Tuesday, September 15, 2009

I'm a Loser!

I am proud to announce it on the blog - I'm a loser!  That's right... a loser, as in a weight loss loser.  For those of you who were thinking of something else, just keep it to yourself!  :)  I've actually been at/below my goal weight for almost two weeks, and I was debating whether or not to do a post because it seemed kind of self-promoting.  Usually, this blog is just Katie-Anne-promoting.  ;)

Then, I thought - You know what? Forget it.  I worked my butt off - literally - and I'm going to write about it.  So, I hope no one minds too much!

As of Thursday, September 3, I officially met my goal of 50 pounds lost since I started really trying to lose weight in March.  (I kind of started in January, but obviously not very hard.)  As of this morning, I'm down a total of 54 pounds.  I am very happy with my progress... it took me a little more than 5 months to lose the weight.  Since I am now in "goal weight range", I'll tell you exactly what I weighed before... 185 down to 131 this morning!  I've gone from a size 16 dress/pants to a size 6, and shirts size XL/1X to smalls and mediums.

I was very unhappy with 185 lbs, since I weighed 195 the day I gave birth to Katie Anne.  I lost all the baby weight I'd gained in my pregnancy (I gained 38 pounds while pregnant... 8 in the last week from swelling) in the four months I was home with her after she was born.  However, after I went back to work, with a very stressful year of teaching, a marriage made up of two people that were adjusting from being DINKS to parents, and an infant at home, I slowly gained almost all of that weight back.   However, I tried to avoid weighing and really had no idea how much I weighed.  Two things happened in March that really opened my eyes.  First, I went to Lily's Princess Birthday Party the first weekend in March.  Now, there was absolutely nothing wrong with Lily's party- we had a great time and it was a ton of fun!  The problem was the pictures of me from the party.

Do you know how sometimes, when you see pictures of yourself and you look bad, you think, "Well, that's okay, because I kind of knew that was an unflattering shirt (or too tight pants or bad hair day or whatever) already." Well, for this birthday party, I was wearing a new shirt and a pair of jeans that I thought looked really good. I even kind of admired myself in the mirror before we left the house, thinking, "You know what? I may be a little heavier than normal for me, but I look really cute in this outfit. Cute?  No - Smokin' hot!" :)

Then, later that evening, when I downloaded the digital pictures to put on the blog... Dear Lord in Heaven. Who was that girl dressed in my exact outfit?!? Oh, it was me! It was even more sad because I really thought I'd looked cute. And, it wasn't just one picture, so I couldn't blame lighting or angles... it was every stinking picture. Inside, outside, sitting, standing, posing, photojournalistic, from the front, from the back... didn't matter.

So, I was pretty determined to lose weight after that, and then I got sick the next week.  Nothing major - just a sinus infection.  My regular doctor couldn't see me, so I went to another doctor in the practice, expecting to get a prescription for some Flonase (which I did).  What I also got was a very frank discussion about my weight.  I really appreciate it now, but I was completely floored when this person I'd never seen before told me, point blank, that I was about 45 pounds overweight.  You see, before I went to the doctor this time, I hadn't weighed in months.  I had no idea my exact weight - I thought maybe 160, 165.  But - 187 lbs?  I would not have guessed that.  I also knew that my "ideal weight" according to my height is 140 pounds, because my OBGYN had told me in summer 2008 that she'd like me to be 140 when I came back to her in summer 2009.  Well, obviously I hadn't listened, because I was 45 pounds away from that goal.

So, I came home totally depressed, but also totally determined.  I weighed the next morning to check their scales (yep, 185 lbs the next morning- guess they were right), and I got busy.  I slashed my portions to almost nothing.  I ate off saucers instead of dinner plates.  I skipped a lot of meals.  I went hungry a lot.  I got up every morning (okay, I skipped some Fridays) at 4:00 am to exercise on my Wii Fit or walk on my treadmill.  I forbid the lunchroom ladies (esp Miss Mary, who likes to load my tray up) to serve me food at lunch.  I cleaned out all the good candy (I'm a sucker for M&M's) from my classroom so I wouldn't be tempted.  I drank (still drink) a lot of coffee to reduce my appetite and help me not get too run down.  I broke the habit of eating when I'm tired or stressed out.  It took a lot of will power and was really, really hard - but I'm pretty hard-headed when I want to be!

I lost about 15 pounds in two weeks, 30 lbs by the end of the school year, then it took me about three months to lose the last 20.  (Gaining back 7 pounds when we went on vacation this summer didn't do me any favors- but it was so relaxing to just eat whatever I wanted!)  Now, my body is used to the smaller portion sizes, and I'm not hungry all day any more.

