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Two Years Today is a big day in my Weight Watchers life.  Today is my two year anniversary of making the decision to change my life.  (Hold on to your britches folks, this one’s a long one!) I had been keeping my eye on this day on the calendar for about two weeks now and have been mulling it over quite a bit. One year ago today I posted THIS post.  A lot of what I said in that post still rings true today.  Example, it amazes me every day that I actually stuck with it this long.  I think I may be world renowned, well known among friends and family for having a short attention span for projects.  So the fact that I have stuck this out for two whole years is HUGE!  Another thing I noticed was my weight one year ago and my weight today.  I am actually three pounds heavier that I was one year ago.  Am I sad about this? You bet. But a part of me is happy it isn’t more.  Sure, I haven’t lost weight in the past year.  But you know what? If I weren’t on Weight Watchers I can promise you that I would have gained WAY more than that in one year.  I’m pretty proud of myself that I was able to more or less maintain my weight for a year.  I realize that I’m not at my goal weight and still have a loooooong way to go, but it gives me hope that when I DO reach that goal weight, that I will be able to maintain for the rest of my life.   I haven’t posted about my measurements in quite a long time.  I still take them about once a month and have definitely noticed some change.  I figured today would be a perfect day to take a look at them again. Because even though I technically have gained weight this past year, I have lost inches off my body which is also important! Neck: 2.25 inches lost Bust: 7 inches lost Arms: 3 inches lost off each Wrists: 1 inch lost off each Waist: 11.5 inches lost Hips: 8 inches lost Thighs: 4.5 inches lost off each Dress Size: 4 sizes down Pants Size: 3 sizes down (alllllmost four) Shoe Size: 1 size down In the past year alone I have lost half an inch off my hips, half an inch off my waist, half an inch off my bust and 1 inch off each of my thighs. Another big change this year is my activity level.  I was barely doing Wii Fit workouts last year and now I’m doing Zumba, Couch 2 5K, and Boxing Circuits.  And the huge thing is that I’m actually enjoying it!  The ActiveLink has been a great addition to my Weight Watchers lifestyle and has done wonders with getting my daily activity up. (Look for a post next week about this as I’m just finishing up my 3 month challenge!) This past year has been a big one for me.  I celebrated several weddings, visited Alaska, Aruba and Louisiana, mourned three deaths of important people close to me, saw friends have babies, turned 29, and generally had a busy year. Previously this would not have resulted in maintaining my weight.   One thought I often have is how happy I am that I joined Weight Watchers.  Has it been hard work? You bet! Is it worth it? 100 percent, not a doubt in my body, YES. I am SO proud of myself for getting this far.  I still have a long way to go, but I have changed so much about myself that I just can’t help but be proud.   I also think about how lucky I am to have such a wonderful support system around me.  My friends and family have been behind me 100% from the very first day I joined WW.  They cheer me on, give me support, check in on my progress and unconditionally love me.  And all you fantastic reader who keep me accountable, cheer me on, and keep me motivated!  My husband though…..all the awards go to him.  I can’t even write a complete sentence without restarting because the words aren’t enough.  He has done everything in his power to support this goal of mine. Even when that means I’m getting up at 4.30a to work out, stumbling around the dark apartment tripping on things and therefore waking him up at 4.30. Or trying new recipes that aren’t delicious but are still healthy and still eating it anyway. He is especially wonderful when I get super hangry (hungry and therefore angry) and he knows its time to find me food and doesn’t take it personally when I say things I don’t really mean.  I’m looking forward to the coming year. I know that I will not reach my end goal this year but I know that I am making progress.  I am continuing to change my life each day for the better.  I am looking forward to making more progress with my fitness levels.  I can’t tell you how excited I will be to finally be able to run a mile!  And this is the year that I am going to do it! Someday I want to run a marathon, but right now I’m focusing on one mile.   Weight Watchers works.  Let’s do this!

Two Years

Today is a big day in my Weight Watchers life.  Today is my two year anniversary of making the decision to change my life.  (Hold on to your britches folks, this one’s a long one!)

