!!!

So, other than being a mama at home with the kids, I am also a photographer. I do specialize in family and lifestyle photography. I'm always looking for more work and I came across a Craigslist ad the other day that got the little wheels of my brain spinning. I saw an ad for a fitness bootcamp. I thought I'd write the trainer with my idea and just see how things would go. Well, I'm super pleased to announce that I (and my husband, I might add) are starting boot camp in exchange for photography for the trainer's website!!!! I am so excited!!! I have NEVER done anything like this...bootcamp, that is. I can't wait. It's every Saturday from 8 to 9am.

Now, I will have someone who is trained in how to train others training me! Awesome. I just wish that you were here, too, OJ and we could do this part together. Anyway, I am continuing on my journey to health and will keep you posted.

Whoops!

Okay, so first of all I have to tell the truth. I haven't been doing as well either. I weighed in but forgot what it was. We had family in town last week and now my sister is here this week. We were out of town for the weekend, so I that meant eating out. I was really nervous about this part. I felt like I was doing well, and then the eating out thing was out of my control. I will say, however, that I didn't order fried foods. I stuck with salad every time and we did a lot of walking. So, we'll see how it goes this Wednesday.

Like I mentioned, my sister is in town. I haven't seen her in two years! I'm so excited! I've got to run and pick up my daughter from school, but I wanted to give a quick update. I'll post more in a bit. Still taking the stairs, though, and it's getting easier and easier everyday.

-LJ

SIGH

So, I am totally discouraged. I feel like I have been trying so hard and my clothes feel tighter!!! I even did not have Root Beer when my husband took the fam to A&W. I was so proud of myself for not ordering soda even though it felt totally un-American to not have their home-made Root Beer.
Then I went on a business trip and I did not do that well. We grabbed a lot of fast food on the go and I just did not make wise choices. I even drank some soda when one of the places did not have iced tea. Why did I not choose water???? No wonder my clothes are tighter.
Here is the deal, we weigh and measure next week for our one month, I think. I am going to work my tail off this week, because those numbers ARE going to be different. I am not giving up like I have so many times before. Even right now as I write this, I am feeling so much better and mor encouraged. Expect BIG things next week!!

Picture time! (LJ)

So, I (LJ) haven't blogged for a few days. I was super excited and nervous at the same time on Tuesday evening. I wanted to do at least as well as the week before, but I knew that the second week usually isn't the best. Anyway, I jumped on the scale on Wednesday morning and was disappointed with the .5 pound less than last weeks weigh in. Ugh!!! To be honest, I spent most of the day trying not to be discouraged. I keep telling myself that at least it IS a loss instead of a gain.

Anyway, I'm still going somewhat strong. I had pizza yesterday and wine the day before, but am back on track today. Posting a food journal is a good idea, OJ. I'll call you tonight and figure out where and how to go about doing it. Also, I decided to post a "before" pic of myself. Please disregard the messy house. Thanks! Here's to the long weekend! Oh, and my sister comes in town in one week. I haven't seen her in TWO YEARS. I'm very excited for that!!!! Yay!!!

Too tired

Today is a down day for me. I am overtired and have had a long and stressful week. I am very excited about the one pound weight loss that I had this week, but right now I am just too tired to care a whole bunch. After an emotional morning, my daughter and I went and had french fries for a treat. She got a treat for doing so well at her doctors appointment and I got one...well, because it has been a crap week, stressful with my daughter sick and because I got a stupid ticket for talking on my cell phone. Right at the moment, I do not feel remorseful. However, I will check in tomorrow and let you know that I did not allow eating the fries to be a total diet set-back to dictate bad eating all weekend.
I think we should do a food journal LJ. Maybe we could have links to different blogs in our blog so this thing does not get super out of control. Let me know what you think.

