Hurt So Good

Just like John Mellencamp said. I love feeling some soreness after a good workout, reminds me that I actually DID something!

So WOW. The past few days have be ca-ray-zy! I didn't even blog about last Thursday because my mind was so occupied with my daughter's upcoming 2nd birthday party. I had SOO much prep to do. I actually don't even remember Thursday and Friday......... Wait... just came to me, Thursday at boot camp we had a special guest representing the Special Olympics in for a good motivational pep talk. I photographed that.. more on that later.

Before I get too far, a few of you have been begging me for an updated pic. I promised that since on the 12th we were taking measurements and 'before' pictures, I'd update that day.. well, as above stated, I've been so busy basically last weekend is a blur. I look absolutely freakin' HORRID in my 'before' pics that we took on Saturday, which is another reason I didn't post it. So today I was having another one of those "Skinny Days" and felt pretty good so I had the hubster snap a quick one of me before heading off to camp. Here is my progression thus far since the beginning in June, til now Week 21. I've lost 11 inches around my waist, BOOYA!

Week 21 overall, Week 10 at boot camp.

My husband decided he needed to be sitting down while taking the picture, so looking up at my chin(s) isn't very flattering. But I digress.

So that's that. Moving on.

As I said on Thursday we had a special guest come to camp and give us all a little pep talk. He spoke about teamwork and determination. After watching him complete one of the hardest sessions I've done at camp, I was so impressed and definitely motivated. He was so kind and inspiring, made me want to work so much harder. Here are a few images from that day. Dakota was such a trooper!

I know the stamp say Rock Star BC, but I can use these images, since I am the photographer :)

Friday-- blur. Crazy prepping/cleaning for the party. Nothing exciting here.

Saturday was measurements, pictures and then an INSANE, INSANE Trx session with Rachelle. OMG. I felt that workout for days, actually... I think I felt it up until yesterday. We did these TRX Saws and Pendulums that rocked my world. Rachelle said we'd do 3 cycles, 12 rounds each. Then she said to do some "practice saws/pendulums" before we started so we knew what we were doing. "WHAT THE..?!" Is what I said.. during the PRACTICE round. And she thinks we're doing three rounds of these? psssh.

I lasted 1.5 rounds. Imagine if I could've done the whole three, I'd still be in pain I'm sure!

Here are the pendulums.

The saws:

So yea.. crazy. But SOO good.

I whined like a little baby all day Saturday and Sunday while I prepped the food for the party (Sunday afternoon). I home-made my chicken marinade, it had to be cooked before hand so that was Saturday. Then I made 2 different kinds of salsa, that had to be made Sat. also so the flavors would be right for the next day. I moaned and groaned while chopping, my lats were on FIRE. I even contemplated taking some Tylenol to get through the pain so I could keeping working. I'm not big on OTC pills or medication, so I just complained through the pain instead. :) Betcha would've loved being in my house that day! My poor husband. At least I had a good reason!

Sunday winds around, still haven't rested. I've been preparing for this party for forever mentally. Physically, I prepared by working out enough last week to earn myself a treat. The cake. I planned on having a piece of cake at my daughters party no matter what. I think I deserved it. Curtis says to "earn your cheat day." I worked out 6 times last week! I earned it. I didn't use my cheat for the whole day though. I served all sorts of food, most fresh and healthy, some not like hotdogs and chips.. Proudly though, I didn't have any of that. I snacked on lots of celery and carrots, greek yogurt ranch dip, my grilled chicken, more celery.

When it was finally my turn to sit down and enjoy myself, I also enjoyed my piece of cake. yummmm. Ask Jessica if you don't believe me. It was 'moan out loud' delicious. I had a hard time concentrating on the story she was telling me because I was falling in love with the rare treat in my hands. I savored it like you wouldn't even believe. Probably because I knew it would be a long time until I had another piece. I probably wont have cake again until my Selah's (my 6 month old) birthday in May. So you can bet I was a little involved in my plate. It's a beauty, look at this thing! and No, I didn't make it.

