Crossing a Few things of the 'ol 101

                                             Start Jan. 1st 2010 completed by Sept. 28th 2012

1.start a journal for each of the girls and write them a letter once a month.

2. Finish Charleigh's scrapbook

 3. Make Rylee's scrapbook

 4. Do a walk for a cause x2

 5. Put away $1.00 a day for 1000 days then spend it on a trip.

6. Learn to play golf.

7. Put away $1.00 a day for the girls for christmas next year 2010. Repeat for 2011 and 2012

8. Tell chris & the girls I love them when Im upset with them.

9. Read 50 new books (11/50)

10. Try 10 new recipes (5/10)

11. Exercise everyday except Sunday (In progress)

12.join and attend church

13. Get the girls involved in chruch

14 Write my friends a letters

15. Take more me time

16. Find a sitter & go on date night once a month.

17. Make a list of my 101 favorite songs

18. Blog at least once a month

19. Make a family scrapbook

20.  Take a picture of the 101's that mean the most

21. Go for a hike

22. Take a picture of myself every 30 days to see my work out progress

23. No more soda

24. Learn how to crochet/knit

25. No eating out during the week

26. Take a picture of my girls at least once a month

27. Make homemade cards for b-days and holidays

28. Find a pen pal

29. Volunteer 10 times

30. buy a fireproof box, fill it with personal items like the girls hospital bracelets and t-shirts

31. Keep a journal and write in it everyday

32. Make another 101 list before the end of this one

33. Send a card to: someone I know, someone I don't, and someone I love

34. Explore Kansas

35. Donate to charity

36. Take a cake decorating class

37. Dance in the rain with my girls (Do this more often!)

38. Have a dinner in with chris

39. Drink 2 glasses of water a day( Keep this up)

40. Throw a party other than a b-day party

41.write a love note and mail it to chris

42. Find something to collect

43. Campout in the yard 3 times

44. Have an outdoor movie night

45.make 3 new friends

46. Ignore the negative, concentrate on the possitive

47. Go on a weekend get away just me and my mom

48. Perform 5 random acts of kidness

49. Do something good for the earth

50.do something I haven't done since I was a kid

51. Write my mom a letter

52. Start and keep a girls night out once a month

53. write my memere a letter every month

54. Lose the baby weight!!

55. Be more confident

56. Attend story time at the library once a month

57. Get another tattoo (Plan for Christmas?)

58. Go to a dance class

59.go to a wine tasting

60. Buy 10 new nail polishes

61. paint my nails once a month

62. Send a care package to a solider I don't know

63. Read the bible front to back

64. Find 20 bible verses that mean something to me

65. Complete 200 miles in 300 days

66. Make a list of 100 reasons of why I love chris and give it to him (In progress)

67. Teach Charleigh a dance routine and let her perform it (Does the Dougie Count?)

68. Dance like crazy 1 day a week

69.sing at the top of my lungs to my favorite songs

70. Start a chain letter for kids with stickers! (In Progress)

71. Have a spa day

72. Try a new resturant

73. Buy a new ipod

74. Learn a new word every day and use it

75. Go on a honeymoon finally!

76. Be able to run a mile without dying

77. Pray everyday at meal time w/the girls

78. Take and send out a family photo

79. Decorate for every holiday

80. Stop living in sweat pants (can only wear them 1 day a week)

81. Host a cookie exchange party

82. Read a night time story every night

83. Rekindle an old friendship

84. Host a playdate once a month

85. Go back to school for early childhood edu.

86. Get charleigh and rylee in a mommy's day out program (Preschool) 

87. Take vitamins everyday

88. Get the girls baptized

89. Go on a double date 5 times

90. Do not buy any more sweats (I take this one back....I lost weight I HAD to buy new ones lol)

91. Spend more on my self

92. No more impuls buys

93.buy and wear more earrings

94. Buy and learn to walk in heals (again)

95.lose 50 lbs and reward myself

96. Follow through with # 95

97. Spend a whole day in bed as a family

98. Learn to not stress out so much

99. Realize that its ok that the laundrys not done, toys all over the floor and dinners not ready and its 7pm....its OK (Finally I am ok with this!)