Discipline

So, I see that LJ has not been on to blog all week either. Where you at girl?? Here is my confession of why I have not been on.
After last weeks weigh in, I was so excited about the weight loss. I had really strong days of working out and eating right and then the weekend hit. I am going to struggle so much with the weekends! They are a true test to my abilities of successfully reaching my goal. Here is the confession, I did not work out at all this weekend and I did not do so well with my eating either. I am dreading tomorrow and the potential gain. How could I possibly gain?! It is so early on. SIGH
However, I did better with my eating yesterday and I got up early and exercised this morning. I am not going to let this set back and potential gain cause me any type of issue. I AM going to be successful at this.
Last night, I watched a couple of episodes of Dance Your Ass Off on lifetime. As I watched all of these overweight people dancing, I realized that I am one of them. I have always watched shows like The Biggest Loser and what not and thought "At least I am not that heavy." But I am. I weighed the same as one of the girls on the show. I would have qualified for the show. I do not want to be in denial any longer about the weight that I have gained. It may have only been a few pounds here or there, but those few pounds have added up to a whole lot.
Recently, I had a conversation with a client who is working on changing old behaviors. He said to me, "if only I had the discipline that it takes, I would not be in the place that I am now. For example, I would like to lose weight and I know that if I discipline myself to eat right and exercise, I can lose that weight."
Dictionary.com defines discipline as: "activity, exercise, or a regimen that develops or improves a skill; training." I want this blog and this journey to be a regimen that helps me to develop the skill of eating healthy and exercising. I want to properly complete this training so that my son and my daughter learn at an early age that being active and eating right are just a natural part of life. I want it to be second nature for myself as well as them.
My Mom and I were discussing on Sunday her Weight Watchers group and how some of the participants have said they will attend this group and count points for the rest of their lives. I honestly felt so discouraged thinking about it. I kept thinking that I do not want to struggle and have to be so particular for the rest of my life. I want to get at my healthy weight and then be done with it. I felt intimidated by this whole process of disciplining myself. Right now, it is very hard work. It is not second nature. I want to reach for the chips and a can of soda, but I do not exercise self- control in those areas so they have to be a not at all for me. (Yes, that means I am giving up chips as well. ARGH!)
Anywho, no matter what the scales say tomorrow, I am not going to give up. This is a lifelong journey. There will be seasons in the journey that will be very easy and then there will be other times that are very hard. Right now, I am in a very hard season. But at least I am in and not just a bystander any longer.

Tuesday, but feels like Monday...Bleh!

So, I (LJ) did much better over the weekend compared to last weekend. I realize that one of the keys to not completely falling off the bandwagon is planning ahead. The time that I did not do so well was on Saturday. I do freelance work and I had a job in the morning and in the evening. It was kind of a hectic day, so I grabbed wings for my husband and I and pizza for the kids. Not the best thing, but I figured that I had been doing well for a while so a little bad wouldn't be the end for me.

Since I decided to take the stairs last week, I've been doing it everyday. I think I only took the elevator 3 times in the past 8 days! Let me tell you, I WANT to take that elevator every time, but I'm not going to. Having a 4 and 5 year old ask to take the stairs every time has really helped, too.

Also, starting today I will be parking a half mile away from my daughter's school and walking to pick her up. I wasted about a half tank of gas last week just waiting in line to pick her up in the car. I figure that this will be a good way to get more exercise in and save on gas. So, tomorrow is the big day! We'll talk more then.