If you're interested in your own cake, obviously doesn't have to be Strawberry Shortcake theme, let me know and I will send you contact information. The lady is a local girl and not only are her cakes GORGEOUS, they taste amazing and PERFECT for any party requiring a cake :)

Here is the birthday girl herself. She hogged all the balloons. It was her party after all :)

Monday, I took the day off. I didn't feel guilty, I needed and deserved the rest. I had major damage control to do after the hurricane of children left my house. Clean up is the worst part of any party. After clean up, I did nothing. I finished up some work on the computer, but when that was done, I just chillaxed. WHEW. FINALLY a chance to breath!

Tonight-- back to the grind again. Boot camp was awesome, got in a great sweat. Why is it so warm out? I was so hot in my long sleeve shirt, I just about had to strip down. I wouldn't do that to the other campers though, no worries!

I'm excited about the week. With the party done and over, I can focus my mind on my weight loss again. Even though the holidays are right around the corner... Story of my life, there's always something 'right around the corner'. Just the way the cookie crumbles I guess. Now I'm off to eat some veggies.

Love me some 2x Tuesdays!

Tuesdays are definitely my favorite camp days. They're also my husband's day off so I'm able to go to camp twice a day. I went this morning at 9:15am and again tonight at 6:30. Oy... the workouts were brutal, but yet again I obviously loved it since I went back for more. This morning the dumb-bells I chose were 10 lbs. They were good, but I could've done more so tonight I went for the 12 lb'ers. With the muscle fatigue I had from this morning behind me tonight, the 12's were definitely enough. I don't think I'm going back to the 10's :)

Back in the day (9 weeks ago lol) I could NOT do a mountain climber. I literally could not lift one leg forward without falling down. Today I am pleased and so proud to announce that not only can I do the full on mountain climbers, fast and for the full round without dropping, I can do them with RESISTANCE BANDS!! Can you believe it?! Remember this video?

I'm not a gloater and don't like to brag (much, teehee) but I very proud of myself. I've been strutting around the house with my nose high "I can do mountain climbers, neh ner neh ner neeehh nerr!" Who do I have at home to brag to like it's a competition? Not my 2 year old lol, and definitely not my 5 month old! I'm just happy for myself and I feel like yelling it to the world! There is absolutely no telling what the future holds :)


Hey ladies, wanna know a good way to get rid of cramps? Get your work out on. It doesn't make them feel better, but usually the rest of your body aching draws the attention away lol.

Tomorrow I'm thinking of taking the kids to the park, maybe walking around the mall for a few hours, just getting out. I love being more active, having more energy. I can actually experience my children's childhood WITH them, versus standing (or sitting) on the sidelines watching them have fun without me. My husband and I finally put dates on our vacation next year to Sea World. It's one of our favorite places ever. Just knowing that I'll have the energy to walk around the park all day long, walking up the bleacher stands, running with them on the beach... it's so motivating to keep up with what I've been doing. They're truly my inspiration.

For those asking for an updated picture, I know I'm so far behind. At camp we're doing a "before" picture and taking measurements this Saturday the 12th so I'll use that picture as my update and my new before for the fat buster program. Stay tuned for that, no excuses why I haven't put it up after that since everyone will be getting a pic!

Okay another thing, you're probably sick of me talking about this kale salad that Allison gave me the recipe for but I'm pretty much obsessed with kale now. It's my new favorite green leafy veggie and I just can NOT get enough. Can I eat too much kale? If so, someone best tell me quick because I'm like a stinkin' rabbit with it. I had to stop at the store on the way home from camp tonight to get some more. I'm making something different, but it's still with kale. I'll mix it with Romaine lettuce, the delicious dressing that came with the kale salad recipe, OH and I'm topping it with some tuna. I get the good tuna (expensive too) so I'm pretty excited about it.

I need to go clothes shopping, my pants are too big, and I've seriously never had that issue before :)

Long Week, back to RSBC Finally!