I had been keeping my eye on this day on the calendar for about two weeks now and have been mulling it over quite a bit.

One year ago today I posted THIS post.  A lot of what I said in that post still rings true today.  Example, it amazes me every day that I actually stuck with it this long.  I think I may be world renowned, well known among friends and family for having a short attention span for projects.  So the fact that I have stuck this out for two whole years is HUGE! 

Another thing I noticed was my weight one year ago and my weight today.  I am actually three pounds heavier that I was one year ago.  Am I sad about this? You bet. But a part of me is happy it isn’t more.  Sure, I haven’t lost weight in the past year.  But you know what? If I weren’t on Weight Watchers I can promise you that I would have gained WAY more than that in one year.  I’m pretty proud of myself that I was able to more or less maintain my weight for a year.  I realize that I’m not at my goal weight and still have a loooooong way to go, but it gives me hope that when I DO reach that goal weight, that I will be able to maintain for the rest of my life.  

I haven’t posted about my measurements in quite a long time.  I still take them about once a month and have definitely noticed some change.  I figured today would be a perfect day to take a look at them again. Because even though I technically have gained weight this past year, I have lost inches off my body which is also important!

  • Neck: 2.25 inches lost
  • Bust: 7 inches lost
  • Arms: 3 inches lost off each
  • Wrists: 1 inch lost off each
  • Waist: 11.5 inches lost
  • Hips: 8 inches lost
  • Thighs: 4.5 inches lost off each
  • Dress Size: 4 sizes down
  • Pants Size: 3 sizes down (alllllmost four)
  • Shoe Size: 1 size down

In the past year alone I have lost half an inch off my hips, half an inch off my waist, half an inch off my bust and 1 inch off each of my thighs.

Another big change this year is my activity level.  I was barely doing Wii Fit workouts last year and now I’m doing Zumba, Couch 2 5K, and Boxing Circuits.  And the huge thing is that I’m actually enjoying it!  The ActiveLink has been a great addition to my Weight Watchers lifestyle and has done wonders with getting my daily activity up. (Look for a post next week about this as I’m just finishing up my 3 month challenge!)

This past year has been a big one for me.  I celebrated several weddings, visited Alaska, Aruba and Louisiana, mourned three deaths of important people close to me, saw friends have babies, turned 29, and generally had a busy year. Previously this would not have resulted in maintaining my weight.  

One thought I often have is how happy I am that I joined Weight Watchers.  Has it been hard work? You bet! Is it worth it? 100 percent, not a doubt in my body, YES. I am SO proud of myself for getting this far.  I still have a long way to go, but I have changed so much about myself that I just can’t help but be proud.  

I also think about how lucky I am to have such a wonderful support system around me.  My friends and family have been behind me 100% from the very first day I joined WW.  They cheer me on, give me support, check in on my progress and unconditionally love me.  And all you fantastic reader who keep me accountable, cheer me on, and keep me motivated! 

My husband though…..all the awards go to him.  I can’t even write a complete sentence without restarting because the words aren’t enough.  He has done everything in his power to support this goal of mine. Even when that means I’m getting up at 4.30a to work out, stumbling around the dark apartment tripping on things and therefore waking him up at 4.30. Or trying new recipes that aren’t delicious but are still healthy and still eating it anyway. He is especially wonderful when I get super hangry (hungry and therefore angry) and he knows its time to find me food and doesn’t take it personally when I say things I don’t really mean. 

I’m looking forward to the coming year. I know that I will not reach my end goal this year but I know that I am making progress.  I am continuing to change my life each day for the better.  I am looking forward to making more progress with my fitness levels.  I can’t tell you how excited I will be to finally be able to run a mile!  And this is the year that I am going to do it! Someday I want to run a marathon, but right now I’m focusing on one mile.  

Weight Watchers works.  Let’s do this!

Love!
Makeup
Squeee!!!
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And in other news, I forgot to post pictures from the date night my husband planned last month. My grandpa died two days after so it got pushed to the wayside.  

