Fabulous at 40

                            Before- 7/17/09
So, in about six weeks I will be 40. Still can't believe it because some days, I swear I just graduated high school and I feel like I'm playing house. Now, my weight has been an issue my ENTIRE life. I think the only time I wasn't overweight was at birth (7lbs. 3oz.)! Yo-yoing all my life just made me bigger and bigger. So, on August 17, 2009, I thought it would be a good idea to start shedding some pounds if I wanted to not shock my classmates (and make them feel better about themselves) at our 20th high school reunion on 10/17/09. I just cut out A LOT of junk food, not eating late at night (Sneak-eating when the husband and kids went to bed was my forte, although who am I kidding? You're not sneaking it if the cookies/ice cream/chips have all disappeared and your body is getting BIGGER) and exercising somehow every day.

I didn't count calories or points or cut out carbs or drink cayenne pepper-laced maple syrup/lemon water (yuck) until I had hallucinations of seeing Jesus (so Sherri Shepherd says!). I just ate less and moved more. That worked really well for the first 50 pounds, and then I was stuck. So, a friend had recommended My Fitness Pal, but I really wasn't looking to count calories and obsess over every morsel of food I put in my mouth. I decided to investigate it and see what it was all about because what I had been doing was no longer working. I liked the idea of not only watching my caloric intake but keeping track of my caloric "burns" as well. So on April 1st I started logging in.

I have lost almost 29 pounds since then. I now weigh 152 pounds and I am in a size 8! Now, at my all-time heaviest, with-child mind you, I weighed 251 pounds! So, technically I'm a pound away from a 100-pound loss, right? No? Well, my all-time heaviest before child was 234 pounds. I'm 5' tall! I was a size 22/24W. I really had no clue how big I was. Anorexics don't see how skeletal they've become and I was blind to my size as well. I mean, I knew I was shopping at the plus-size store and that I was "heavy," but I would have never thought I was morbidly obese. On August 17th, 2009, I was done trying to fool myself.

I didn't go to my reunion after all. I was still feeling way too big to be comfortable seeing people I haven't seen in 20 years, letting them witness the fact that I let myself go, even more. Even though I didn't make it there, I didn't stop my quest to be healthy. I decided this wasn't for any wedding or vacation. I was losing the weight for me, to like myself and to start living.

After- 7/10/11