Well not really a long week since it's only Wednesday, but it seems like so long because I haven't been to Rock Star Boot Camp (RSBC) since last Thursday for boot camp Friday. You already know that I had to miss TRX Saturday since I posted about that in my last blog. I also missed Monday to be with my kids, and Tuesday my dad had some truck issues or something I needed to bring him to his warehouse to sort out. I left with plenty of time to get to camp, but then got caught behind a major serious accident literally one blog away. It's like seeing it so close, but yet so far out of reach.

Monday was Halloween, obviously.. I dressed my daughter in a mermaid costume that I made myself (squee!!) and I made one for her cousin to wear as well. They were the CUTEST little mermaids that ever walked the land. My youngest baby was a little kitty. She slept the entire time we were trick-or-treating, this year wasn't much for her.

Anyway, my oldest will be 2 two weeks from today and she's never had a piece of candy. Not even one. She did have fun holding out her bucket and saying her version of "trick-or treat" which was "see-yo, see-yo". She's so cute. She loved getting treats in her bucket, even though she wanted nothing to do with them, YAY for her! It was so much fun seeing all the little kids dressed up in their cuteness, meeting new people. I didn't splurge on eating candy though like every other year. I actually don't like too much candy, I'd prefer not to have cavaties thank you! I got soooo much of it though, I think I'm going to have to give it away at Elika's birthday party in a few weeks. Actually that just reminded me that a fellow camper and friend's husband is deployed, serving in the US Army and they missed out on treats, so RSBC is putting together a big box of all the candy we SHOULDN'T be eating to ship to his unit. They'll really enjoy that I bet!

Tonight was the typical "Kill a friend Wednesday" but Curtis decided to call it "kill your partner cardio thunder band day". That basically sums it up to a TEE. We used these wonderful "teal spaghetti" tension bands:

and then proceeded with some crazy partner madness. The band was around our hips, while one person was working, the other served as our tension anchor, pulling back on us creating resistance. We weren't just doing jumping jacks, we were doing jacks while working against a force drawing us back.

30s of work, 5s of rest
5 different stations x 5 cycles.

1. Stationary Sprints
2. Jumping Jacks (killer on the calves and shins!)
3. Full body extensions, jumping if you can at the top
4. Back/Forward pedaling, 2steps back- 2 forward.
5. Side shuffles.

YOWZA!

I highly suggest NOT going a week in between HIIT sessions at RSBC. Seriously. It's such a beyotch getting back into it. My feet hurt, my back hurts, calves, knees... just about everything. BUT I will say that all this "rest" seems to have given my body time to recuperate and I "lost" a few more pounds. I say that in quotes because I've said before that my scale has mood swings. It works sometimes, then it doesn't.

Rachelle has scheduled a before and after measurement dealio to take place 11/12. We're going to take our measurements of our "before" selves and then start on the Rock Star Boot Camp Holiday Fat Buster! Sounds like fun. I can't wait to beat the crap out of my fat and NOT go all crazy with the holiday foods coming up. I'm not exactly sure when we're going to do another measurement to see our progress, but I love that I'll be able to document the changes I'm making with other campers, and see their success as well! YAY.

I'm so glad to be back at camp. Too bad it's the weekend soon.

One last tidbit:

My cucumber salad/salsa was featured in a good friends blog across the country. She's on the east coast, so we're going international :) WOOT. Jk, not that big of a deal. But check out her post here on The Half-baked Housewife. She is hilarious and has some great stuff on her site!

5K Walk for Cancer

Today I participated in the 5K Run to Fight Children's Cancer. It was a huge turnout, I'm assuming. I've never been to one before but there were well over a thousand people.

My only goal for today was to finish the race. And I couldn't :( Here is what happened today.

