This is me...

Hi! Thanks for taking a moment to read my story.  The purpose of my blog is to motivate and inspire others "If she can do it I can do it"!  I'm also hoping to gain inspiration and motivation from my readers to keep me moving along my weight loss journey.  

I love to cook (and eat) so I'm also going to be including some lower calorie recipes that my family loves (and that are easy to make). 

I'm not a good photographer and my cell phone pics may make you cringe, so sorry.   

I am a stay at home mom of two children, a 7 year old girl and a 3 year old boy.  I started to gain weight shortly after I got married to my husband in 2004 I weighed around 170 lbsish.  I didn't really think it was that bad, and then I got pregnant.  **Side Note** One thing you will find out quickly is that I have a horrible horrible memory.  I think the biggest I got after having my daughter was around 200 lbs.  At that point I pretty much stopped taking pictures of myself (my excuse was "I'm the one taking the pictures").  I also started using the excuse (after seeing myself in the pictures that were taken of me) "That is just a bad angle" or "I wasn't ready when they took the picture" .  When I saw myself in the mirror I honestly did not see a "fat" person.  Once again using another excuse "I know the scale says I'm 200 lbs but I surly don't look it"

Fast forward to April 2009 the day I walked in to the hospital to have my son I tipped the scales at **gulp** 272lbs!  I know I said I had a bad memory, however, this was something I was never going to forget.

So this was me in July 2009:   232 lbs  Size 20 Jeans 

 I was able to successfully lose 50 lbs between July 2009 and February 2010.  My husband was deployed to Iraq during that time and I was very motivated to lose weight for when he got home.  I went to the gym 3 to 4 times a week and watched what I ate.  And then he got home....  

He was obviously very proud of me, but I almost immediately put 10 lbs back on.  The thing I couldn't figure out was that I was STILL going to the gym 3 to 4 times a week, I had even started running 3 miles.  But the scale would not MOVE.  I started to get discouraged and the gym visits would get fewer and fewer. 

 This is me March 2011: 192 lbsish Size 14 Jeans 

(I still feel like this is just a really bad picture)

Finally at the end of February 2012 I just had enough.  I always get asked "Why then? What motivated you to do it?"  I can't give you an answer, I guess I just got tired of not losing weight.  I figured out the points plus formula and got myself a WW calculator and took off.  Once I added in a low calorie diet with working out my lbs melted off of me.  Now that I'm within 5 to 10 lbs of my goal weight it is harder.  I went from losing a few lbs a week (in the beginning) to losing about 1/2 lb a week if I'm lucky.  I do a lot of toning so as I'm not dropping lbs quickly, I am dropping inches.  

Here is me in October 2012: 143 lbs Size 4 jeans

Here is a "fun" one  from the beginning of November 2012 during my 30th Birthday/Halloween party:

When I set out on my journey I never imagined I'd be between a size 4 and a size 6.  I can't help being proud of myself. So will you join me in the rest of my journey?