So about a month ago, Jeremiah took me on a fancy date!  He had been planning it for months and I had absolutely no idea what we were doing. Because he was gone so much this summer his boss told him to have a date night out on the town as a bonus. He told to wear a dress so I knew it was kind of fancy. I also knew we had dinner reservations and some other type of reservations. 

I had so much fun getting ready! I felt like I was going on an actual date with a stranger! My friend Laurie offered to do my makeup so we had fun hanging out getting pretty.  The picture above she took to show off her skills.  We then got dressed and headed out!  

We took a cab downtown and had dinner at Wildfire, one of my favorites!  So SO good!  

Then, I was 100% shocked when I found out he had gotten tickets to opening weekend of The Book of Mormon!!!! Oh. Em. Gee.  I had been wanting to go SO bad!  He got us great seats as well!  It was absolutely amazing!  If you live in the Chicago area, you should make an effort to see it.  Tickets are sold out until March, but they still have some available before it closes in June.  I have been jamming to the soundtrack for the last month.  

Anyway, it was a fantastic date.  It was so fun to get dressed up with my husband and spend the evening doing something we don’t normally do. And such a wonderful surprise! 

I’m really looking forward to this next chapter in our lives. But part of me is sad to say goodbye to this home. The past three years have been such great ones and so many memories were created in this apartment. Both our kittens came home here, we have hosted many fun dinner parties and non dinner parties, Jeremiah proposed in the living room (the picture above was right afterwards), we planned our wedding here, brought home wedding presents, had wonderful houseguests, watched a lot of movies, cooked many many many meals in the kitchen, Jeremiah played lots of songs on the drums and guitar, there was LOTS of laughter, a few tears here and there, many drunken nights, holes in the walls, and after adventures around the world we looked forward to coming home here, there was dancing and singing and lots of sleeping, Christmas trees, laser kittens, jumping kittens and parkour-ing kittens, lots of beer and wine and whiskey and champagne, sleepovers with friends, poker nights, late night talks, and so much more. To sum it up, this was our first home and it was filled with so much love. I’m excited to move forward but I’m so sad to say goodbye.

I’m really looking forward to this next chapter in our lives. But part of me is sad to say goodbye to this home. The past three years have been such great ones and so many memories were created in this apartment.

Both our kittens came home here, we have hosted many fun dinner parties and non dinner parties, Jeremiah proposed in the living room (the picture above was right afterwards), we planned our wedding here, brought home wedding presents, had wonderful houseguests, watched a lot of movies, cooked many many many meals in the kitchen, Jeremiah played lots of songs on the drums and guitar, there was LOTS of laughter, a few tears here and there, many drunken nights, holes in the walls, and after adventures around the world we looked forward to coming home here, there was dancing and singing and lots of sleeping, Christmas trees, laser kittens, jumping kittens and parkour-ing kittens, lots of beer and wine and whiskey and champagne, sleepovers with friends, poker nights, late night talks, and so much more.

To sum it up, this was our first home and it was filled with so much love. I’m excited to move forward but I’m so sad to say goodbye.

So, I’ve been feeling pretty low about my weight loss lately.  I’m sure you can tell that this stupid rut/plateau has been really frustrating me. I’m glad I haven’t gained much, but I really would like to get back to losing.   Anyway, I decided to flip back through my Facebook photos and I realized that you can REALLY see the difference 50 pounds makes, especially in my face! I just can’t get over it. It really makes me feel much better about how far I’ve come. I haven’t ever done one of these, but I figured I would post some pictures so you can see the difference! The first photo was from my bachelorette party, hence the crown, in October of 2010.  The second was from our trip to India this Christmas, hence the tikka and bindi!  Also, don’t mind the low picture quality of the first one! 

So, I’ve been feeling pretty low about my weight loss lately.  I’m sure you can tell that this stupid rut/plateau has been really frustrating me. I’m glad I haven’t gained much, but I really would like to get back to losing.  

Anyway, I decided to flip back through my Facebook photos and I realized that you can REALLY see the difference 50 pounds makes, especially in my face! I just can’t get over it. It really makes me feel much better about how far I’ve come.

