Weight weighing on my mind. (Reflecting on the last 12 months...)

Without a doubt, the year is drawing to a close, and as we think about what we are grateful for, turkeys and shopping for gifts... maybe you are even getting a jump start on New Year's resolutions?  I am thinking about the year that has gone by (and so quickly too).

I have never ever been one for resolutions... I mean, the whole point of them is to brag on Facebook how quickly you broke them.  Right?  That's what it seemed like to me.  I'm sure there is a statistic somewhere about how many of those resolutions are based on weight loss and how many of those hopes and goals are forgotten before June.  I wasn't going to do that.  So... why even make some silly promise to myself anyway?   

That was before I saw this picture:

The photo that "said it all" to me.

 This is Christmas Eve 2012.  We are arranging presents under the tree and last minute decorations before the kiddos go to bed and I gobble down all of the cookies left out for "the big guy" who sneaks into houses and leaves presents behind.  Unless you get coal.

I was in total shock!  That's what I look like?  Denial was not even the right word.  I was mortified and shocked and afraid.  How would I ever get to a healthy weight?  Depression set in and I felt hopeless. My stomach over hangs and spills into my lap!  my breasts sit on top of the shelf provided by my large stomach.  My legs look like huge rain barrels to me.

It shouldn't of been too much of a shock.  I had just had Squeakers and had "baby weight" to loose, but even my maternity pants weren't buttoning up.  This was November 2012.  One year ago I looked like this:
  

I'm so big, I couldn't even button my pants!

A friend had great success at Weight Watchers, and as a Christmas present, offered to pay for my first two months in the program.  I was so skeptical.  Assigning "points" to food and eating "whatever you want" as long as you stay within your assigned point values sounded fishy to me.  

So, you could eat all your daily value in peanut butter and chocolate cups and starve for the rest of the day, and still be following the program?  Well, if you want to simplify it that much.  I learned so much about myself and the program I was so willing to dismiss since my New Year's resolution to "loose the extra fat".  I joined Weight Watchers in January and  I started pounding the pavement, rain or shine.  Exercise and looking at my food choices and portion sizes is my only secret to my success.

Jan 2013 in the freezing rain.

I'm not perfect.  I still have so much more to learn.  For example, I still stress eat and turn to peanut butter and chocolate cups.  I also still think of myself as fat.  I do, actually have a few pounds to go before I'm with in the "healthy" range on my BMI chart... but more than that... I still purchase clothes that I think are going to be too small and skeptical about it and then find out that it is actually too big.  

But this is my journey.  I thought I'd share a little more about that, because sometimes I forget about it.  About how far I've come and I forget to celebrate my successes instead of seeing them as small milestones in a goal that I still have so very far to go on.

For every pound lost, there is a 4 pounds reduction from knee joint stress.  That is great news, because there was a point where i was not sure if I'd be able to grow old in a home that required the use of stairs.  I could get on the floor to play with my children, but then I'd have to crawl to a sturdy piece of furniture to pull myself up again.

So much has changed.  For that I'm so grateful.

I can run and play and keep up with my kids.  I started a local chapter of Moms RUN This Town and I've finished two half marathons (within a month of each other).  I've lost 66 pounds.  Here's to a good finish to the year, despite the temptations and treats... and to a healthy 2014!

What a year it has been!

Tell me about your goals (for the new year?) or how you started running.  :)