100. Pay myself $1.00 for every accomplished item

101. Pay chris $1.00 for every item I don't

I DID IT!!!!!

Ladies and Genetlemen, I have reached my goal weight! In Jan I started a journey to lose 50 lbs before the next new year, To go from 189 lbs to 139 lbs.

Today, Aug. 18th I weighed in at 138.6 lbs!

This journey has taught me a lot, there were times I wanted to give up, and there were times I thought I was never going to reach my goal. But I am proof that hard work and determination will get you to where you want to be! I am so excited and so very much proud of myself!

As a little challenge, I want to keep up the hard work and lose 4 more pounds. Just to keep up the momentum! I will be posting Before and After Pictures in the next couple of days :)

Workout

When ever I start to work out (or mid workout) I start to wonder how I look. Im sure most people wonder how they look when they workout, but I always wonder if I have correct form, or mostly if I just look like an idiot! LOL
Last night I decided to have Chris take pictures of me working out....I am on Level 3 of the Shredded in 30 by Jillian Michael's. Its one tough workout!

Lung w/ab twist

Sledge Hammer

Squat Jumping jacks

"Washing Machine" like they made you do in Elementary!

Plank Twist

Stork pose with rows?

Same

Downward Dog push ups

Lunge Jumps :/

Ab Hold

So I guess I don't look tooooooo bad working out :)

What is the reason behind it?

One of my most asked questions that I get whenever I run into someone I haven't seen in a while is, "Where did you find your motivation?"  "What made you want to lose weight?" or "Why". I guess its hard for people to understand why or my reasoning behind my weight loss, but its a question I get regularly. What is my answer? It's kinda long but I haven't really found the "short" answer to it.

Growing up I was always skinny, skin and bones for the most part. It wasn't until the end of my senior year that there was more meat on my bones, but even then I was still skinny. Toping the scale the summer after graduation at 124 lbs. It wasn't until after that first year after high school that I slowly started to gain weight. I probably hit about 145-150 before I got pregnant with Charleigh. After Rylee was born I took a back seat, here I had a newborn and a 16 mo. old. Last fall/winter I hit a rough patch, I think I went through a little bit of depression, and just quit caring about myself. I ate everything in front of me and hit a whopping 189 lbs. One day I was shopping for an outfit and I had a breakdown and cried in a dressing room, the size 16 pants were getting tight, and the XL shirts were barley fitting me. I couldn't believe how far I had let myself go. I sat crying in that dressing room for about 10 minutes. Left the clothes and vowed to NEVER go shopping again!

About a week later I stumbled across a blog post, Glamour Glory, This exact post. Here was a girl, about the same age as me, with a child the same age as Charleigh, She had lost 51 lbs. and looked amazing, and she was local! I started to follow her blog and by the end of the month I had realized that I too could do the same.  I decided that I was done with being sad about how I looked, tired of not looking the way I wanted and was done with the excuses. I found myself hiding from people I knew in stores, hiding from camera's, and not really leaving the house. I wanted to be my old skinny self again and have confidence in myself instead of hiding from myself. I was just sick of myself. I think that it was necessary for me to hit my low point to really want my transformation. Reyna kept me motivated with her blog and video's, my own weight loss throughout has kept me motivated and my followers, friends and family have kept me motivated. I am 1 pound from my goal that I started on 1/1/11, but I feel amazing, I love being in my own skin, I love the way I look and I have confidence again.

I am always getting messages and emails from people asking for my help and advice to get started, I tell them some great workouts, supplements, and diet advice, most understand that part but the one piece of advice that is most important always seems to be overlooked.....You have to be ready to NOT accept excuses from yourself. You have to want it more than anything, you have to MAKE yourself go out and workout or eat right. NO MORE EXCUSES!!!! You have to be hard on yourself and have willpower. If you can't do this then its not worth anyone's time or money to start. It's tough advice but it's the truth!

Now 8 months later I love to try clothes on, am obsessed with taking pictures of me, and can't wait to see someone I haven't seen in a while! Its amazing what a little willpower and motivation to be healthy can do!

101 Update

I found my paper list today, it has been hiding from me....I was looking through it and I realized that I have more to cross off!