The race started at about 7:40. A few of my friends, Carmen and Jessica, were also there with me. They promised no matter how long it took me, they'd be waiting for me at the end, just get through it. I started off running. Btw, I HATE running. It's not my thing. It bores me to no end, and I don't even have an mp3 player to keep me company. I ran all the way to the 1k marker. I was pretty proud of myself. It wasn't a fast run but nonetheless I was running. I took it town a notch probably to a slow job/trot all the way to the 2k marker. By that point I had been noticing my right foot tingling for quite some time. Weird... It was as if I was sitting on my leg on the couch and my foot fell asleep and was waking up. It was very bizarre. So at that point I started a fast walk. I slowed way way down when my foot basically had NO feeling. A lady passing by stopped to make sure I was okay since I'd stopped to shake my foot a little, probably looked like a dog lol. She wondered if my shoe was too tight, they're not.. They're actually slightly looser than they should, I like some wiggle room. Then she said I might've pinched a nerve or something. Then she said I might have arch support problems. All good ideas, and I honestly have no clue what the right answer is. I'm puzzled. When sitting on thecouch or a chair and my foot falls asleep, I moved it around to get the blood flow going and feeling back in my foot. But I WAS moving, and the blood WAS flowing, so nothing makes sense.

I made it to the 3k marker when I decided to take a break and decide what to do. Do I keep going with no feeling in my foot? I was practically limping, looked injured, but wasn't in pain (besides the burning shins and calves but that's normal). Lots of people kept asking me if I was alright, which was really nice. After I'd rested for a few minutes the feeling returned to my foot. Ahh good, I can keep going. After about 20-30 yards it started getting tingly and then once again had no feeling. I could wiggle my toes but not feel a thing.

Cue another break, at this point I'm just so confused. Feeling comes back again and then around another 20 yards, it's gone. Again. At this rate I wasn't going to get anywhere.

I started getting a little freaked out. I probably could've kept going and finished by 6pm tonight. I was pretty worried though about why I would be losing feeling in my foot. I cut through the parking lot through the university to where the race began and ended.

In total I went about 4K. I'll be honest... it wasn't very fun. I was kind of bored and in the end pretty disappointed that I didn't finish. It was way more than I would've done a month ago though before boot camp. I'm doing another 5k November 6th with a friend because I promised. I plan on just walking that one with her. I think I'll stick to exercising at Rock Star Boot Camp though.

Curtis gave me the name of a sports shop that will help me get the right shoe for my stride. I'm going to check them out, maybe they can tell me what the H is wrong with me. It's never happened before, never during boot camp.. I've never been much of a runner, obviously, and when we sprint at camp it's for short periods of time. So maybe it's an endurance thing. Who knows.

So I didn't reach my goal, but I tried. Here we are before the race.

Picture this: Week 13

Well here it is like I promised. I thought about doing a comparison shot from before I started bootcamp, like doing a set of three pics instead of two, but there isn't much difference in the photo from before. So sadly there isn't much a visual change since I started boot camp. I'm a whole different person though, so don't let the looks fool you.

Here is Week 1 Photo, from the very beginning.. and today Week 13, 2 weeks into boot camp. I probably should've worn a tighter shirt, I'm sure there is more definition under all that fabric... or so I'd like to think ;)

If you have nothing positive to say...

I say this to you:

Brithday Burpees

There were 2 people with birthdays at last night's camp and Curtis was so generous to give them both gifts. In fact, he gave us ALL a birthday presents to honor them. It wasn't a iPod, it wasn't a pretty box wrapped in a bow, and it definitely wasn't a cake. We got some Burpees... 90 seconds of them.

If you don't know what a Burpee is:

Now I do a modification since I'm not quite ready for the full burpee. But they're still hard. Let's just say there were a few people that said they will NOT be telling Curtis when their birthday's are, especially if this is their present LOL!

So we did the burpees, and THEN started our warm-up. After warm-up, we did all sorts of things. This was Wild-card Wednesday, so there were tons of different stations to choose from during our super sets. Battle ropes, tire flipping, dragging weights, three-headed dragons, throwing the medicine ball around... and some other stuff that was too advanced for me.

I did a lot of tired flipping. When I got home, the hubs said it looks liked I'd been abused (well duh, I was at Rock Star after-all) because my hands, wrists and legs had black marks.. The tires were DIRTY! I didn't really care much. I mean, I grew up on a horse ranch... tire soot was probably cleaner than most things I touched.

Today is boot camp Friday, last day of the workout week. I'll have a day off (the real Friday) from camp and then go back Saturday morning for my first TRX workout. I'll be sure to report about that.

