I am under major stress. I thought that after the end of the holiday season my life would be somewhat stress-free and I would really be punching out those pounds. Well, long story short, my husband got transferred to Las Vegas (this is a VERY good thing and a major BLESSING for our family), he has been working over there since the beginning of last week and we will be joining him at the end of this month. I basically had about a 3 week notice to get the house packed up and all of the things that go with moving - turning off/on utilities, cancelling memberships, packing, packing, cleaning and packing. We now have less than 2 weeks before the big day and it has officially stressed me out - more like made me super anxious, nervous, etc. and I have found that my number one coping mechanism is EATING. Is that a huge shocker or what? I know - it is so crazy to really see how I have trained myself to be comforted by food - mostly ice cream - but I cannot even begin to explain the absolute cravings I have had for the stuff. I called my dad last week right after I had left Walmart - I had run in after my workout to pick up some milk, etc. and I had literally walked up and down the ice cream aisle a good 10 times before I finally talked myself out of buying the stuff. I told my dad that it felt like I was just hanging on by my toes. But I have definitely given into the cravings this week and after the "giving in" I IMMEDIATELY felt better. The only difference is that I'm not using the giving in as an excuse to eat like a trucker until Monday. I just move forward, keep going and do what I do (most of the time). Another coping mechanism would be much better, but for now, I'm just riding it out.

When we moved from Idaho to Arizona at the end of May last year I was SO tired all of the time (you've all seen my before picture), had no energy to get anything done and basically had a buttload of stuff to do the day we were packing up the truck. I just could not see myself getting all of that done - it seemed impossible. And at times I also thought that it would "just get done" - magically.

This time around I am already so far ahead of my game plan that I can't believe how much smoother things are going. I'm making plans for each day/week and getting them done. I have the energy to do all of the packing, the daily house cleaning, the cooking and working out. I am a different person.

On Saturday morning I weighed in at 244.4, which means I am down 3 pounds since the beginning of the month. I am happy with the number and look forward to the end of the month when I measure my progress. I am also looking forward to my NEW gym - it looks absolutely amazing and I'm looking forward to losing my last 64 pounds there.

this is me now.

p.s. If any of you look for inspiration in health magazines like Shape, Self, etc. pick up a copy of Oxygen magazine. It is amazing - all about eating clean and being strong and healthy - I get a lot of my lifting routines from them. I like this magazine because it's more about finding your inner athlete than being a size 0. Let me know what you think.