Start Jan. 1st 2010 completed by Sept. 28th 2012

1.start a journal for each of the girls and write them a letter once a month.

2. Finish Charleigh's scrapbook

 3. Make Rylee's scrapbook

 4. Do a walk for a cause x2

 5. Put away $1.00 a day for 1000 days then spend it on a trip.

6. Learn to play golf.

7. Put away $1.00 a day for the girls for christmas next year 2010. Repeat for 2011 and 2012

8. Tell chris & the girls I love them when Im upset with them.

9. Read 50 new books (11/50)

10. Try 10 new recipes (3/10)

11. Exercise everyday except Sunday (In progress)

12.join and attend church

13. Get the girls involved in chruch

14 Write my friends a letters

15. Take more me time

16. Find a sitter & go on date night once a month.

17. Make a list of my 101 favorite songs

18. Blog at least once a month

19. Make a family scrapbook

20.  Take a picture of the 101's that mean the most

21. Go for a hike

22. Take a picture of myself every 30 days to see my work out progress

23. No more soda

24. Learn how to crochet/knit

25. No eating out during the week

26. Take a picture of my girls at least once a month

27. Make homemade cards for b-days and holidays

28. Find a pen pal

29. Volunteer 10 times

30. buy a fireproof box, fill it with personal items like the girls hospital bracelets and t-shirts

31. Keep a journal and write in it everyday

32. Make another 101 list before the end of this one

33. Send a card to: someone I know, someone I don't, and someone I love

34. Explore Kansas

35. Donate to charity

36. Take a cake decorating class

37. Dance in the rain with my girls (Do this more often!)

38. Have a dinner in with chris

39. Drink 2 glasses of water a day( Keep this up)

40. Throw a party other than a b-day party

41.write a love note and mail it to chris

42. Find something to collect

43. Campout in the yard 3 times

44. Have an outdoor movie night

45.make 3 new friends

46. Ignore the negative, concentrate on the possitive

47. Go on a weekend get away just me and my mom

48. Perform 5 random acts of kidness

49. Do something good for the earth

50.do something I haven't done since I was a kid

51. Write my mom a letter

52. Start and keep a girls night out once a month

53. write my memere a letter every month

54. Lose the baby weight!!

55. Be more confident

56. Attend story time at the library once a month

57. Get another tattoo (Plan for Christmas?)

58. Go to a dance class

59.go to a wine tasting

60. Buy 10 new nail polishes

61. paint my nails once a month

62. Send a care package to a solider I don't know

63. Read the bible front to back

64. Find 20 bible verses that mean something to me

65. Complete 200 miles in 300 days

66. Make a list of 100 reasons of why I love chris and give it to him (In progress)

67. Teach Charleigh a dance routine and let her perform it (Does the Dougie Count?)

68. Dance like crazy 1 day a week

69.sing at the top of my lungs to my favorite songs

70. Start a chain letter for kids with stickers! (In Progress)

71. Have a spa day

72. Try a new resturant

73. Buy a new ipod

74. Learn a new word every day and use it

75. Go on a honeymoon finally!

76. Be able to run a mile without dying

77. Pray everyday at meal time w/the girls

78. Take and send out a family photo

79. Decorate for every holiday

80. Stop living in sweat pants (can only wear them 1 day a week)

81. Host a cookie exchange party

82. Read a night time story every night

83. Rekindle an old friendship

84. Host a playdate once a month

85. Go back to school for early childhood edu.

86. Get charleigh and rylee in a mommy's day out program (Preschool) 

87. Take vitamins everyday

88. Get the girls baptized

89. Go on a double date 5 times

90. Do not buy any more sweats (I take this one back....I lost weight I HAD to buy new ones lol)

91. Spend more on my self

92. No more impuls buys

93.buy and wear more earrings

94. Buy and learn to walk in heals (again)

95.lose 50 lbs and reward myself

96. Follow through with # 95

97. Spend a whole day in bed as a family

98. Learn to not stress out so much

99. Realize that its ok that the laundrys not done, toys all over the floor and dinners not ready and its 7pm....its OK (Finally I am ok with this!)

