I CAN do it!!!!

Ok, So I just have to share this with the world. No one else probably cares but I am going to share anyway. Hopefully you will not judge me for this but I am really excited. At the end of May I was finally tired of how I looked. I put on quite a bit of weight with Garen. (part of it was understandable, in that he was not a small baby!) anyway, I hated looking in the mirror and having only 2 pair of pants that I could actually get into, and hey why buy new, when you hope that miraculously the weight will go away and your old clothes will fit again. But that wasn't happening. So I decided to take matters in to the only hands that could control it....mine! I started walking, and counting calories. It was the best that I could do, for that matter it is the best that I am still doing. Manda found SELF.COM, it is Self magazine's online help for loosing weight and being healthier. I signed up and was able to log my food and exercise everyday for 3 months, I was able to see how much I was taking in and compare it to how much I was burning off. I also signed up though our insurance for a wight loss rebate (earn $60 for loosing 10 pounds and keeping it off for 6 months - and $1/each additional pound lost) and an exercise rebate (exercise for 100 days and get $60) as more motivation - as if looking and feeling better isn't enough...free $$$ is always good! I also enlisted my friend to walk with me. It is easier to walk when you have good company. Anyway, I got on the scale this morning and found that I have now hit the 20 pound mark. I have lost 20 pounds since the end of May. It may not seem like a lot to some, and you may even look at my pictures and think - man she has a lot more to loose! - that may be true but it does not lessen the excitement on my accomplishment. I am almost half way to my goal. I think that is something to celebrate. The cool thing is that that last 1-2 pounds that I just lost was while on vacation. I like that I got a lot of exercise on vacation so eating ice cream and chocolate from Ghiradelli's was OK. Moderation in all things. I know I have a long way to go yet, but I am even more hopeful now that I CAN, in fact, DO IT! I hope you don't mind my rant, I just had to share!

I got this far! Yeah!!!