Guess who hit her goal today......?!?!?!

CAN YOU BELIEVE IT??? I'm THERE! I hit my Jenny Craig goal! Better yet, I went a pound PAST my goal! I haven't weighed this little since, I don't know, Junior High? Possibly High School?

I have officially lost 40.3 pounds in 23 weeks. I have also lost 24 inches overall. When I think about it, I'm really still in awe....this means that 5 months ago, I was carrying around 4 sacks of potatoes, and 2 feet-worth of fat around my body.

Looking back, I can say with complete honesty, I NEVER thought I'd get here. NEVER. I have done every single program on the planet: pills, shakes, points, starvation, high protein, high carb, protein/carb ratio'ing...everything. All along, I was hoping for some magical secret - some quick fix - some instant gratification...after all, it took me over 30 years to develop these bad eating habits and unhealthy lifestyle, why SHOULDN'T I have immediate results?!?! (See how RIDICULOUS that sounds???)

The truth is, once you get your head in the game - and that DOES take time - you CAN do this. I have been at least 20 pounds overweight my entire life...usually more. No, I've never been 100 pounds overweight, but the pain is just the same. We are bombarded with images of perfection everywhere we look, and we can sink so low into the fake reality, that we finally get ourselves to believe we're just going to have to settle for the crappy way we feel. Some of the things that were said to me and the names that I was called in my childhood/adolescence are still VERY much there, and VERY much real. And yes, part of me wants to go to every single one of those jerks that called me "747" and "Laura Fat Laura" (those really were a couple nicknames I had...) and strut my stuff, and honestly, give them a really, really inappropriate hand gesture. But, I'm going to take solace in the fact that I have done something they will never do - I did something about it. They're probably still jerks. Maybe we'll reunite on some Maury Povich episode....hahha!

I will continue to post as I make my way through Maintenance. It won't be as often (come on now, really, how often was I regular at this anyway? hahah!), but I want to keep committed to this...for both our sake's. This is a LIFESTYLE change, not a I-lost-my-weight-now-I'm-all-better type thing.

Thank you so much for your well-wishes and support along the way...I have to say, Jenny Craig's food and personal support really made this as easy as was in THEIR power, but I also worked my butt off! It wasn't always easy or simple, and it wasn't always painless, I will admit. But where I am right now...if I could talk to myself 5 months ago, I'd tell her, "Suck it up, do the work, show up, and you CAN do this!"

Now...tell YOURSELF this, and lets get goin!

Till next time,
xoxo
~L

Short and sweet....

Ok, so it's been TOOOO long since I updated you, and I apologize for my complete negligence of this! To spare you the gory details, I'll keep it short and sweet.

Last weigh-in, I GAINED a pound. A FULL POUND. Water retention, "cheating", cocktails...whatever the reason, I was HEATED. Mainly because the week prior, I was 1.7 pounds away from my own goal. Now, I'm up to 2.7 pounds...and that might as well be 30 pounds to me. So, last Monday, I vowed to work my butt off as well as stick to my program. BUT....once again, life happens.....

A holiday right in the middle of the week, 2 events, and a kajillion more things that I had to deal with this past week, didn't exactly make for an ideal "stick to the plan" plan! I did my best, even at another work party I had to attend on Friday...Saturday I power-shopped and had lunch with some girlfriends, and unfortunately, shopping had brought me to the point of STARVATION, so EVERYTHING on the menu called my name. I didn't make a great choice, but I did only have half of what was on my plate.

Now, I have NO idea what will happen at next weigh-in, and I have what may be the most stressful week of my life ahead of me. I'm pretty good with not "emotionally eating" any more, but I'm pretty sure there will be some situations in which I won't be able to "stick to the plan" all the time. I'll do what I can, and understand that I need to be a bit easier on myself, because I've been beating the hell outta myself since last Monday. It's DEFINITELY harder to lose weight when it's 30 degrees and snowing outside. There's just too much going on during the summer, ya know? UGH!

If anyone ever tells you making a HUGE lifestyle change is always going to be easy, run and get a ruler and smack the back of their hand...because THEY'RE LYING!!!

Onward....

Till next time,
~L