Come on, scales... I thought we were friends?

Well, the title says it all. Week # 11 of the Weight-loss journey resulted in a gain of 1 lb. Yikes!! It's ok, though. I didn't pitch a tantrum, through a fit, or eat an entire pizza when I got home to compensate for my disgust... so that's a step!

Since the weight-loss is obviously nothing to blog about this week, I will divert your attention to a different aspect of this journey that I've yet to mention: Inches-Lost. Since the beginning of this journey (at xxx.2 lbs), I have lost a total of 17.5 inches. Wow. Now that's worth celebrating. Granted, these inches lost are totaled from arms, bust, waist, hips, and thighs and not just from one area. I won't give you all the hairy details here, but I will tell you that I've lost 5 of those inches off of my waist alone. Not quite time for new pants, but we're getting closer.

Ok, enough about me. Let me tell you what else we've been up to these days. GRADUATING!!!! That word deserves more attention. Did you hear me? GRADUATING!!! And I'm not even talking about myself. JB GRADUATED!!!! Hallelujah. After 9 long years of changing majors, changing schools, and changing degrees, he finally FINISHED.

                                                                    I love this man!

I'm not certain of all of the different majors that he's had since most of them were "B.E" (Before Erin) but here's a run-down of the few that I know of:

Pharmacy tech
Engineering
Drafting (at 2 different times and schools, I might add)
Teaching
Physical Education
Mathematics
and finally, Religious Studies (this is the one he finally settled on and graduated with)


Now, he'll probably choose to read this blog and tell me that most of those were wrong, but you get the idea. He's changed his mind... A LOT. Which is why it has taken him 9 years to finish. (And I didn't even mention all the different schools he attended or planned on attending over the years!)

There are many addictions out there. Drugs, Alcohol, Tobacco, Food, etc. Well, my husband suffers from an addiction also... and addiction to SCHOOL. He literally, doesn't remember NOT going to school. He doesn't know what to do with himself these days. No homework, no assigned reading. He picked up his computer the other day and said "I don't even know why I'm on this thing." Last week, I caught him online looking at colleges for his Master's Degree!! Of all the nerve. After 20+ years of school, looks like he'd want to stop.  It was then that I made him promise to take a 1 year sabbatical from higher education. "No school for a whole year, young man!" Trust me, this girl will only walk across that stage ONE time. There will be no MA or DR here.

Speaking of walking across the stage:

                                                                        I'm so proud!

The ceremony started at 9:00am, and we arrived at 8:30 but apparently everyone else got a memo that said to arrive at the crack of dawn because the only places left to sit were in the blazing sun on uncomfortable metal bleachers behind a large tree. Boo. And did I mention that JB was the first one across the stage? So no practice run for pictures. Luckily, I sat on the edge of the bleachers and had options to step around the tree and snap a few photos. At least I got a few pics after too:

(I'm not going to comment on the above picture... we all know I'm going through the Weight-loss so we'll just leave it unsaid)

                      Jonah had to give Daddy a hug. He'd been looking for him for a long time!

 This is Josh's college Advisor and Mentor, Bro Robbie White. Bro Robbie was also Josh's pastor when he lived in Huntsville as a child. It's amazing how things come full circle, huh?

Thank goodness our niece Becca decided to go with us instead of watching her brothers play football. She was a HUGE help with the boys!

I'm sure there's more to be said here, but anything else that has happened has slipped my mind. See you here next time where we'll celebrate Mine and JB's 5 year anniversary!

Weight Loss Journey: Week #9

Ok, so we've reached the 9 week mark. I wish I could blog about the EXTREME loss of flab this week, but that's not the case. If you've read the previous blogs, you'd know that I've stepped up the exercise routine a bit. In fact, since last weigh-in, I've walked about 8 miles over 4 days. With all this exercise I expected large amounts of body fat to look up at me and say "I give up... With all this exercise, you're not the same person that you were. I'm leaving your hips for someone else's...Someone with... cheesecake and no will power". I wish I could say that's what happened...but it's not.

I gained.. wait... I can say it. I'm a grown up. I. GAINED. Arrrgh.

.8lbs.

Now, I know it's not even a whole pound, but to me it might has well been 10. After all the effort I put in to exercise, my body repays me with the unfortunate gift of poundage?! Really? *Sigh*

I've heard all the reasons, all the excuses, and most of them have a happy ending... that next week all of my hard work will pay off and I'll lose the weight I gained this week. But, right now.. well, honestly... it kinda makes me want to eat a half gallon of  Blue Bell (light, of course).

No, No... don't worry. I didn't give in to the Blue Bell, or the chocolate, or the... well, other bites of goodness. I couldn't let down all 6 of my blog readers. I'm pressing on. To the final goal... and a little red dress.

