Day 25 - The Long Road

It's so great when you can look back and see how far you've come! Yes, we have 5 more days left on the detox and hopefully we'll only get more results in weight loss over the next 5 days and beyond. But tonight was a good night for me to look back at some photos over the last couple years and see how far I've come to my goals since then!

In the year of 2010, I picked up running (or jogging), and I was able to get down to my 'ideal' weight over the course of that summer. I hated running at first. But I stuck with it (mainly due to Nick's encouragement and his initiative in signing us up for a 5K which I had never done), and eventually it was something I wanted to do! I felt great and, in my opinion, I looked great! I tried on all the clothes that I had 'grown out of' and some of them were too big. I tried on my wedding dress, and it was TOO BIG! Wow...I thought I would never fit into my wedding dress again...Anyway, all that to say, I was in great shape for me!

(At a 5K race with my friend, Mindy, in June 2010.)

Then we found out we were pregnant in fall of 2010, and I was thrilled to be going into a pregnancy in the 'best shape of my life!' However, at around 12 weeks along, we found out I had miscarried. Let's just say that was such a difficult time in my life that I didn't care too much about running or any other sort of exercise for a while. So I began putting on weight. I didn't care. 

Then we moved half way across the country, only about 3 months following the miscarriage, far from family and many friends. Still going through emotions over the miscarriage and trying to adjust to a new area and home where we didn't really know anyone nor how to get to and fro, we naturally ate out a lot and treated ourselves to Sonic Happy Hour all the time. Who wants to cook when it's a challenge to even find the right box that has your recipe books or your pots and pans? Anyway, all this led to putting on even more weight.

So going into my pregnancy with Isaac, I was about 20-30 lbs heavier than I wanted to be. But at that point, I was just so happy to be pregnant that I didn't care. And since I was already 20-30 lbs heavier (and I know this is bad logic, but...), I decided that I wouldn't care what I ate while I was pregnant. It wasn't healthy, I know. But I was fearful of losing another baby, and food (especially sugar) made me feel good! (I didn't cry over too many 'silly' things when I was pregnant, but I will not forget the time when I cried because we got the to mail just 5 minutes late. The officer was locking the doors as we pulled into our parking spot, and I burst into tears because I couldn't get an Auntie Anne's pretzel with cheese!) My thought process was, "I'll just lose it all AFTER I have Isaac..." Bad philosophy, I know...

(8-months pregnant - about 1 month before Isaac was born!)

Nick wanted me to stand here for my pic so I could see 'how skinny' I was by comparison. (I allowed very few pics taken of my while I was pregnant. I was embarrassed by my weight.)

(At my baby shower in April 2012.)

Anyway, I had Isaac, and I got gall stones 2 months later and ended up in the hospital for a week. Even though nursing Isaac helped burn calories and I had obvious lost some weight during his first 2 months, recovering from my hospital visit delayed my process of getting into shape. But after my post-op appointment following my gall bladder surgery a couple more weeks of 'taking it easy', I began running again and was determined more than ever to get back into shape! But I wasn't losing weight fast enough...

Since July of last year, I've lost a total of about 15 lbs. And I have lost almost 10 of those lbs. just within the last 25 days of our 30-day detox!

(July 20, 2012)

(Taken today, April 7, 2013)

(July 27, 2012)

(Today, April 7, 2013)

To reach my total weight loss goal, I still have around another 15 lbs. to lose (or until I can fit into my 'skinny' pants...lol). But doing this 30-day detox has really given me a jump-start to that total goal! I feel great!  And I'm excited about finishing up this detox and the journey beyond the detox!