Before and (almost) After

This is the post that I have been most excited about writing.

My weight loss journey started with pictures from Chicago, in July 2009.  In Feb 2013, I surprised the hubby with a trip to Chicago.  We both had been feeling restless, needed a little vacation, so I booked it.

I've always wanted to eat at moto, and though we go to Chicago often, we've never made it out there.  So, this time, I made reservations.  In January, I went shopping for a dress.  I felt great about my body, and wanted an excuse to dress up and strut a little.  :)  I found an adorable dress at jcp, in a size 14.  I was shocked, even though my original goal was to get into size 12 jeans, I never thought I'd get my boobs back into anything smaller than a 16.  Even back in high school, I rarely wore dresses (I usually bought separates) because of my size differential.

So, we went out, and I felt amazing.  When we got back to the hotel, I asked the hubs to snap a picture of me, to show how far I'd come.  At the time, I had forgotten just how bad my "before" was, and wasn't at all prepared for what I saw when I put these pictures side by side.

Chicago Feb 2013, versus Chicago July 2009

There is a lot of history in that white space in the middle.  That's 85 net pounds.  That's 151 pounds if you count baby weight and nursing weight.  That's 10 pants sizes. That's 3.5 years of hard work and a completely new lifestyle.  That's waking up every day and making the choice that I can do a little bit better.

Now, I called this my (almost) after because I'm not there yet.  When we got home from Chicago, I went to my parents' house, went to my old room, and pulled out THE JEANS from high school.  I also found a small pile of other clothes from high school, and decided "oh, why not?".

I started with a dress.  Size 13/14 from Express.  It fit.  Holy crap, it fit.

Not the most flattering dress, but hey!  It fits!

Next up, some shirts.  They all fit.  Another dress.  Fit.  Some skirts that I ended up just tossing in the Goodwill pile because they looked too "junior".  And then it was time for the jeans.

I unfolded them.  I checked them out.  They weren't as soft as I remembered them being.  My brain was in overdrive...  "Is this IT?  Am I "there"?  I don't look how I thought I would look, yet.  Oh goodness, let's just do this already."  One leg in.  Other leg in.  Pull them up.  Hmmm, a little snug in the rear (guess I developed a runner's booty?).  Aannnnddddd... not quite.  I need to lose another inch or 2 before they will comfortably fit.  Dang.  Oh well, maybe in another inch or 2, my gut will look more like what I thought it would look like.

Somewhere along the line, though, my goals changed.  When I started this whole thing, my motivation was to get back into 12s, so that I could shop anywhere I wanted.  I love (love, love, love, loooooovvvvveeeeee) fashion.  I wanted to be able to walk into ANY store and know that they would have my size.  I was aiming for the 12, because most designers include that size in their lines.  I'm going to buy myself a designer dress when I get to the end of this whole thing (whenever that is).  I've always wanted a DVF, or maybe something cooky from Betsey Johnson. But, once I got to the 14s, with an eye on those 12s, I realized that I could do better.

Meeting Tim Gunn, Project Runway Barbie in hand.
He didn't know that they had even sold the PR Barbie.
LOVE Fashion. LOVE.
PS I went to the Meet n Greet directly from Habitat for Humanity, which is why I look a hot mess

So, here goes.  My revised goals.
Number 1: Make the net loss a nice, even 100 pounds.
Number 2: Do it by my birthday, at the end of May
Number 2A: If it doesn't happen by my birthday, then it HAS to happen by August 1.  100 pounds in 4 years (even while having a baby) is completely reasonable, esp for a PCOS sufferer.
Number 3: Get rid of the "crease".

At some point, I developed a "Dunlop" belly.  Oh yes, I'm putting it ALLLL out there in this post.  :)  You know when men wear their pants under their beer gut, and you say, "his belly dunlopped over his pants."  Okay, maybe you don't say that, but I have tacky friends that do!  Anyway, somewhere on the way up the scale, my belly dunlopped.  Being a woman, I didn't tuck my pants under it, but it was there all the same.

And on the way back down the scale, it's still there.  It's much, much smaller, but it's still super odd looking.  Perhaps I will brave up and take a swimsuit shot, so that everyone can see what I mean (maybe someone will have some pointers on getting rid of it!!).  So, that's my goal right now.  To get rid of that crease.  I showed it to my mom the other day, and she's worried that it will take surgery to get rid of it.  I think I can get rid of the crease on my own, but I am starting to get concerned about the excess skin.  My gut looks like it got hit by a hailstorm, and I'm not sure that all of the ab work in the world will save it!  Either way, I will be happy if I can just lose the crease!

And now, just to end this post on a high note, let's take another look at those Chicago pics, shall we?