Oh, that's right. I forgot to tell you about the little red dress, didn't I? Well, it's kind of a long story so I'll condense it:

When Josh and I got engaged and I went shopping for a wedding dress, I told him that I bought a red dress. After all, I love the color red, and it was my wedding, so why not do something different? Of course.. I didn't REALLY buy a red wedding gown (even though now, I kinda wish I would have!), but since Josh didn't see it until our wedding day, he really thought it was red. I even bought red wedding shoes, which I, of course, showed to him to reinforce my "red dress" story. What makes this story special, is that EVERYONE was in on this little secret: My family, his family, even the minister told Josh a few moments before we were married "Man, I never thought she'd pull of that red dress, but she looks amazing!". Anyway, every girl dreams of the day she is walking down the aisle and sees her future husbands face for the first time... smiling in excitement and mesmerized by her beauty. Well, my future husband's face was shaking in disbelief and disappointment. The first thing he said to me when I reached the alter was "It's not red.. You LIED". Yes, while on the stage in front of all our family and friends in what should have been the most precious moment on our lives together.. he calls me a liar. Thankfully, he whispered it and I still got married in a white dress, but I have YET to live this down. 5 years later and he still talks about it.

OK, back to present day. I promised myself and Josh, that whenever I lost all of my weight, I'd buy a red dress. A nice cute little red dress. And he has to promise to never call me a liar ever again!

100lbs, Red dress... 2 promises that have yet to be kept. But.. we have a year, so we'll keep on trucking.

The Weight Loss Journey

"Weight-Loss". That ugly 2 word phrase that immediately associates itself with other nasty little words as "fat", "overweight", "diet" etc.etc. O.k... I know it's not particularly something that everyone is comfortable talking about, but we're going to do it here on The Blog.

In order to have something to write on The Blog other than about JB or our children (although they can be quite entertaining at times), I'm also going to let you in on a slightly personal part of my life. It doesn't take a genius to figure out that I'm overweight. I know, I know... "You shouldn't talk about yourself that way", "You're beautiful just the way God made you", "You have a great personality". OK. Trust me, I don't have self-esteem issues and I've learned to deal with my looks/weight over time. But, having all that said, I still need to lose weight. 

On Mother's day 2011, after taking pictures with my boys on our "lovely" front porch, I saw myself as others see me for the first time in several months. 

I wasn't very happy about my appearance and a few hours later when I confirmed my weight on the Wii, I could see why! I weighed xxx.0 lbs! Really xxx.0lbs!!?? (Now, when I get to my goal weight, I'll let you know how much I weigh and you can do the math from there, but for now, we'll just use letters to save a little of my dignity.)


History: I've battled with my weight for years. I was overweight in High School. I lost weight in college and finally got to within 20lbs of my goal weight when IT happened. I fell in love and got married. Here's a pic of me at my smallest (Fact:  a mere -98lbs from today's weight!)

 

Needless to say, I all went downhill from there! Happiness adds the weight. Over the course of 2 years of married bliss I gained about 30lbs. I was in the process of losing the weight again when another IT happened. I got pregnant... with twins... and gained 60lbs. Here's a pic of me at 7 months

Sadly, I didn't lose any of the baby weight (it only redistributed to other parts of my body) which brings us back to present day. Mother's Day 2011 and the quest to lose weight.

Ok, now let's skip ahead 1 month to June 14. I decided to throw caution to the wind and join a weight loss group. Let's just say... good move :) First night's weigh in I weighed xxy.2lbs. Now, for all you math geniuses out there, that's a loss of only 1.8lbs from my Mother's Day weight of xxx.0lbs. That's -1.8lbs in 1 month--- not a good trend. Let's just say... I need that accountability. From hence-forth, we will refer to my starting weight as xxy.2lbs... to save confusion.

The weight-loss group claims on there paperwork, that you can expect to lose an average of 1-2 lbs per week. OK, that's fine by me, but being as heavy as I am, I kind of expected the first 20lbs to come off just by uttering the word "diet", but, much to my dismay... it didn't. Second week weigh-in, I was down -2.8lbs. Great start (that's more than I lost in a month on my own!), but less than I was hoping for. I'm an impatient person, so I suppose this is yet another way that God is teaching me patience!

Ok, I'm going to jump ahead to present day to save you all some boredom. Last weigh-in I was down to a weight of xyy.0lbs. Translated: a loss of -11.2lbs! Just in case you don't think that's not a lot, go get the sugar and flour out of your pantry and tote them around for a while and you'll start to appreciate the weight-loss! My weekly average is 1.9lbs (pretty accurate to what their paperwork says).Just call me Steady-Eddie.

Setting goals really helps me keep on track, so for my reference, here's a list of my goals for the next few months:
 I hope to have lost, by:
Sept 3 (Anniversary)  -20lbs(from starting weight)
Halloween    -              -36lbs
Thanksgiving              -43lbs
Christmas                  - 50lbs
Valentines 2012       - 65lbs
End of Tax Season  - 80lbs
June 14,2012 (1 year) - 98lbs. 

After the one year mark, we'll re-evaluate and set new goals for the last 25lbs. I know they tell you not to focus on long-term goals, but I have to see the long-term to help focus on the short term.

Here's to seeing less of me next week :)