Just a little perspective

So I'm officially down just over 31 pounds from my highest ever non-pregnant weight. I've been saying around 30 for months now, but it was really 27.5...right now it's 31.5. Yay! I've been really good since returning home from vacation. Lots of exercise, lots of water and lots of veggies & fruits, little meat and snacks. The scale is actually starting to budge!

Just look at this graphic to the right.  That top one is five pounds of fat.  I've lost 80% of that since getting home a couple weeks ago.  Doesn't it look gross?!?!?!  All together I've lost that big ugly blob on the bottom plus the second blob down plus a little.  Ew, ew, ew!!!  I never want to see that ickiness on my body again!

I wish I could say I was done losing.  In 10 pounds I'll probably be down a size.  In 20 pounds that size should be getting loose.  In 30 pounds I'll be pretty comfortable with my size.  In 40 pounds I'll be pushing too small for my frame.  Getting to that point, or near it, is going to take a lot of work!!!  But I'm doing it.  I'm over this overweight mama status!  I've been chubby (putting it nicely) since having my oldest over seven years ago.  I've spent much of that last seven years talking about losing weight, sometimes I'd drop a few pounds and give up when it didn't come off faster.  But not this time!  My highest weight, the one I'm counting down from, was in June 2010, when I got pregnant with my youngest.  Obviously I spent the next nine months pregnant and not focusing on losing weight.  But somehow I still lost.  I gained 18 pounds while pregnant, but six weeks postpartum I was down 9 pounds from when I got pregnant.  But I stalled there.  I was that weight for a looooooong time!  I hated that weight! At the end of 2011 I got busy running again, even ran a 5k on Thanksgiving, and lost about 9 pounds.  But then I stopped.  The situation at home changed and I didn't have the same kind of time to exercise.  I had to get used to a new normal and I didn't adjust well.  But finally, on April 1st, I decided I was done being in this fat body!  I exercised every single day until we left on vacation on June 1st (I exercised that day too...ran 5 miles!). I lost around 10 pounds in those two months. I had BIG plans to stay on track on vacation and I pretty much failed.  Sure, I used the fitness rooms at the hotels.  But in the 18 days we were gone back east only 4 nights were in hotels.  Then we headed off on another vacation.  I had access to a gym for the next almost 4 weeks.  I went maybe 9 or 10 times.  I went on a couple walks around my mom's neighborhood too.  But that's it.  Sure, I lost 1.2 pounds while gone...but I was gone a total of seven weeks!  Since coming home 2 weeks ago I've lost more than that.  And I'm motivated seeing the numbers actually go down.  I'm tracking my calories, I'm exercising and I'm not giving up!  Seeing those big blobs of nastiness in the picture gives me perspective on how far I've come and how far I still need to go.

(Some weights are estimates in here...I don't remember exact numbers of loss, just that it was about a certain number, lol!  I'm keeping better track now, but I know I'm down 31.5 total.)

1.2 pounds

I went on vacation.  I didn't eat with careless abandon, but I surely didn't diet despite my good intentions before leaving.  My vacation was SEVEN weeks.  The good news...I DIDN'T GAIN WEIGHT!!!  I actually lost 1.2 pounds.  Not a big loss, but I will take it!

Seriously, I ate good food.  I enjoyed the food.  I went to Brew Burgers in Omaha, Tripoli's pizza in Salisbury Beach, MA, I went to Bugaboo Creek, Ben & Jerry's in Vermont (that was early on, I only ate their free sample and got a smoothie), Charlie's in Gloucester, MA, Bobby's Burger Palace in the DC area, Dunkin Donuts at least 4 times (eek!), a BBQ joint in Kansas City, Bajio's Mexican grill at least 4 times, Tucano's Brazilian Grill (Happy Anniversary to my husband and me!), Osaka in Provo, UT, and Zupa's...and more I probably forgot.  That's not diet eating!  Sure, I made good choices at several of those places and I was at my mom's house for nearly 4 weeks and I ate a lot of veggie stir-fry's there.  But even the healthiest choices at those places isn't as healthy as what I'd eat at home.  But I don't regret it.  It's nice to see I can maintain without much work.  I did exercise while gone, but not daily and not to the extent I've been doing at home.

Since coming home I've ran every day and done Zumba twice. I'm back and I'm ready to get this weight moving again!

Holy Smokes!

