Questions?

Well I had gotten off track for about a week and a half. It started with finding out I was pregnant and I decided to try and lose 1lb a week instead of 2lbs a week which was a mistake. I stayed on track with calories but was lacking in exercise and I gained weight. Then my husband Jimmy got sick and was in the hospital and I didn't pay attention at all to what I was eating. When I weight myself yesterday I couldn't believe how much I had gained.

So yesterday I decided to get back on track. Then Jimmy's boss showed up at our house and laid Jimmy off. Jimmy had only been out of the hospital for 14hrs but I guess it couldn't wait. Our future is a huge question mark right now. I know that God will take care of us and provide for us but the not knowing what the future holds is hard. I want to stay home with my children and I came to the realization a couple months ago I was going to have to work part time at some point which is why I have plans to start school in April. But now I may have to work full time and it breaks my heart to think about being away from my babies that much.

Anyway I stayed on track yesterday and exercised as well. This morning I had lost half of what I had gained back so hopefully the rest will come back off just as easily. Today I've been upset a lot but I'm staying on track. I'm not going to let it get the better of me. God is on my side and he will see me through.

Change of Plans!

As most of you know by now I'm pregnant! So going to be changing things up a bit. My goals are going to have to change. First I'm going to try to lose 1lb a week in stead of 2lbs a week. Also I'm going to slow down on the running and will not be doing a 5k at the end of summer as I will be 7 months pregnant.

I've already been slacking on my exercise in the last week partly because I was sick with a bug for three days and partly because I've been using being pregnant as an excuse. But I realized I need to keep going. I don't want to gain the weight back and I'm plenty big enough that it will not hurt the baby if I lose weight.

No more excuses! I'm going to exercise today even though I feel bloated and my husband is sick on the couch. No more excuses!

weigh in and struggles

I've had a difficult week this week. I had many challenges and I can't say I was successful with them all. The last three days have been very busy. And I had many meals away from home. At times I made some good choices and other times I did not. I went over my calories on Sunday by quite a bit.

One on the reasons I went over Sunday was because I didn't do any exercise Saturday or Sunday. Yesterday I didn't make the best choices either but I did 45 minutes of exercise so I was able to stay within my calories.

When I get a little down is when I make the bad decisions. I'm going through some things physically and I could use some prayer over the next few days that things turn out OK. Also pray that I don't allow this to throw me off track anymore.

This week was not my best. I weighed in at  281lbs so I lost 2lbs this week. I'm happy with this loss because any loss is good and 2lbs is my goal every week. However I'm also disappointed in myself because I know I could have done better but today is a new day and I'm back on track.

lost since Sept. 2012    34lbs
lost since Feb. 5th     18lbs 
to go to first goal    8lbs
to go    101lbs

Weigh In Week 3

There isn't a bunch to said today other than I'm still battling a cold and it doesn't seem to have an end in site. Also although I had trouble a couple days early in the week with wanting to eat everything I got over it and had a great week. This morning I weighed in at 283lbs.

I've lost...
-5lbs this week
-16lbs in three weeks
-32lbs since September 1st, 2012
103lbs to go

Challenges Of Going Out To Eat

When going out to eat I always check the nutrition information on the Internet at home before I leave the house. I do this because I don't want to be shocked by the amount of calories in something when I get home and put it in my dairy. This also helps me plan ahead so I make sure I stay within my calories for the day. But sometimes it doesn't always work.

I knew we were going to Ruby Tuesday's for Lunch today so I went to there website so I could plan my meal in advance. They only provide nutrition information on a few lower calorie meals so if I wanted steak and potatoes I guess I would be out of luck. I picked a meal from there lower calorie menu and logged it in my food dairy before I left.

When I looked at the menu the shrimp scampi I had picked wasn't even on the menu. I asked the waiter and he said for as long as he has been there they have never had it. This was very frustrating to me. Luckily they had a few things on the menu that had the calories next to them. In my opinion there website should provide calories for all of there meals even if there 3000 calories because we have every right to know this information. I shouldn't have to ask a waiter for there nutrition information.