I'm going to get an updated pic of me posted Friday. Hopefully I'll be able to see a transformation, even just a tinsy winsy one.

Until then, look at a few of my gorgeous sisters, I'm going to be skinny too some day so I can share clothes [with the tall one] and shoes.. she has an amazing shoe collection. The shirt I'm wearing is basically a small tent :/ (pic was a little over a year ago)

Hiking + New Do

Friday morning I went hiking with my friend Carmen, and fellow boot-camper. We met at some mountain off 7th Street and Peoria and started off with a few stretches. She probably saw the fear in my eyes and said "don't defeat yourself before you even try." So with that we started the "hike." I use quotes because the first part of the trail was basically a CLIMB. Hiking is HARD. My shins and calves were on fire, I was so out of breath only after going maybe like 20 yards or so. The incline was steep and the terrain was... rocky.

The days leading up to Friday I had imagined us on a dirt trail with maybe a few ups and downs, maybe a rock or two to climb over. I never pictured actually almost scaling up the side of a mountain. When we got to the top of this point, we met the paved trail.... The easier one. Probably MY level trail. So I thought. We headed up the mountain on this paved trail and I thought it would be a piece of cake from there. WRONG. The only thing easier/different was that there weren't any loose rocks that I need to manuever over. It was just has steep, but on this trail I could turn around and walk backwards to take some pressure off my shins. That was nice.

I made it to the next point and said "Is this the end? Did I make it to the top?" Carmen looked at me funny and said "uh..noo"........ I replied, "well did I make it half way?" Again, "uhm... nooo not even close".

Freak.

At that point we had come to the conclusion that maybe this trail was a wee too advanced for me for my FIRST hike ever. I was about ready to die so I had her go ahead finish her mountain while I waited for her at the bottom.

I didn't give up though. I went back down to point 1, where the rock cliff met up that I had come up from. Then turned around and went back up to point 2. I then walked the paved trail further past point 1 and back up twice. Hiking is some serious shizzle.

Since I'm a photographer and want to capture every moment on film, I wanted to bring my camera with me to document my first hike. My husband talked me out of it because "uh HELLO!? what if you fall?" Good point, I seriously didn't want to ruin thousands of dollars worth of equipment to document my fat booty climbing a mountain. I used my phone instead. Watching the sunrise over the city was beautiful.

 Later that morning I decided since I'm going through all these changes in my life, I might as well make just one more. I cut my hair AGAIN. This time about 9 inches off. It's verrrry short in the back and longer in front. My main reason was I've been working out and will be working out even more and my hair just makes me hot. So off it goes. It's super cropped on my neck and wont be getting in my way anymore. I took a cheesy phone pic because I was so excited. Also, if you'll observe, I have less of a double chin than a few weeks ago. HOLLA!

Finally, a pic.

So today as I'm running out of the house I remember I needed to get a recent pic of me up PRONTO. I'm so overdue it's redonkulous. I thought, "I don't really have time for this right now, I'm already running late, but I my hair isn't a total wreck like normal, and I'm dressed... so perfect timing (sorta)". I had the hubs snap a quickie of me before running out to go hang out with my sister for the day.

I'm like 4 weeks behind so.... my bad.

In all, I've lost about 10 lbs.. Not really sure, because my scale is broken, stupid thing. I need a new one. I feel like I'm recovered enough to try Jillian's 30 day shred again... remember, I just had a baby via c-section, so jumping down to pushup position was not really doable the first time I tried. #OUCH!

Without further adieu, Here is my "before" and week 5

New Do

It's always been an observation of mine that over weight woman tend to have long hair. I don't know why. I know why *I* always did, but not sure on the others.

I have had long hair my ENTIRE life, minus one year when I cut if off in beauty school. People have always commented how gorgeous my hair is.. thank you thank you.. It's long, thick, wavy, will style howEVER you want it. It's most peoples dream hair, I guess... not being conceited, but that's just what I've been told. When you have an insecurity, what do you do? You find a distraction. If you have humungo ears, you wear your hair down. If you have a huge forehead (FIVE-head), you wear bangs etc etc. I noticed throughout my life how many comments on I got on my hair. I guess subconsciously I thought, "If I draw attention to my hair, maybe they won't notice how fat I am"...?? That's the stupidest freakin' thing I could ever think. How can anyone NOT notice I take up half (not quite) of the room? Hair doesn't shrink people. Again, just stupid thinking... yet I've done it for years.

