The 75-pound mark!

Happy (early) Thanksgiving everyone!

It's weigh-in day and Kyle and I both lost weight!

Current weight: 276.9
Kyle's current weight: 252.6

I lost 2.2 pounds and Kyle lost 1.1!  Kyle has lost 15.5 pounds since moving down to Baton Rouge almost 3 months ago. I'm celebrating big today because I've reached the 75-pound goal in my whole weight loss journey! In fact I've lost 76.1 pounds since my heaviest weight of 353 pounds in 2009 (as you can see, I got a couple years head start on Kyle!).

Here's a picture of me I found when I weighed my heaviest:

For comparison, here's a picture of me from this weekend!

That's my gorgeous husband in the second picture, in case you can't tell! It helps me to look at pictures like these, because I've found that when you are losing weight day by day, it's hard to tell if there has been a big change. Sometimes I still feel like that girl in the first picture!  I find myself turning sideways to fit in places and then realizing, "Oh, I'm smaller now."  It's definitely a huge cognitive shift.

I had a big accomplishment this week!  In going to the gym with my favorite gym buddy, Valerie, I first pushed myself to go 50 consecutive minutes on the elliptical machine, then the next day was able to push myself to a full 60 minutes!  When I called to share the new with my sweet Momma, she reminded me when it was difficult for me to go even 5 or 10 minutes without having to stop (see first picture). I always wanted to be "one of those girls" who could just get on a elliptical for an hour and not feel like you are going to die afterward... and I did it!  I was really proud of myself and very surprised. I find that I constantly underestimate my body and that it continues to prove me wrong!

Thanksgiving is coming and I'm not going to lie, I'm not counting points on Thanksgiving Day. Now, mind you, I not going to eat an entire cheesecake and three servings of stuffing, but I'm not going to stress about points on the day of. And honestly, I don't feel bad about that either. BUT, the thing to remember is something the esteemed Miranda from Sex and the City told me, "You get a day, NOT A WEEK."  That's the truth! Take the day off on Thanksgiving, but don't let yourself take the whole week off and end up with an awful gain. I say this now and we'll see how I handle all the leftovers, but my goal is to get back on track on Friday and get back to the gym when it opens on Saturday.

I'm nervous about cooking this HUGE holiday meal for the first time. Hopefully it will turn out well and I won't ruin a turkey and send Kyle out for Chinese tomorrow! I'll be sure to let you know! Now I'm off to go shopping for new (smaller) clothes, brine a turkey, and bake a pumpkin cheesecake for tomorrow.

I hope everyone has an amazing holiday!  Don't forget to share what you are thankful for, because if you are like me, it is QUITE a list!

Until next time,
BK