Losing Weight

Did you start the year off saying that you were finally going to lose your extra weight? How's that going so far? Still going to the gym? Are you still making good food choices?

Or has that late January crankiness set in?

Have you started saying to yourself "I'll get back to it on Monday!"

Well I have one thing to say to you, MAN UP. Seriously, unless you are deathly ill or hurt, you have no excuse. And depending on the "hurt" it may or may not be a legitimate excuse.

Being Fat is hard.

Losing weight is hard.

Maintaining weight loss is hard.

Pick your hard.

Back in January of 2009 I was inspired by something Valerie Bertinelli said. She had lost her weight with Jenny Craig and she said in a commercial how nice it was to wake up on New Years Day not thinking about this being the year she was going to lose the weight. That struck pretty deeply with me. How many more NYD's was I going to wake up saying THIS was the year.

So I started my journey.

In January of 2009 many things in my life started with the number 2. My weight, my pants size, and my shirt size. The number 2 is NOT my lucky number and I needed to get it OUT of my life, it was crushing me. I weighed more then I did then I ever had before, even when pregnant.

So I started my weight loss plan. When you are trying to lose weight you have to find the plan that works best for you. For me, I choose Atkins. Even though I was gung ho about losing weight, it took me until March of 2009 to REALLY get into gear. By May I had made it back into "Onderland."

Then I slacked. While you would think summer food would be awesome for doing Atkins, it only is if you stick to the low carb food.

I did not. I gained and lost the same 4 pounds over and over again. I got back into gear late summer and managed to be down a total of 40lbs by Thanksgiving.

And then I slacked again. For almost an entire year I played with 10 lbs, losing and gaining, losing and gaining, losing and gaining.

On September 1, 2010 I joined a support group on my low carb message board. 30 pounds in 4 months. Normally I suck at challenges or support groups, but this one was working for me. While I didn't lose the 30, I was down 19 by Christmas Eve for a total of 53lbs lost since January 2009.

53 pounds. That's a whole lot of weight.

I ate off plan from Christmas eve through the new year. Once again I was waking up on New Years Day thinking about the weight that needs to come off. But now it's only 20ish pounds. My original goal was only about 10ish pounds away but I lowered it after taking a good look at my body.

I gained 3 or 4 pounds over the holiday so I had that to get off and then continue on.

As of yesterday 1/20/11 I had gotten the couple of holiday pounds off as well as 1 more!

54 pounds lost! AND almost 37 inches over all.

Neither the pounds lost or the number on the scale is something anyone would consider a milestone. I'm not in a new "decade" of numbers, (but it's close) nor is the pounds lost a round number. But that's ok, the scale is moving again and I think I found my mojo again.

So I decided to take pictures.

While I've given away or donated most of my clothes that are too big, I've kept a few. One is a pair of junior plus sized jeans that are way too big, but I wear them around the house to feel small. The other is my favorite skirt. It's a size 18 denim skirt from Old Navy. I've had it for years. It's the perfect color and length for me. I also keep both of these articles of clothing for progress pictures. Yesterday I did progress pictures of me wearing the jeans. But I couldn't even get the jeans on when I was at my highest weight.

But I could get the skirt on and I do have a picture of myself at my highest weight wearing the skirt and a tight-ish shirt.

Want to see the difference 54 pounds makes?

That's something else, isn't it. It amazes me too. It is an accomplishment I am very proud of.

But I'm not there yet. As of today my goal is to lose 21 lbs by summer which is 22 weeks away. 5lbs a month is not too hard of a goal. I know it's going to be harder the closer I get to goal, so I will add exercise back in soon to tone up.

There is one downside to losing large amounts of weight. I need to go clothes shopping. Yes that is a downside because I don't have the funds to restock my entire wardrobe!

This is where you come in. Go to my etsy shop & order something!!!!!! Click HERE, I need new clothes! LOL