I ended up ordering the spaghetti squash marinara and it was amazing and only 260 calories.This was my first time eating spaghetti squash and I highly recommend you try it. I also order grilled asparagus and it was yummy also at 74 calories. I had half of each and the other half for dinner tonight. When I was there I also had three garlic biscuits that totalled 330 calories. I know that's a lot but they are so yummy and I just couldn't help it. No worries I will still be well within my calories for today.

ZUMBA!!!!



 

Just finished my first Zumba workout! I spent about 15 minutes just trying to learn a few moves as there are a bunch. I was already sweating worst than I do when I do my walking video so then I decide I better just try it. I no where near perfected it but I sweat my butt off. I'm still sweating 15 minutes later.

 

Our XBOX 360 got the red ring of death this morning and since we recently got out taxes back we decided to buy an XBOX 360 with KINECT. I wanted the Zumba fitness Rush game so I would have more options for my work outs. I think Zumba is my new favorite exercise! It is the hardest exercise I've tried by far but doesn't seem near as daunting. It is going to take me a while to get the moves down but it's a ton of fun.

 

Me after my workout holding my new game.

 

The game has a lot of different options. You can do a single song, a short class, medium class, or a long class and there are a lot of different songs to choose from. At the end of the song or class it tells you how many calories you burned. I love that there is no clock because when I'm on the treadmill I'm just going for a time. Dancing is so much more fun and time seemed to go by a lot faster because you have to concentrate so hard on what your doing. Even though Sunday is my day off I think I'm going to do Zumba anyway!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 





The Honeymoon Is Over

The honeymoon is over and no I'm not referring to my husband. The newness of trying to loss weight is gone and it is becoming more difficult to fight my cravings. I'm still doing fine, I haven't fallen off the wagon. I'm still keeping track of my calories and exercising.

Part of the problem is I weigh myself everyday and I need to stop because it gets me discouraged. Yesterday I was happy with the scale and today I am not. I will try my hardest to not weigh myself again until Tuesday morning.

Another problem is I'm wanting to eat things that are not healthy and there is no way they would satisfy my hunger if I stayed within my calories while eating them. I had a ice cream bar today and although it tasted yummy I should have had something more filling for the calories because I'm starving right now and I'm out of calories for the day.

I planned on exercising 45 minutes today because I taught I needed to up my game. So around 5pm I started my walking video and 8 minutes in we had an unexpected visitor (my husbands uncle whom I had never met). So that cut 7 minutes off right there. Although I felt rude, after visiting awhile, I went down stairs to exercise. I went ahead and exercised when he was here because I knew if I waited any longer I wouldn't get my workout in and I'm already starting to have issues with staying motivated. I planned on doing 20 minutes but by 8 minutes my legs hurt really bad so I pushed and made it to 12 minutes. Then I got on the bike and did 5 minutes with my legs burning the whole time. So I only worked out for 25 minutes today. I'm not sure why all of the sudden my legs hurt so bad. Maybe it was because I did the walking video first and that is the first time I tried to do both in the same day. Hopefully next time I get on the treadmill my legs won't hurt as bad.

Even though the honeymoon is over I'm going to keep going. I'm not giving up! I will not go back!

Craving Junk Food

I really struggled today with wanting junk food. I wanted a big cheeseburger and fries and chocolate and ice cream and a Wendy's frosty, etc. This is no exaggeration, I wanted to eat everything today. I gave in and had an ice cream sandwhich. I put it in my diary on MyFitnessPal and fought the temptations the rest the day and was able to stay within my calories.

TMI alert. The only thing I can think is aunt flo is coming for a visit yet again. It's techically time for her to visit because the last time was because of a different issue. You got to love being a women, unless your a man.

