Victory! (Well a small one)

So, here I find myself 12 months from when I started my journey and 6 months from when I really got serious about it and I have a small victory.  Now, even a small victory is a victory and I am SO excited to be able to share this:

My first picture from June of 2011

And this is from November of 2011!

And this is from January 2012!  Now, those are NOT the black pants I have on in the previous pictures but it is a pair I was wearing to work back in June and November!  They are a size 26 and that is right I fit into ONE leg!

And here is a pair of shorts I was wearing this past summer (June, July, August 2011)!  OMG!

I currently weigh 224 which means I have lost 36 pounds!

Unmotivated

Ever feel like you just don't want to do anything?  That is kind of the way I have felt the last couple of months.  I guess it is because of the holidays but I have been very unmotivated.  However, I have managed to maintain my weight at around 230, sometimes as high as 234 but I think that was water weight.  Now that the new year has rolled around I am optimistic for 2012 but still find it hard to get motivated.  Today is Wednesday and I have only been to work out once this week, on Monday, and it will be difficult for me to get in the other 2 I am suppose to have this week.
I started the Curves Complete "diet" to try and shake things up a bit but this first week is proving kinda difficult though I think it has more to do with $ than anything else.  I'm hoping that next week will get better and I will get over this plateau I have been sitting on for the past couple of months.
New Year (again), same life, same (but better) ME! :)

Track: I'm back on it!

Ok, so it has been a WHILE since I posted.  I will admit I fell off the wagon a bit from Nov. to Jan. but I am back on it now!  And, I didn't gain THAT much over the Holidays which makes me very happy.  I think that over the break I only gained one pound total :).  Normally I would have gained like 10 pounds and lost all hope and gouged on all food I could find and be right back up to 260 in no time!  BUT, I am still hanging though at around 230, maybe less (PMS), and only 34 pounds for my first goal of 194.  This post makes it official, I am back on track and I WILL finish the ABC's of weight loss and I WILL reach my goal.  Hopefully will reach 194 THIS YEAR.  Wouldn't it be awesome?  You know it would.
As part of my "back on track" plan I am starting the Curves Complete "diet" on Monday.  I say "diet" because it is really more like a meal plan, I will be cooking my own food and be able to get food at the grocery store.  I think it will be good if only for discovering new foods and new ways too cook it.  The plan gives you EVERYTHING you need, meal plan, recipes, and even a shopping list!  Supposedly you can lose 20 pounds in 90 days.  I will settle for 12 but we will see.....  I will defiantly keep everyone posted!

Speed Bump

Sometimes, on our journeys we hit speed bumps.  I hit one Friday night.  My son, the 16 year old, kinda disappeared for about an hour.  It was getting dark, he didn't answer his phone, and he didn't call.  He claims he didn't notice it was getting dark.  This is something I can't really believe, how do you NOT notice it is getting DARK outside?  Long story short I don't trust him to watch his brother anymore.  Now, this wouldn't be a huge issue except for the fact that he watched his brother when I went to work out in the afternoon.  This will SEVERELY limit the number of times I can work out a week.  The impact is so great I will only be able to work out once a week, if that :(.  I know from past experience if I don't work out I will fail.  I was really depressed on Friday night. 
Since then I think I may have found a solution. It will cost me some extra money but it will be worth it in the end. I am going to pay the woman who watches Oliver through the week some extra to keep him later 2 nights a week so I can work out :)  Friends are the best!  So, this has been my first speed bump (and here I thought it would be me gaining a pound!)

Rewards

There was a time in my life that I used food as a reward.  Heck, I am from the South, we use food for EVERYTHING!!  Someone had a baby?  Bring a casserole!  Dinner at Church?  Covered dish!  Funeral?  Take some food!!  In order to truly change my life and be healthier I have to change this way of thinking.  I did decide to reward myself for my weight loss but what good would it do me to lose weight and then "reward" myself by eating junk food?  Is that really a reward or sabotage?  So, I decided that for every 15 pounds I lost I would reward myself with new clothes!  I picked 15 pounds because 15 pounds is roughly a dress size.  So far I'm down to a size 18 jeans and I've rewarded myself once, down 26 pounds so far so only 4 more to go and then more new clothes!  I can't wait till I'm the size where I can get one of these and not just under my Civil War gowns :)  
Rewards are very important in this journey but those rewards CANNOT be food.  I have to change the way I view food.  It can be a treat but not a reward.  I can eat things like cake, ice cream, and cinnamon rolls but they are treats (like today on my birthday when I had 3 cinnamon rolls and a caramel roll!) but they are not rewards for anything.


My better health, better life, better looking body are my rewards :)

Quitting

Recently I read a post in a blog I'm following called A Weight-y Life and the lady was talking about not wanting to reach her goal.  It got me thinking about what would happen when I reach my goal.  I know it is still a ways off (though I am down 26 pounds!) but it still got me thinking.  Will I ever quit trying to lose weight?  I sure hope so!  At some point I know this journey will end, either at 194 or at 130 (ish) and then the REAL work will begin.  Then the maintenance will start.  I started thinking about maintenance and how important that is.  Without maintenance all this work will be worthless because then I will just balloon back up to what I use to be, or worse.  I did some looking around and I found this blog that has some good maintenance tips.  I found, over all, that most of the maintenance tips are pretty much the same as the weight loss tips.  My guess is that once you have reached your goal, if it is like mine and far off, you have trained yourself how to eat and how to live so you just continue to do that.  I also use the myfitnesspal website and you can set your goals on that site so it will be interesting to see how my calorie limit changes once I change my goal to no weight loss (but also no gain).  I KNOW that counting calories and exercise are the key to MY weight loss and I have no doubt they will also be the key to my eventual maintenance.  Whatever happens when I do reach my goal, and I WILL reach my goal, I know that I will NEVER see 260 lb. again and hopefully I will never see 200 lb again either (after I pass it on my way down that is)  :)

Progress not Perfection

There is a saying that goes "We claim progress not perfection" and that is so true for me!  I have defiantly made some progress in the last few months.  Since June I have lost roughly 24 pounds!  This is an awesome success for me.  Now, the trick is to keep it up!  I really have to watch myself and keep my larger goal in mind.  My ultimate goal, right now, is to get to 194 which means about another 50 pounds.  This is a very delicate time in my weight loss because I have made great strides and I can't let that go to my head and get complacent thinking, "Oh look how great I have done I can totally quit now and eat like a mad woman!!"  And, I can't let the fact that I still have 50 pounds to go get me discouraged thinking "Look how far I still have to go it is impossible!!"  This is a balancing act of progress.  I have made progress, I feel better, and I look better.  I NEVER want to go back to where I was before I started this journey!  I know I can make progress, it is possible to get to my goal I just have to keep making progress.  
I know I am not perfect, I know I will make mistakes on this journey, I may even gain some weight somewhere along the way! :(  But as long as I make PROGRESS I will succeed.  Even if that progress at time is 2 steps forward and 1 step back it is still progress.  So far that has not bee the case, all my steps have been forward (and downward) :) but I'm not stupid enough to think this will all go smoothly and that I will never have a back slide.  I have to prepare myself for that or that will be my downfall I know it.  Just have to keep making progress.  I don't have to be perfect at this, I just have to keep making progress.