I haven’t ever done one of these, but I figured I would post some pictures so you can see the difference!

The first photo was from my bachelorette party, hence the crown, in October of 2010.  The second was from our trip to India this Christmas, hence the tikka and bindi!  Also, don’t mind the low picture quality of the first one! 

Great start!

I genuinely loath the days that I have to be at work at 8.  Usually I don’t need to be there until 11 so getting up that early suuuuuucks. 

But today I woke up before my alarm (since I went to sleep at 10!) and was able to get up and shower before my husband needed it.  After getting ready I got dinner started in the crock pot.  I’m making Kalua Pork in the crock pot. I’m SUPER excited about the recipe. I’m trying it for the first time but a couple of my friends have made it and said its out of this world awesome.  Check out the recipe HERE! 

Anyway, I got that started, had half of my breakfast and packed up the other half to eat at work.  Then there was zero traffic so I was able to stop at Starbucks and pick up a grande non fat gingerbread latte with no whip!  See how happy it made me?!

So yeah, I would say its a great start to the day!  Hope you all have a great start as well!

I’ll tell you a secret.

So, my husband and I got married in January.  I adore our wedding photographer and he took some AMAZING photographs of the big day.  The problem?

Now, after losing 40 pounds, I already hate our wedding pictures.  

This makes me terribly sad.  I really wish I had gotten the motivation to lose weight before the wedding. But I didn’t. So I have all of these wonderful memories of the day.  It was perfect.  I had the best day of my life.  But the documentation doesn’t match my memories.  I see the photos all time time….facebook, the walls of our apartment, my office, etc.  I feel two things when I see them. One, sadness. And two? Major motivation to keep going.  

I have decided that my wedding dress is going to be one of two ‘before’ outfits. The first is the outfit I was wearing on the day I joined WW.  Work pants, green tee shirt and argyle cardigan.  I took my first photos in that outfit so even though the pants don’t fit anymore, I’m holding on to them to do comparisons.  

Anyway, back to the wedding dress.  As you can see from the photos below (side note: some of those are not from my photographer, hence the poor quality) the dress fit me like I glove. It was altered to do so… so I feel like it is a perfect way to track my progress.  I can’t wait to try it on one day and have it literally swallow me up. 

I have been feeling pretty blue lately that the pounds haven’t been coming off like I want them to.  I really need to step up my game.  So this morning after I weighed myself and didn’t see any change, I decided to try on my wedding dress.  It has been stuffed in the back of our closet, still in the garment bag I put it in the morning after the wedding, hem full of dirt and grime. I thought it might be a little loose.

Boy, was I shocked when it was SUPER loose!  On our wedding day I had to suck it in a little bit to zip up the zipper…but this morning there was so much extra fabric that I could zip it up no problem, all by myself!  So much extra fabric that if I had been at a wedding dress shop they would have had to pull out the giant clips to make it fit properly in the back! (They never needed those when I was trying on dresses…)  The straps were falling off and the hem was a solid 2 inches too long.  I know I didn’t shrink, and I didn’t wear heels at the wedding, so I know that the 40 pounds made the difference.  

I didn’t take any pictures because I hadn’t showered yet and my curly hair looked a bit like Josh Groban’s hair all matted down. But the next time I’m feeling low, I’m doing the same thing (plus, what bride doesn’t love to try on her wedding dress??) and I’ll snap a pic or two.  I did however, take a moment to watch the wedding photos that are the screensaver for our TV and pay attention to how different the dress looks now.  It definitely made me feel better.  

So, I will leave you with a couple photos, both good and bad, from our wedding. 

This one is the back of my dress

My absolute favorite from the day….

Another favorite…partly because of my red shoes, but partly because you don’t notice my weight.

Working on my bustle…..fat face :(

Part of our Greek Orthodox ceremony - the Dance of Isaiah. 

This photo makes me cry the way my dad is looking at me and how happy and excited I am, but I hate my arms so much that I never printed it out.