Anyway I got my exercise in tonight without a problem and it felt good to get in over 30 minutes. I got on the treadmill and started at 4.0 and ended up improving a little more. I got down to 17:16 for a mile and I was pushing myself so much my ribs hurt. I stayed on the treadmill for 22.5 minutes. Then I did 10 minutes on the bike. I've really come to enjoy my time on the bike. I spend the whole time praying. It's amazing what 10 minutes spent focusing on God can do for your relationship with him.

Week 2 Weigh In

Saturday I was trying to get my exercise in before the kids went to sleep. About 7 minutes in my daughter was screaming and my son was getting in the way and I was getting frustrated. I stopped took a break and then started over shortly after and ended up with about 25 minutes total. Sunday was my day off of exercise.

I had so much to do yesterday and by 7:45 I still hadn't exercised. I tried to make excuses why I didn't have time to exercise. But I decided I needed to do at least 20 minutes. So I went and got on the treadmill and ended up with my best time yet of 17:37. I still have a cold so hopefully I will improve more when I'm over it.

Today I weighed in at 288lbs. So I lost 2lbs this week. Not what I wanted but 2lbs is 2lbs and all that matters is my weight is going down. If I lose 2lbs a week for the next year by March of 2014 I will have hit my goal.

This week: -2lbs
Since 2-5-13: -11lbs
Since 9-1-12: -27lbs
To go: 108lbs

Where Has My Appetite Gone!?

Where has my appetite gone? I never taught I could go a day and only eat 1600 calories when I started this journey. But now I don't think I really need that many. I never thought I'd say that but after changing the foods I eat and exercising every day my appetite has went way down.

When I started this journey just a week and a half ago I used all my calories plus my exercise calories for the day and still felt hungry. Yesterday there was no way I could have used all my exercise calories without stuffing myself so I didn't use them.

Today Jimmy and I went out to eat as a late Valentines dinner because he works until five and our babysitter(my in-laws) don't like to watch them that late. This was my Valentines gift to him so he got to choose where he wanted to go. His favorite place to eat is a local restaurant so I couldn't just go to a website and figure out the calories. I had to add up everything that is in the meal I always get which I did last night then I divided it in half because I planned on only eating half and saving the rest for later. I planned my whole day around this meal so I didn't go over my calories today. When we got our order I asked for a take out box and divided the meal in half before I started eating. I use to eat the whole meal plus a bunch of chips before that. I ate 12 chips and the half of the meal that was still left on the plate and soon realized it was way to much. I was so full, I mean the Thanksgiving day full.

It's been two and a half hours since I ate and I'm still full. I need to exercise but I can't exercise on a full stomach so I'm waiting a little long before I try to. I'm going to divide my left overs in half and the next time we go there Jimmy and I are going to split the meal. Then I'm going to divide my potion in half so I'll only be eating 1/4 of the meal and that will be plenty.

I'm not complaining, in fact I couldn't be happier with losing my appetite. It will make this journey easier and I didn't know it was so simple to retrain your appetite. I don't plan on using any of my exercise calories from today and I still have 106 calories from my 1550 to have a small snack later. This is a life change not a diet and I honestly feel like I could do this for the rest of my life! Any other time I've lost weight I couldn't say that because I was just waiting for the day I could eat normal again but now I feel like I am eating normal. MY NEW NORMAL!

A Cold and Exercise

Yesterday I did a mile on the walking video, 20mins on the treadmill, and 10mins on the bike. A grand total of 45mins which was my goal for the day. I also did my fastest mile so far in 17:57. I've been doing great staying within my calories and keeping up on my exercise. Although I do not enjoy doing the exercise itself I do enjoy the time to myself and how I feel afterward. I also enjoy trying to improve my time.

Today I was hoping to do just as well if not a little better. My kids have had a cold for a couple days and I have been feeling one coming on all day but didn't even think about the fact that it could affect my workout. I got on the treadmill and started out strong but after a few minutes I was having trouble breathing and had to slow way down. The speed of my workout tonight was a lot slower than usual but the important thing is that I still worked out. Hopefully my cold doesn't get any worse so I don't have to slow down even more tomorrow.

