I need to bookmark this post. Sometimes I think I'm crazy for sharing all that I do here. Some of you might think I'm down and out reading this. I'm really not... but there's no faking or hiding it- I'm disgusted with my body.

Today was the day I was supposed to pick out a cute little frock to wear to a family wedding that is on a boat this weekend. I wanted something bright and fun. Instead, I went from store to store with money to blow... and came home with a pair of earrings. I didn't even buy shoes, because I swear even my piggies have gone up a size in footwear.

In any kind of weight loss, the dreaded plateau rears it's ugly head.  It does not matter what kind of exercise you are doing, it happens.  Our bodies are amazing machines, though.  I think this even more so after it has been the operation center, home, and feeding station for my baby!  Now, it is working overtime in getting weight off that I put on it.  Pure and simple, our bodies are one of the most interesting and strongest machines that are capable of so much.  I am literally in awe of how much it can endure.  It's so important to treat it with respect - so why is it that most of us don't?

I had huge plans. Even detailed. I was chatting with my friend at the gym and had concocted a plan to be waiting for the hubby when he returned from work late at night in a nightie, with music going, and candles lit. I might even have been freshly showered and shaved, too... but I wasn't sure if I should pull the big guns out. Afterall, I don't know if we've had candles lit since P.B. days... as in pre-baby time.

And then it happened. Aunt Flo came on with a vengence. Like a moth to a flame, she reared her ugly head... and it was downhill from there.

I love my life... but the one thing I struggle with (besides this whole diet and exercise thing) is contentment. It seems as though I'm constantly searching. If it's not one thing, it's another. I'm searching for a new sofa, free activities for the kids, a new park to try out, a new diet or quick fix that never pans out, a new hairstyle... I could go on forever. If I'm given twenty dollars I try to concoct a plan as to how to get fifty. If I polish my counters, I don't admire them, I just move onto doing the floor. I'm always thinking one step ahead and it drives me nuts.

On Sunday, we had a good morning. All four of us managed to shower and make it out the door to church on time- sometimes a small feat of it's own.:) I always feel like it's going to be a good week when I make it to a sermon. The kids learn about Jesus, my hubby and I squeeze hands during hymns and I feel that happy love, and I always leave inspired. Except for this Sunday.

So, my work decided to hold a biggest loser competition.  It started at the beginning of January.  At that time I was 174 pounds and was desperate to feel and look better.  That was the time I started with my trainer and have been working out pretty much 7 days a week straight since.  You could call me the underdog in the competition.  My weight loss was gradual enough and I was not discussing how much I was losing or what I was doing in order to lose it with anyone.  It was clear that after listening in to conversations, they did not think I could win this.  The morning of the weigh in, my husband asked if I was nervous.  My exact response was, "Not at all.  If someone is working harder than me, then they deserve it".  After 3 months of busting my ass, it was clear that after a 16% body percentage of weight loss, I was the biggest loser.  I walked away with $440.00 in my pocket last week but it already had a home - my trainer.  She is my motivation...the person that keeps me grounded and one of my biggest fans.  I know I would never be where I am if it were not for her.  She meets with me twice a week but is a phone call and e-mail away anytime I need her.  She sends me many articles during the week to keep me focused and continues to keep me striving to be the best and achieve what I have set out to achieve.  Since I have made this committment to you and to me, I have lost 31 pounds.  But,I still have 20 to go and I am not giving up!!!

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I will tell you that even with this weight loss, I have my bad days.  My husband was traveling and I could not get to the gym as often....I started to crave chocolate and ate a half bag of chocolate chips in one day.....I had a headache and skipped a workout....I am human too and these things happen.  The only difference is that I don't let them KEEP going.  I tossed out the rest of the chocolate chips (as in there them away in the trash with other things so I could not fish them out...haha) and I moved on to a two hour workout. Yep, burn it off.  It's all about calories in versus calories out.  I get frustrated too, just like everyone else.  Even though the scale has made major improvements, it does feel like this is taking forever and its hard work every single day.  But every day I get closer and closer to my goal....and I know that once I get there, maintaining is so much sweeter.

So don't put off what you can do today.  If you made some bad choices, don't say to yourself that you already ruined the day or the week or you will just start over on Monday.....start again NOW....go to the gym and burn it off....don't give yourself the green light to treat yourself badly again.  We all made mistakes...learn from them and move on.  Because if we can't treat ourselves with respect, how can we expect anyone else to?

I'm 148 today.....by the wedding I am in (June 18th), that will be 128.....