Weigh in Wednesday: OJ's Turn

First and foremost, I want to give a HUGE congratulations to my girl LJ!!! I am so proud of those 3 lbs. We are on our way!!
Last night, weigh in Wednesday was on my mind. I drank a TON of water and considered skipping dinner in hopes that would give me better numbers. I decided to not skip dinner and to really consider this a journey and not a race.
This morning I woke up with total dread. I did not have a good feel for how I did over this last week. I thought there were certain days that I did really well and other days that I did half assed. Yesterday, I split a sandwich with a co-worker rather than having a whole one at two for tuesday and I did not have soda (WAHOO)! But I had bacon and cheese on my burger last night. That has been my week, good here and so-so there.
When LJ texted me of her 3 lb lost, I was SO excited and so proud of her. I know that like myself, her weight loss has been a struggle and a battle and I was so happy to see victory. Then my palms started to get sweaty. What if I lost nothing? Worse what if I gained??!!! I had to sit at a very long meeting at work with the anticipation of going to weigh in when it was over. I do not have a scale at home, so I do my weigh in and my measurements at Curves. I have been a member there since November, but have utilizing their gym sporadically at best.
At Curves, I changed into workout clothes and jumped on the scale. 2 pounds!!! I lost 2 pounds!! WAHOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!! I felt so invigorated that I worked out harder than I have in awhile.
I am absolutely thrilled with 2 pounds. I want to be the tortoise and not the hare. Slow and steady will be win this race. Weight Watchers calculations say that someone my height should weigh between 120 and 150. I would like to weigh around 140 so I figure at an average of 2lbs a week I should reach my goal in about 30 weeks (now 29!!). I know that there will be weeks that I do better than 2 lbs and I am sure that there will be weeks that I will do worse, but I am going to keep striving at it and I WILL make it!! By this time next year, I will be celebrating being at a healthy weight and working on maintaining a healthy weight. This is going to be an amazing year!

LJ Weighs In

So, my lovely baby woke me up this morning at 5:45am. My first thought was one of wishing to go back to sleep. My next thought was of excitement and dread because I remembered that today is Wednesday...weigh in day! I wanted to see if I had lost any weight, but at the same time I was really afraid to look at the scale if in fact I didn't lose any weight. Well, I jumped on and waited for the number to appear. There it was....203! It wasn't much, but it was SOMETHING. Three pounds isn't quite the numbers they would see in the first week of The Biggest Loser, but I'm not in that boot camp style environment either. I'm happy. Very happy with three pounds!

Now, for this next week I am breaking out the 5lb. weights and keeping them in the kitchen. Since I spend a lot of time in the kitchen with cleaning dishes, making meals and cleaning more dishes, I'm going to set the two weights on the counter so I can use them while I'm doing other things. I had done this before and had seen some results so I'm going to start it again. Also, for the past 3 days I've been taking the 4 flights of stairs every time (as long as I don't have my hands filled with groceries AND the baby). I'm going to continue this. My kids are loving that we get to take the stairs and I'm going to keep it that way!

I am so anxious to see your progress, OJ. How are you doing with the lack of soda? Is it so hard? Are you craving it? Can't wait to hear from you!

Starting Over- Lessons Learned

Yesterday, my husband decided to invite over his best friend and his girlfriend for dinner. So, instead of sticking to my guns and walking after work as I planned, I stayed home and started to make dinner while the three of them went to the gun range to shoot. I kept telling myself, "They will leave and I will work out." When they did finally leave, I was exhausted and I skipped my workout. Instead of being on 5 consecutive days of moving, I am starting over at 1. So, this morning, the first thing I did was work out so that there were no excuses or interruptions. I certainly learned my lesson.
The other part of the lesson that I am learning slowly and surely is to take time for me. Being a working Mom, I come straight from work to spending time with two energetic toddlers to cleaning the house and then I fall straight into bed. My Mama reminded me this morning that I should want to be on this journey because my health is important and the way I feel and care about myself is important. Basically, I have not taken time for me and have not shown that I value myself. Along with the weight loss journey, I am going to begin to incorporate other aspects of ME into the equation.

