Been a while.....ooops!!!

Just got thinking I have neglected my blog lately! Guess I really have. That's why I'm not a professional blogger. ;) Life has been crazy. Since I last blogged, we closed out the school year.....which as any of you who are parents knows, it's complete INSANITY the last few weeks.....and we are now on summer "vacation." Translate that into, Vacation for the kids & busy craziness for the Mom. ;)

On the weight loss front, I've had a very frustrating few weeks. I'm going to take it that it's my "karma" for rolling my eyes at people who "just need to lose 10 pounds" so many times. LOL I now completely get that frustration, because the last 10 are WAAAAAAYYYYY harder to lose than the first ten. The scale has literally had me in tears some days. Sigh....
I know that losing half myself in just over a year is completely AMAZING. I really do. But, I am so ready to move on to the next phase of my transformation. I'm ready to live in the "real" world again. I want to do so much more than I'm doing, but I'm still finding that if I overdo it with the workouts, that I'm not getting the results I want. It is really a delicate balance for the whole calories in/out thing. I'm ready to be at the weight I want to be and then focus my energy on toning up and getting even more fit. But, I'm finding that I have to get the weight off first. Also....summer fruit is calling my name and I am excited about the idea of being able to eat fruit again. :)
Soooooo.....with all that said, the scale is FINALLY moving again. **KNOCKING ON EVERY WOODEN SURFACE IN THE VICINITY** This morning, I hit my original tentative goal of 135. It's just the number I had bobbing in my head....but then I decided to go for a full 150 pounds lost and weight of 130. So, I am FIVE pounds away from my goal!!! I am just hoping and praying that the last 5 don't come off as slowly as the previous 5. :)

I will try to keep this up to date with my crazy boys running around....and then of course my journey into transition (adding back abstained from foods....fruits, grains, etc into my diet) and maintenance!!! :)

Funny pic.....

Did this the other night..... I'm standing in one leg of my old "fat" pants! :)

Oh and I'm down 2 more pounds now.....8 till goal!!! :)

Half the girl I used to be pics......

Wanted to put these on last night, but blogger was down then and this morning as well.
So......here they are....140 pounds lost (also weighing 140 pounds!)!!! It's crazy to me that from here on out, I will weigh LESS than what I've lost! :)



It also just occurred to me that my blog from yesterday is MIA.... hmmmmmm..... Maybe due to the issues Blogger was apparently having? Well, maybe it will show up.

HALF the girl I used to be.........

Oh YEAH!!!!! That is 140 POUNDS gone FOREVER!!!!!! I cannot believe that this day is actually here.....especially since the scale has been teasing me mercilessly as of late. But, yes, it's real, it's true and it's happened to ME!!!! :)
This sounds super weird and I totally don't mean this in an arrogant way.....but some days I'm kind of in awe about myself....about this whole journey I have been on. Almost 13 months ago, when I started this journey, I hated myself. I was miserable.....but honestly didn't realize how miserable I was. Most days I just didn't feel like doing anything. I had lost zest for life and had no motivation. Yes, I wanted to lose weight, but didn't really have the drive to put in the work and the time. Let's face it, when you have A LOT to lose, it is a VERY daunting thought....much less actually doing it. I was really freaked out about the cost. We are a one income family and not well off by any means. But, we decided to go for it....and I'm so very glad and thankful that we did. I am a totally different person now. Or rather I'm the person I USED to be.......before my weight controlled me. I look good, I FEEL good, I'm HEALTHY and I'm HAPPY. :) What is better than that????
I will post pictures later. Of course, being a week day no one is here but me and the dog...and he's not a very good photographer. ;)

I'm NORMAL!!!!!

Actually hit this a few days ago, and haven't taken the time to blog till now. But, I have reached the "normal" range on the BMI Scale!!!! I have all these numbers in my head....the number to "normal," the number till having lost half my starting weight and of course, my "goal" weight. So, I was rushing around the other morning trying to get my younger two out the door to the bus and then was going to take my oldest and drop him off at his school....as it's on the way to the gym. I hurried and jumped on the scale as I changed from my jammies to my gym clothes, wrote the number on my calendar got dressed and ran out the door. I was in warm up mode on the treadmill when I started thinking about the numbers and I was like "WAIT!!! Did I actually become "normal" this morning????" So, I grabbed my phone as I'm briskly walking and pull up a BMI calculator and start plugging my numbers in. Sure enough!!!!! I couldn't believe it!!! THIS is what it's all about....getting to the range that is considered not just "normal" but HEALTHY!!! The looking good is just the icing on the cake. :) I felt like I was flying on the treadmill that morning and it made for a fantastic start to the day and I think I had a smile plastered on my face all day long. :)

I really am regretting my choice to go off plan for Easter right now. The scale is moving again....but I really wonder how much closer I'd be now if I hadn't derailed it. It's not like Easter is like Thanksgiving and Christmas meal wise....though we did have a nice meal. But, I'm just really not sure it was THAT worth it since I'm so close!!! Live and learn, I guess. ;)

So.....where do I stand now? I am 1.4 pounds away from having lost 1/2 my starting weight (140 pounds), and I am 11.4 away from goal. :)

Evil IKEA meatballs.......