LOCKED OUT. Yep, that's right, completely locked out of my house. Stranded with two kids past their bedtime only to find out that after a fabulous dinner at our neighbors, that I had moseyed on down the street without taking my keys. Yes, I mosey, and say mosey, and by God, I'm proud of it.:)

So after being rescued by Big Daddy Mike and Judy Booty, this morning my day started out by paying a locksmith $85 for popping my lock with a credit card- the exact same motions we had tried the night before. And then the show had to go on. I had to get my rear in gear to get my son on the bus and my daughter off to swim lessons. After a couple errands, it was back to meet the bus and hurry off to a baseball clinic... where my greasy, stanky, unshowered self was oh so lucky to run into my high school soccer coach. Just my luck. After baseball, we piled into my swagger wagon and hightailed it to Tae Kwon Do... and then we visited my Nanny and Pappy only to dine on some meals on wheels milk cartons and fresh fruit... government money at its best. No seriously- they deserve that service. Especially since rude, awful human beings try to take advantage of the elderly. Let me just tell ya- if I had been there twenty minutes earlier when the driveway guys stopped by and wanted to seal my grandparent's driveway for a mere $2,000... No joke- you read that right, $2,000 to seal their small, suburban driveway, I might have called the cops right then and there. At least I feel better that I have their flyer so that my uncle can give them an ear full or report their sorry asses. And then the rain storm came and I had to carry two sleeping kids in, only for them to wake up and take no less than two hours to get settled back in bed.

"There are no regrets in life, just lessons."
-Jennifer Anniston

Do-Over’s. Sometimes I wish you could just snap your fingers and have a do-over... like in the movies- You could shoot a retake. But then I think long and hard and realize mistakes are a part of being human. And if I could go back in time and fix all the mistakes I have made, I wouldn't- because it has made me who I am today. Honest. I swear.

But let's be clear- do-over's cross my mind daily.

It can be big things... Like why was I such a hussy when I was a teenager, why did I treat my parents soooo mean, why did I ever begin coloring my hair, or why did I think that at age seventeen a tattoo was a good idea?

And then I smile.

Have you ever finally gotten a moment to yourself after the kids are down for the count, and then realized that an entire sleeve of thin mints disappeared while you were watching TV? Not that that has ever happened to me... Just Sayin'.

This Thursday night (March 24th), we'll be having our next "official" Community Weight Loss Group meeting at 7:30pm at 21027 Courtland Village Drive Leesburg, VA. As always, it is an open, free meeting for any of you that struggle with your weight... or just need a girl's night out- and I'm so excited for our guest speaker- Lori Barthlow.

She is a wealth of information and will be sharing tips and tricks about Mindful Eating- and to give you a little preview, she's hijacking my rambling mess of a blog with an actual professional, well-written, insightful piece of literature... Enjoy, and find out even more by joining us on Thursday or by visiting her website at www.rejuvenatecoaching.com.

Walt Disney World- It's that trip that millions of families take every year because it is almost a right of passage, it's what everyone else does, because it really is truly magical, or maybe for some- all of the above.

Planning for a Walt Disney World trip usually starts months in advance- Ya know, trying to get all the info you can from mom's messageboards, searching for deals, and finding yourself with the likes of Disney lifers on disboards.com. Once your trip is booked, you then spend precious time fretting over where you are going to eat and trying to score that golden Cinderella's Royal Table reservation. It might even progress to plotting out where you can get your best snack value, what buffet serves up Mickey Mouse waffles, and how you can get around making your child eat from the children's menu. I know, because I did all of the above.

Bikes. I love them. I'm not quite sure what it is about riding one that makes me so happy, but they do. Growing up, my friends and I had quite the obsession with bike riding. I remember one time, Ashley and I set off on a bike ride only to run into three "Ashburn boys." What was supposed to be a twenty minute bike ride turned into three hours of us totally trying to flirt and having the time of our lives because we actually had males not shooing us away. It was glorious... until we heard Ashley's family riding around the hood with their windows down calling for us like we were lost puppies. We could tell they were one step away from sending out the search parties, so Ashley- knowing we were in deep doo-doo did what every coniving middle-schooler would do. She yanked the bike chains off and smeared grease on my forehead. We walked to the street, met up with her parents, and she proceeded to rant about how "those stupid, cheap bikes broke yet again, and we were stranded having to push them." It worked- They bought it, we were off the hook, and she and her brother wound up with new bikes later that month.