Have you lost weight?

Why, yes, yes I have.  25 pounds now.  Oh momma it feels good to be able to fit into some pants I have been holding onto for....um...five years now.

How did you do it?
Well, I stopped getting pregnant for one.  Yeah, that helped a lot! You see, I was at the 188 mark when I first discovered that I was Pregnant with Hannah, that was after the 5 pounds I have gained and not lost from my prior pregnancy, the child I miscarried.  With Hannah I retained ever ounce of water I consumed and was near pre-clampsia, had high blood sugar and skyrocket to 257 pounds.  I dropped 30 pounds the day I delivered my precious oldest daughter and balanced out to a 212 average when I learned that I was pregnant with Zechi a whole 6 months later.  With Zechi, I reached a high of 248, and quickly dropped to a 196 by his first birthday.  And then my not so little Miss Tabitha (my whopping 11 lb. newborn mind you) was my least of pregnancy weight gains and I reached 238.  And now, here I am, a mother of a 4 year old, a 2 1/2 year old and a big old 1 year old and have returned to a happy 186 pounds!

I oh so desperately wanted to loose 20 pounds before my 30 birthday, but turns out that is next to impossible when your birthday is the day after Christmas and is preempted by Halloween, Thanksgiving and Christmas goodies, and so here I am...6 pounds away from my goal weight.  Maybe 11 pounds if I feel ambitious and up the anti on my exercise regime this summer once the school/work craziness settles down a bit. 

Oh, sorry back to answering the question:
For Lent this year I went on a Veggie fast, giving up all meats and dropped 15 pounds almost instantly.  Then, I caved, gained 5 pounds back but managed to hand out in the 190's.  Then I went on a mud run with my dad feeling good about my weight loss, got a few pictures back and was horrified at my appearance in them! So, I began jogging a 3 mile route that I mapped out in my neighborhood 2-3 nights a week as possible (because let's me honest, I am the mother of three young children and my schedule isn't as routine as I would like sometimes.)

The next step was difficult.  Give up the sweets.  Here's what I mean-I ate at least 2 chocolate chip cookies each day, a handful of candy and guzzled Chocolate milk like no bodies business.  No more.

Then I gave up the post-dinner meal around 11:00 pm at night and started to go to bed earlier...not much earlier, but earlier.

Lastly, I added the Loose IT! app on my new smart phone and started counting calories like a Nazi.  I make a spinach, kale, wheat grass, orange and Flax Seed shake every morning that I choke down for breakfast and Lunch and limit my intake of protein for dinner. 

So basically diet and self control have been improved tremendously over the past month and the weigh tis shedding off.  Now when I see that piece of Candy laying around or that treat hanging out in the teacher's lounge I honestly think of how rewarding it is to step on the scale and consider the calories in that moment of sweetness to not be worth it!

So here's to getting off all the baby weight, and taking charge of my life again through self control! Hopefully soon I can see a picture of me and actually like the image looking back!