Hump Day Happies....

Two posts in one week!?!! I'm on a roll!!  Today's edition of Hump Day Happies is based on my new "lifestyle change" which is what everyone is calling diets these days. ;o)  I need to come up with something different....like the "I finally get it" or the "answer that has been there all along if I just would have listened in the first place".  I'll think about it some more. 

This week I hit a total of 30 pounds lost since started on my weightloss journey.  It took a lot of hard work, lots of sweaty workouts, and some tears.  This is a big deal for me.  HUGE.  I am still hoping to lose another 50 pounds or so but seeing the results I've gotten in 3 short months is a huge motivator for me. 

I posted this photo on my instagram yesterday. 

The jeans are different but the black top and grey sweater are te same in both pictures.  crazy right??

I was so embarrassed to do it, but I did.  I honestly don't know how or when I let myself get that big.  It's scary.  My friends were all so surprised and left me nice encouraging comments.  I had people text me and ask how I did it and if I could help them.  It felt great!

I've lost all the weight by working out doing cardio and weight lifting.  I HATE cardio and LOVE lifting so I tend to do that more.  I do at least 30 minutes a day on my elliptical, before we found it on Craig's List I used to just jog/walk with B everynight.   

I started the year at 214 pounds.  I can't believe I just put that in writing on the internets for goodness sakes!  I stopped and started working out about 3 different times throughout the first half of the year.  On June 4th I finally started and stuck with it.  

I was to the point that I was completely unhappy with the way I looked....despite what I would tell others.  I have always looked for the "easy" to lose weight.  I've tried just about every fad diet...twice!  I even went so far as to contact my insurance to see if I was a candidate for weight loss surgery.  Unfortunately I was....so I made an appointment to start the process.  Then I looked at my daughter.  Who like me stuggles with her weight.  We don't have "skinny genes" and please don't start with the "no one does, everyone has to work at it and blah blah blah" because trust me I have the friends that eat like crap and are still rail thin.  Just sayin'.  Any who as I was saying....I looked at my daughter and thought "what message am I sending her if I have this surgery?"  Will she grow up and think the only way for her to lose weight is if she has surgery too?  I'm not knocking anyone who has had surgery to help....I just realized it isn't for me.  It's not the lesson that I want to teach B who is 13 and struggles with her body image. 

My B who was born with her mother's big booty and thick thighs.  My daughter who is more fit than a lot of grown men I know and can do squats with her 214 pound mother on her back.  My beautiful little girl who can lift a 90 pound girl in the air, on her own.  She spends 4 hours in the cheer gym practicing 3 days a week (off-season) and countless hours practicing during competition season.  But has to hear at every doctors visit that her "weight" is higher than it should be.  Last time I checked the scale didn't account for muscle mass but I digress.  So I started this journey to show my baby girl that we may not have the "skinny gene" but we damn sure have the "kick ass gene".  

Until next time.....ADIOS!!