So much to celebrate!!

Okay, so my baby is FOUR today. 4 freaking years old! Man, time flies. There is so much to celebrate today. First and foremost, I have a healthy, happy, hilarious and smart little four year old boy on my hands. Second, it only took me 4 years but I have finally returned to my pre-Easton weight. I debated posting this, I don't want to weird anyone out. But I am kind of proud of myself. It took a lot of hard work and finally just buckling down and making some serious life changes to achieve this:

I weighed 209 when I delivered Easton. I weigh 139 four years later. Unfortunately, my boobs are gone:( And while I don't love looking like a boy up top, I do give thanks for my wide array of padded bras.

I sincerely hope that my posting this does not come across as bragging. That is not my intention at all. Honestly, my intention is to encourage others and to have this progress documented for my own sake. Because I remember being 9 months pregnant with Easton and just wishing I could be done with pregnancy forever. I remember being 2 months post partum and wondering if I would ever feel normal again. I remember when he turned 1 year old and me finally just saying, "Well, I guess this is just what my body will look like from now on..." I tried countless diets, a number of thermogenics and shakes, and partook in a butt load of self proclaimed quick fix exercise routines that did nothing but wear me out, make me look foolish and left me discouraged.

What finally, FINALLY worked FOR ME was persistence-working out at least 4 days a week (even if it was only for 20 minutes) and changing my diet. I am not on a diet. I just changed my diet. I no longer eat meat, cheese, dairy (yogurt, cream cheese, ice cream, milk) or eggs. I cut back on the amount of baked goods that I make or eat. I cut WAY back on the amount of milk chocolate I eat and I try to eat as little processed food as possible. Although, on the weekends I fail miserably at that being that potato chips are one of life's little treasures. I think if I could eliminate refined sugars from my diet I would be able to seriously tone up, but I am having a hard time gaining self control when it comes to treats like snow cones and salt water taffy...

I posted this picture on Instagram and got some sweet feedback/questions from friends. So here goes my little rant for those who are even remotely interested in how I am achieving my goal:

I had to find a workout plan that wasn't intimidating. P90X isn't for me. TurboJam isn't for me. I wish I could say they are, but they leave me feeling stupid and exhausted. Also, I have to workout by myself. I don't do well working out with other people. That is not the case for everyone, I know. But for me, I don't push myself when I work out with other people. It becomes more about socializing and less about burning calories. When I am alone, I can sweat, look like a fool and pass gas without being embarrassed. Can you believe I just said that? And I had to try a lot of different exercises to finally come up with some workouts that I actually enjoy. I had to stop doing what other people told me I would enjoy. I hate Zumba. I don't like weight training. I am not a hard core runner. I like yoga. I like kickboxing. I love walking on the treadmill and jogging. I love the mini trampoline and my fitness ball and my 5 pound hand weights. I love Jillian Michael's Banish Fat Boost Metabolism, Jillian Michael's Cardio Kickbox and Sara Ivanhoe's Fat Burning Yoga.

I also had to seriously, drastically change my diet. But the thing is, I didn't do that to lose weight. I have battled anxiety and depression since becoming a mother. Honestly, I think I've struggled with it my whole life but it just became more evident when I became a mother. In the fall of 2011 when we were in the process of losing our home, we were flat broke. Like we had no money coming in, at all. We were having some personal difficulties and I had a choice to make: I could go into debt filling prescriptions for my anxiety/depression that I didn't feel were working, or I could try to find alternate methods of dealing with my anxiety/depression and save us some money. I chose the latter. And it was so hard. It took me about 3 months, but I eventually learned to like soy, almond and coconut milk. Cows milk grosses me out big time now. And it took me over a year but I finally just quit cheese. Do I recommend this to everyone? No. But I, personally do not care to put animal products in my body anymore. And since I stopped I have been able to better manage my anxiety/depression. I have had far less breakouts. I have more energy and I am having an easier time achieving my weight loss goals. If you are going to throw the "but you aren't getting enough nutrients" crap at me-than you should know, I have done my homework. I know exactly how much fiber, protein, iron and vitamins A, B and C my kids and I should be getting each day and I know where to get them. The bottom line is, I changed my diet to feel better. As a result, I started looking better.

Lastly, I had to change my attitude. If you are down on yourself and stressed all the time and withdraw from the people in your life who make you happy, you will have a hard time achieving any goal. If you keep an attitude of gratitude, surround yourself with encouraging, upbeat and cheerful people, and embrace opportunities to have fun and socialize than you will be more successful. Me staying home and feeling sorry for myself while watching smut on TV or continuing on with friendships that left me spiritually and emotionally drained was taking a toll on me. Me having a negative attitude and focusing on all that I didn't have was just draining my energy. Also, praying helps. I don't know why, but it does. I pray for the motivation to work out. I pray to have patience with my body. I give prayers of thanks when I achieve my goals.

And that's it. Nothing fancy. No trainer. No shakes. No paid program. Just me doing my best to burn calories and be happy and eat right. Oh, and I should give a small shout out to MyFitnessPal-I use that sight religiously to count my calories. So, yeah, I guess that helped too;)

The point is, if you have been following me since I first started blogging, you know that losing weight has been a goal of mine for years. I have wanted this so badly. And now I am SO close to reaching my goal. Not only that, but I have this gorgeous kid to celebrate with:

I am blessed.