Photos after 5 months...

This week, we made it through Grad Nite construction, Graduation, Grad Nite itself, and tear down.  For the first time in 7 years, Jeff and I have a Memorial Day that has NOTHING to do with Grad Nite, so we decided to take advantage of it...

... and we went on a 32 mile bike ride...

... with TWO Category 4 climbs (my first 4's EVER!)...

... I walked about 1/4 mile at the top of the first climb...

... and I MADE IT WITHOUT STOPPING on the second climb!

And better yet... without working out since Tuesday...



206.8 pounds

237 pounds...



 





 

I STILL LOST 3 POUNDS!

30.2 pounds in 5 months...

42.2 pounds since my biggest 9 months ago...

Getting closer to ONE-derland...

Now that Grad Nite is over, I am BACK and ready to blog and write and have fun with this 30 pound less body!  Let's see what kinda "trouble" we can get into, shall we... ;-) 

AMAZING... Photos...



213.4 pounds



209.8 pounds



I have hit a HUGE MILESTONE...

I am in the 200 single digits!  That is actually hard for me to comprehend! 

I started a journey that was

SO BIG...

... it was terrifying...

... but I knew I had to handle it,

one day at a time...

... one goal at a time...

... I am now 9.8 pounds away from "ONE-derland..."

... a place I haven't seen since I became pregant with Anna...

... almost 8 years ago.

And Jeff is noticing the changes in me... physically and my self confidence.  I am the chair of Grad Nite for our high school and Jeff is the head of construction (which is why I've been a bit absent in the past few weeks... all of my extra time is for working out, so bloging/writing has taken a back seat for a few weeks!)  Yesterday was the first full day of construction and after the volunteers headed home, Jeff turned on his music and danced with me...

... in the high school gym...

... in the middle of all the Grad Nite construction mess...

... and I couldn't have been happier to be there with him at that moment...

I AM CHANGING... after almost 5 months, here are my measurements...

At the start... at 9 weeks... and today...

Bust:  48.5"... 46"... 45"

Chest:  40.75"...39.75"...38.75"

Waist:  45.25"... 42.5"... 40.5"

Hips:  48"...45"...45"

Thighs:  Left - 23.75"...25"...23"     Right - 24.75"...26"...23"

Calves:  Left - 16.5"...16"...15.75"     Right - 17"...16.5"...16.25"

Upper Arm:  Left - 13.25...12.5"...12.5"     Right - 14"...13"...13"

I'VE LOST 19"...
27.2 pounds since I started this blog...
and 40 pounds from my heaviest!

If you haven't started on this journey yet... and need to... WHAT are you waiting for!?  Tomorrow could be the first day of the rest of your fit, confident and sexy self... you CAN do it!

"Do You Really Know a Woman"... Music Day...

Let's be blunt...

Marriage is work...

Every single day,

We make a choice to love, honor and laugh with our spouse...

Somedays are easy...

Somedays... not so much...

BUT, we always make the choice...

I have been talking about "Being our Husbands' Girlfriends" for quite some time...

And, SOMETIMES, it is time to remind our guys that WE are THEIR gals!

Check out, Bryan Adams, "Have You Really Ever Loved a Woman..."

Sometimes... it IS all about us...

The "O" word NO LONGER APPLIES... PHOTOS!

WOOOO HOOOO!  When I FINALLY weighed in with the new scale (which I calibrated to match the old scale), I was at 213.4... I AM NO LONGER OBESE... just overweight!  HAPPY DAY! HA, HA, HA... SERIOUSLY... who would have ever thought that I would (first of all) be sharing my weight on the internet and (secondly) that I would be celebrating my obesity (or lack thereof...)  This journey just makes me smile... and pretty much because I am feeling sooooooo GOOD!

213.4 pounds

215 pounds
























I've lost 23.6 pounds since I started this journey and 36.6 pounds since last summer!  And talk about getting my "sexy back"... Jeff was even checking out my "rear view" on our 22 mile bike ride yesterday... (tee, hee, hee...) Make it a GREAT day!

For the love of my scale... My own CHALLENGE...

I'm in the middle of a one week challenge and it is DRIVING ME BONKERS!  Last weekend, we were at my parents' house for the weekend, so I took my scale for weigh in... and accidentally left it there.  Soooooo, I decided this was the perfect opportunity for a challenge.  No scale... NO WEIGHT CHECKS for the week!  HOLY COW!  I feel like I jumped out of an airplane and forgot my parachute!

How am I doing?

Have I put weight on?

Have I lost anything?

HOW can I keep track of my progress for the week without my PRECIOUS SCALE!?

Yes, I know the professionals tell you that you shouldn't weigh yourself everyday... or even every week, for that matter... but I have been waking up and going straight to the scale everyday for 4 months now.  I know I fluctuate throughout the week, and that is fine, but if I can watch it, and if I go up a pound or two, I know I have to be EXTRA careful with my intake and workouts to keep it under control.  HOW IS MY WEIGHT THIS WEEK... AUGH!

I have A CONFESSION... I'm so nervous about this "no scale" thing that I actually weighed myself IN MY BATHING SUIT (just before my swim)... in the middle of the YMCA workout room this morning!  Can you IMAGINE!  Desperate times call for desperate measures, but COME ON!  Now, I'm not going to share the number that I saw today... and I'm not going to get stuck on it, because all scales are different and I don't know how different the Y scale is from my scale... a few pounds one way or the other I'm sure... although I SURE LIKED that little number... (tee, hee, hee!)

