Losing 50 lbs.

When I started this competition we were asked to announce our weight loss goals. At the time I said 50 lbs for the comp. It is a five month comp so why not right? I never realized what losing 50 lbs actually meant, what difference it would make on my life SO... here's a countdown of how losing 50 lbs has transformed my world!

10. I SLEEP at night!! I used to snore from all the weight on my stomach. I always felt tired and woke up a million times in the night! NOW... I sleep. I feel rested. LOVE not being tired all the time.

9. My wedding ring and class ring fit!! That hasn't happened in like 10 years!

8. I can wrap a bathroom towel around my body. This might not be something you smaller people can't even comprehend. But the bigger you are, it gets to the point where you can NOT touch the two sides of the towel together, let alone overlap them.

7. No more of those pictures you see and think... I'm not really that big am I? For the last 10 years, I hide from cameras but for whatever reason, I seem to always be in Christmas pics. It's always that crazy side profile and EVERY year I think... Ugh... am I seriously that big? Now I do the opposite. I don't recognize myself in pics.... Can't wait to get to the point that I just look at pics and not worry about my size!

6. New Friends! This competition has been so incredible for me because I have managed to meet a great group of women!! It's been fantastic to do girls nights and have fun with new people. I am so glad that ya'll have put up with me... even with my obsessive nature! ;o)

5. Belts that fit. Well... I never actually wore belts before because I was squeezed so tight into my jeans that there was no way they were going anywhere. Now I use belts and I they actually fit without increasing the amount of fat that hangs out of my jeans. I owned 2 belts before the comp and couldn't wear either of them. It's so fun to watch yourself shrink via the holes in a belt!

4. Goodbye Mushroom Top If you look at my now pics, you can see that I still have a belly roll. I am going to keep working on that but I just want to say a FOREVER FAREWELL to the mushroom top. (Some of you might call it a "muffin top" but umm... for me it was FAR greater than that... thus I call it a mushroom top!) I think that when you get to a certain size you start to REFUSE to buy bigger pants and then the mushroom top starts to spread. Now I don't mind wearing a bigger size to avoid the look... I have NOT eliminated my love handles, but they are getting smaller.

3. Stamina Okay... take it however you want to. I mean it in any way you can imagine. ;o)

2. Self Control While I do feel like I've lost my mind on more than one occasion during this journey, I have learned that I have an amazing amount of self-control. I've always been one of those people who COMPLETELY BELIEVES that there is no limit to what an individual has accomplished. We are the only ones standing in our way! It takes a lot of self-discipline. And while I'm no master, I've come a long way from where I was 5 months ago.

1. FINISH WHAT YOU START! This concept, that I never followed through with any thing is what I committed to at the beginning of the challenge. It was my number one priority, before weight loss or anything else. I just had to prove to myself i could do it and I'm so excited to say that I FINISHED!! I never gave up. I did not let excuses get in the way. I learned so much in this competition about myself. And I'm excited to take on new challenges. Like college courses. :o) I have always known that this was a huge problem for me and I'm SO glad that at least this time, I followed through!

THANKS TO ALL THE GALS IN THIS COMPETITION FOR PUSHING ME, SUPPORTING ME, AND THE OCCASIONAL SMACK TALK. THIS COMPETITION HAS CHANGED ME FOREVER!! THAT MEANS THE WORLD TO ME!