Before and After

When I was a senior in high school I weighed 100 pounds. I ate whatever I wanted and didn't exercise. It was wonderful! Admittedly I was too skinny and when I slowly started to gain weight I welcomed it. When I got married at 24 I was still eating whatever I wanted, still didn't exercise and only weighed 125 pounds.

Getting married and turning 25 changed everything.

I continued to eat what I wanted and slowly I wanted more. I started gaining weight so I bought an elliptical machine so that I could work out. Meric wanted me to try weight lifting but heck I am a girl and no girl wants big muscles.

Then Meric and I moved to Texas and like they say... everything is bigger in Texas! My weight had jumped up to over 160. I was the girl who was always so skinny and then ALL of my bad habits caught up to me.

Over the next few years I tried many different things to lose weight. I tried counting calories. I went to the gym and wandered from machine to machine working out. Then one day Meric found a new diet and exercise plan. (It is called Body for Life and I highly recommend trying it out.) We changed how we ate and more importantly how much we ate. We started working out with a combination of cardio and weight training.

Pretty soon Meric started seeing results but mine came much slower. I lost 5-10 pounds over the next few months. But then life got in the way and we stopped following the plan and went back to our old habits. Time and time again we would start and stop and I would only ever lose 5-10 pounds only to gain it all back. Frustrating!

Then Meric deployed to Afghanistan. I decided that while he was gone I would finally get into shape. I wanted him to come home to a hot wife. The beginning of March 2012 I weighed myself and the scale stopped at 156. I started eating right and exercising. My sister, Kelli, was my workout buddy and we helped push each other. We did workout videos like P90X and went a month without sugar. In 2 months time I had only lost 5 pound.

I started to slack a little and came dangerously close to quitting once again. Then in May Kelli and I decided to do a 5K. I couldn't quit now because I had a race to complete. The longer I worked out the more the weight came off. I also added a bit of variety to my workouts. P90X, crossfit, weight lifting, running and yoga all became part of my workouts. (Side note to all the girls: Cardio is good but weight training is important too. Also muscles will burn calories for you while you are just sitting there!)

Over the summer another sister, Kenna, came to visit. The 3 of us continued to workout and to eat right. Well not 100% right, we did enjoy quite a few desserts. Also I learned to swim this summer. Swimming is really fun and a great workout.

In April 2012 Kelli and I went hiking and took some pictures. This past week we decided to go hiking again and try to recreate some of our pictures. Here are the results:



To date I have lost 25 pounds. I still have a few more pounds I would like to lose and a little more toning up to do but I am extremely happy with my results. The real trick to my weigh loss was sticking with it and not giving up.

Now I just have to keep it off!

August Rush

This summer has been a wild ride. Toward the beginning of August we packed up the trailer and moved. Same campground, different spot. The space we were in originally was fine but there wasn't much room around it and no shade. As soon as a better site opened up we jumped on the opportunity to move.

Our new campsite

We love our new site. There is space in front of the trailer to sit and a picnic table. It is next to trees so there is shade. We also have a fire ring so we can enjoy fires. The people who moved out of the site left a tomato plant that we have now taken over. I have really enjoyed the extra tomatoes and made salsa for the first time.

The bigger site really came in handy for the last week of August. Lissy and Tiffany came to visit for a week. Kenna has been visiting all summer but had to head back home so that she could start school. I thought it would be nice if she had someone to fly back home with and Tiffany and Lissy volunteered for the job.

Emmy and Lucy were really happy Tiffany and Lissy came to visit

 Now five sisters in my trailer could have been a recipe for disaster but it was a really great visit.

We visited a few of the local attractions.

Visiting Lincoln's boyhood home

Kelli is creepy

Tiffany frolicking through the field

We went hiking.

Kelli and the cave

My sister on the Ohio River

 Enjoyed the food at Jailhouse Pizza.

Tiffany in jail

 

Lissy in jail

We had a blast hanging out at the pool. 

The weather was perfect: hot but not too hot.

Playing in the pool

Goofing around

Cannonball queens

The only thing I would have changed about their visit is that I would have made it longer. It all went by way too fast.

'nuff said!

After Lissy, Tiffany and Kenna got on the plane to head home, Kelli and I found ourselves alone. It was really weird to go back to just the two of us after having Kenna visit for two months. We really had a great summer and I am sad to see it over and have Kenna leave us.

Now we are looking forward to fall and all the fun that brings.