My Journey

My Journey

Excuse me I may be long winded.......So grab a drink and get ready to read a novel.

My journey started a long time ago. When my parents got divorced and with puberty I gained lots and lots of weight. I wasn't really sure how much I weighed since we did not own a scale but looking back at those pictures is pure torture! I know I had issues with food. I am an emotional eater. I would eat to be happy, when I was sad, etc.  Let's just say growing up I didn't have the model of perfect eating either. My mom has always been skinny and is built athletically. I am built more like my grandma. Big boobs, big hips, tall. I lost lots of weight when I started cheerleading and kept the weight off and lost even more when I moved out of the house and left my crappy boyfriend. I was thin. I weighed approx. 135-140 lbs. I met my husband in 2001 and we were married in 2002.

9/27/2002

Our cousins wedding 10/26/2002

After we were married I stopped going out as much and gained a little weight. We started trying to have our first baby and we were happy. At this point I had already ran a 10k at an embarrassing pace. I worked at the YMCA in there Preschool department but I had no idea about fitness.

In 2004 we were blessed with our first baby. Weighing in at a 9lbs9oz, she was and is our pride and joy.

Miss Isabella.

When I had gotten pregnant with Bella I was already 20 lbs heavier than I wanted to be and gained an extra 80lbs with her...Yikes..That's a whole lot of fluff!!

 

Colorado 06/2005

 

I was sick of being fat and everything that I had thought was right was way wrong...I started doing weight watchers at home and started working out. And you know what the weight started to fall off..

 

March 2006 ~ Fist Trip To Florida Approx 165-160 lbs here

 

 I worked at it and 18 mths + later I had lost it all plus the extra 20 that was hanging around

 =100 lbs lost

May 2006 - approx. 155 lbs

 

June 2006 - approx. 148 lbs

I lost all the weight by doing weight watchers and 60 min in the gym 5 times a week. I was ruthless. I was asked to stand up in a wedding and I was going on my first girls trip to CA. I wanted to be comfortable in my own skin, and I was. I typically did the elliptical and free weights.  I added some Slim in 6, and Turbo Jam in. I also did step class.  I vowed never to let myself go again....but my body had other ideas....We started for baby number 2 in October 2006, we finally got pregnant in February 2007. I continued to workout and watch what I ate. I wasn't going to let the old adage eating for two play into this pregnancy.

Florida May 2007 ~ approx. 155 lbs 3 mths pregnant

July 2007

September 2007

 

October 2007

 

Right after this picture was taken my body backfired on me. I gained 30 lbs in about 2 weeks. My doctor wasn't too concerned and thought it was just a lot of water weight. There would be more on this oddity later in the story. Hold tight.

 

We welcomed Titus in November...another big baby weighing in at 9lbs 7oz. I worked out till the week before he was born.

 

After he was born I lost a lot of the weight fast. I had gained approx. 75lbs. 40 of those lbs being after I was 32 weeks pregnant.

I lost approx. 30 lbs in the first 6 weeks. I wasn't trying to lose weight I was just trying to be a good mother to two. And little did I know how hard it would be. Little T was not a sleeper. I couldn't start back to working out as fast as I thought I would but it was ok since I was sure I'd bounce back since I had watched what I ate before and worked out before. I was in for a huge disappointment.

 

 

March 2009 ~ 190ish

 

I was working out but I wasn't seeing any results really. I'm not sure if it was because I was tired or what the deal was but I was stuck at 191...and I couldn't get that damn scale to move. So I did what any sane or sleep deprived person would do. I decided to run a half marathon. Now why would I do that? Well Jennifer Lopez and Katie Holmes did it and lost all there baby weight. I was determined but the key here was lost because when you run a half you need to be dedicated and balancing working full-time and two kids was super hard.

I ran and ran and ran but my heart wasn't in it and the lowest I ever saw on that damn scale was 180.

 

Florida 2010 - 180 ish

 

I ran my half marathon and felt completely defeated. I hated running. I hated everything about it. I loathed it! My heart was just not in it.

 

We started for number 3. By this time I had kind of given up and thought I was going to be fat for the rest of my life. I had lost my mojo. We got pregnant and I ended up miscarrying. This was the hardest thing. I knew in my head that it was because something just wasn't right but it still hurt. We tried again and I became pregnant in August 2010.

 

November 2010 ~ Big girl in the house ~ approx. 210lbs

 

I tried diligently to work out through my whole pregnancy but I was winded, had all-day sickness for 20 weeks, had a break than it stared back up at 30 weeks. I was having contractions all the time and ended up stopping working out in February 2011.

I was so tired I was taking naps every time the kids took naps, going to bed at 7:30 at night. I thought it was just being pregnant and having two kids. Again at my 32 week check I had gained 20lbs in a week. They attributed the gain to the medication change and nothing was said of it again. They thought I was just tired from being a busy mom of two.

At my 39th week check I weighed in at 256lbs. Holy balls batman. I couldn't believe it but I guess I just figured it was because I wasn't working out.

 

Little Cedric was born in April 2011.

April 2011 ~ 1 week post partum approx. 230 lbs

 

In June when I went to my 6 week check I was back up to 250 lbs...What the heck!!! I was watching what I ate, I was nursing. I was totally crushed. At this time I was still super tired and napping whenever I could and sleeping like it was my job.  The dr did a thyroid test and guess what that little test proved that I wasn't on the crazy sauce. My levels were super low and I had hypothyroidism.  They didn't give me any medication because it was a common issue so they retested in 4 weeks. The levels did go up but just a smidge and because they were going up they wanted to just keep checking every 4 weeks. Every 4 weeks I would go in and every 4 weeks the levels were going up but still low. I met with an endocrinologist in August and she said that while my levels were going up she was hesitant to put me on meds until I was one year post partum. Because with nursing and having a baby my levels just might be sluggish to get back to normal. Now I was frustrated to say the least.

I wanted to be the hot mom that looks like she didn't "just" have a baby. I still was working out but only on Mondays because I taught on Wednesday nights and really it was a so dang hard to get there early to get in a workout with three kids. 

 

In Feb 2012 I stopped nursing. I was still stuck at 250 lbs and had been for over a year. I was over it and knew I needed to do something.

 

April 2012 ~ 250 lbs

 

 I started running in May 2012. I knew I needed to add something to me routine and it was unseasonably warm where I lived so I figure why not get out and push myself. I started off doing 3 miles. I would run as far as I could and then walk, but always getting in that 3 miles. I watched what I ate and continued this. By the beginning of June I had lost 7 lbs...score. I was over the moon. I couldn't believe it! I kept up the running. I did 3 miles 3 time a week. I gradually increased my Saturday runs to 6 miles.

July 2012 ~ 220 lbs

 

In November 2012 I did the 5 miles Turkey Trot. And it was then that I thought I would challenge myself further. I signed up for that dreaded half marathon again. But this time my heart was in it! I was excited for every run! I couldn't wait.

I'm a work in progress but I'm making progress.

I'm currently 50lbs down from what I was back in May 2012.

I'm excited to see what I will be down to in a year. I know I won't be at my goal but I'll get to my goal. Because I live for every run. It's my therapy. I can push myself and I continue to push myself at every run. I'm thinking of a full marathon and that is not something I would have thought I do before.

 

March 2013- 199 lbs

 

I'm happier and I know I can do anything I set my mind to....