It's no secret, I've packed on some pounds in the last 2-ish years. Stress, depression, financial problems, change, attempt at refusal to accept said 'change', relationship failure, BFF moving a billion miles away, etc...you name it, I fed it. I fed it a lot.
I was always a "solid kid" (as my very loving Mother likes to say), the biggest girl in my group of friends in high school/youth group, and even at my lowest adult weight, I was still overweight. And, oh Lord, can I yo-yo with the best of them! I've gained and lost the same 50 pounds more than I care to say.
But, like many of you...2012 is my year to get the weight off [and keep it off this time!]. I'm putting these very personal and embarrassing facts on here so you all can help keep me accountable. We can do this!
This is a pic from my birthday last year (2/2011). The big 3-0. I was depressed. I hated a large portion of my life, and my weight was a big factor in that, yet I fed my sadness with food. I weighed more at this time than I did when I gave birth to Hayden. Yikes.
I've no clue how, but when I weighed 1/1/12, I found that I'd lost 10 pounds from when that pic was taken. Hello diet jump start!
In 2009 I did a low-carb (South Beach / Atkins kinda thing) diet, and dropped about 40 pounds in about 6 months. Here are some pics from that time. That was the lowest adult weight I've had...still not my goal weight though!
Holy crap...I wanna look like that again!!! Every time I wanna shove some cake in my face, I think of these pics. And how happy I was at the time. Not because I was thinner, but because I loved my life. I'm working very hard to get back to that place...all around.
Since I know lots of us are working on our weight, I thought I'd also share some sites that have been helpful for me. I know a ton of people doing Weight Watchers, but I'm too cheap and busy for that. I did some research, and WW is just tracking your intake, exercising, and having a support system. Duh, I can do that. I'm the type of person that'll eat 900 calories at lunch without even realizing it (salads are so deceptive!), so it's really important for me to "track" my food. It keeps me accountable and lets me splurge if/when needed. I ate out twice this weekend and I only went over about 50 calories one day...the rest of the weekend I was below my calorie max! WHOO!
How do I track my food, you ask? With a F R E E app/website called My Fitness Pal. I LOOOVE it. It's like Weight Watchers for cheap peeps! Go join...right now! Then tell me you joined so we can be "friends" on there. ;)
Now, second major issue for me is what the heck to eat when I'm trying to lose weight. Uh, thank goodness for Pinterest. I have found more ideas on there than I even thought possible. The "why didn't I think of that" doesn't just apply to crafts, folks. You should follow me and steal all my pins!
Here are some other sites I like for food/recipe ideas:
Skinny Taste
Hungry Girl
Weight Watchers
Cooking Light
Need snack ideas? I found tons on Pinterest, but here's a few I love:
100 Calorie Cup-Cakes
Chocolate PB Banana Bites
100 Healthy Snacks
Since I started watching my food intake and exercising {more on that in a later post} I've lost 15 pounds (25 since that HORRIBLE picture was taken!). I have a LOT more to lose, but it's a great start for my first month.
Are any of you trying to lose weight and/or watch what you eat? Exercising? Any great sites, ideas, recipes, you wanna share? I need all the help and encouragement I can get - so please leave me some comments!
Love you all!
