173 pounds on June 5th (5'2") (Stomach all gone!!)
Hi Everyone! This weekend has been a whirlwind of activity, so I didn't get to do my usual Monday housecleaning post. However, I have been taking pictures and videos left and right of various projects and activities that have been 'in the works.' I do hope to get them all posted in the next few days. So, what's on the 'schedule' for this week?Here are a few things that I've got almost ready to post.
Posts for This Week...and maybe a little into next week. :o)
- How to make a frugal tablescape...with before and after pictures. (and weekly cleaning challenge)
- How to use recycled plastic bottles to make planting in big planters and moving them an easier task.
- Tutorial: A Super Easy 30 minute circle skirt (like a poodle or square dance skirt) that requires no pattern and minimal sewing. Bonus: how to make your own bias tape!
- Great food storage tip that makes the most use of your freezer space and makes defrosting a snap!
- Sunday: The Secret to Pleasing a "Hard to Please" Hubby
Before and After Pictures
Today, I'm posting my first ever "Before and After" pictures, since I started my weight loss journey in April. I had to take the above photo myself, because the kids were already asleep. Sorry about the blurry image.
189 pounds on February 25 (5'2")
I looked pregnant from the side because my stomach was so big.
And the blouse was so tight in the bust that I could barely get it over my chest.
And the blouse was so tight in the bust that I could barely get it over my chest.
Progress Report on my Weight Loss Efforts
Here is a picture taken less than a month before I gave up junk food. I had just added the ruffle and widened the hips on this blouse on February 25th this year. I started dieting about a week after we started our weight loss blog, Gettin' Thin Together on April 11 so that was about April 18th or so. I took the first and last photos tonight, June 6th. So this has been the result of seven weeks of dieting. (Did I tell you I had no intentions of getting on a diet...I just started the blog to get some support. I thought I would never be able to get on a diet again and stay on it.
I am still pinching myself...is this real? To think I fought giving up junk food all these years! My conscious has always bugged me about it, but I just couldn't bring myself to give up the processed foods, snack foods, poor quality bread and pasta. Now, I don't want to do anything to jeopardize my freedom to choose good quality food at every meal. I never want to go back to enduring the old cravings that kept me hooked on junk.
No More Food Cravings!!
Since I started eating real food, I have not craved a speck of junk food. I can smell it, look at it, know how good it would taste..and still not eat it!! When you think of how much sense it makes that natural food (all original designs by God himself ) like vegetables, fruit, meat , and nuts are going to be good for you and that food made of man-made chemicals just might not be good for you, it makes you wonder why we never consider this switching to lose weight and regain our health!
All these years, I've been a prisoner of my appetites even when I was thin. Now, I'm free and I never feel the need to overeat. I'm so grateful to the Lord that he put the way of escape right in front of me. I truly believe that someday, I will, again, be able to eat a piece of pizza or have ice cream without it sending me into drug-like additive cravings, but I think my body needs to get completely healthy before that can safely happen.
Amazingly, I actually love water, fruit, vegetables, and lean meat now. I avoided them in the past, even though I loved the taste of them. It always seemed like cooking was too much trouble to mess with and I didn't 'crave' real food like I did toast, crackers, chips, and pasta.
Not only that but I have so much stamina and energy that I just can't believe it's real! The other night, I went square dancing with the children for the first time in several months. Normally, I would dance about two dances...then be exhausted and very over-heated. So I'd rest and sit out a dance, then join the next one. Even though it had been months since I'd danced, last night I was able to dance two solid hours with no breaks!! I was so full of energy that I was wide-eyed all the way home, even though we didn't get back from College Station until 1:30am. I NEVER NEED A NAP NOW! I have been off junk food since May 5th. That's not even two months! And I'm healthier and more energetic than I've been in my whole life.
Even if I never lost another pound, I'd never go back to eating like I did. Now that I know what was actually making me feel exhausted, emotional, stressed, and addicted, I just can't let it happen again. I look so different even after such a small weight loss that everyone who knows me wants to know what in the world I am doing. The crazy thing isthat it isn't that the weight loss is so large, but that my skin tone is so wonderful, my shape has smoothed out, and I'm so NOT bloated. I've lost so many inches that the brand new clothes I bought a month ago don't fit. (Several inches too big in the waist.) I've only lost seven pounds this month...and that's good...but I look like a different person. That never happened when I've dieted in the past.
So when people ask me what I'm doing to lose weight...I tell them..I don't count calories...I don't weigh anything....but I also don't overeat--and I don't even feel the urge too. I just always eat REAL food rather than man-made...i.e.a small piece of meat, a cheese stick, an orange or apple, broccoli spears in vinegar and oil, and an occasional cup of oatmeal or brown rice. The stomach monster seems to have been slain! Hurrah!
So, I thank the Lord every single day for answering my deepest heartfelt prayer...to not be overweight and to not be tired, sick, and embarrassed about how I look every moment of the day. To look really trim even though I do still weigh 174...is just astonishing! I never looked good at that weight before and I think I look so much better now because all the junk and chemicals are out of my system. I look and feel younger than I ever have...even though I am overweight. That's as big a miracle as I can imagine. I have hope now and am not afraid of the future and being stuck with excess weight. Even if it took three years to lose all my weight, I wouldn't care, because I've got most of the benefits of being thin..already!
If you are like me and struggling with weight...and maybe have given up hope of ever losing it, and if you haven't considered giving up processed foods yet and are still struggling with a desire for food, please do give it a shot, even if just for a week or two. I wish I had known how much it would help me years ago to give up the junk and not feel compelled to overeat. If you would like more encouragement, then drop by our weightloss blog. We would love to hear from you at Gettin' Thin Together!
Happy Homemaking.....
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