The Start of a Long Journey

I've had a nagging feeling for the last several months that I need to start a blog to document my weight loss journey and my transformation from a tired, lazy, obese person to an energetic, fun, and happier person.  In fact, I created a blog in February when I first started, but lacking in direction, energy, and time it came to naught.  Since then I have read numerous weight loss blogs and testimonials on Weight Watchers, and I couldn't help wondering if my story could inspire others just like their stories were inspirational to me.  So finally, after nearly 9 months of procrastination I have created this blog to post my story. 

I realize it will take a while to catch up on 9 months of events, but I don't want to ignore the current events happening now, so I have decided to alternate my posts with one post being in the past and the next being in the present so you can see where I have come from, the challenges I have faced over the past 9 months and where I am and continue to go.  With that, lets start at the beginning:

In January 2013, just before I gave birth to my second daughter, I reached my heaviest weight ever.  Topping out at 227 pounds I felt awful.  Now I know what you are thinking "Jenna, of course you are feeling awful, you are 9 months pregnant!"  Granted I was feeling miserable from the pregnancy, as any mother would agree at 9 months pregnant, but I also felt terrible about myself.  My self-esteem was at an all time low, I avoided pictures at all costs, hated my clothes and the way I looked and I made a vow to change as soon as I could. Here is a lovely picture of me the day before I went in for my C-section, courtesy of my beloved husband, Matt, who bullied me into documenting this moment.


Aren't I adorable? *gag*

 Since I had no idea how to properly feed myself and how much to eat, that meant going on weight watchers, which meant waiting until after the baby was born since there is no plan for pregnant women.  You can read about my history with diets and weight loss HERE.
My beautiful Chloe was born January 15th 2013 and weighed 8 lbs 8 oz.  Here are a few pictures of us in the hospital, isn't she just darling :-)

                                           First time holding Chloe, can you tell I'm drugged?

                                            Strange New World

                     That is my little sister Chase holding her, that arm is WAY TOO THIN to belong to me!

Chloe was born C-section because my oldest daughter Lily wrapped her umbilical cord around her neck causing her heart rate to drop with each contraction.  Long story short, Lily required a C-section to ensure a safe delivery for both of us.  So when Chloe came along and at one week before my due date, was weighing over 8 pounds, my OBGYN was not willing to risk a VBAC with me since my body was not physically preparing for labor and Chloe was growing so large, my risks for uterine rupture were high.

Anyway, it was quite a while before I could move about normally again as recovery for a C-section is much harder.  Thankfully Chloe was the exact opposite of her older sister and was a wonderful sleeper! 


This allowed me to get some much needed rest, although I was still getting up three to four times a night to nurse.  Four weeks later, I decided that I had lost all my "baby related weight" and I had shrunk down to 211 pounds, losing about 26 pounds in baby and water weight (I retain water like a sponge when I am pregnant!).  So here is my official start picture, the day I started weight watchers.  I am still in my maternity clothes since no other clothes fit.  I gained about 40 pounds from this pregnancy.

Sorry for the poor quality of the picture, I wasn't originally planning on posting these anywhere and was only going to use them for my own private viewing to help keep me motivated to continue to lose weight and never come back to where I was before.  Those are my yoga pants (not like I actually did yoga while pregnant, they were just the most comfortable pants I could find!) and I hardly wore any other pants because it was too uncomfortable (even my pregnancy clothes were tight!) Notice my horribly coordinated polka-dotted socks (more on my bad fashion sense later)  So!  Still fat, just no baby and a very long road ahead of me to change my life forever.  Even after recovering from the C-section, I couldn't walk up the stairs in our house without getting winded.  I had absolutely no energy to spare for my two year old and was feeling more and more miserable that I couldn't give her the kind of attention I wanted to. 
Now that I had spent the money to sign up and I feel the burning desire inside to change my life, I have passed the point of no return.
No returning to this weight
No returning to being eternally exhausted
No returning to being this horribly out of shape

Time will pass no matter what you do, where do you want to be when it does?  You can either stay the same, or change.  I voted to change.