I whine and complain that my body doesn't respond to diet and exercise.  It's not totally unfounded complaining.  There was a time when my middle daughter was a baby, close to a year old, that I was exercising at least 3 hours a day between my treadmill and the gym.  I was watching what I ate and the scale wouldn't budge.  That's not the only time I've had this problem.  But for this week at least I seem to have broken that pattern...and I hope my body keeps this up...I lost 3.3 pounds this week.  That's right...3.3 in one week!  Wahoo!  I've run at least an hour a day for the past 9 days (I think), today will make 10 days! :)  Four nights I did Zumba after the kids went to bed.  And now I'm down 3.3 pounds.  I'm seriously so excited!  Fingers, toes and anything else I can cross are all crossed my body is finally doing what it's supposed to do when I work my rear off!

1.3

I'm pretty excited...I lost 1.3 pounds this week!  Yay!  I'm really happy about it because I didn't eat all that well this weekend.  My husband surprised me on Mother's Day with a big breakfast...complete with bacon (why can't bacon be magically fat and calorie free?).

I have run an hour straight for the past two days.  Hoping to do it again today.  Add Zumba on to that and I've been working my rear off!  I still have about a million pounds to go...give or take.  But I realized yesterday that I've lost over 40 pounds since I was 9 months pregnant with my youngest.  Sure, some of that was baby and all the icky gunk inside.  But she was a tiny baby, only 6 pounds 5 ounces...so a lot of that loss is actually me!  Since my six week postpartum visit I've lost 14.8 pounds.  I just wish I'd started working on this about a year sooner. 

Slow but steady...

I have horrible genetics.  Seriously.  I'll have diabetes someday.  There's like a 90% chance of that, even if I never eat sugar and exercise like a mad woman.  Thanks mom and dad for that, really!  So the best I can hope for is prolonging the amount of time before I get it.  Along with my diabetes death sentence I have the slowest metabolism in the world...aside from my mom's, her's is practically dead.  I kid you now.  Ask her doctor.  I can exercise and exercise and exercise and NOTHING. Seriously, I'd be kicked off The Biggest Loser the first week for lack of weight lost (I'm not big enough to get on in the first place, but still, you get my point).  At the end of last year, probably the last few months or so I ran...a lot. I lost 9 pounds.  Yay, right?  But the new year did not bring a new me, at least not physically.  Life circumstances changed drastically and I stopped running.  I didn't gain, fortunately, but I didn't lose anymore either. Boo!

On April 1st I started exercising again.  I haven't missed a day since.  Recently I added in running to my walking and Zumba regimen. And I upped the amount of Zumba I'm doing.  Before the last 2 weeks I'd lost about 3 pounds.  Total.  All that work, very little results.  Then last week I lost .5 in one week.  I know, a half pound isn't much.  But when your body is slow to react like mine, this is HUGE.  Then this week I lost .9.  Almost a full pound...almost.  I wish it were a full pound, but I'll take what I can get.  Fingers crossed it keeps coming off, albeit in such small amounts.

So...I had a baby

I stopped writing here because I was pregnant and that's not the time to focus on losing weight.  The baby was born in March 2011.  Instead of writing and focusing on weight loss after she was born, I did pretty much the opposite.  I gained some weight with the two miscarriages I had before getting pregnant with her.  So I started that pregnancy out way too big.  Happily I ended that pregnancy (after she was born) weighing 9 pounds less than when I got pregnant.  I craved healthy (for the most part) stuff with her.  I wanted lettuce, green chili, and veggie subs from Subway.  I'm still addicted to those darn subs!  If money were no object I'd probably get one every day.

Since she was born I've lost about 11 more pounds.  But I have a long way to go.  I'm not quite ready to share numbers, like my actual weight, just yet.  Maybe once I've lost some more and am less embarrassed by myself.

I've exercised every day so far this month, well, not today yet, but I will. The scale isn't really budging.  I'm frustrated.  I'm eating mostly healthy, although I know that could use a little work.  Yesterday I kicked things up a bit and started running again.  At the end of 2011 I lost 9 of those 11 pounds by running.  I ran a 5k on Thanksgiving day even!  Then my husband switched positions within the State Patrol and we see him a LOT less.  It's hard to run when you're constantly with a baby and a preschooler.  It would even be easier if my oldest wasn't at school so she could help with the other two.  But I've got to start focusing on me as well.  I matter! 

I've also started doing Zumba.  I don't attend any classes.  I'm in a small town with no classes.  But I got the Zumba for Wii.  I've been doing that.  I'm glad I'm doing that on my own, I'd be too embarrassed in a class.  To say I'm uncoordinated would be a HUGE understatement.  But I'm trying and when I'm done I'm dripping in sweat, so I must be burning some calories.  A couple nights ago I started doing crunches again.  When I was in the 9th grade I did 400 situps a night.  You know, the old school situps that aren't really recommended anymore.  But I did 400 of them.  Doing 50 crunches the other night was HARD!  I have a long way to go...and I can totally feel those right now.  Ouch!  But a good ouch!