X-tra special day!

Well, it is almost Valentines day and to celebrate my husband and I went out on a wonderful date last night to Olive Garden <3  It was X-tra special because I was able to fit into a particular red dress that I have not been able to wear in literally years.  I first got the dress back in 2004 when Bobby was about to deploy to Iraq and I wore it on a date when I went to see him in Hawaii.

This dress holds a very special meaning to me and I have kept it all these years hoping one day I would be able to wear it again.  For the longest time it stayed in my hope chest as I hoped one day I would be able to fit into it again.  After I got to my heaviest of 260lbs. that hope faded and faded.  I even had the dress hanging on my wall in my bedroom for motivation to no avail.  It would be about another year before I would get serious.  Then I started this journey and hope was rekindled.  I finally worked up the courage to try it on again in September of last year.

And then I tried it on again in January

Neither time did I feel confidant enough to wear the dress out in public. In fact, in September I felt kinda like a stuffed sausage!  Then, finally, last night! Eeeeee!!

Well on my way!

So, here I am a little over a year after I started this wonderful weight loss journey and while not to my goal yet I am well on my way!  I have lost close to, if not, 40 pounds :)  Eeeeee!  That is such a major accomplishment for me.  Now, the trick it so keep that momentum and NOT gain all that weight back but continue to lose and finally get healthy!  I think that I have truly made a lifestyle change here.  I don't feel deprived, I don't feel like I am on a diet, I simply feel like I am finally, truly, learning how to eat!  I find it amazing how much more I enjoy food now. There are just so many good things out there that I was not eating because I was too busy eating all the crap!  I had forgotten how much I like to cook and actually ENJOY my food.

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 :)