2 Year Anniversary

It's been two year exactly since I decided to get healthy for myself, my children, and my husband.

I have to say it was the best decision I ever made. 

When starting I didn't tell my husband until that night. He was all up for a change, and hey it was free so if we couldn't do it at least it didn't cost us anything.

That first week I lost 5 pounds. It was great! I couldn't believe it. Though I realized real quick where most my calories were going. Soda. I drank so much soda! I was drinking up to 6 liters LITERS of soda a DAY sometimes!! Ohmygod. It was a wake up call. I know I was addicted. It was so very hard going from that amount of soda to only 1 can a day. It took me a little over a month to finally kick the regular soda habit.

But, I switched to diet soda. Though I had a very hard time starting to drink water after I kicked the regular soda, it seemed a slight bit easier to get the plain water down, at times.

I know, I know what your thinking "diet soda is just as bad as regular soda" yes I agree! That's okay. But it has helped me make healthier choices though. I portioned everything I put in my mouth. 

I spent some money and bought me some super cheap food scales. I keep my measuring cups and spoons in hands reach, so I don't have an excuse NOT to measure it out. 

January 11th 2013 to January 11th 2014 I had lost exactly 44 pounds. That's me rarely exercising. Basically walking the mall and walking trails our small city provides luckily. Sometimes doing DVDs for hand weights.

 My husband and I were so out of shape we couldn't even walk Hanes Mall without being in pain, and too tired to walk the whole thing. By the end of the trip we would be exhausted. 

By mid-year we could tell a difference. We actually wasn't huffing and puffing. We could tell we could walk faster, and less pain.

I've had back, leg, and ankle problems since I was 4 or 5 years old, and Andrew has had two surgeries on his foot from breaking a bone in it, and then again breaking the screw in it, so now he has a metal plate.

But also in January I found out I was approximately 3 months pregnant. I was on the fence about it. Yes another baby would be great, hoping a little girl to complete our family, but on the other hand I would have to stop using myfitnesspal. My journey, everything I had worked for, for a year. I had logged EVERY SINGLE DAY for a year. I finally got over the fact and then started getting the cravings, using my knowledge of serving sizes I ate whatever I craved, but ate it but serving size, sometimes a little more. With my first pregnancy I gained around 50 pounds. With this pregnancy I was smarter. For the first and second trimester I didn't gain much at all. Actually I lost just a few pounds first trimester. Doctor said it was okay, normal, and such. Fast forward my pregnancy was 40 weeks and 3 days with a baby girl. I had to have an Emergency Vertical C-Section due to Cord Prolaspe. I had gained 32.9 pounds with this child. I was scared that I would have to start all over again, that I wouldn't lose it. Surprisingly I lost it all within a month. I was so happy. Not happy about my scar or my "butt crack" stomach as someone said. But I'll just have to accept my stomach. 

Oh and after I had Sophia I quit diet soda. I've had a few sips here and there that abou killed me, or at least it seemed like it. 

So since 2013, 9 months of pregnancy, recovery, and the holidays I have to date lost 50 pounds.

I still have 33-34 pounds to go on this journey. And a whole lot of toning up is in store for me too.

Looking back to 2013 I was looking forward, wondering if I could keep it up. Knowing it was going to be a slow hard journey, but if I didn't start somewhere I wouldn't be here. 

So happy anniversary to me and my husband for changing our way of life. Cheers!

Thanks for reading!

xoxoGinaoxox

Living with it.

Almost everyone has it. I say ALMOST! Because there is that lucky few that doesn't have a smidge of one. And this isn't a post of a miracle cure, because I wish it was.

This post is about loving one's body even though you may have STRETCH MARKS.

Ah yes, the lovely stretch marks. 

Oh, how I loath you.

They SAY that if you have the purple ones adding Cocoa Butter or losing weight can help them disappear. Who really knows.

But I have the dreaded white ones.

I had a few from puberty but they wasn't that noticeable. But then when I became pregnant they came out of nowhere.

Of course, on my stomach,

my spare tires, as they call them,

my hips, and thighs,

my biceps,

even back of my knees, and shoulders???

I didn't even know you could get them there!

