Before and after photos

Oh.My.Goodness! Did you hear that??? Someone just screamed! Oh wait, that was me : ) Why am I screaming? Well let me tell you.
November of 2010 I weighed 149 lbs. I was wearing a size 10. This was the biggest I have ever been post pregnancy. When I realized I could not fit into one of my favorite dresses (a size 4), I decided to start working out and getting back in shape. The funny thing was that I didn't even realize how I got to be 149lbs in such a short time. Looking back I can tell you how it happened. I was nursing my newborn up to 12 months of age. You lose about 500 calories by nursing. When I stopped nursing I was still eating and drinking whatever I wanted, and therefore I blew up to 150lbs. My calorie intake was too high.
  This was me when I was a size 4: To be honest, My body wasn't toned the way it is now, but my thighs were skinnier and I fit into clothes a lot better.

Within literally 3 months I went from a size 4 to a size 10

You can't see my body but you can see the weight gain in my face. 

My workout started out with doing Zumba on the Kinect. It was a good workout. I broke out into a good sweat. The dances where 20 minutes and then over the next couple of days it increased to 45 mins. I did this almost every day. I didn't change my diet at all. I ended up losing about 7 lbs. over the course of a few months. I wasn't consistent with anything or any workout.  Then I became determined. I started reading and learning. I changed the way I ate, counting calories and portion control. Then I started running a little bit with my husband. I hated it. I hated it so so much that I was mad at him for making me run outside with him. But then that started to change. I didn't really like running but I still did it. Then I started jumping on the mini trampoline (rebounding) It came with a counter so it told me how many jumps, time, and calories burned. I loved that! It was hard but I burned twice as many calories in a shorter time span than I did running. Finally I told my husband that I wanted a treadmill. I wanted to see how far I could run and for how long. So we got a very simple basic treadmill. The furthest I have ever ran was 5 miles. I have never felt so accomplished. It was amazing. That's when I really started loving my runs and appreciating them. December of 2011, I signed up for a gym membership at my husbands work. I started Fitness classes. I believe these classes helped me to really push through those plateau's. For a long time I was stuck at 139 lbs. Then I started to mix up my rebounding with running. I then dropped to 136lbs. When I started to mix up my workouts with the fitness classes I dropped to 133 lbs (my current weight, 5'5 height) I was slowly shrinking. I went from a size 10 to a size 8. I went out and bought all new pants this past November. And NOW I am finding my size 8 jeans to be too big. 

 

This is me wearing my size 10 jeans. It is the same pair  in the first picture below.

top: size 10 pants bottom:size 8

Today I took the kids with me to go try on some jeans and I picked out all size 6, different styles and cuts, but same size. The feeling I got when I pulled up those pants over my hips and buttoned them was like a "ah ha" moment! I even had a little bit of room! I can't explain how good it felt. Not just because I was almost back to my pre pregnancy size, but because I knew that all of the hard work that I have been doing was paying off! I know I'm not there yet. Though I am more tone and stronger, I still want to lose at least 10 more pounds. This is such a good feeling for me. I think anyone that has tried losing weight and has been successful at it can relate. When you work hard it pays off. 

These are the same jeans that I am wearing in my very first picture. They're my favorite pair of jeans. These jeans are hard to wear because they are a low rise jean. If one is not careful, they can easily have a muffin top while wearing low rise jeans. When I first bought these jeans, I didn't have a muffin top at all!!! But as you can see in the first photo here, I do. This picture was taken a few months back, in the middle of my transformation. At my heaviest I couldn't even button these pants. They barely fit over my hips and thighs. So I took progress photo's. The first was at 138 lbs and the second is at 133 lbs. The jeans are still snug. But I only have a little more to lose before they fit just perfectly. You can see that my sides are not hanging over the pants nor is my gut! So I am getting there. I am shrinking and that feels good!