Keep It Movin' Sister

First the soda update: I survived the weekend without having a drip of soda!!! Because I am not drinking soda, I pounded the water and I feel a hundred times better (and I have been real regular this weekend). And not only that, my husband bought me some "bitch brews" (a.k.a. girly beers a.ka. Mikes Hard Lemonade) as a treat and I only had one the whole weekend. I am keeping the high calorie lemonade in the garage so that I have to walk all the way downstairs and out to the garage if I want one. Not only do I burn 37 calories making the trip, but also out of sight out of mind. Yesterday, my husband and I sat down to lunch and I thought a b.b. would taste delicious right now, but honestly did not want to put on shoes and go out in the rain and get one. Instead, after the kids and the hubby were in bed, I went and got one and enjoyed it with a little quality me time.
Now for the exercise bit. I did walk every day since deciding to make daily exercise a habit. The walks have been great on a lot of levels. I am following through with my exercise goal, I swear my jeans feel bigger (even though really I know they are not the power of that feeling is keeping me totally motivated) and the fresh air is helping my kids sleep like little logs.
For each walk, my daughter pushed her baby in the stroller alongside me pushing my son along, so we traveled at a two year old's pace. Yesterday, we began our walk after a summer rain. Happily running baby through puddles, my daughter realized that she had to go to the bathroom. I hustled her across the road to a business lot so that she would not tinkle in someone's lawn. However, she only made it to the curb where all the rain water was merrily trickling down a drain. She laughingly yelled "Too late!" as her tinkle joined the water's dance to the merry depths below the street. After tinkling, she looked at me so perplexed and asked how she was going to get home. I told her she was going to have to walk and to just keep it movin' sister.
As we continued our walk, she soon forgot her panties were wet and had a grand time showing baby this or that. As I continued to walk, I thought about the blog and some of the poor choices that I had made in eating this weekend. Even though I say want to lose this weight with everything in me, if I were to be honest I would say that I want to lose this weight if it is going to be easy. I do not want to work hard for it. I don't want to make healthy choices and I don't want to give up drinking soda. And when I am so tired at the end of the work day, I DON'T want to push myself in exercise. While the simple get up and get out has been good, I know that I need to workout a little bit harder at least 3 days a week so that I am burning more calories.
So, my motto has become: Keep It Movin' Sister. Even when you don't want to, even when you are tired, even when your panties are wet, KEEP IT MOVIN. Keep it movin' on this journey. I am not sure who the quote is by, but it says: "Success is not a destination, it is a journey." My bestie and I have embarked on this journey of success in weight loss. We will be there to cheer each other on when it is hard, motivate each other when we want to give up and most importantly celebrate each success no matter how small with our end goal in sight.

Oh, Monday, how I don't like you... (LJ)

So, I didn't do very well over the weekend. I did learn that weekends are going to be a challenge for me. They are relaxing and so I don't plan ahead. This can be good, but it can also be BAD! I realized this weekend that my kids expect to get something to eat almost every time we leave the house. This is just sad! I explained to them that our habits are changing and that we aren't going to do this anymore. In the past, we tend to go out to eat frequently on the weekends. So, now I know what the challenge is and I'm going to tackle it. I wasn't completely horrible, I just could have done better.

One good thing is that I took the stairs all weekend. We live on the fourth floor, too. I told you that I am writing a food journal, right? Well, I didn't write it, but I logged it. Go to myfitnesspal.com and sign up for an account. You can set up your goal weight and how quickly you want to achieve that goal. Next, go into your account daily, or if you're like me, about 3 times a day and log your food and exercise. It's so easy! They keep track of everything for you and you can see your progress on there. When you put each food into the tracker it logs the nutritional value and then deducts it from your daily intake goal and leaves you with the amount of calories and such that you have left for the rest of the day. I love it. Try it out and see if you like it.

So, I was a little naughty, but I didn't blow the whole thing and today is a new day, right? OJ, how did you do this weekend?

I, LJ, have learned something about myself

I learned yesterday that I eat when I am bored. I told my husband this and he responds, "There's plenty to do around here". Nice, right? Funny thing is, I was cleaning the house from top to bottom yesterday and was bored out of my mind! I took out all the window screens, took them out to the car wash area at our condo and washed all of them, did at least 5 loads of laundry, 3 loads of dishes, vacuumed, mopped the back porch and washed the outside windows. All the while, I kept thinking, "All I ever do with my life is clean!" Now, I know that's not entirely true. That is definitely a dramatization, but that's what I feel at times.