I started working out with dumbbells today so I can tone up as I lose weight. After the first few sets I thought it wasn't doing anything but a few sets later I started to feel it. I plan to use the dumbbells everyday of the week but Sundays. Praying this cold doesn't slow down my progress to much this weekend.

MyFitnessPal

A great tool to aid in weight loss that a couple people told me about is MyFitnessPal. http://www.myfitnesspal.com/ If you don't use it I would highly recommend it. It helps you to keep track of your calorie intake and calories burned during exercise.

To get started you input your weight, your goal weight, height, exercise goal, and how much you would like to lose a week. It recommends 1lb a week but you have the ability to choose and I chose 2lbs a week. MyFitnessPal takes the information and gives you a custom dairy where you input your information on a daily basis.

MyFitnessPal has a large data base of foods however it is important to double check the information because it is entered by people using the site and I have found some misinformation. But you can also enter your own information. Here is an example of one of my days.

Your Food Diary For:

Prev Monday February 11, 2013 Next

Breakfast	Calories	Carbs	Fat	Protein
Cereal - Honey Bunches of Oats-Honey Roasted, 1.5 cup (30g)	240	50	3	4
Great Value - 1% Milk - 8 oz, 4 oz	55	7	1	4
Add Food	295	57	4	8
Lunch
Ball Park Hotdogs - Ball Park Bun Size Beef Franks, 1 hotdog	190	4	16	7
Great Value - Hot Dog Buns, 1 bun	100	19	2	3
Castleberry's - American Original Hotdog Chili Sauce Classic, 2 Tbsp (16g)	20	2	1	2
Add Food Quick Tools	310	25	19	12
Dinner
Birds Eye Voila - Alfredo Chicken (Data From the Label), 2 1/4 cup frozen, 1 cup cooked	420	41	20	21
Pepperidge Farm - Garlic Bread - Texas Toast, 1 Slice	140	17	7	3
Add Food Quick Tools	560	58	27	24
Snacks
Sunbelt Bakery - Chocolate Chip Chewy Granola Bar, 1 Bar 30g	140	21	5	2
Pepperridge Farms - Baked Naturals Cracker Chips, 39 pieces	210	33	8	2
Eddy's Slow Churned 1/2 the Fat - French Silk, 1 cup	260	38	9	6
Add Food	610	92	22	10
Totals	1,775	232	72	54
Your Daily Goal	1,820	243	63	66
Remaining	45	11	-9	12
	Calories	Carbs	Fat	Protein
	*You've earned 220 extra calories from exercise today 

This is helping me not only stay in my calories but teaching me to eat more healthy by trying to also stay within the other categories as well. I haven't mastered this part yet however. You also need to update your profile once a week because as you lose weight your calories allowed will go down. I updated my profile and I lost 50calories a day after just 9lbs.

MyFitnessPal also has many other resources as well including apps, reports on your progress, your own blog, and a community. The community is where you can ask questions and chat with other people trying to lose weight.

If you are trying to lose weight and not having the success you want then I encourage you to try MyFitnessPal. It has helped me so much and without it I know I would not have lost 9lbs in my first week.

Struggles and Triumphs

Tuesday evening I went to my church for the Thirty-One party and I made sure I had 500 calories for desserts and I really didn't think I would need that many but I did. I had two small no-bake cookies and a glass of Sprite(which I've been avoiding pop). The no-bakes were more calories than I taught and I decided the Sprite was not worth it. I stayed within my calories but I will not be drinking pop again.

I did two miles on the walking video Tuesday. Yesterday my son had a dentist appointment an hour away and we had plans to go shopping in the evening so I planned on trying to get two miles in between those two things. I started exercising and It was a struggle to even get a mile in because my kids were not working with me. So I only got a 15 minute workout in for Wednesday. I'm hoping to make up for it today by exercising 45 minutes.

