More Update pictures!

I took some more pictures today. Why you ask? Well, why not! I think that I look rather cute today and I wanted to take some more update pictures. I also added them to the side of the blog near the bottom. I am always amazed how I looked when I was at my heaviest weight. So, I weigh unofficially until tomorrow, 158.6 pounds. I am loving being out of the 160's! It's a great feeling! I was thinking today about whether or not I should tell you all why I had a weight problem. At first I thought that I shouldn't because it's personal, and someone will hold something against me if I do. But then I thought that I should share my story with everyone because there might be someone out there who might relate to what I went through, so I decided that it would be a good idea to tell everyone more about my weight loss struggle.

First of all, if you have read my profile, you'd know that I used to be in the military. I lost 20 pounds after Basic Training, and I had gotten down to 123 pounds. I felt awesome! After Basic and getting to my Unit, my body got to 130 pounds and that was a healthy weight for me. I'm 5'2" so I think that weight suites me rather well. Anyways, I met my husband while I was in the military and I got married. I served my whole contract to the Army and then went on to have my kids, 4 total. Being out of the service was life changing. I went from doing road marches, physical training, and everything you can think of that's physical, to being a stay-at-home momma. My metabolism went from running to a STOP! And with such a change in life style, the weight just slowly crept on little by little. I didn't even notice it much at all. Sure I knew that I had gained a few pounds, but I still thought that I looked alright. Years later, my brother was killed in a car accident, and I became VERY depressed and I ate my feelings away. I remember what I felt too when I would do that. I felt a lot better, temporarily, and then the sadness would come rushing back, and I'd feel like I wanted to eat some more. I would say that I was unconsciously eating. That term very accurately describes how I was. At one time in my life I thought that Bulimia was the answer. I know how shocking that is to read, but that's the truth. Thankfully I came to my senses and stopped behaving that way, but I didn't stop eating badly at all. And exercise? What's that? Exercise wasn't even part of my life back then. I had tried diet pills years ago, and the only thing I got from those things were some nasty side-effects! I didn't even lose ANY weight at all! I was fed up with being over weight, but I didn't know what to do about it. One year ago almost to the month, I was talking to my sisters about Weight Watchers. My sister Heidi has lost 40 pounds with that program, and my other sister's husband had lost 65 pounds with that program also. My dad's neighbors had even lost significant amounts of weight with weight watchers. I was intrigued! I remember REALLY wanting to do the program but I was worried about the money. My husband and I went home, and talked about it. We were able to come up with the money for me to be able to start doing Weight Watchers. I started the program on March 12th, 2008, and that was my "rebirth" I would say! I did what I was supposed to little by little, and the same thing with exercise, and sure enough, within 3 days I had already lost 3 pounds! I was ECSTATIC!!! I remember being SO emotional when I discovered that in a span of only 3 days I had lost 3 pounds! IT WAS WORKING!!! I was on my way to the healthier and hotter me that I was meant to be! It's been a long journey to get to where I'm at now, but I'm VERY glad that I took that very first step to the new me! It's wonderful to have some self confidence again, and to feel proud of myself again. It's been WAY too long since I had either one of those things, and it's great to feel those things again! I'm loving life again, and I really feel like I'm a better mom/wife/person for it!
I am VERY grateful to everyone that has supported me in my weight loss journey, my wonderful husband, my wonderful family, my great friends, and even to all you bloggers out there who I don't know at all, but it feels like we're all connected some how and we all understand what each of us are going through. Everyone's support means the world to me and I feel like I need to let you all know that!