I'm happy with anything in the 130's range, since I pretty much stayed between 125-140 all through college.  My ultimate goal would be 127, since that was my weight when the day I graduated from high school.  It would be nice to weigh the same thing at our 10 Year Reunion on October 17.  So, four more pounds to go and I'm there!  I'm sure I'll make it by the reunion.

Here are some before and after pictures... and you can click on these to enlarge them - if you dare!
Before - One of the pictures of me from Lily's Princess Party (at least Katie Anne looks totally cute!):
After - Since that's an upper body shot, here's my most recent upper body shot (from my haircut day):
 
Before - My 27th Birthday:
After - My 28th Birthday:
Before - Facing front, in a dress (size 14 dress, by the way):
 
After -  Facing front, in a dress (size 8 dress):

And, for the ultimate in comparison, you've got to have the dreaded bathing suit shots.  Trust me - I've got a whole wide selection of before shots from our Myrtle Beach vacation in summer of 2008.  I tried to just go through last year's and this year's and choose some pictures that were approximately the same poses.  So, these aren't necessarily the greatest pictures I've ever taken (I actually think the brown/white bandeau top suit is my best one), but their similarity to last year's in pose makes for good comparison, I think.
Before - Holding KA at the beach. (And I cannot believe I'm putting this first one on the internet- brutal! Look at my sad little attempt at the hands-on-hip pose that Oprah taught me.):
After - Holding KA at the beach this year (same bathing suit as the second picture above for comparison's sake):
Before - Building sandcastles is never a flattering pose:
After - Sandcastles this year:
 
Before -  sitting down, from the side (and God bless my mother for cropping out the most horrible parts of this picture when she was taking it):

After - sitting down, from the side, at the beach this year (who knows what I'm fussing about here, but it is the only picture of me from that same side):
I could keep going, because there are plenty of rough, rough shots from the "before" era.  
I think we've seen enough, though.  
I'm very proud of myself - if you made it this far, thanks for reading!

15 comments:

cindy glawson said...

Great job! You worked so hard and deserve to blog about it. I am very proud of your determination but as your mom I think you are beautiful before and after! :)

Anonymous said...

Well done you for losing all that weight - you should be proud to post it on blog as its a real achievement!!! I have just started (yet again) to try and lose some weight - have lost 3 pounds in the last week so thats ok - need to lose another - have another 15 or so to go!! Motivation and keeping it up is my problem but now I've seen that it can be done I'll try to stick with it.

Tara said...

WOW! I had no idea. I just thought you looked great all along. I'm about 10lbs. over where I'd like to be so starting next week I'm going to make it happen. Thanks for some inspiration. Oh, also I just made a really cute hurrican applique shirt for a friend and I'm putting it on my blog later. I think you and Katie Anne might need one???

Sarah West said...

Congratulations!!! I think it's great that you've managed to lose that much! That's about the same amount that I need to lose, so I'm going to have to try some of your tactics. In fact, your "before" pictures remind me a lot of my current photos. Thanks for the inspiration! I'd been wondering how you did it!

The Dillards said...

You have also been beautiful but the inspiration you are putting out there for people is gorgeous!

Lana said...

That is *awesome*! And I definitely think you can go to the reunion looking every bit as good as high school - and remember most people don't! Granted, I was a walking "before" picture then, so I'm trying to go back looking completely different! Haha! But seriously, this is awesome! You might inspire me to blog about this, too...

Carrie Beth said...

You look amazing! I know you are so proud of all your hard work and you definitely deserve to blog about it. Also, thanks for the toy cleaning tips!

Sharon G said...

You've always looked amazing (at least in photos...there's still that "we haven't met in person thing" that keeps getting in the way, but HOLY SMOKES...you look HOT!!! Great Job!!!

**Now I'm off to look at how bad I look in photos...and to eat some celery**

Jillian said...

Congrats!! That's awesome! It's so crazy seeing before and after pics, you look great! This may be my new motivation get my butt in shape! Way to go!

The Rayburns said...

Wow! Congrats to you! I had also been wondering how you had been losing your weight. I enjoyed reading this post - glad you blogged about it. :)

Vanessa said...

Can I just tell you how impressed I am...I knew you were losing a good bit (and fast) but that's amazing! You always looked great - but it's definitely different to see the before/after shots! Congratulations - you look great!!

Julie, the mama said...

Can't even remember how I found your blog, but I am so glad I did. Thank you so much for sharing your story. You look absolutely A-MAZ-ING. I so hope your story will inspire me to get on the elliptical and off of the fattening foods!

Dr J said...

you sure are pretty on the inside....no matter what!

Jessica M. said...

Congrats girl!!

That is awesome!!

Anonymous said...

congratulations, katie. that is so impressive. i am proud of you. and your mom is right, you are beautiful before and after....