So I'm putting myself out there even more. I'm not going to hide behind my hair anymore. It'll grow back, sure. But only because I WANT long hair, not because I need it for a distraction. I cut and colored it all by myself.. I'm a hairstylist, it was no biggie.

Added bonuses of having short(er) hair:
-less shampoo & conditioner
-subtract about 10 degrees of heat from lack of the hair-blanket
-takes me an HOUR less time to style it.
-^^I actually WILL style it
-it doesn't get caught in my armpits everytime I move my arm (eww huh?)
-no more slamming it in car doors and almost decapitating myself

Ahhh there are so many more, I could go on for days. Here are some pictures to show what I've done. The bangs could be a regret in a few days. I hate hair in my face, yet every time I grow my bangs out, I want to cut them again. SMH, sometimes I'm just stoopid.

(before, duh.. then after)

Week 1 Weigh-In

The "weigh-in" was actually yesterday, Friday.. but I ran out of the time in the day to blog about it. oopsies, forgive? Thanks.

Well, the results are not what I had hoped for. Here I thought I would pull some Biggest Loser week 1 numbers.. drop like 15lbs or something....how 'bout not. Try more like TWO.

2!

What the frick. I have been working my tail off (I thought literally) twice a day, at least. I go about a mile each time, so that's at least 2 miles a day. Around 120 calories each time. I've cut all junk food calories out and only eat good healthy, nutritious food... besides my morning coffee with creamer, gotta have it. I do account for those in my breakfast subtotal. The theory is that I'm gaining muscle. I'm working on the Elliptical which is working the biggest muscle group, so it makes sense that I'd be strengthening and gaining muscle in that region. A friend told me I should start seeing results bigger results in the next few weeks when my body has adjusted to work outs. She says right now my body is freakin' out since I've just started this routine and doesn't yet know if it's SUPPOSE to let go of the fat. So it's holdin' on for dear life. Soon my body should realize I'm doing this strenuous activity on purpose, and will shed some weight. I hope so. This sure does suck. Oh well, we'll save this week or next for the big numbers, eh?

Although the scale barely reflects the changes I've gone through, I can tell there are plenty of differences in my body. I've lost almost 5 inches around my ribcage/abdomen area. 2" off my waist... that's all of the measurements I took (lazy). I'll do a full assessment soon though. I'm curious, just haven't noticed a difference anywhere else.

I have loads more energy. I sweat a TON now, which I don't know if that is suppose to happen the healthier you get. At first I would barely sweat, but now the more and more I work out, the more I sweat. Either way, it's making my skin look niiiiiiceeee. I guess I'm sweating out the impurities in my body and giving my pores a good breather. It feels good. I'm in a better mood these days. If I start feeling a little tired, I'll hop on the machine for an energery boost. Sounds backwards, like wouldn't working out make me more tired? But is doesn't. Just strange, but it's better than speed... err. I've never taken Speed before just heard it makes people CRAAAZZY hyper. So anyways.

I'm down 2 lbs. Here are the pictures for comparison. I can notice a little difference. Not much, but it's only been a week.. I didn't think I'd see ANY visual physical changes.

Thank you for reading and supporting me.*smooches*

Left is obvs the first pic... week 1 on the left. (I know I'm not totally facing forward, but the lighting was putting a weeeird shadow on my boob making it look completely deformed, that just wouldn't do)

EM's in the house!