When we went shopping last night I got a couple shirts. I only got enough to get me through until I'm down some more. However I was able to get a 2x when I've been In 3x since the middle of my first pregnancy which is awesome. So now I need to go through my closet and see if I have some 2x shirts I have not fit in a while. I feel my pants getting looser and hopefully with another 10lbs I'll be able to go down a size.

Yesterday was a challenging day not only because I didn't get enough exercise but emotionally as well. My pastors wife was stabbed four times when she was alone at the church preparing for the evening service. She is going to be ok but will need lots of prayer for healing not only physically but emotionally as well.

I am an emotional eater and when something like this happens normally I would eat and eat a lot. Yesterday I was able to stay within my calories which would have never happened before. I'm still struggling with this emotionally however I'm giving it to God and I know he will give me strength to stay on track and give me peace again.  

Week 1 Weigh In

This week has been amazing and I'm already feeling so much better about myself. I took Sunday off of exercising and it was why harder to stay within my calories. On MyFitnessPal when you exercise you get more calories for the day. Since I didn't exercise I only got 1600 calories for Sunday and I was down to only about 70 calories and I was really hungry so I had a 120 calorie snack and drink some water. This put me over my calories for the first time by 50 calories. There were plenty of days before that where I was under my calories by 50-200 calories so I was hoping this wouldn't hurt me to bad. However today I discovered my milk entries were off by 40 calories and so I was really only over by 10 calories for the day.

Yesterday I got on the treadmill and did a mile and a cool down to equal 20 minutes. I had company all day yesterday and I could have used this as a excuse to not exercise but I didn't. My plan is to do 2 mile on the walking video today because tonight I'm gong to a Thirty-One party. There is going to be desserts so I plan on making sure I have plenty of calories to have one.

I have been struggling with wanting chocolate since Saturday evening because Aunt Flo came to visit for the second time this month. Sorry if this is to much information for you but this is part of my Journey. I've been having issues in this area and have been to the doctor and if I continue to have problems I may have to have surgery(DNC) for scare tissue from my c-sections. As many of you ladies know It is hard to stay away from chocolate during this time. Just a couple weeks ago I ate a whole bag of Lindor's when she came to town. But so far I have avoided chocolate candy and have only had Eddy's ice cream.

Now what your all waiting for. I weighed in this morning at 290lbs. That's 9lbs down in one week. 25lbs since September. 17lbs to my first goal of 273 and 110lbs to go until I reach my goal weight. My goal this week is 4-5lbs because I know after the first couple weeks weight loss slows down a lot.

Treadmill. Ice Cream. Thanks!

Last night I was really tired and did not want to go exercise at all. After some grumbling I got off my butt and got on the treadmill. I started at 3.0 and stayed there for 12 minutes which was already an improvement. Then I started to slowly increase to 3.1 then 3.2 and then 3.3. I went up to 4.0 twice and finished a mile in 19:27 which I feel is already a huge improvement from the 21:14 I did two days ago. I expected to Improve some but not as much as I did. I also did 10 minutes on the bike and improved a little there also. I had so much more energy after my workout than I did before it.

Today I decided to get on the treadmill again and I started at 3.0 again and got up to 4.0 five different times. I really pushed myself and finished a mile in 18:50. I only did 5 minutes on the bike today because honestly I'm very tired. Tomorrow is my day off of exercising which I really feel I need right now but I'm also afraid a day off will get me off track. Hopefully the fact that I am weighing in on Tuesday will give me the motivation I need to exercise on Monday.

I've been doing great staying within my calories. However today was the first day I was tempted to eat something I shouldn't. Ice cream is one of my all time favorite foods and I wanted a Diary Queen cone dipped in chocolate so bad tonight. I checked Diary Queen's website to see how many calories it would be and I didn't have enough left for the day to get one. So when we went to the store I got some  Eddy's Slow Churned 1/2 the fat French Silk ice cream. It is only 130 calories for 1/2 cup and it is so very yummy. I had enough calories left to have 3/4 cup and I enjoyed every bite. It felt good to over come my temptation.

