More inches!

I taped myself this morning for the heck of it to see if I had lost any more inches or if my measurements were still the same, and I am SO happy to say that I have lost 1/2 an inch off of my chest, a 1/4 inch off of my hips, and 1/4 inch off of each of my thighs! I truly am a shrinking woman! I didn't record that in my food journal like I always do, I will wait 'till Monday to tape myself again. I'm not sure which body part I'm more pleased about losing inches in? My Chest, my Belly or my Hips? Those are all problem areas for me, but then again those are problem areas for all women.My Chest, well lets just say that the "girls" were pretty dang big when I was at my heaviest weight! I think that they are still too big now! So the loss of inches in that particular area is a really good thing. I can run now without pain, and I am more able to just sit without having back pain. Plus my clothes are fitting me so much better these days. I have this one jacket that I bought back in July. It's an XL 16/18 size. At the time when I bought it, the chest area was pretty tight. I had a hard time zipping up the zipper, but I could still zip it up. That was after I had lost about 3 1/2 inches off of my chest, and about 15 pounds. Now that same jacket is SO loose on me! This morning when I was driving my kids to school I noticed just how loose that jacket was and how far I have come in my weight loss. I'm proud of myself for really trying to stick with this healthy life style, and for not giving up when I had a bad day. It really takes a lot of baby steps to loose weight, whether it's losing 5 pounds, or 50 pounds or whatever the amount is that you have to lose. At times it has been frustrating to lose this weight, and losing less then a pound at times has been a little frustrating, but it all will add up in the end, and I will eventually get to my goal weight. But ya know what? Getting to my goal weight is one thing but my ultimate goal is to become healthier, and stronger. I think that's what I should be focusing on more. Not just the number. A person can lose weight by a number of different methods, but that doesn't mean that some of those methods are necessarily a healthy way to lose weight, right? Like Bulimia, or anorexia, or diet pills or whatever. This is what I've been trying to teach my kids too, that losing weight is more then just an outward appearance. It's about getting healthier. Of course we all love to look better, that's a bonus, but I believe that losing weight the healthy way is SO important. The other day I was talking to a lady I met at the park that I used to walk at. She was telling me about her daughter and that she lost about 20 pounds using this diet drug called ALLI. (By the way, I do not support any weight loss pill out there, I just want to get that understood.) I think that it's a good thing to want to lose weight, but the means of losing weight needs to be gone about the healthy way. By hard work, and eating right. That's the only way to go if you ask me. The Weight Watchers program has really helped me to understand the importance of eating right and the importance of exercise. It sure has made me realize just how horrible I was eating before I started the program. I can't believe how much junk I was eating before. No wonder I had a weight problem!
Of course when I started the program I just had my baby about 3 months before, but all that fat that I was carrying around wasn't just from that pregnancy, it was from years of unhealthy eating, and no exercise at all. Well, I ran around after my kids, but that wasn't enough to be considered a workout or anything.
Weight Watchers is an awesome program, and I'm SO glad that I started it when I did. I hate to think what I would be like now if I didn't start the program when I did almost 1 year ago. I would still be depressed about my weight, and hating my body. Now things are totally different from how things were then. I am SO much happier with my weight and my body image. I am more positive with everything. I am showing off my body more which is a lot of fun! It's SO nice to not want to hide my body. And I'm not as self conscious any more. I'm loving life more, and it's an awesome feeling!

OK, I just HAVE to let you all know that my ring is driving me nuts right now! It's SO loose, and it keeps turning around on my finger. ANNOYING! I wonder if I should get my ring re-sized now? or if I should wait to do that until I'm at my goal weight? Maybe I'll just wait and just deal with this little annoying problem of mine. I never would have thought that my fingers would get skinnier? Has that happened to anyone else?

This morning I went to the gym after bringing my kids to school. I worked out for 90 minutes. Those 90 minutes flew by so fast. It's actually fun to workout, and the time doesn't drag by like it used to. It's so nice to have all these different machines to use. I am already seeing a difference in my arms. I have more muscle definition, I love that! My flab on my under arms is getting smaller. That is one thing that I am VERY GLAD to see going down! Oprah calls them "Chicken Wings" LOL That's what they look like to me too! It's never a flattering thing to have a flap under your arms like wings! I know you all agree with me on that one! LOL
My legs are looking so much better too. Today at the gym I tried this thing, I'll try to explain what it looks like. It's just a wooden board with these 2 half circles on the bottom. You are supposed to stand on it and balance. It sounds easy but it's totally hard to do, at least for me. I had a medicine ball and I tried to do squats while I held the ball to my stomach. SO HARD let me tell ya! I felt really silly doing it, but it was a really good workout. I also did squats without the medicine ball while on that thing-a ma-jig. That was pretty hard to do also, but still a great workout. My belly, that is looking better, and flatter, and I love that too. After having 4 kids my belly is, well, kinda flabby. My kids used to call it a pizza belly. It's funny I know, that is until it's your belly that's being called that! LOL I have had c-sections with all my kids, and people have told me all my life that I will never have a flat belly again, but ya know what? I'm gonna give it a good shot and at least try my hardest to get it as flat as I can! Even if I lose all the fat in my belly I know that my skin will still be a little stretched out. Unfortunately I can't afford a tummy tuck so I'll have to be happy with what I have. Oh well. That's another thing, if only I had the money to have my fat sucked out of my body! I wouldn't have to put in all this work! Wouldn't that be nice! I really want to earn my way to success, and that means that I have to eat right, and exercise. If I keep at it then I know I'll get there. It'll just take time.
So, I know that I'll be sore tomorrow after my workout today, but I'm still gonna go to the gym. I think it's important to workout even when the muscles are a little sore and just work through it. I always take 1 day off though which is a nice break and I know that taking at least 1 day off from exercise is important so that the muscles can recover. My day off is on Sundays. It works out nicely that way for me. Then Monday rolls around and it's back to work for me!
I guess I should stop rambling now. I think I've just written a small book. I didn't realize I had to much to say today. Well, gotta go for now. You all have a good day and don't forget to drink your water! Later!