EM (Elliptical  Machine, duh)

My elliptical is finally here. After 2 days of delays, it's FINALLY HERE! I'm excited <-- can ya tell? It arrived yesterday evening in a huge beat up box.. the box was almost torn to bits and worried me a lot. The freight company said it wasn't their fault, etc etc. All I knew, is my new friend best not be busted. I'd have to open up a can. After taking out every single piece, my hubs determined that everything was in tact.. well just about, there is a minor crack in one of the casings. Not sure if it's worth getting replaced or not. It took him 1.5 hours to build, with out daughter "helping" it probably would've gone a lot quicker. He tested it out first, burned near 300 calories in like 25 minutes (show off) and declared I was good to go. Well.. actually I wasn't good to go because I had to feed the wee one, over and over and over again... cluster feeding is what they call it. I call it "squash any chance of sleep for mommy the whole night so I can eat every 20 minutes." Add in still caring for the other little-big one, Elika.. I sort of had a busy night. Wait. Who am I kidding. My days and nights will always be this way. I guess I'm just making excuses. Nah, not me.

I suppose I should get on with it.

This is how Elliptical Machine arrived. I didn't open the box, the delivery guy did to make sure nothing was obviously busted up. Looks a little intimidating, but like I said, it wasn't too bad to build. Especially with my amazing direction giving instruction skillz.

And here are a few of it built. As you can see, Elika has to be in every shot. She thinks it's a new toy for her,
au contraire my sweet.

And just a few more, because she's so cute.

Houston, we have a problem.

My friend Elliptical Machine still has not made it's appearance. I got a call Monday asking me to reschedule delivery, so I do that and made another delivery appointment for Wednesday. A little hiccup in the plan, but it was just a day, we could work around this. Then Tuesday morning, I get another calling. The nice lady told me my package wasn't even arriving in their warehouse until Thursday, so that's when I can have it dropped off. THURSDAY. Two whole days after I had planned. I was suppose to be 2 days into my challenge.

This delay is making me itchy. I want my elliptical so bad it hurts. In the meantime, I figured I'd post a whole bunch of "Before" pictures. Not THE before picture, but some leading up to today. THE Before picture is the one I'll take right before I step on Elliptical Machine, and the one you'll see as a comparison to my weekly progress pictures.

So, no laughing.. at least I'm doing something about it.

The first is on my wedding day. I look at all these memories from the past and I feel like they're ruined by my size. I'll always be fat on my wedding day. I will never be that gorgeous, skinny, magazine page bride. Maybe in a few years we can renew our vows, have another ceremony just so I can be the stunning bride I've always wanted, and then I can look at THOSE pictures for the rest of our lives... meh.. Joel doesn't think so. He says he likes me just the way I was, after all he DID marry me that day DUH! Right? See that stray curl in my hair? Well I had lots more in the back, no one bothered to tell me that I had that one random curl in the front, with my short layers only, for the entire ceremony! ugh. (4/20/2007)



Another: excuse the poor quality.



This is me and the hubs on my 21st birthday. He's handsome, and has a great smile huh? I told you, he's ALWAYS happy! (5/12/2008)



I don't like to be in front of the camera too much by myself. So to accessorize, I usually grab someone cuter than me. It's usually my daughter Elika. These two are about a week apart. Elika is a month old (so this is 18 months ago) (12/09)





Here she is about 6-7 months old. (5-6/10)



I totally retouched my arm in photoshop so it didn't look so fat. Probably my chin too. Again, the cuteness 8 months old. (7/10)




This one I took after I got my hair done. It had been probably 8 months before that, that I had a chance to get my hairs did. I snapped a picture for my stylist so she could see the color in the sun light. (9/10)

 

The picture above is probably the last picture of me until I had Selah. It was taken in September of last year. Yea, that's how often I'm NOT in front of the camera. I get to use "I'm the photographer" as an excuse most of the times, but seriously... how sad is it for my kids to have almost no pictures of them with their own mother. And it's not fair that Joel gets to be in all the pictures just because I feel like a lard-o.

The ACTUAL last photos taken of me were when I was in the hospital after giving birth. Maybe I'll post one if I can find a decent enough one. I don't think I've even LOOKED at them! So people, here I am. THE Before picture that I'll be taking today or tomorrow will be revealed once I get my elliptical and I'm ready to start working out. You'll see the real me, to date. It's taking a lot of courage to do this whole thing, but I have you all to hold me accountable. Just do so nicely, I'm sort of a cry baby.