And tomorrow, the 8th of August 2009, we celebrate our seven years of being together. At least, we think we do. We’ve done some maths and some of our time’s don’t really match up or make sense so it’s totally possible that he and I, in our dazed and confused love blind state, got married LONG before we’d been together for a year.

At any rate, we’re celebrating this year with a BBQ and some friends over. We don’t normally do that. We normally do nothing, or go out for dinner. Not to mention, that this time last year I was the size of a gigantic blue whale and this year, I’m slimmer, more like a slightly chubby dolphin.

I want tomorrow night to be special. For all of the reasons above and more. I look great, I feel great and I’m celebrating seven years of my life with the most wonderful man in the world.

So today I went out…and (gasp) bought a DRESS! Yes, you heard me. A DRESS! Seriously people, I haven’t worn a dress since the day I got married. And then before that, since I was 15 years old!

So I just thought I’d let you in on that little bit of excitement in my life. I’m pumped. The dress I bought is exactly what I wanted AND it’s a SIZE TWELEVE! You heard that right too. I’ve gone from a very loose size 24 (again, calling it a 26) to a size 12 in 20 weeks. I wasn’t even upset when I went shopping. And that my dear friends, is a miracle!

For once, I am really looking forward to sharing these photo’s with you. Stay tuned

Here’s another before photo to remind you just how big I got. I don’t even think this was my lowest (or highest) I think I stacked on a few kilo’s after this as well. Those jeans don’t fit me anymore, and the top looks stupid on me!

Last week when I showed up I was told that I am their most loyal customer. That surprised me somewhat. They say people don’t go a lot during winter. Because winter is the time for warm and rich foods. They stay away because they know they’ve done badly and don’t want to know.

Well, I go regardless. If I have a good week I go because I LOVE the satisfaction I get from getting told how much I have lost in the last week. Where I can say “YEAH! My hard work and persistence has paid off”

If I know I’ve been a little bad, maybe snacked on too many of Jaxon’s food (that is now on my banned list) I still go. Because I NEED that disappointment to keep me motivated for the week ahead of me.

It is sometimes really hard to stay away from those things I really like. I thought coke would be my downfall but it’s actually pizza! I miss pizza and…pizza with extra cheese. No matter how you spin it, a pizza with cheese on it is a big no no. But it’s always much easier to resist it when I can say to myself “Remember how you felt when you put on 500 grams” It is easier to look for my own kind of snacks while giving Jaxon’s his if I can remember that I am NOT eating those things for a very good reason.

If I didn’t go during those bad weeks to find out what had happened then I wouldn’t learn the things that really make a difference. I wouldn’t know just how badly eating one or two oily chicken meat ball’s without counting them in my points can affect my weekly weigh in. Going to meetings to accept the bad news is just as important to me as going each week for the good news.

Up or down, the weigh in gives me what I need to continue on each week. It either tells me that I was doing the right things, and eating the right foods, or it tells me that I need to reevaluate how much I really REALLY want that pizza. Right now, I want the scales to show a decrease. And I want THAT more than I want the pizza.

If you’re doing weight watcher’s and you tend to miss weigh in during the weeks where you know you’ve stuffed up then I highly recommend that you go anyway. Suck it up and stand on the scales and face whatever it is they have to tell you. Use what the scales tell you each week to learn from your mistakes. Use the feeling you get when you have a gain to kick your ass in to gear for the following week. Use the disappointment to motivate yourself to stick to it.

The most important thing I have learned is that Weight Watcher’s is not a diet. Or shouldn’t be considered a diet. It’s a lifestyle change. A huge change that will require a life time commitment in order to maintain your healthy weight. The only way to make those changes is to learn what you can and can’t eat in order to lose weight. If you don’t learn from your bad weeks by weighing in and facing the scales, then you’re not learning anything.

But I also had no idea how GOOD I would look being only just half way to my goal weight.