Now I am hoping that as I lose more weight they disappear at least a little bit.

I've seen weight losers have that happen. 

But if I don't and the time comes when I hit my goal, is that going to stop me from wearing a bikini???

HELL NO!

I will wear that two piece. I will flaunt it. Will I care if someone complains of my marks? Or as I call them my "Tiger Stripes".

No I won't care.

And they can just get over themselves.

Because I earned them!

Do you have any miracle remedies to help stretch marks? If you do please share!

How do you feel about them?

Thanks for reading!

xoxo Gina oxox

MyFitnessPal My 240th Day! (Post #2)

I haven't made a recent before after photos

Day 1: I weighed 220 pounds. I am 5ft 3in. in height. I wore a pant size 16/18.

As my friends may know on my Facebook today is my 240th day on MyFitnessPal. I mean they should. Ever since I started this journey on January 11th, 2013 I have been posting how I wanted to change. After trying many things to get my weight down and all of them failing I had about given up until my husband bought me an iPhone 4s. 

Before I was able to acquire a smartphone I had done some research on MyFitnessPal for about 4 months, though knowing I wouldn't hold fast to logging my foods on my laptop all the time I didn't make a membership. But once I heard that my husband bought me one that was the first free app I downloaded. 

For the first day was a bad day. I mean bad. Right from the get-go I went over my calorie intake. My whole day consisted on:

• McChicken Sandwich -360 cal.
• McDouble Burger - 390 cal.
• 12oz Coca Cola- 140 cal.
• Peanut Butter & Jelly Sandwich - 270 cal.
• Diet Green Tea - 0 cal.
• 1/2 Red Barron Special Deluxe Pizza- 760 cal.

Yes my calorie intake was only 1,550 calories in the start, and I ate 1,920 calories though I was still hungry and CRAVING soda, knowing I had already screwed up Day One I told myself tomorrow was going to be better.

That night I told my husband Andrew what I was doing and he liked the idea. Which I wasn't sure if he would since we had to log everything and scan our foods. I showed him how to do it, its all pretty simple. Scan the barcode of your product and nine times out of ten it pops up. If not you can quickly add calories or make your own product code. Andrew started on his the very next day and so far he has been right there with me ever since.

I KNEW I had to get off at least regular sodas. I know diet soda is BAD but its better than drinking all those calories. Anyway drinking I know 1-2 2L of soda A DAY was terrible I knew that but being an pop drinker for as long as I could remember was going to be hard going going cold turkey. I even told my uncle I wouldn't be caught EVER drinking a Diet Coke. Dang I ate my words.
Plus I hated water. Love to swim in it. Not to drink it. Go figure. I think it was a childhood thing not going into that piss some family off for that one.

 I SWEAR The month of January was HELL for me. Everyday I would give myself a 12 oz of soda. then go down to 6 oz then 4 oz and ect. until I FINALLY quit it. I felt like a meth addict coming off crack. It wasn't fun at all.  But somehow I did it. I do drink a lot more water now. I even crave it somedays. Which is good. 

Within the first week of using MyFitnessPal I lost 5 pounds. FIVE POUNDS. Nothing else had worked. But this FOOD MODERATION worked. DANG I really wished I had listened to my teachers in health and Foods in high school she wasn't joking when to stay healthy you needed to watch how much you ate. 

Day: 240: I now weigh 180.1lbs and can wear a size 12/13 (depends on the maker) pant/shorts

So Far I've lost a total of 40 pounds!

Mr.Wii Fit can be a real buthole because everytime I go to step on him he says "Oh!" .... Butthole! 

I've done made this post WAY TOO long so I guess I'm going to stop it here. I'm going to try to back track using my memory and go by month by month, or couple months by couple of months. We will see.

You can Add me on MyFitnessPal my username is MrsGinaTaylor or you can click the link HERE

 And Let me know if you have any questions on my journey or on the MyFitnessPal App or website.

Thanks for reading!!

XoXo Gina oXoX

Follow My Journey Here:

In the Beginning... (Post #1)

Weight Loss Update! (Post #3)
My Journey (Post #4)

Disclaimer: All opinions are my own and no compensation was given.