Ultimate Goal: I Did It!

Remember those old grey pants? They're not fitting too well these days...



A recap of my story...

Almost six years ago, I got married. Prior to getting married, I felt fantastic. I had lost almost 40 pounds, and maintained most of that loss for about a year. But with marriage came new challenges, new experiences, and new goals. My healthy eating and exercise fell by the wayside, and I re-gained 40 pounds by our first anniversary. And the new, 195-pound me wasn't happy.

Around that time, about five years ago, I started looking at old pictures of myself. I found a picture of myself at 157 pounds, and felt like I would be happy to get back to that weight. I set 157 as my new goal, but I could never get myself back on track fully. I'd lose a few pounds, then gain most of it back. Sure, I was making progress, but very slowly. Throw two pregnancies into the mix, and my goal of 157 seemed like a pipe dream.

A little over a year ago, on March 2nd, I sat holding my one-month-old baby boy. I had stopped losing the baby weight, and was stuck at 198. I decided that I really, really wanted to set a better example for my son and his older sister. I started making small changes, and set my sights once again on that magical number "157".

I lost 15 pounds, then stalled. I wasn't exercising enough, and my eating habits were slipping. After once again losing and gaining the same 3 pounds, I had had enough. I figured that if I didn't do something soon to lose the weight, I was never going to do it. I got mad, then I got determined. I joined a gym, started following Mama Laughlin's blog (who had the same start weight as me), and recommitted myself fully to my previously-discarded Weight Watches food plan. I even started to blog myself! Here are two "comparison pics" from before I joined the gym (183 pounds) vs now at 148.



The weight started coming off - faster than I thought! Exercising really made the changes to my body become noticeable more quickly. I could fit into a pair of shorts that two weeks previous had been too small, my tummy started shrinking, and I just felt amazing.

Sure, there were some setbacks (vacation, anyone? Christmas goodies?) but this time, I really started to believe, for the first time in five years, that I could achieve my goal. And I did.

And then I went further. I hit my wedding weight of 153. Around that time, someone brought up the idea of having a goal RANGE instead of a goal weight. I realized that if I lost just 5 more pounds, it would mean that I'd lost exactly 50 pounds! And if I kept a goal range of 148-153 pounds, I would be in a pretty good place...healthy, without being obsessed with a number on the scale.

It took a lot of hard work, and a big overhaul of my eating, but I am thrilled to report that I finally did it: I achieved my ultimate goal of 148 pounds! And although I've struggled, in many ways it wasn't as hard as I thought.



(I know, my scale is kinda gross. Blame the leak under my sink)

My hope is that my blog can help others who are struggling with the same things I've struggled with. I hope you see my story and realize that if I can do it, so can you. I'm nothing special! If you ever need a kind word of encouragement, don't hesitate to email me!

One more thing...

...I guess I owe you that bikini pic, eh?