10 months

Here it is, that time again... Pictures and stats!!

It's been 10 months since I started my journey and I am down to 172 lbs. I'm sorry for the shitty mirror pics still. I haven't gotten a new camera yet. Not sure when that'll happen. lol.

and the measurements are...

Starting measurement > Newest one > Amount lost

Bust - 51 in > 39 in > 12 in
Waist - 53 in > 39 in > 14 in
Hips - 58 in > 44 in > 14 in
Arms - 17 in > 13 in > 4 in
Thighs - 31 in > 24 in > 7 in
Calves - 19.5 in > 16.5 in > 3 in
Neck - 16.5 > 13 > 3.5 in

So I'm only down 6 lbs from last month's weigh in.. that's half as good as I was hoping. On the bright side though, I lost inches in every area except for my thighs this month. Not too bad. I'll take it! ^_^

I finally hit that 100 lb mark... so I can safely say that I lost 100 lbs in 10 months. OMG... take a minute and breathe that in Jennifer... okay wow... I have to stop and tell myself these things because sometimes I go too fast to even really realize where I'm coming from. lol.

Something I keep meaning to bring up... I know I have spent most of my journey counting calories. Well for some reason when I went on Vacation just over a month ago, I stopped counting calories and have just been intuitively eating. I can tell when I'm full if I listen to my body and it's nice not having to jot down calories all the time. If I had to guess I'm probably eating closer to 1400 per day instead of the 1200 I was counting before. Some days though like today I probably had 1600-1800. Which isn't great and I really really wish it wasn't raining all day so I could have ran some of that off, but it's not too terrible as long as I'm not doing that everyday. I know I said this is a lifestyle change and I plan on living and eating and working out like this for the rest of my life. I think trusting my body to know when its had enough food now is working out rather well. I didn't lose as much weight as I wanted to, but I think that had a lot more to do with me exercising considerably less than I had in the previous months, too. As far as eating goes, I think I'm finally learning to get a handle on things without having to be super controlling over how many calories something is. I do often tally things up in my head still, but I'm not near as strict. I think I could probably lose these last 22 lbs faster if I were to continue counting calories, but honestly... I'm not in a huge rush to lose all this weight. I think gradual weight loss is healthy. I am finally to a size that isn't so huge I can't do all the things I wanna do, so slowing things down a bit now to a steady pace that's more livable seems okay to me. I dunno.. Does that sound like I'm just making excuses to be more lazy? If so, someone please say so and tell me to wake the fuck up and get back on track. hahaha. But seriously.. I'd love ya'lls opinions on this matter.

As for whatever happened Saturday night, since April wanted to know... I'm happy to announce that as of Sunday morning I now have a boyfriend. <3 I have casually seen guys over the last few years, but my last real committed relationship ended in February of 2009. So yeah.. it's been awhile... but I think that all that time to myself gave me the clarity to wait around until I met someone who was worth it instead of settling for someone who doesn't really deserve me. I am very happy and even a little surprised to feel this way actually. His name is Sparky, well that's a nickname but it's what I've always known him as, and I've known him for just over 5 years now. He is currently living in another state about 8 hours away from me, but is from my area and has relatives here and his son lives here with his mom now so he's actually in town this week spending time with his kid, family, and me. I know long distance relationships are not easy, but I just really think he's worth it. He has plans to be back for another week in December, and then a family reunion on Superbowl weekend. He is also trying to transfer in his company to something that's closer to this area so he doesn't have to be so far away from his son. I'm not sure where things will go for us in the future, but who really does? I have high hopes that this will be a lasting relationship and that's all that matters for now. In regards to what this means for my healthy living journey... nothing bad. lol. He has been very supportive and wonderful about it so far and told me I motivate him to get off his couch a little more now too so that's great. lol. I wouldn't dare allow myself to be with someone who was going to try and take all this away from me or somehow impede my journey. I don't think I have anything to worry about with him in that aspect.