45 Pounds Down...*Drop Mic*

178 days ago I decided to change my life and lose weight. A lot of weight; 45 pounds to be exact. This now seems minimal as I watch others around me achieving losses more than 100 pounds; but for me losing ONE POUND was a big deal. I didn't WANT to lose weight. I liked my life full of pizza, beer and fun. But something changed in July 2014 when photo after photo was added to Facebook and I couldn't stand to look at myself! I stopped sharing photos of my fun and dreaded the notification that someone had tagged me.

I used to be hot... what the hell happened? I don't have an answer to that...yet. I am still learning something new about myself every day and to be honest, I'm not sure I want to know why I let myself get to a point where I literally didn't think about a single thing I put in my mouth.

June 2014 (BEFORE)

January 2015 (AFTER)

The good news, and what I am focusing on the most, is that I have lost 45 pounds since August 1, 2014. In four short month (easier to say now that I'm almost done.. ha!) I changed my world. The program I chose and stuck to is called SlimGenics.

SlimGenics is a customized program that takes into account how much weight you want to lose and the level of physical activity you normally engage in. I don't have to purchase pre-packaged food with this program and I buy all items for my meals at my local grocery store. I do purchase snacks through SlimGenics, but they are yummy AND I know they are better for me. I meet with a counselor in-person about three times a week to discuss struggles, review what I have eaten, and how I feel.

The program is all about portion control, natural food, timing of eating
and covers all of the food groups with select foods in each category. I eat a TON - no more not eating all day and eating a crappy dinner "because I deserve it after working so hard."

When I started, I lost about three pounds a week. I have slowed down my weight loss with a few "cheats" on vacation and with the holidays, but am averaging two pounds a week now. I hit my goal of 45 pounds a few weeks ago, but... decided now that I was there I would go another 10-13 pounds! By my birthday, March 4, I should be itty bitty and back to being the hottie I used to be! :)

My motivation has been the money I have invested in the program - it wasn't outrageous, but it wasn't cheap and for those of you who know me or work with me... I am driven by anything $$$. In addition to the investment, I am also getting married in seven months (YAAHHHOOO!!!!!!) and have my bachelorette party in 3 1/2 months and I plan on reppin' a bikini the WHOLE TIME!

If you are interested in learning more about the program, let me know. I am convinced it is the motivation and dedication that makes a diet work. This one was structured enough for me and my HUGE type A personality.

-B

The Joy Is In The Journey

This month marks the six-month mark of our engagement and while I am ready to marry my man, I have LOVED every minute of the planning. I said to Tommy the other day, "There's not much left to do, let's move the date up!" He quickly replied with, "Just enjoy the moment, it will be here and gone before you know it." And he is right - I want to savor every step of this journey and we still have 234 days of engagement fun.

Maybe it's because I've lost 45 pounds since the engagement... (blog post on that to come) but the engagement photos have been by far my favorite thing so far. (Choosing flowers is a close second!) Now that I actually don't mind look at a photo of myself, I can't get enough of the photos from Audrey Brooks, our wedding photographer.

We actually did two sessions because the sun decided to hide during our first photo shoot, but even then we received excellent photos. So now we have double the images and I love every one of them!

Take a peak!