About six weeks to go!
 

What happens in about six weeks, you ask? Was there an extension on the Mayan calender we weren't told about? Will it be the beginning of an era in which teenagers find it cool to wear their jeans inside-out? Or is it the day that cats finally take over the earth? Nah . . .

It will be a whole year that I've been on-plan. :D

While I may be jumping the gun by celebrating so early, it was exactly one year ago that I found myself facing a lot of very unpleasant realities. I'd been spending years slowly working my way down from 360 pounds to make it to the 240's. However, I shot back up to 267 in a matter of months due to a lot of stressful family situations. It was getting difficult to do every day tasks once again, like putting away the groceries or bending over to pick something up off the floor, but with so much going on my personal life I was overwhelmed and simply didn't know how to take control again. I remember abandoning my size 24 jeans because they became so tight that they'd painfully pinch my waist whenever I sat down, and I ended up buying fake "jeans" with an elastic waist, something I had to resort to years ago and had vowed to never do again. And when I found myself pregnant (surprise!), I think I used that as a further excuse to eat whatever I wanted. And while visiting with family out of state, I found myself having a miscarriage. :(

My husband and I were very excited at the prospect of having our first child, and the loss was devastating for both of us. It was about this day last year that I was being discharged from the hospital, and I spent a week taking it easy at my aunt's house before making the long drive back home. The change in scenery and spending time with extended family allowed me to reflect upon where I was in life and where I wanted to be. I gave myself time to mourn the loss, and knew I needed to put some kind of plan in motion to heal myself both emotionally and physically. When I returned home, I did some reading, planning, and meditating. I eventually decided I needed to take control by journaling my food and planned to officially start full-force on March 5th, come h3ll or high water.

While I haven't followed my plan absolutely perfect since then, I fought through a lot of difficulties that might have completely derailed me in the past. I've made a good, solid effort with tracking my portions and ridding my diet of added sugar and other simple carbs, and experimenting slowly with different types of exercise in order to strengthen my body. I've been consistently rewarded with an average loss of one pound per week; in the past 46 weeks I've lost 45 pounds! :dizzy: I'm only 3 pounds away from being at my lowest weight since junior high, and with any luck that'll happen just in time for my birthday next month. :) I'm really looking forward to seeing how close I'll be to a 52 pound loss by the time March 5th rolls around, and I'm extremely proud that I've made it this far. I'm almost 140 pounds down now! I don't know if I'll be capable of keeping this pace up, but if I do there's hope for me reaching my goal around July 4th, 2014. But if it takes longer, that's ok . . . after spending all of my life obese (or worse), for one of the first times ever I think I'm seeing a light at the end of the tunnel. I mean, I can't even fathom being anywhere under 200 pounds and it's likely I'll make it there this summer!

I can sometimes wear a 16 now . . . way back at my highest weight I couldn't even fit in the largest size the plus shops carried! I can now bend, breathe, and walk for miles at a time, when I was once a person that could barely make it from one end of the room to the other. I've come such a long way and look forward to where the next couple of years will take me. And hey, I'm hoping for another shot at getting pregnant. :)

It's exciting. :D It's scary. :o And ain't nuthing gonna stop me now. :carrot: Oh, and that pair of 24's that became way too tight? Here's how they fit now:

http://distilleryimage10.instagram.c...0a9e289e_7.jpg

I'm going to hang on to those suckers for future photo ops. ;)

good for you girlie! I'm very proud of you and you should be proud of yourself. Congrats!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Way to go! You are inspiring!

Awesome !

:congrat: I am so proud of you! Ha ha just look at those big ole jeans!!!

This is such an excellent post.

I'm sorry it too a loss of a pregnancy for you to find strength to move on, but sometimes it does take something big to really get our attention (as it did with me).

I wish you continued success in everything. You have been doing great, learning so much about yourself and your body and that's something no one can take away from you - ever.

In your corner, rooting you on!

What a fantastic story!! I'm very sorry for your loss, it's a difficult thing to go through, and many people just don't understand the feelings that go along with the loss of a much wanted child. I commend you for taking the time to focus on you, on getting healthy and on your amazingly positive and uplifting attitude! Thank you for sharing your story!

Wow, you look beautiful! Great job, loved the post!

you look fantastic and it's such an empowering story. I am sorry for your loss, but it's also like that baby gave you the gift of strength to take control of your life and changed your life for the better.

Really inspirational!!!!! Thanks so much for sharing.

I'm so sorry for your miscarriage, I can't imagine the pain that you and your husband felt. *hugs*

Your pictures and your whole post are so inspiring.

Hopefully there is babydust being sprinkled from the heavens for us and 2013 will be our year.

Thank you for sharing your story with us.

:hug: Sorry for the loss of your baby.

:woohoo: for the fantastic progress you have made this year!!

You are such an inspiration!! Keep up the fantastic work!!

I love all your posts because you have such a wonderful outlook - especially for someone so young. I'm very sorry for the loss of your baby. I can't even imagine that.

I look forward to seeing your posts because you have such a great way of telling the process you go though to meet a goal. It's important to have a positive outlook because I really believe that is what gets us through - not willpower, not dedication. Those help, but a positive mind set is crucial.

I have my biggest pants. When I had been at maintenance weight for a year I took a photo on my current pants laying on top of them as a reminder. Same with my tee shirts. I kept one pair of pants and one shirt. All the rest of the big stuff is gone.

I can't wait to see what the future holds for you.

Lin