Tonight I weighed in and in fifteen weeks I’ve lost fifteen kilo’s. That’s 33 pounds.

I’m SO excited about it and so happy with myself that I want to shout it from the roof tops. I’ve looked for a billboard around town to see if I can post this picture on it for everyone to see. I want to shout out “LOOK! Look what I have done!”

I just had to buy new pants, because my old one’s were literally falling off me. When I started losing weight I was in a very loose size 22. Let’s just call it a size 24 to be safe. When I tried on these pants I was stunned. Size 16. I haven’t fit in to a size 16 in almost as many years!

So here it is. A sad before photo…and a stunning half way there photo.

If you’ve ever wanted to lose weight but sat and thought you couldn’t do it, you can.

Yesterday I tried on a shirt that my in laws bought me to stop getting burnt back in January. It was a size too small, a tight fit. I didn’t wear it again once they left but finally, the other day thought I’d bite the bullet.

It looks great, and makes me feel great. And it fit’s perfectly!

So once I got that “Wow” feeling I decided that it might be time for a before and after photo. My father in law was most gracious in sending me some terrible terrible before photo’s for me. And Tim was more than willing to take my after shot for me.

I don’t know if it’s the camera adding ten pounds and blah blah blah. But despite the fact that I feel great and FEEL like I look slightly slimmer…those “after photo’s” look terrible. Just as bad, or not much different to the before photo’s.

I’ve come to realise that I wont feel comfortable in my own skin until I am 100% happy being photographed. This was of course one of my main reason’s for wanting to slim down. If you’re working towards being a photographer, and your husband is doing the same then chances are you’re eventually gonna have to suck it up and model yourself for the greater good.

So no photo’s. yet. And eventually you’ll get to see the photo’s that Tim took today. When, I am a LOT slimmer than I am now!

It’s no secret at all that Tim and I are trying for another baby. It took a long time to get pregnant with Jaxon and no doubt (certainly feels like it) it’s going to take a while with this one too. Though I am not so stressed about it right now. Each month I am not pregnant (and I should say cycle, meaning 6-7 weeks) is another 6-7 weeks where I can lose more weight. And therefore, making it easier to GET pregnant.

So I asked my team leader last night what happens when I do finally get pregnant. I was some what surprised to hear that Weight Watcher’s does not support pregnant woman and I would have to stop.There is NO way what so ever, that I could continue. Even under a doctors certificate.

Now I understand that woman shouldn’t be trying to lose weight while they’re pregnant and that’s fair enough. But if there was any time when I needed to not blow my weight out, it would be exactly that time.

I’ve lost 7.4 kilo’s. (100.6/98.9/97.7/96.3/95.5/94.4/93.2) in seven weeks. It’s not been hard as I had expected it to be but it is a long road. A road which despite my hard effort and fantastic results, I am still at the very beginning of. I am 93.2 kilo’s and my healthy weight range is between 60 and 65 kilo’s. As I say, a long road.

I’ve known woman who have put on 30 kilo’s during pregnancy. I’ve known woman who have put on 20 kilo’s while pregnant. It just doesn’t make sense to me NOT to have woman monitored week by week to make sure that they don’t over do the “eating for two” philosophy.

I suffered from Gestational Diabetes when I was pregnant with Jaxon. I know now, that if I get pregnant eating the way I am eating now, I might be lucky enough not to get it again. But I don’t know how I will do that when my on line tools for great recipes and healthy eating tips are gone. When I don’t have a weekly weigh in to let me know where I am at.

I’m not saying I don’t want to put on weight. But I am thinking, that I don’t want to lose 20 kilo’s in order to GET pregnant only to have them turn their back on me and then put on that 20 kilo’s again. Only to have to start the long road ahead of me AGAIN when I have had my baby.

It might just be me. But that doesn’t make sense to me. What would be so wrong with giving a pregnant woman 35 points for healthy “eating for two”, rather than the 18 to 22 I am having daily for weight loss??