Nine months later...

If I had a burger every time I've heard or read the following statement when referring to losing the dreadful pregnancy weight..."it takes 9 months to put the weight on. it'll take 9 months to get it off"... actually, by the looks of me, I probably did eat a burger every time I heard this phrase! In the first few months after my little precious was born, I took comfort in this statement, thinking '"I've got some time. The weight will come off in [less than] 9 months" Well guess what?!?! My sweet little man is 9 1/2 months old and I'm still FAT!!! It is beyond time for me to get serious about losing this weight and becoming healthy again. I'm sick of the way I look in the mirror and miss taking vain pictures of myself! : ) I have a closet full of cute clothes that I can't fit into and I REFUSE to buy any more larger sizes. I'm not entirely sure of my gameplan at this point. I go for a walk with my family every evening and I'm going to add a walk into my morning routine. I've come across some exercises that seem to be easy to do all the while, keeping up with my little man. And I want to clean up my eating...which will be an act of God in itself! I came across a fantastic blog written by a woman who was in my exact same position and worked her ass off to drop the weight...and THAT got me motivated! She's very real and very honest in her posts. She shared pictures and her weight (Eeek!). She's gorgeous and has incredible style. She's a mother. She's witty and straight up, no bull shit (she called the scale in one post a "dirty, lying whore"!)...I could relate to this gal! She shared in her blog that she encouraged anyone who wanted to get serious about losing weight to blog about it themselves. She said that some days she didn't want to work out or eat right or just blow it, and it was the people that read her blog that motivated her, held her accountable and complimented her. I NEED THAT! Hence the reason you are here, reading this! So bring on the encouragement, the great ideas, your success stories! I'm here to be honest and real. Share my victories and my struggles. I'm here to effin' do the damn thing!

(YOU should read her blog too... www.mamalaughlin.com)

 Let me give you a little background. May of 2010 I was at my lowest weight of 137.

May 8, 2010 - my lovely sister and I in our brother's wedding. I was 137 and that dress was a size 5...God, I wanna fit in that dress again!

June 2010 was the month I got married, so with the planning and preparing and STRESS, I had packed on a few pounds! I was probably a good 145 pounds.

June 19, 2010 - JUST MARRIED! 145 pounds

We found out we were pregnant in January 2011. My first doctor appointment was February 18, 2011. I was 9 weeks along and weighed in at 172. Yeah, that's kind of a jump from the 145 just 7 months prior, but think Honeymoon, Thanksgiving, Christmas...it was easy to pack on a few pounds even prior to becoming pregnant.

12 weeks pregnant and about 172 pounds

September 2011, final weigh in at the doctor prior to giving birth was 202 pounds (Ugh!)

Ready to pop! September 2011. 202 pounds

Add giving birth plus breastfeeding plus no time to even think about eating, I got within about 4 pounds from my starting pregnancy weight...so October 2011 I was weighing in at about 176 pounds.

I couldn't figure out how to flip it...but this was Halloween - October 31, 2011. About 176 pounds

I was definitely thinking that the rest of the weight would come off, no problem. But, it seemed, from out of nowhere and all of a sudden, I was back up in the 190's where I've seem to be stuck in ever since.

My plan with this blog is to post a pic of myself every Thursday and include my weight. I don't want to become obsessed with the number, but I also understand that the number is helpful in seeing the progress. So, stay tuned till tomorrow at my first official weigh in!