21 Month Update

Hi there my lovlies!!!!  I have missed posted on my blog.  But life always seems to get in the way!  LOL  I am busy chasing kids, being social and having fun!  Life is full of so many opportunities that i never realized I was missing at 338 pounds.  Hiking, biking, swimming wearing a bathing suit, wearing a pretty dress.  Dancing till I drop.  So many choices and so much life to live!  I am so glad I have a second chance to do it!!!

Here I am in my beautiful new dress dancing all night at my Moscow High School Class reunion.

 Here is Tim and I at the same event.  Who would have thought that I would ever look smaller than my husband?!?!?

That dress is a size Large.  WHAT?!?!?!  a large. Size 14  So hard to believe since I started out on this journey in a size 3x or 28.  Un-freakin-believable!!!!

Here is where we get the nitty gritty..... the numbers.  They don't lie!

Started weight:  338, Current weight: 185
Starting BMI: 55.4  Current BMI: 30.3
Starting Neck measurement:  16.25  Current: 13.25
Starting Bicept measurement: 16.75  Current: 13
Starting Wrist measurement: 7  Current: 6.25
Starting Bust measurement: 53.5  Current: 40.5
Starting Bra Size: 44DDD, Current Bra size: 36DDD
Starting Waist measurement: 53  Current: 37
Starting Hips measurement:  61  Current:  44.25
Starting Thigh measurement:  34  Current: 24.5
Starting Calf measurement:  20 Current: 15.25
Starting Ankle Measurement:  10 Current: 9

Total Weigh Lost: 153 pounds  
Total Inches lost:  68.5 inches ( 5 ft 8.5 inches)
Total BMI Points Lost: 25.1

Pictures to burn???

I recently was cleaning up some files on my computer and found some pictures.  These pictures are not pretty.  They are not flattering.  They are pictures that I would have most likely deleted if I had found them 2 years ago.  They make me cringe.  How did I ever get that Fat?  How did I ever not see myself in the mirror?  How did I believe myself when I would say "it isn't THAT bad"?

It WAS that bad.  It was worse than I imagined.  I lied to myself.  I lied to others.  I hid from the truth.  The sad sad truth.  I was fat.  Unhealthy. Dying inside my huge body.

But here is the thing..... I took a chance on me.  I made a huge decision to change my life.  I will never go back to that girl.  To that huge unhealthy body.  I will continue until I die to eat appropriate portions, choose my food wisely, and move my body.

For anyone reading this that is overweight, please consider making a change.  It *IS* that bad.  You do need to do something about it.  Stop lying to yourself.  Go find yourself a full length mirror.  Take your clothes off and stand in front of the mirror.  Jump up and down, bend over, twist, move.  If you don't like what you see then NOW is the time to change it.  Don't wait until you are 338 pounds.  Don't wait until you have no other options but surgical intervention.  You CAN change.  You can make better choices and get healthier.

And I will cheer you on, offer you support, and help motivate you in any way I can.  :)  Love yourself enough. I did.  And I will never regret loving myself enough to make a change!  <3

15 Month Update

I have been neglecting my blog.  I have just been so busy living my life.  LOL  But I thought  I would post a few pictures and my stats!

First the stats.

As of 1/19/13 (my 15 month anniversary)  I have lost:

141 pounds.  (started at 338, now 197)

23.1 BMI points

2.5 inches off my neck
10.5 inches off my bust
14 inches off my waist
13.75 inches off my hips
3.75 inches off my upper arm
.75 of an inch off my wrist
8.75 inches off my thigh
3.75 inches off my calf
.75 if an inch off my ankle

All of that adds up to a total loss of 58.5 inches.

CRAZY Crazy crazy!

Here is my latest side by sides!

:)  I am so happy with where I am and what I have accomplished!  I am only 32 pounds from my goal weight!  :)

165 I am coming for you!

10 Month Update!

10 months ago I was laying in recovery wondering "What the F*** have I done to myself?"  LOL  I was sore and the pain meds were not working very well.  I had to wear an oxygen mask because my sleep apnea and then the pain meds decreasing my breaths caused my oxygenation to dip into the 80s when I slept.  I was miserable, and then they wanted me to get up and walk.  Walking helps move the gas out of your system.  So walking I did.  Laps and laps around the ward and nurses station.  Endless laps!

Now I *know* "What the F*** I did to myself"... I got a new lease on life.  I got my energy back.  I got my health back. I got so many new levels of freedom that it is hard to even express!  So many Non Scale Victories too.  So many things that make my life 1000 times better than it was.  :)

Sometimes those NSVs are had to express but the pure numbers just don't lie!  As of today on my 10 months surgeversary:

I have lost 121 Pounds.
I have lost 19.8 BMI points
I have lost 2.25 Inches off my Neck
I have lost 2.5 Inches off my Upper Arm
I have lost 1/2 an Inch off my wrist
I have lost 9 Inches off my Bust
I have lost 10.25 Inches off my Waist
I have lost 11.25 Inches off my Hips
I have lost 7 Inches off my Thigh
I have lost 4 Inches off my Calf
I have lost 3/4 of an Inch off my ankle

Total Inches lost:  48.5 Inches!