On the flip side, I'm thinking about how my oldest child will be starting kindergarten on Monday, how my middle child will start preschool in a couple of weeks and how I cannot believe how quickly the past almost 6 years has flown by! My babies are not babies anymore. I'm going to miss them terribly!!!!

While I plan on missing them for the few hours they are at school, I am also looking forward to strapping the baby into the stroller and getting my butt down to the workout room by the pool. I'm mentally gearing up for it like you OJ. By they way, girl, I'm really proud of you!! I know how much you love your soda. I'm cheering you on, girl. You can do it!

Anyway, all this to say that maybe I'm not so much bored, but I realized that I think about food a lot! I feel like I use it the same way I used to use cigarettes. When I was bored or wanted something to do with my hands, I would smoke. Well, I think I do the same thing with food. When I wasn't doing anything yesterday in between all the chores, I was thinking about food and what I would eat next. This is why I need to STOP with the over eating! I am starting a food journal today and will post it shortly. Stay tuned.

Day 3 (OJ)- Keeping IT Real

Now that I have the accountability of my bestie and you the readers and the prayers of my Mama, I have decided that I need to keep it real.
Yesterday, I took a long hard look at my patterns of dieting- what has been successful and what has not. First and foremost, I have experienced success when I have exercised faithfully. I hate the thought of exercise and I can come up with every excuse under the sun why I can't incorporate exercise into my life. However, from past experience, I know that I in fact enjoy exercise once I am in the rhythm. They say that it takes 21 days to make something a habit. So, the proposal is this, for 21 days I am going to incorporate some form of exercise into my life. If I can find 20 minutes everyday to play mafia wars on facebook, then I certainly can find the time to exercise. So, dear readers and Miss LJ, please hold me accountable to getting over hating the THOUGHT of exercise and finding my rhythm.
The second area where I need accountability is much harder for me. Even as I am sitting here typing, I do not want to do it. I do not want to write. The little devil on my shoulder is saying "Don't type it, they will never know." But my desire to keep it real in order to see real change is forcing my fingers to type. I do not think that my fingers have ever typed so furiously. It is like the skinny girl in me is panicking because she is afraid those screams for help are once again going to be ignored. So folks, here it is. I commit to not drinking any soda at all until I have dropped 30 pounds. I mean I am not going to ANY soda until I lose 30 pounds. I am not going to say it is date night and I have to drink soda to wash down the popcorn at the movies. I am not going to grab a soda when I do not have time to stop for a coffee. I am not going to drink any soda at all PERIOD until I have lost 30 pounds.
Thank you for all of your support!!

A Similar Experience

A similar experience happened to me LJ. A co-worker's son came into the office and he would not say hello to me. When pushed to do so by his dad, he said, "No I don't like fat people." And I wanted to be like, I don't like myself either. Because really that is how I feel. I am not sure that I even really like myself anymore.

Day One for LJ - The Details

This is "The Bestie" here! OJ and I are ready to start gettin' down to business and thought that putting it "on paper" would be a great way to do it. This way we can not only track our progress, but can share our story with others who are in the same boat or just want something to read. Ha!

Let me introduce myself as well. I am a wife and mom of three kids and I am able to stay at home with them. I am tired of wanting to have my picture taken in order to have memories for my kids, but at the same time not wanting the picture to show anything below my head. This is just SAD! This past year, I was at my daughter's preschool and one of the little girls came up to me and gave me a hug. I was thinking, "Oh, what a little sweetie" and then she said something that stuck with me HARD!!! She pulled away from the hug, looks up into my eyes and said, "You're fat". What??? Now, I know that this is just a little preschool girl, but come one! I did not intend to be this person! Ever!!!

