Here is the "skinny"

I'm sure you are all tired of hearing about my weight loss but I am finally getting around to posting my (not so) glamorous photos of me through out the process.

The first set of photos was taken of me in the spring of 2009 when I had decided "I was going to lose weight!" I wanted to take a photo that showed me in ALL of my glory so I could look back and marvel at how far I had come! I'm sorry to say that I just didn't have the motivation to stick with it...just think how much farther along I could be if I had...

Then in the fall of 2010 Matt decided he was going to do something about his weight. He talked with is Dr. and a nutritionist and came up with a plan that would work for him. As he started to lose weight and drop pant sizes I couldn't have been happier for him! But as I would do the laundry it was getting harder to tell who's jeans were who's! I thought to myself "oh no, I don't THINK so!" I knew I needed to do something and fast!

One day while over at Auntie Viv's house (while planing the reunion) she told Sheri and I that her family was about to start a biggest loser contest. We both talked about how we needed something like that to light a fire under us!! The next day (Jan 28th) she called and told us that her family wanted us to join in and it was starting on Jan 31st! Talk about lighting a fire, we had two days to "get ready."

I had never before worried about calories, carbs, protein and new nothing about where to start. So Matt, being the supportive husband, helped me find apps for my phone to help track what I ate. He also found me websites I could read to get more info and he even loaded some weight loss books on my phone so I could listen to them while driving. I really wanted it to be a change of life not a "diet!" (I knew that if I thought of it as a diet it would never work long term.) It also had to be something doable, not crazy or extreme, I didn't want to lose just to gain again. I soon came up with a plan I thought would work for me and I jumped in head first, off the deep end (so to speak). If I was going to do it I was going to do it 100%!!

The competition started Jan 31st and would be 17 weeks long ending on Memorial Day. I was thinking to myself that if I could lose 20 lb. in that time it would give me a good push in the direction I needed to go. (I started the competition weighing 205 lb.) I can't even begin to tell you how thrilled I was when I started to lose weight! The first week I lost over five pounds! As the weeks went on I started to think I just might be on to something, this just might work! So I came up with the plan to take photos every 20 pounds and hang them side by side to help keep me motivated! But I hadn't taken one to start with...then I remembered the one from 2009 and decided to wear the same clothes and stand in the same spot so I could really compare them. 

And now I have decided to share them with you! I'll worn you though glamor shots they are not! But I hope you will be able to see the changes...

210 lb. March 2009

185 lb. March 2011

165 lb. May 2011

145 lb. Jan 2012

I reached my goal of 140 lbs. on Aug 11th 2011!!

(I had failed to take the 145 lb. photo on my way down the scale so I took advantage of my 5 lb. weight gain over the holidays.)

Now I am in training for my first Half Marathon...

Biggest Loser Challenge

As some of you may know Sheri and I participated with the Wright family in their Biggest Loser Challenge.

The challenge was 17 weeks long with "weigh in" each monday. With everyone having such varying goals with weight loss, progress would be measured by % of weight lost. Each week there would be a weekly winner and the at the end an overall winner.

Sheri and I got together and took before photos and the we did it again at the end of the challenge and let me tell you, have we changed!!

I won bragging rights by winning the challenge of biggest % lost but Sheri is the one that lost the most pounds.

Here are our before, after (same clothes), and after (new cute clothes)

I lost 24.88% of my body weight/ 51lbs

Sheri lost 24.23% of her body weight/ 55lbs (can you say close race)

Butt you haven't seen the "end" of our weight loss as we still have more to lose to hit our goals!

Washington Park

One of my favorite places to go is Washington Park in Anacortes. It's such a fun park to spend the day in or just to enjoy a nice slow scenic 3 mile drive. So a few weeks ago we had a nice sunny day and not wanting to waste it we (sheri, joel, seth, ellie, matt and myself) set out to have a day at the park.

Matt has a new camera so we got-

some fun...

some cute...

some cool...

some playful...

some helpful... (please note this is a Ford diesel F350 1Ton Crew Cab jump starting a Prius)

some not so fun...

pictures of our day!

After spending time driving around playing at the park the kids wanted to know when we were going to go "play" at the park?! So just before heading home we stopped off at the toys. The ground was very wet and slippery resulting as you can see in a tragic end to Matt's care free days of mobility for the next 4-6 weeks. (he got his very own pair of crutches and boot the next day) No I'm not a mean wife who has to take a pic before going to help. It just happened that as I went to take a photo of seth rolling down the hill Matt slipped. (I knew I should have had it in video mode!) =)

We also decided to stop over at Grandma & Grandpa's house with dessert to finish off our fun filled day only to find Matt was not the only one who had been injured that day.

Grandma stepped wrong on her little step stool and it flipped up and hit her leg! Then while we were there I went to get the ice cream back out of the freezer and was attacked by a butter tub full of frozen strawberry puree.

Still all and all we had a great day and we think next time...

YOU should come with us!

last day of vacation

We got up early saturday morning and went for a drive up the beach looking for sand dollars. we did finally find one that was not broken and we also saw this guy out and about on the beach.

After breakfast we took the beach highway into Long Beach and walked around town for a few hours and found a nice sandwich shop to eat lunch at called Surfer Sands.

Then we headed back to camp and took a nap before packing up and heading home. On our way out of town we stopped for one last treat at Scoopers Market!

As some of you may know we have a dream of one day owning our own live aboard dive boat. Until this last weekend the only maker we have found that makes the kind of boat we want was in France. On our drive home as we passed thru Raymond Wa we saw this beauty along side the road and found out it is made right there in town!

Mind you it is a long way off before we will be able to afford a 60-100 foot custom boat like this but, hey thats what dreams are for right?

day five - last day...?

On friday we were going to tour the Tillamook Cheese factory but my knee was hurting so bad that we decided to go home a day early. =(

So we packed up again and headed up the coast to Washington. One thing to remember is that as you go up the coast it may be only 30 - 50 miles to your next stop but the road is so windey (and sometimes foggy) that it can take hours to get there.

As we hit Long Beach Washington the sun finally came out! (we had not seen sun since the day we got to the beach) So we thought we would park the tent trailer on Matt's aunt and uncles lot in Ocean Side and play on the beach for an hour or so.

When we got there we saw that his aunt and uncle were up from California for the summer. After visiting with them for a bit we headed for the beach! Once there we thought it would be fun to have our own fire and eat our dinner out there.

We had so much fun we thought why not stay to see the sunset then camp with his aunt and uncle for the night and go home saturday! =)

day four - family

I know i said this trip was just about us but sometimes you just have to take opportunities when they come.

On thursday we decided to more up the coast from Newport to Nehalem Bay State Park. One thing we learned on this trip is that ALL of Oregon's state parks along the coast are 100% reservations only. If you haven't planned ahead you have to wait and see if anyone has canceled or is leaving early.

We always got in but one guy in line had been trying for two days... After setting up in our new location we drove up to Sunset beach just 32 miles up the coast where Aunt Dorris and Uncle Knude's family was having their family reunion. We couldn't not go see them when they were SO close. We had so much fun playing in the water..

and Dave built a fire so we could all keep warm, cook hotdogs and roast marshmallows!

As you can see from the pictures it was not a sunny day but,
it was so fun to see them and spend a few relaxing hours on the beach.