I am super proud of my accomplishments and do not regret for one minute the surgery that changed my life for the better!!!

Working HARD for 3 pounds! 9 month update

My weight loss has slowed down.  I am still losing but it is at a much slower rate.  It is possible that the month of July is just harder for me to eat right since we have 4 birthdays to celebrate.... but really that is just an excuse.  I feel off the exercise wagon into a vat of potato chips!  LOL.  I have a feeling that this next month will be a bigger weight loss month for me.  But without further ado here are my numbers:



I started out at 338. This morning I weighed in at 225. Total loss of 113 pounds!

I started out at a BMI of 54.6. Today my BMI is 36.8. Total loss of 17.8 points!

I took all my measurements as well. Waist, Bust, Hip, Wrist, Neck, Upper Arm, Thigh, Calf & Ankle. The easiest way to illustrate the loss here is to add all the inches up and then show how many total inches I have lost.
I started at a total of inches 271.5. Today my total inches are 224.75 Total Loss of 46.75 inches!


I am amazed at those numbers.  It is unbelievable to me that there used to be 46 more inches of me...... where did I keep it?  113 pounds... how did I carry it?  UN- Believable!


I still have a ways to go.... My surgeon has set my "goal weight" at 175.  But as I have mentioned before that number leaves me in the "overweight" category on the BMI Charts.  That is just not acceptable to me.  I did not come this far to still be overweight.  I want to be at a normal BMI.  So MY GOAL is 150 pounds.  That puts me just under a healthy BMI number of 25.  Just under 12 BMI points left to lose.  That number seems less daunting than saying I have 75 pounds to lose.  :)  

This past weekend we went camping.  It is something that I have always loved to do with Tim and the kids.  Even though it was a whole lot of work and everything takes more effort... Oh you want a glass a milk... let me dig around to find a paper cup... then dig the milk out of the cooler, then pour the milk, and lastly make room in the cooler again for the milk now that the ice and water have taken up the space that the milk occupied just seconds ago. sigh.  It s exhausting writing and doing it!  LOL.  But I will tell you that being 113 pounds lighter and 46.75 inches smaller made the extra effort and hard work a little bit easier!  No.... a LOT easier!  I didn't get winded setting up camp.  I didn't sweat like a sinner in church all day long beng outside with no A/C.  I fit comfortably on the camp mattress with Tim and Harlie.  I was able to take a 2 mile bike ride with my family and Mason was the one who got too tired, instead of me.  We hiked up a hill that would have killed this former fat chick with ease to see Shadow Falls.  I was in all the pictures at the scenic views instead of waiting at the bottom of the hill.  :)  Amazing!  Amazing! Amazing!  


I have no regrets about surgery.  I only wish I would have done it sooner!

8 month update. 110 pounds GONE!

Just thought I would add my updated side by sides to show my progress.  110 pounds gone forever.  78 pounds to lose before I hit my goal.  Seems so far away today.

100 pounds

That is right, folks!!!!!  I hit a milestone in my weight loss journey.  I have FOREVER lost 100 pounds.  I don't ever want to find it. Ever.  It is forever gone.

100 pounds.

Hard to imagine right?!?!?  What does 100 pounds actually look like?  When you are losing weight it comes off gradually.  Well 6 1/2 months is pretty fast, but still... When I look in the mirror I still can't believe it.  When I shop for clothes I hold the size XL up and can not fathom that I can wear something so small.  But I can.  SO to help illustrate this HUGE milestone in my weight loss I tried to google what 100 pounds looks like.  I was surprised by what I found.  I was AMAZED actually!

This is what a 100 pound Pumpkin looks like.....

 Still too abstract?  

Ok..... how about 

a 100 pound baby Rhino?

Or a 100 pound baby Horse????

 I tried to find a 100 pound person, but to no avail.  So I had to make do with 2  50 pound people.  

Double Take Mason!

I get tired after giving Mason a Piggy back for only a few minutes.... how on earth did my body carry the equivalent of 2 Masons around all the time???????

Here is 100 pounds of silly putty.

Imagine all of that attached to my body!

Here is perhaps the most disturbing of all the pictures.... 

100 pounds of FAT!

I am proud of my accomplishment!  I will never again carry that extra weight.  It was holding me back in ways I did not even realize.  It has freed more that just my mobility... it has freed my confidence level, my self esteem and endless other ways.  <3