I want to thank everyone who is reading my blog. It helps keep me motivated when I see how many people view my blog because I don't want to fail in front of everyone. I feel the same drive to lose weight that I did 6 years ago when I lost 50lbs. I also want to thank Alysha and my cousin Jaime for telling me about MyFitnessPal which has been a great tool to keep track of my calories and exercise. I want to thank Heidi V. for being a huge inspiration to me beginning this Journey of weight loss. And a Huge thank you to my husband Jimmy who is always supportive and takes care of the kids so I can exercise. I love you Jimmy!!!

Setting Goals

There are so many things that go through my head through out the day that I could write about. I have one of those brains that never shuts off which makes it hard to fall asleep. Last night I had planned on blogging but it was a busying evening. Yesterday I woke up so sore and after I worked out I was even more sore and my knees hurt. Which is a problem I've had on and off because of my weight. I did 2 miles at one time on the walking video which is already more than I could do a few days ago and that second mile is a lot more intense than the first mile. As sore as I was last night I thought I wouldn't be able to move this morning however I'm not sore at all this morning. I plan on tackling the treadmill again tonight and hoping to shave a little time off, even if it's just a few seconds.

I honestly have no idea what a good time would be on the treadmill but I'm going to set a goal to do a mile in 15 minutes. Also I would like to get to the point were I can run 3.11 miles all at once so I can be ready to run a 5k by the end of summer. When I do the 5k I want to be able to run not walk at least most of it if not all. I've never done a 5k so not sure if this will be possible but I will do my best to get there. I'm going to try to work out 5 to 6 days a week with Sundays being a set day off.

As far as my weight goes I have short term and long term goals. My first goal is 273lbs by April 16th and this is what my weight was when I got pregnant with my first baby. To go with that I have a dress I use to wear before I got pregnant that I really want to wear again. Once I reach this goal I will set another small goal. Ultimately I want to be 180lbs and if I lose more that will just be a bonus. I haven't been 180lbs since I was 15 and when I get there I am going on a huge shopping spree.

Eating is a big problem for me so I'm using MyFitnessPal to help me keep track of calories. My goal here is to slowly learn to eat better and always stay within my calories for the day. I plan on getting some healthy snack when I go to the store tomorrow because this is my biggest problem area. I have a bad habit of weighing myself every morning so I also have a goal to only weight myself twice a week. I'm failing at that right now because I have weighed myself every morning but so far it hasn't backfired on me. I'll try not to weight myself until Tuesday which is the day I plan on giving you all a progress report on my weight every week.

My final and most important goal is to always make God, my husband, and my children top priority in my life. God should be in the center of everything and my journey of weight loss is no different. My prayer is that I grow closer to God and my husband through this experience.

Exercise

Today I woke up and I felt a little sore. I changed the kids diapers and asked My Son if he wanted to watch cartoons. He said no and that he wanted to watch the video (meaning the walking video). So first thing we did was one mile on the walking video and I found out how sore I really was. Who knew a two year old could help keep you accountable?

So who ever decided what a mile was on this walking video must be crazy because let me tell you what a mile feels like. I went down stairs to the basement to work out on the treadmill and bike. My basement was cold about 55 degrees. Which I don't mind because once I started sweating it felt just right. I started out at 3.0 and I know this doesn't seem like a lot but when your almost 300lbs and are use to getting no exercise it is a lot. After 2 minutes I had to go down to 2.5 but at 7 minutes I decided I needed to push myself so I upped it to 2.8 and at this point my legs were on fire. Twice I went up to 3.5 and trust me this was a full out run for me. I remember six years ago pushing about a 5.5. I finished a mile in 21:14 and there were times I wanted to give up. At 11 minutes I wanted to quit but I had just reach a half mile. I pushed myself and I'm proud of that but I think this time is pathetic. Pathetic because at times it felt like my legs were going to fall off and I was breathing so hard I almost had to stop. But it's a start and it can only get better from here right. So yeah 15 minutes of this walking video is not a mile.

