It's time to get a handle on this once and for all.
I'm 5'3 and I weigh 172.0 pounds. I can't believe I wrote that out loud.
Let's wander down memory lane for a minute here, shall we?
I've always been curvy. When I'm at a healthy weight I have an hour glass shape. 10lbs above that and I have an hour and a half shape. Anything more than that? A definite pear. I like hour glass, I don't mind an hour and a half, but pears are not my favorite.
During my pregnancy with Forrest I ate whatever I wanted. I ate junk 24/7 and I didn't exercise at all. I left the hospital after delivering him weighing one pound less than when I got pregnant.
When I found out that I was pregnant with Chloe I assumed that I was one of those lucky people that could eat like a sumo wrestler and not gain too much. Evidently I had forgotten that old saying about people that assume things. Plowing through 8 Oreo cookies every single night for 7 months seemed completely reasonable.
Somewhere around month 8 I realized that I had gained a lot of weight. Unfortunately "a lot" is a relative word. I found out just how relative when I got home from the hospital and tried on my loosest pre-pregnancy dress which was a roomy size 6. I couldn't get it over my head.
"Okay" I thought..."I'll go buy a few things to get me through until I lose a few pounds". Mark being the good husband that he is, went shopping with me. I gathered an armful of size 8's and headed for the dressing room.
Not a single thing made it over my shoulders.
Alright, perhaps an armful of 10's? Nope.
Surely I'm a 12 then? Negative. I had a nuclear meltdown in the dressing room of Saks off 5th in the Opry Mills mall. Big, ugly sobbing ensued. My reasonable husband vowed to never go shopping with me again and I left the mall red eyed, fat and clothes-less. (Turns out I had gone from a size 4/6 to a very tight size16. I loathe Oreo cookies and my metabolism).
I joined Weight Watchers and a gym. When going out to eat I carried my own dressing, butter spray and non-fat sour cream in my purse. I was a point Nazi. I made it back down to a size 10 just in time to find out that I was pregnant again. I vowed not to gain 80lbs this time, and I didn't. I stayed on WW and I went to the gym every single day until the day before I was induced. I only gained 17lbs and I fit into my 10's when I got home. I kept it up while I nursed Cammie for the next 9 months and lost another 15lbs.
After I quit nursing I started taking diet pills. I still worked out at least 5 days a week and I ate super healthy. I made it back down to 122lbs and wore a size 4 (woohoo). I maintained that weight for over a year.
Then our family was rocked by something beyond our control. I spiraled into depression, ate junk food and fast food every day, couldn't bring myself to exercise and pretty much just let myself go. Since I didn't care about fixing myself up at all, I would buy shapeless baggy clothes that covered me up. I gained 77.9lbs.
After months of not stepping on a scale...and having to buy a size 16 skirt (again), I came out of my fog long enough to weigh in.
I weighed 199.9 pounds. Did I mention I'm 5'3? I wasn't curvy, I wasn't chubby, I wasn't merely a pear. I was a freaking fatty and I was shocked and terrified of crossing over into the land of the 200's.
Back on the wagon I went. I made it to 176.8 and that's were I stayed for a very long time. I began working on it again last year and made it to 162.2. Then I began sabotaging myself. I slacked off on the calorie counting and quit exercising. I have fluctuated between 162 and 172 ever since.
I'm over it.
I'll be 35 in 19 days. I'm going to Vegas in 48 days and Chicago in 96 days and something has got to give.
Goal #1: 165lbs by September 12. (7lbs total)
Goal #2: 155lbs by October 3. (17lbs total)
Goal #3: 140lbs by November 23. (32lbs total)
Goal "4: 125lbs
Ambitious? Yes. Doable? Yes.