I have had an autoimmune disease for 14 years, and high cholesterol for at least 5 years, (that I know of). I'm done being overweight, out of shape, unhealthy, a poor role model and an all around fat ass. This is not who I want to be, who I want my kids to remember me as, and especially who my husband goes to bed with every night. I want to be that spunky, energetic, full of life person he fell in love with again and today is the day that I work my ass off (literally) to get that!

I am going to go through the embarrassment of listing the truth details. My measurements are real, my weight is real and it is all about to change...FOR GOOD!

Height: 5'3"

Weight: 206

Waist: 44 1/2

Bust: 47

Hips: 48

Thighs: 25

Arms: 12 1/2

Body Fat Percentage: I have no idea, but I'm sure its not lookin' good.

I am so mortified right now. So embarrassed! I have NEVER given my measurements to anyone before. It's got to change though. Now!

Day One for O.J.- THE WEIGH IN

So, my bestie and I have decided it is time to take some action and shed the weight we have gained over the last few years. Apparently, somewhere out there someone is losing a ton of weight and WE are finding it.
First let me introduce myself. I am a working Mom with two of the most beautiful children in the world. Pregnancy for me was sweet freedom to eat as I pleased. After the birth of my daughter, I lost the vast majority of weight that I gained during those 9 months of grazing. I got within in nine pounds of my pre-pregnancy weight and was feeling pretty good about life. Then I went back to work. Back in the office, I put back on about eleven pounds. I decided to join weight watchers and within a few weeks was back to losing the weight again only to find out that my sweet little number two was on the way.
After having my handsome son a mere seventeen months after giving birth to my sweet little girl, I was pleasantly surprised to see that again the weight came off fairly quickly. Ten weeks after my son was born, I weighed less than my pre-pregnancy weight with him. I still had weight to lose, but I was well on my way.
HOWEVER, after having been back to work for ten months, I now weigh as much as I did when I was full term with my daughter. I remember coming up with a plan in the delivery room with my mother. I wanted her to distract my husband when it was time for me to admit my weight. I was mortified that he would know how much weight I had put on during that first pregnancy. We had not been married long and I did not want the naturally skinny bastard, I mean the love of my life, to know just how much weight I had put on. And here I am today, NOT nine months pregnant, NOT full of baby and ice cream and cheese cake and all the other yummy treats that I indulged in daily (Ok, maybe full of the treats, but definitely not full of baby), four pounds shy of that number that I was so mortified about. Quite frankly, I could cry. Or eat. I am an emotional eater. But I won't, because today is a new day.
Yes friends, today IS a new day and I have decided to say See Ya to all that extra fat in my life and am turning over a new leaf. I am tired of being self-conscious about my weight. I am tired feeling less than. I am tired of not fitting into my clothes and being too poor to buy very many new ones. I am tired of telling myself "It's just a few pounds."
So, here is the nitty gritty details on day one of this weight loss journey.

Height: 5'5"
Weight: 201 (Horrifying, but what I expected.)
Waste: 41" (At this point, I went into shock and blacked out. I have NO idea what the woman measuring was saying to me. All that was running through my head is "my waist is the size of a heavy man's. My waist is the size of a heavy man's." I have no recollection of what she said from this point. I know she asked me what was I going to do about it and I wanted to blurt out "After I drown my sorrows with my favorite friends Ben and Jerry and a sweet little treat known as Coffee Heath Bar Crunch, I will start starving myself tomorrow." I didn't however. Instead, in a voice that I did not recognize as my own, I vowed to start eating right and exercising on a regular basis.)
Bust: No, idea I was blacked out at this point
Hips: Still no idea
Legs: Started to take a peak at the number, but changed my mind
Arms: I hate my fat arms and could not be bothered
Body Fat Percentage: I do not recall the number, but do remember the woman saying that I was most definitely in the "very poor" category.
All in all, I have a lot of work ahead of me.