My point for this challenge and this emotional tirade is that I (we, because I KNOW there are many of you reading this right now saying... "THAT IS SO ME!") need to start trusting myself/ourselves and my/our choices.  We have embarked on a long term, lifestyle change... not just a diet... and in order to make these changes permanent, we need to be able to trust our eating and our workout balance and know that we are still OK.

So... I will finish this week and see what happens.  I am going out to purchase a new scale this weekend that I will start using next week (I said I have to LEARN to trust myself... I'm still a "Work in Progress"... I'm not there yet...)  I do have a scientific way to figure out the difference between the old scale and new scale so I don't have a "miraculous" 5 pound weight loss because the two scales are calibrated differently.  I know enough that the number itself isn't as important as the consistency of getting that number from the same scale each week... it is the WEIGHT LOST that counts at the end of the day... not the exact number.

And even more important... the way the weight you have lost makes you feel! 

As for me... I'm... Feeling... AMAZING!  Have a GREAT day, everyone!

More Than Words... EXTREME Music Day!

I'm in a mood.

Jeff is wearing his new jeans...

... and he looks GOOD!

... And I noticed him...

... And he smiled when he realized that I noticed him...

It is time for one of those love songs that you sing over...

... and over...

... and over again...

... and NEVER get tired of!

If you haven't heard this one, crank it up and enjoy!

Extreme... "More Than Words"

Photos...

Happy (belated) Mother's Day to all you out there!  We spent the weekend at Mom and Dad's house doing all sorts of fun family stuff, so my weekly photo was taken there, too.  Before I share my weekly photos, I wanted to share another side by side comparison...


Jessica and me at
Mom and Dad's house yesterday...



Jessica and Me at Mom and Dad's house...
for Thanksgiving... 6 months ago...

 

WOW... look at that comparison!  WOOO HOOOO! 

I only lost .4 pounds this week... but it was a LOSS!  And I am learning to embrace the new BLUE shirt... because you can see that I have a waist for the first time in YEARS, and I am learning to LOVE those BULDGES... because they WON'T BE THERE FOR LONG! :-)

See you next for more Examiner.com articles and MUSIC DAY!

215.4 pounds

 

215.0 pounds



Royal Wedding inspired Music Day...

The Royal Wedding... what an INCREDIBLY beautiful and moving event!  Of course, watching Catherine and William's nuptials made me reminisce about our wedding day... and of course, our special song.  Check out the Examiner.com article I wrote called, "Bring back the passion, Royal Wedding Style."


Photo Credit: iStockphoto

While planning our wedding, I asked Jeff if he had thought about the song for our first dance and without hesitation he said, "Yes!  'When A Man Loves A Woman.'"  And, seriously, that was it. 

Now, you might think that song is special to us ONLY because it was our first dance song... or it could be because every time Jeff hears that song he tears up a little... but we have another memory of that song that is just as great as that special first dance!

One year to the day of our wedding, we got the keys to our house.  The luck and timing of moving into our home COULDN'T have been better, however we were so busy with escrow and packing and the excitement of purchasing our first home that there wasn't a lot of talk about our first wedding anniversary... or so Jeff thought!  (tee, hee, hee!)

Moving day... to the truck rental yard at 6AM... to find out the truck wasn't there, so we got 2 smaller trucks... to the apartment and start loading (from a 2nd story unit)... fill up 2 trucks and drive them 50 miles to the house... unload the 2 trucks... get beds set up for the kids and for us... get the kids in bed... and collapse on the living room floor.  Boxes stacked EVERYWHERE... dirty from moving... and so much to do to get our new home livable. We were SOOO exhausted, but I had a surprise for Jeff.  I pulled out a bottle of Sparkling Apple Cider and two cups, the boom box, a candle, and a CD.  I turned off the lights and lit the single candle.  I turned on a special song (you can guess what song it was) and asked my husband to dance with me.  There we were, in OUR home, dancing in the candle lit living room with clutter and boxes and covered with grime... it was one of THE MOST ROMANTIC memories that we have and a PERFECT 1st wedding anniversary!

I have an assignment for you... find the song from your first dance and create a new memory for you and your husband.  It can be as low key or as extravagant as you want it to be... but help the song bring back the passion you felt when you danced to it for the first time as Man and Wife... and use that passion to create a new special memory!  And make it a GREAT night!

Time for a new look... PHOTOS!

I FINALLY broke through my plateau... well, maybe I should wait for 2 consecutive loss weeks before I say that, but I'm confident!  In fact, I feel that it is time for a change...  my weigh-in outfit.  When I picked out that pink top and grey shorts, I knew it was a very tight outfit that I was hoping would get looser and looser until I could actually wear it to the gym... and, well... I did that!  So, it is time to pull out another WAY TOO TIGHT shirt... and I CAN'T WAIT to watch myself melt in this outfit, too!

237 pounds

215.4 pounds

Although I was a bit nervous about starting with a new TIGHT shirt, I'm excited to see the weekly pound or two changes that we saw in the beginning.  The pink shirt has just been too loose the past few weeks and we haven't been able to see the changes.  For those of you following at home, I SURE HOPE that you are taking photos, too, because this is ONE of the BEST parts of this journey! 

It is what it is
at the start...



... HOLY COW... I AM kicking my
own butt!

























And, YES, DAD... you do get the credit for suggesting that I put on a new TIGHT shirt!  I think you just wanted to see that your daughter is turning into a cutie! ;-)  Love you, Dad!