100. Pay myself $1.00 for every accomplished item

101. Pay chris $1.00 for every item I don't

 

My Husband's Progress

It definitely helps me to have my number one support there losing weight, and working hard along side of me. He helps me find my motivation, keeps me on track and helps me when I am at my weak moments. He is amazing and has done a great job himself. Here are my husband progress pics. 

He wouldn't be him without one Goofy Pic:

I love him!

Hurray for new Jeans!

  Tonight I went to the mall just to look around with my husband, I went into Vanity to look at their jeans since they were having a sale. The sales girl comes up and asks me If I would like to try a pair on, I
hesitated and said "I'm really not sure what size I wear" She kinda giggled at me and said "How do you not know?" I started to explain to her that I have lost a lot of weight and haven't tried on jeans in a long time. She guessed my size and sent me into a room with 7 pairs to try on, All of which fit me perfectly. I choose two pairs that I really liked and bought them. I was so excited that I was able to buy 28x31 size jeans, this is equivalent to a size 7 in juniors. Before I wore a 15/16 (too small) or an 17/18 (the size I should have worn) Which was a 37x31 (too small) or a 39x31.....I have lost 6 jean sizes! My waist is now smaller than the length of my legs!!! I am so happy!!! I took some pic in a pair of my new favorite jeans!!

Weight-loss update

Its been a while since my last update, we have been pretty busy! While on vacation I didn't really "work out" but we walked a lot and went swimming so I did get some exercise in. I was worried once I got home because we ate out most of the time we were gone and I snacked a lot at night too, but once I came home I realized I had only gained a 1/2 pound since being gone. However, the saturday and sunday after we returned home I still ate like crap, didn't work out and was lazy! Over those two days I gained another pound and 1/2. But since monday I have been hitting cardio hard and strength training and have gotten back down to 142 which is almost to where I was before we left for Corpus. I still have 3 measly pounds left to lose to hit my big goal, and I am hoping that they come off quickly. Once I hit that goal I have decided to lose another 9 lbs which will put me at 130 lbs, and at my ideal BMI for my height.

I have been asked over and over to post my before and after, and since I am so close to that goal I have contemplated on doing it but have decided that I really want to wait until I reach my goal to post the real before's and after's. BUT! I have one little before and after to show you....This was me 10 months ago at Charleigh's 4th birthday.....

                                                                                   ......And this is me now, I honestly did not see this person when I look in the mirror until I saw this picture. I still saw the "other" girl and until Chris took this picture on our Last day of vacation, I hadn't realized how much I have lost and how skinny I really am. I was shocked! I am very proud of how far I have come, my confidence has gone through the roof and I feel good. I will say that I still have imperfections, such as stretch marks all across my stomach from bringing two beautiful girls into the world, and I hate them but I will not hide them! I have embraced them and proudly wear my bikini like its nobody's business! I still want to tone my arms, stomach and booty! But if this is how I would have to be I am damn proud to be it!

28 hours + 1780 miles = 1 week of memories!

Back from vacation and getting back into life's routine is a little bit harder than I thought! Being on vacation was amazing, just being able to relax and spend some quality time with my husband and daughters was just what we all needed. It's so easy to set into a normal day to day routine of work and home that you tend to forget how important it is to spend quality time together. Being on vacation reminded me of how important our time together is. We were able to let Charleigh and Rylee consume our full attention and have the whole week be just about them and the memories that they were creating. We were reminded of what wonderful children we have and how much they have grown up over the last few months. It was really nice to have Chris with us for a full week, he still had some work things going on that had to be taken care of but that only took a few minutes each morning.

Now that we are back home, I miss the carefree week we had. It was nice to just pick up a small hotel room and then get dressed have breakfast already made in the lobby. After that we would either go walk around the area or get dressed for the beach, and just let the day take us where ever we ended up.  Once we got to Sea World I realized how fast the week was going by.

Sea World was amazing, the girls loved it! Chris and I enjoyed it as well, the shows were awesome and the animals were so wonderful and majestic. We had such a great time, we laughed so much, enjoyed the places we visited and have so many memories, and cant wait to go back someday!

Here are some of my favorite pictures we took:

At the Beach

Watching the Dolphins

Our golf cart we rented in port A

By the Waterfall in the River Walk

It was so Beautiful here!

Me & Ry at the Alamo!