This Past Year......

has been completely amazing and very unexpected. I started out looking like this:


And currently look like this:


Have you ever noticed that the heavier you are the shorter your arms look in pictures? Mine couldn't rest comfortably at my sides when this picture was taken in April - and I can't believe how big my waist was. I'm wearing my "at home" outfit - my brown/brown shirt and the infamous purple pants that I cut into shorts (much more slimming that way ...) I have currently lost 11 inches around my waist, 6-7 inches from my hips, 3.5 inches from my rib cage right below my chest and at least 2 inches from my arms. My lovely thighs are about 2 inches smaller - maybe more, I didn't start taking measurements until the middle of September and I know that my thighs will be the last things to let that fat go. I'm really wishing I would have taken measurements of my "cankles" because they look so normal now and I can't believe what I was retaining in my feet - they were a bit bloated.

Sometimes I just don't see much of a difference in the mirror, but when I look back at the few pictures I've had taken over the past 6 or 7 years I realize what a difference I have made in my life and that is so motivating for me.

An interesting thing has happened at the gym the past couple of weeks. A few people that I used to see working out regularly during the summer and even into September and October, but haven't been in quite a while are back - and have gained back the weight I'm sure they worked very hard to lose. It has been a real eye opener for me - I used to think, oh, I'll just take "the rest of the week" off from the habits I had been working hard to implement and that week would turn into a month, and then I would be starting all over again. To see that happen in other people has been a great "a ha!" for me - to just keep going. I have really struggled this past month - I didn't realize how hard this month would be food wise. I wasn't prepared for the onslaught of goodies that seem to be appropriate for practically every day from Thanksgiving through New Years. I know I was bragging about losing 2 pounds in my previous post, but I ended up gaining that weight back this past month and as of yesterday morning weight 247.6 - and I'm totally okay with that. I'm certainly not perfect and never will be - and I've come to accept that and work with it. My eating has been pretty much crap for at least 1 1/2 weeks, but I know that will be ending tomorrow with the twins birthday. The lesson I've learned is that you just have to keep trying - keep doing what works and when it gets hard, just keep going - even if it means not losing weight or gaining a bit before your head can be in the right place again. Because it really begins and ends with what is inside you - what you REALLY think of yourself and how you REALLY see yourself.

this is me now.