Skinny Jeans - a goal weight before and after

Hello there -

Sorry for the lapse in blogs this week- I'm in glorious, sunny, warm, snow, coat and cold weather free California... My 3 mile run yesterday was fantastic and as I ran past palm trees in a short sleeve tee and as the sun warmed my face, I felt like I died and went to running heaven.

Ahhh.  If not for a husband and a son I adore and miss, I might have made the decision to never go home but I probably will return to Jersey on Wednesday. I think.

Anyway, I wrote a blog about getting to my goal weight last week and Christine aptly reminded me that most people do like a little before and after action for such things.  I'm pretty much the worst picture taker ever - which is unfortunate because coupled with my crappy memory - I forget a whole lot of things. Lucky for me, I have a few friends and family members that are pretty good, so I can piece together things here and there.

I know that I did a before and after blog a month ago, so maybe this is redundant - but the "after" wasn't goal weight, it wasn't full length and I was wearing running attire... So, I figure all is fair, even if I did blow my before and after load, prematurely.

Now, I want you to know how much I love you because I really hate this before picture - it's not just because I was really overweight but I don't think it's a particularly good photo. But, you get the gist of the "before" and I guess that's the point.  And if I was a better picture taker, I'd have more of a selection.

I am the plus sized gal on the right

I'm here in LA with the girl on the left, she's a celebrity fashion stylist (and my bff) and finally helped me get out of sweat pants last night and into some real clothes. I haven't really shopped for anything new yet, because money is tight, and when I have a few bucks - I'm usually putting it towards running crap.  So I'm wearing her skinny jeans in this photo - (The word "skinny" has never been a part of my clothing vocabulary - ever.) and the blouse - is a favorite shirt of mine that I actually have worn since the size 20 days... It still works somehow.

wow. eat less + exercise. What a concept.

So there you have it.

Tomorrow I'm going to try to make my way to the beach for a little running and enjoy the rest of the sunny days... maybe I'll even treat myself to my own pair of skinny jeans.

XO

Jen

Before and After Part 1 - The Physical

Well, my WW weigh in was a dud today at the scale, I actually gained weight. I'm not too freaked about it because I had a big loss last week and I really didn't do anything to warrant a gain. I actually had a great week - I ran 20 miles, had my best 5K time, and was called a role model.

I also ate healthfully, I didn't eat anything out of the norm and was within my weight watcher points... In fact I earned about 38 activity points and didn't touch any of them so I feel my weight gain might be from not eating enough if anything. Oh well. Who cares? At this point I'm striving to be the healthiest I can be, run well and continue losing until goal. In that order.

Anyway. I dug up these pictures sometime last week and have been toying with sharing this before or not. I finally decided I will. It's no secret that I was bigger at one point. My before picture was taken very shortly after the birth of my son.

I was embarrassed of this picture.  Ashamed at how I allowed myself to get that big but after really reflecting on it, I changed my mind. I'm no longer ashamed of that girl. That girl, in that body decided to make a change, she had the guts, the desire, the courage to start and the persistence to keep going. I'm proud of her.

So here it is:

Jen September 2007

Jen in the middle November 2010

XO

Jen