Introduction

My family

Hi everyone. My name is Amanda and I am a 26 year old stay at home mom who babysits on the side for extra money. I have a son named Mitchell and he is 4 years old. My husband was in the Marines but he got out so that he could go to school and get a criminal justice degree. Currently he is a hard worker in a potash mine which has nothing to do with his schooling but the economy is not in the greatest of shape so we do what we can.

I wanted to create a blog based on things I am interested in. Most of it may be documenting my weight loss journey with some recipes added in but it won't strictly be about weight loss. I will also post some arts, crafts, beauty tips, updates on my family, and so on.  While I am a very busy mom I hope this will keep me accountable since I notice a lot of bloggers on here who are trying to lose weight say that the best motivation is the people on here.

Now for a little about my back story. I was born and raised in southern California. My mom was a very busy single mother of three. We all were involved in different sports and all went to different schools because of age gaps. This caused us to eat out A LOT. My mom worked very hard to make sure we had what we needed but time is one thing my mom didn't have between work, school and practice/games and usually there was no time to cook dinner. I was very active in school and sports.  If I wasn't playing softball it was cheer. So growing up I stayed pretty fit but in high school I had bad body issues. I wasn't fat but I made myself believe I was. 

Jr Year 2003

Hoodies were my best friend.  When I started college I was in the best shape. 

160lbs 2005

 I played softball at my college the first year.  I met my husband when he was in the Marine Corps and stopped playing softball shortly thereafter.  My weight got to 185 after that.

185lbs 2007

We got married and I got pregnant.  My final weight before I gave birth was 242.  I lost 40 pounds that first week.  I had extra fluid and my baby was 9.8 ounces so that helped a little.  Most of it came off because of stress and I had postpartum depression.  I got down to 185 when my son was about a month old. 

About 8 months here July 2008

1 week old August 2008

When he was 4 months old we moved to Louisiana so my husband could go to college there.  I then got extremely depressed because I had never lived away from my family and I was living with my in-laws.  Mind you, we still were newly-weds with a new baby.  I had to get on some medication for a little while but it helped and I was happier.  I started working out at home with DVD's and counting my calories. 

190lbs October 2009

I found a website that helped me a lot called Spark People.  I started running and in 2 months I lost 30 pounds the right way.  I was down to 155/160 lbs.

160 lbs Dec 2009

 I started training for a half marathon but injured my foot.  When I got hurt I could no long workout which led to me not eating right.  I started slowly putting the pounds on back on.  At that time we no longer were living with our in-laws and I didn't need medication anymore but stress was still there. 

A year later at 175 lbs Dec 2010

We were living off the GI Bill and VA disability because my husband was injured while in the service. Well the government decided to take away most of his disability and I could no longer stay in Louisiana with him.  I had to move back home to California with family while my husband continued school. More Stress meant more pounds.  When I'm stressed I turn to food (Mexican food). I'm sure most of you can relate.  I finally found a job in Louisiana after 6 months and was able to get back to my husband. 

Oct 2011 200lbs. I hide in pictures now. We didn't even take xmas pictures this year.

My husband graduated May 2012 and tried to get a job with law enforcement but some of the departments he wanted to get hired on with were no longer taking new officers.  A recruiter told him his best bet was to go to a small town and get hired then transfer to a bigger department.  That lead us to his home town.  They were hiring but it was May and the academy didn't start until January 2013. He needed a job to pay the bills because the GI Bill stopped when he graduated.  He applied and got hired at the mines here. The hours are decent and the pay is better.  He likes who he works with so I think he will be sticking to that for awhile.  We finally have our own place and money is good.  Just working to pay credit cards off from our move. Stress is down drastically and it's time to get this weight off.

This is me now. Oct 2012 at 215lb.

 It's not fair to me or my family that I am unhealthy.  I am very embarrassed by my weight and I should be.  I should not have let it go this far.  There is no excuse. 

I started to do Insanity about 6 weeks ago and rolled my ankle.  I got an MRI and they said I have a cyst in my foot.  For now, the doctor said we don't have to do anything because it doesn't bother me. My ankle is feeling good and I'm ready.  I am sorry this is long I just wanted everyone to know where I am starting from. I hope I am able to help people on my way.  It's hard reading or seeing people that are already skinny talking about losing weight.  Very few start the journey blogging or vlogging.  It normally happens when they reach their goal or are close to it.  I was going to start on YouTube but, as my husband pointed out, there are a lot of "haters" and negative people.  So here I am.  Let me know if you have any questions, comments, or  suggestions.