My Weight Loss Journey

So I thought I'd create this page to give you a little more insight on why I feel the need to post "Healthy Tips" and other "light" information on my site.  I never thought weight loss was even in my realm of possibility 10 years ago.  I just always figured that there wasn't really any other way I was going to be, but I knew I was unhappy with the way I looked.  And I also knew that, even in my 20's, eating McDonald's at 11 o'clock at night wasn't the healthiest of lifestyles.  Here was me, probably around my heaviest weight (although I don't know for sure...I was too afraid to own a scale at the time)

So one day I decided I was going to start working out....NOT watching what I ate, but working out.  I figured SOMETHING was better than nothing.  Well, once I started sweating my way through those workouts, I realized I didn't want to negate all of my hard work with bagels and chocolate bars.  So I slowwwlly started to making changes in the way I ate.  And those changes all came under my now-"life mantra" of "LESS"...I just ate less of everything that was bad for me.  The only time MORE came into play, was regarding vegetables and exercise!  The day I bought a scale, was the day I can probably look back on as the day that changed my life.  I was no longer ignorant to what I was doing to my body...because now I had a scale to hold me accountable (which is sooooooo important).  And as soon as I saw the numbers start to drop, my motivation went through the roof.  I can't even describe the pure and utter joy of seeing the scale cross down to 199.  It's bringing me to tears as I type this, sooooo you can imagine.  My other proud moment was when I (and a friend who was also on the LESS journey with me) got measured for bridesmaid dresses in November...only to have to have them COMPLETELY restructured come May.  I have pictures of me "swimming" in the dress somewhere!  For now, here are some picture of my journey downward.  The first being 24 pounds down and the second being 42 pounds down...
                                                   

And strangely enough...the more weight I loss, the more my love for food REALLY grew.  Food was no longer about Quantity...now it was about QUALITY.  If I'm eating it, it better be good...and if it's not, it's not worth the waste of calories.  And I will say right now, if I can go from a vegetable snob to a vegetable LOVER...anyone can!  I can honestly say I completely reprogrammed myself to eat, and I did it slowly that I barely even noticed the changes till I was just naturally buying wheat pasta over white and apple slices over potato chips (ok, not always...but MOST times;)

Also along the way, I managed to snag a husband...not too shabby, right??  Here we are wayyyyyyyyyyyyy before we were "together":

By the time we got together in 2005, I had lost 53 pounds and felt amazing and fairly invisible (rule 1: Never feel invisible!!...just ask Oprah, I'm sure she would agree with me on this one!)...

Butttttt, on came the lovely "boyfriend" weight and come Christmas of  2006, after moving in together and apparently thinking that chips and ice cream had a magical calorie count of zero in our new house...I managed to put on about 30 pounds.  It was completely devastating and frustrating... 

But since New Years day 2007, we've BOTH started on a mission and we haven't looked back since!  Getting Scott involved has also been a blessing.  It was almost like watching my whole process all over again, and I couldn't be prouder of him!!!  I think once he realized certain (but definitly not ALL) lower fat products were good, he made an easy transition...here are some of his before pictures....          

And here are some recent pictures of us.  To date, I've lost 64 pounds and Scott has lost 70.....and we're both commited to bringing those "loss" numbers even higher!

Now we try to balance our eating as best as we can.  We both pretty much live by the 80/20 rule.  80% of the time we try to eat healthy, while the 20% are splurges.  We both do our fair share of "light ice cream" days vs. full out ice cream days;)  And really, is there any other way to eat healthy and still feel normal?  It works for us, and maybe hopefully we can inspire others too.  (As I've been inspired by MANY people!)  Is everyday easy?  Of COURSE NOT, but the trick is to keep going!  It's all a journey, there really is no destination because even once you've reached a destination, that doesn't mean going back to the drive-up window as a celebration.  (Trust me...learn from my mistakes!!;)  Just keep your head up and keep on goin!!

And here's us on our wedding day in October of 2008...the scale certainly didn't matter that day;)

As we continue our journey...

UPDATE: 1/17/13 -So FINALLY, my Pregnancy update...just as the baby is about to turn ONE! hehhehehhehee....  Sooooo, despite my efforts to eat as healthy as possible AND workout until I was 38 weeks along (kept up Power Yoga until 36 weeks!), I STILL managed to pack on about 48 pounds.  Eeeeeee.  

37 Weeks...

39 Weeks...

THANKFULLY, about 23 of those pounds were gone by the time I had come home with the baby, and I assumed as soon as I got back into my old 'eating habits' & working out that the rest would just FALL OFF.

Didn't happen.

I would say it took at least 5 months for my body to feel completely healed and 6 months for my metabolism to even begin to function again.  With some hard work, I'm FINALLY down another 11 pounds with 12 more to go.  And TEN of those damn last 12 came from the first trimester when I was SOOOO NAUSEOUS that ALL I could eat was bread, bread & more breadJ.  

Blame this one ~>

But let's just say, it wasn't as QUICK as I thought it would be.  As of right now, I'm trying to eat LESS carbs then I used to (trying to just stick to one meal a day + fruit for snacks) and getting AT LEAST 20-30 minutes of exercise in 5 days a week.  And as always, trying to focus on eating healthy 80% of the time and 20% splurges.  So far it's been working...slowly but surely.  I have a long term goal, but we'll cross one bridge at a time! hahahahahahahhaa  I was happy that I at least weighed less on New Years of the year I had a baby then from when Scott & I moved in together. Hahahahahahahaha....ya take whatever wins you can get, right????

September 19, 2013:  Baby Weight FINALLY GONE!  Hallelujah!  J

AS THE JOURNEY CONTINUES....