Week 12-Slimmin' On Down!!!

This week had some fantastic moments. I wore my new sweater like three times (church Sunday, work Monday & karate Thursday) & my new shirt today & Tuesday. Yup, I love my new clothes, or how I look in them. I'll go with both. This week brought a couple awesome compliments. My little sister's friend said "Mary you look so skinny! I looked at you & was like 'whoa!'" & when I came home in my lovely sweater Thursday night Sephora's boyfriend Austin was like "You look GOOD! (turning to Sephora) I like Mary now!" It was cute.

My water intake increased dramatically, to the point where Monday & Tuesday I got about 150 ounces & Wednesday I actually got to 250 ounces, my goal being to drink an ounce per pound I weigh. Thursday was much harder. Any time I'm not at work I have a hard time keeping up with my intake. It's just hard! But I'm getting better, & it definitely showed this week. My breakfasts have been sketchy-yes I've been getting lazy-but I'm trying to keep up my breakfast & snacks throughout the day. My working out has been weak, but I'm, as always, recommitting this week. Basically I've really been starting to feel the changes & seeing them in myself this week & that's great!

The best part about this week is that today I finally figured out when & how I will be graduating. I've been immensely frustrated with Boise State because of how sporadically my French classes are offered. Graduation has seemed impossibly far away, especially when I couldn't plan my classes because I never knew when they would be offered & they rarely had classes I needed. Example: my ten credits this semester. I could plow through if I could just get all my classes, but that has proved impossible. This week I determined to find out if my credits could somehow be applied to a more organized major that I could set up my classes & get a graduation date in sight. I intended to go to an advisor, but my friend told me about the new "what if scenario" function on broncoweb. So I used that & found that I only need 33 credits to graduate, & could easily graduate in a year. How exciting!!! I will still have to see an advisor to ensure I take the correct classes in the fall & leave the others for the spring, but I will be graduating with a bachelor's degree in Communications and a minor in French, Business Emphasis come May 2011. Yippee!!!

And of course, before I forget, my friend is doing FABULOUSLY in her endeavors. We weighed & measured her again this week & she has lost 37 and 6/8 inches in FOUR WEEKS! I am so incredibly proud of her! Her husband has lost 12 and 6/8 inches now which is also great, but she is busting her butt & is sticking to it. I am so grateful I was so stubborn & insisted she measure, because she can't see those changes in herself & she needs to in order to succeed at this, which she is doing!! I know she's frustrated sometimes that the pounds aren't dropping as quickly as she would like, but her inches are incredible, & the changes she is making are small enough that she knows she will be able to maintain them for the rest of her life.

That is the critical part. Austin (Sephora's boyfriend) & I were talking & he voiced his concern that if you take things too slow, you never reach your goal. This can be true. I've known many people who get lazy. For me however, I'm not really going slowly, just slower than I would like, & I'm continuing on a path that I know will continue to transform me & my body, long after this contest has ended. I live now in absolute certainty that I will be a healthy, fit, happy wife and mother who teaches my children to love eating right and exercising. That is the greatest change I could have hoped for from all of this, knowing that I will never return to these habits again, because I can do this, & I deserve to love my body and my life.

Here are the pictures!!




I'm doing comparisons again this week because I love to, & because without even comparing I can see there's huge differences in this week's pictures. First of all, my friend & I have both noticed my face is FINALLY starting to clear up. In the past when I've started losing weight & gotten rid of all the crap, my face has shown it. This time not so much, but it's starting to which is great. I hate looking like I'm 13 again. Now for the actual weight changes. My face & neck, oh my gosh!!! You can actually tell I have boobs, instead of just this huge bumpy roll of fat all the way down. They still drive me crazy, but if they have to be huge, at least they can be huge without my stomach holding them up. My thighs aren't quite where I want them but my legs look great! My abdomen is taking the longest to shrink because it has the farthest to go, but the rolls jutting out my sides at my ribcage and hips are much much smaller which is AWESOME! And my arms are almost to the point of having no gorilla stance whatsoever, which will be huge. They just look smaller all the way down. Yup, overall very very happy with the changes, yay!

So here are my numbers, & I bid you all good night!

Numbers as of Saturday, April 3, 2010
Official Weight: 210.8 lbs.-March 9th, 2010 LTD: 27.2 lbs.
Home Weight: 207.2 lbs. LTD: 27.8 lbs.

Body Fat %: 46.4% LTD 3.9%
BMI: 33.53 LTD: 5.63

Blood Pressure: 111/74 CTD: 18/10
Heart Rate: 64 CTD: 11

Neck: 13 7/8 in. LTD: 1 2/8 in.
Under Chin: 8 5/8 in. LTD: 7/8 in.

Upper Arm: 14 3/8 in. LTD: 2 6/8 in.

Right Arm-Flex: 12 5/8 in. LTD: 3 in.
Right Arm: 12 2/8 in. LTD: 2 in.

Forearm: 10 2/8 in. LTD: 1 in.
Right Wrist: 6 in. LTD: 6/8 in.

Upper Chest: 42 in. LTD: 3 6/8 in.
Bust: 44 5/8 in. LTD: 3 1/8 in.

Ribcage: 39 in. LTD: 4 2/8 in.
Waist: 36 6/8 in. LTD: 4 in.

Navel: 41 7/8 in. LTD: 6/8 in.
Abdomen: 46 6/8 in. LTD: 3 4/8 in.

Hips: 45 5/8 in. LTD: 4 3/8 in.
Right Thigh: 26 7/8 in. LTD: 5 in.

Right Knee: 15 3/8 in. LTD: 6/8 in.
Right Calf: 15 2/8 in. LTD: 1 in.

Right Ankle: 8 6/8 in. LTD: 4/8 in.
Waist to Hip Circumference: 80.5 LTD: 1

Total inches lost to date: 42 5/8 in.