Sent the weekend on a downward spiral. ;) Went off the wagon this weekend. I knew it might happen. Just hadn't really decided whether or not it would. On Friday, we headed down to Atlanta for the open house at the Atlanta LDS Temple. It was beautiful and a great thing to take our boys to. :) The other excitement of going to Atlanta? IKEA!!!! I LOVE IKEA. :) I also love the meatballs at IKEA. LOL I hadn't previously decided whether or not I was actually going to eat them. Then I got there and Erik and the kids were about to order and I had to make a decision......and I went for it. I just decided I hadn't been to an IKEA in over two years and in the year and a half that we've lived here, this was our first time to Atlanta. Don't really have need to go to Atlanta, obviously, and it might be a long time before we get back there. So, I went for it. But, it wasn't just the meatballs. They come with gravy and lingon berry sauce.....which is what makes them so yummy. Then there was the potatoes on the side and the lingon berry juice. Oh man oh man. Then....since I went off plan, I might as well have a cookie? Or three? So, you get the idea. LOL Of course it was Easter, so that also meant that there was going to be yummy dinner and dessert. So, since I'd already thrown it all out of whack at IKEA, I just decided to enjoy the Easter weekend and start back 100% on plan today. :) I will say that I was actually very good about it. I still ate my MF meals otherwise....though not all of them (like I skipped having my brownie, since I was having cake). Portions were controlled, didn't have seconds. So, all in all, it wasn't really too bad. :) Back on plan today and have no doubt that's where I'll stay. :) I WILL lose the last 14 pounds I have till goal!!! :)

One Year......

I really wanted to get on here Saturday and post for my one year "anniversary" of starting my weight loss journey. But, I was in the doctor's office and pretty much out of it all weekend. Turns out, I have a sinus infection and an ear infection in my right ear. BLAH!!! I was in absolute misery, to the point of tears. I haven't been this sick, to the point of needing to see a doctor and prescription to fix my illness since I was 9 months pregnant with my youngest...which was also for a sinus infection. Ironically, chances are, I got this crud from my initial visit to the doctor establishing myself as a patient almost two weeks ago. It's what I get for finally going to the doctor! HA!!! I also had my physical done late last week and am now awaiting lab results from my pap and full blood workup. I expect all will be well. :)

So.......as previously mentioned, I have had my one year anniversary since starting my weight loss journey. :) What an absolutely AMAZING year it's been!!!! I hit 133 pounds lost on Saturday, meaning only 7 pounds till I'm literally HALF the girl I used to be!!! CrAzInEsS!!!!!! I'm living this and still can hardly believe this is ME!!! :)

In other EXCITING news.....I was in the store the other day, for fun I decided to try on some size 6 capris just to see how close I was to having them fit and look good too. I was absolutely thrilled to find that they slid right on, buttoned up and looked good too! :) WOOHOOOOO!!!! So, of course, I had to buy them. ;) On the way home from the store, I started contemplating whether or not my wedding dress would fit me now. I had tried it on 2 or 3 times before and just couldn't quite get it zipped up all the way. So, I went and pulled it out of storage again. I put it on and had my 6 year old (only other person home at the time) zip me up....and it ZIPPED.....ALL THE WAY UP!!!!! :) I started screaming and jumping up and down and he was literally on my bed rolling in hysterical laughter at me. LOL A couple minutes later, Erik arrived home from Scouts with our other two boys and I went running down the back stairs squealing with excitement to show him. Yes, I'm sure I was quite a site to behold running bare foot out of my house in my wedding dress. LOL I took some pictures, but I'm not super thrilled with them......taken at 8:30 at night, hair and makeup looking like it's 8:30 at night. LOL So, I'm going to have Erik take some nice ones of me to post here when I'm fresh. :) Was going to do that Saturday, but then got so sick.
So, that's my update for now. Only SEVENTEEN pounds till goal!!!! :)