I'm putting it all out there!

I grew up in Minnesota and I still live here (unfortunately, more on that in a later post).  I live in a suburb of Minneapolis with my husband of almost 2 years Matt and our 2 dogs (Ditto and Ada).  I have a full time job, but also work part time at a boutique called Hot Mama as a stylist.  I have always had an interest in decorating and fashion, but until recently have not been able to enjoy my love of fashion as much.  You may be asking why?  Well, here is the story…

Matt and I were married in October of 2010.  I will start here because I think the photos will best describe where I am starting at on this blog.  At that time I weighed 233 lbs.  Yes, that’s right 233 lbs!  The strange thing is that I didn’t think I was overweight.  Occasionally, I would look in the mirror and not like how I looked, but who doesn’t?  It was something I could shrug off and move on. 

Prior to my wedding my brother and his wife came to town from Kansas.  They both looked great!  I asked what they were doing to lose weight.  They stated that they were doing Slim4Life.  I thought that was ridiculous!  I never understood the idea of paying for a program to lose weight.  I "knew" what I needed to do to lose weight, why would I pay for that?  Seriously though, they looked great!

Here is what I looked like then...

 

I then started to see myself differently and the thoughts came “I don’t want to have that nagging feeling in the back of my mind anymore that I ignore every day”.   What if I could really be skinny?  I want to feel and look good.  I want to hang out with my friends and not feel like the “Fat One”.  I want to walk into any clothing store and try anything on.  I want to buy designer jeans!  I want to buy what I love, not just what fits!

It took a while but I finally decided I was going to do it!  In January right before my birthday I went into a Slimgenics (equivalent to Slim4Life in the Midwest).  They took me through a consultation.  They told me that my goal weight was going to be 167 pounds and it should take about 7 months (that’s where I fell on the BMI chart for my height and bone structure).  In my mind I was like “No way!  I haven’t been that skinny since freshman year of high school!  It just isn’t possible!”  They assured me “If you just follow the plan, you will get there”.  So, I started after my birthday week (since there is no consuming of alcohol on “plan” I waited because I just needed to drink on my birthday). 

It was sooo hard!  We are a social couple and hang out with friends a lot!  We love to go out to eat!  I love ice cream!  Thinking back on it now I cannot believe the will power that I had!  I would go to parties and not drink!  I would look at food spreads and not touch a thing!  We would go out to dinner and I would get a salad and bring my own dressing (yes, I was one of those people).  No dessert, what!  Don’t get me wrong Slimgenics is the best program in the world!  I was never hungry and I ate real food.  There were actually days when I couldn’t get all the food I was supposed to eat in. 

Low and behold they were right!  If I just followed the plan I would lose the weight!  I actually lost more!  Holy crap!

Pics of me today...

That now brings me to “this Lisa” the new and improved Lisa (dare I say).  I’m not sure if my husband would agree (I have some new habits that he isn’t happy about)?  I can finally wear whatever I want!  Everything fits!  Everything looks good (or at least I’m not bulging out somewhere).  I had to donate absolutely everything I owned!  I went from a size 16/18 to an 8/10!  I needed a new wardrobe (this is where the Matt not agreeing part comes in)!  With that also came the daunting task of figuring out what I want to wear.  What is my style?  What really looks good on me?  Also, there is a little bit of “who am I”?  Am I different?  I think I am the same.  I just have a greater interest in fashion because I can wear it! 

This is where the blog comes in.  Some of the people around me just aren’t as interested in fashion as I am.  Sometimes I feel like I have no one to talk to about it.  I love to shop or as I call it “look around” (I don’t always buy things).  I just want to see what’s out there.  Many times I see something in a store or on a website and I just want to share it and know what other people think about it.  I then found fashion and lifestyle bloggers!  Wow, it’s like a whole new world of people who like the same things I like, that have the same questions I have.  I LOVE it!  So, I thought I would start my own!

Here is my attempt to be as great as many of you are!  I hope to chat with some of you soon.

Lisa