Me after my workout.

 

After the treadmill I felt like skipping the bike but again I need to push myself so I decided I would do 5 minutes on the bike. Although my legs were on fire the bike was way easier than the treadmill so I went ahead and did 10 minutes. Today I exercised a total of 46 minutes which I feel is pretty good because my goal right now is 30 minutes 5 days a week. At the end of the summer I plan to do a 5k and I've got a long way to go but I WILL GET THERE!

Day One

I was so tired this morning when my kids woke up at 6:30am and thought I could start this journey a different day. A day when the kids wake up at 8am and I've got more energy. But lets be honest there is always something that could stop me. Some excuse that pops into my mind and there always has been and always will be as long as I let it. But I'm not going to make excuses anymore.
 



I started today with a bowl of Honey Bunches of Oats. This is how I always start the day but it's the rest of the day that needs to change. The snacking, the sweets, and the constant drinking of pop. At 9am I did a one mile walking video. My two year old son did it right along with me but doesn't really understand how to do it. His favorite part was the kicks. The whole time I was trying to make sure I didn't step on my 7 month old daughter and my son ended up getting stepped on three times because he kept going behind me and getting under my feet.

For lunch I had a cup of veggies and an egg sandwich. I'm going to admit I also had two Cheetos. I need to say this because I need to make myself accountable for everything I eat. After lunch I did another one mile from the walking video and half the time my daughter was on my hip. That extra 20lbs really made me feel the burn. By the time I was done it was time to feed my daughter and I was all sweaty and my son wanted to sit on my lap with a blanket. Of course I let him which just made me sweat even more.

Salmon patties and fried potatoes were for dinner. I know fried potatoes are not healthy but I do believe these things are OK in moderation and I stayed within my calories for the day. Tomorrow I plan to spend some time on the treadmill and exercise bike after my husband gets home from work.

 

 

 

My son had to get in the picture. My before. 299lbs

My Story

Yesterday I decide it is time to get serious about losing weight and that I would start today off right with diet and exercise. Sounds easy enough but I have said this all to many times before and have either not done anything or have started things off great and fizzled out over time. My hope and prayer is that by starting this blog and putting it out there for everyone to see it will help me stay accountable to all of you. So please help me out my friends!

Lets back up for a minute! I have struggled with weight pretty much my whole life. When I wasn't fat I thought I was and I struggled with depression and food was and is what I always turn to. And lets face it ice cream and pie are so yummy! I have been on many diets in the last fifteen years and my weight has been up and down. More up than down. Six years ago I went on Weight Watcher and lost 50lbs in 5 months! I got down to 205lbs which is the smallest I have been in my adult life and I felt great. Then over the next 7 months I gained 15lbs back. Then I met my husband Jimmy and we started eating out a lot and by the time we got married 8 months later I had gained 17 more pounds. By the time we hit our first anniversary I had reached 273lbs which at that point was the most I had ever weighed. At that time I got pregnant and by the end of my pregnancy I reached 326lbs! A year and 4months later I became pregnant again at 315lbs and by the end of that pregnancy I had reached 341lbs. This brings us to June of 2012 and two weeks after birth I was back to 315lbs. From July to November I lost 22 more pounds and have been yo-yoing between 293lbs and 299lbs ever since.  

My Daughter and I

 

 

To me the fact I allowed myself to get this fat is very embarrassing and admitting my weight to everyone is just as embarrassing but it's time to change my life and this is a huge step in the process. I hate to have my picture taken and when I do have it taken it's just to get a picture of me with my kids and never of my whole body. I will have my husband take a whole body shot of me later and post it as my before picture. This morning I weighed in at 299lbs which is my start weight. My first goal is 273lbs which is my pre-baby weight and I hope to reach it by April 16. I will let you know why I picked that date at a later time. Through this blog I will keep you up to date on my weight, my struggles, what I'm eating, exercises I'm doing,  and how I'm doing this while taking care of my two little ones. Your advice and encouragements are more than welcome!