My Starting Point (Weighing In!"

So I said in my post earlier today I'd put up my official before photos and measurements.

I got REALLY busy today, so I'm just now having a chance to do that. As a side note today has gone fairly well with regards to my diet. I have been hungry a lot though, so I feel like the protein shakes are not really cutting it by themselves, but I'm just so terrible at feeding myself.  I managed to create a fairly palatable salad for lunch though, but a quick inventory of my fridge this afternoon found me throwing out more than I actually used this week. I need to learn the right balance of produce to buy!

Anyway, down to business:

My official starting weight as of this morning: 170lbs


Starting Measurements:

Bust: 39" (would rather not lose this! LOL)
Waist: 32.5"
Tummy: 36.5
Hips: 40"
Thigh: 26" (the size my waist USED to be!)
Upper Arm: 12.5"

And here are my official BEFORE Pictures:

So there you have it. These look so bad. I swear, I don't even look this bad in person, but the camera always makes it look worse! But I wouldn't be posting this if I didn't plan to CHANGE IT!

Here is what I am trying to get BACK to (Minus the nonexistent boobs! )  But can you believe this is ME? I don't even look like the same person! 

(and the Funny part is I thought I was fat here! I was 16, and a size 3-5, and about 120 lbs.)

SO....tomorrow marks my FIRST day at the gym!  

I estimate I'm going to last all of five minutes in Cardio, and maybe another 5 on the stair master and be completely wiped out. I hope I can surprise myself and do better!

Did I mention I have NO idea what I'm doing, NO plan, and am following no actual diet?  I'm just kind of doing my own thing and discovering what works as I go along. 

I plan to post more of how I am eating, when I get a better grasp of it myself! Right now I think I'm just starving. 

It's a Wrap!  (WARNING: Ugly belly photos below!)

Okay, here it goes! It's Sunday and I have a few interesting tidbits to share, including my official before photos.

But first, I'd like to talk about a nice little experience I had Saturday afternoon. It was a busy day, but I scheduled in an Abdominal Wrap! Not just one of those rubber belts that you wear to make you sweat either.  This was wrap was an herbal-infused patch that wraps around the entire front of the belly and then is subsequently wrapped in plastic wrap. It goes on cool, and then burns, just like Icy Hot, but better, and with a clean Eucalyptus scent. I actually liked the burning. It was kind of relaxing in a way, knowing that the patch was working to draw out the toxins from my body. I wore the patch about an hour and then removed it. The first thing I noticed was my skin was (and still is!) very soft now and seemed more smooth. My stretch marks looked a little better too!

So anyway, here are the official results, 24 hours after the wrap!

Before Measurements:  

• waist 2" above belly button: 33.5"
• tummy (taken at the fattest part of 'mommy roll'): 38.25"
• hips: 38.75"

After Measurements:

• waist, 2" above belly button: 32.5" (1 inch lost!)
• tummy (taken at the fattest part of 'mommy roll'): 36.5" (almost 2 inches lost!)
• hips: 38.75" (No change there!)

And now the before and after photo: 

I apologize for the tilted before photo, I was kind of in a hurry yesterday to get out the door, and so I hadn't quite mastered the 'taking a photo of my own stomach' maneuver, and it was a bit awkward! Anyway, as you can see, there IS a slight tightening of the loose skin leftover from three children. And the other interesting thing I am noticing, is there seems to be a healthier glow to my skin in that area! Now, I'll go ahead and say I am VERY white! I am sure I throw off the white balance of cameras when photographed in the sun! So to have any sort of color to my skin is a bonus. I'm not sure if maybe the flash just bounced off my belly differently in the second photo or what, but hey, I'll take it! :-)


SO, I am told that if I keep drinking water, I might lose more in the next 72 hours! I will post an update tomorrow sometime, and let ya'll know! :-)

WRAP INFO:

  This particular wrap is by ItWorks!   and I got the wrap done by Alisha Devlin in Yuma. Hit her up on Facebook and say that I sent you, if you want to try it! It's $30 and I highly recommend it. 

Begin

So.....


I've made the most obvious first step in my fitness Journey. I started a blog about it. Because that's what everyone would do right? Similar to updating Facebook every time I got o the gym! Ha! It seems counterproductive, doesn't it?  I'm supposed to be out there getting into shape, not sitting in front of a computer! But in truth, my official journey does not start until Monday. (July 16th, 2012.)  So this is just another blog to most, but to me, this is my accountability, as well as that weekly (or daily, if I choose) reminder of my progress when I feel like I'm not making any. When I feel like giving up.

I don't expect to have any followers of this blog, but if I happen to inspire others with it, great! This is mostly for myself, as well as a means to share my progress with my Big Spoon (my husband) who is halfway around the world right now.  I have a goal of becoming a better woman for him, physically and emotionally.  This time that he is gone has and will continue to serve as a forge. I'm walking through the fire, and being tempered along the way. I will be 29 this year, and this year is meant to change me at my core, force me to finally grow up and be that woman in her 30s who is WAY better than she ever was in her teens and 20s.

The reason this is a bit mundane though, is I don't really have a great deal of weight to lose. Just 40 lbs. That's it.  That's my goal. Or if I don't lose 40 lbs, (because muscle weighs more than fat) I want to lose 8 dress sizes.  I know that there are so many others out there with more dramatic weight loss stories to tell. I know a few personally. Two people in my life who have lost more than 100 pounds. Me?  I'm just a mom who has a little bit of weight leftover from having children. I'm that woman who had the desk job for 11 years and the weight snuck up. I never had an eating problem, and I was never 'the fat kid'.  I could eat anything I wanted and not gain a pound until about the age of 19 or so.

Even now, I haven't watched my diet at all, and I haven't risen above 175. But I haven't lost much either. (5 pounds here or there, and it always comes back). But what I haven't had in my life in more than 10 years is exercise. More than the weight, I am morbidly out of shape. I can't walk up a small hill without becoming winded. Just getting up and playing with my kids makes me feel fatigued. Often times I send the Little Bug (my two year old daughter) away because I don't feel like jumping up, and dancing, or swinging her around. I just feel blah.  I know this needs to change.


Some might ask, well, why isn't that your exercise? Just get up and play. But I also need that 'me' time. If you're a mom you know that toddlers are also mentally exhausting. I feel like just getting out by myself and working out my stress while focusing soley on exercise and strengthening my body, will give me the jump start I need to have that energy later on.  I joined a gym last week, and my first visit happens Monday.  In the next couple of days I will post my before photos, measurements and goals. I will blog about my diet as well and my challenges. 


So there you have it. I'm a mom, trying to change. I type this as Little Bug sits in my lap, punching her little fists into my belly fat because it's jiggly and fun.  Yep. I need to do this. 


Over and out.