What Gaining One Pound a Month Looks Like

Have you ever stepped on the scale after several weeks and seen that you only gained one pound? Did you think to yourself "That's not bad"? I used to always be that way. But here's the thing, those pounds add up! In the 39 months from April 2009 to June 2012, I gained on average one pound a month to the tune of a total of 45 lbs O_O How insane is that!

January 2009 - June 2012
(I didn't buy that wedding dress because I thought it made me look fat *sob*)

I decided to go through all my archived photos from my "skinny stage" and gather together inspiration. The sad part is, I remember feeling so self conscious in those photos and thinking I looked so fat :( It's like Mary Schmich said in her Wear Sunscreen column, "... in 20 years you’ll look back at photos of yourself and recall in a way you can’t grasp now how much possibility lay before you and how fabulous you really looked….You’re not as fat as you imagine." I guess it only took me 3 years to realize that :-/

I am happy to report that despite not actively dieting all these months, I did keep off the 12 pounds I lost back in the summer. And I sure hope I don't look quite this bad anymore...

I am also on my way to making that 13 pounds lost. As of last week, my mom, Ana, and I are back on The Smart Phone Diet. This time we are all following the Weight Watchers Point Plus plan by using iTrackBites to track what we eat. I am so proud of how I have done so far. I am eating mostly fruits and veggies and finding it hard to eat all my points everyday because I actually feel full. Plus having the support system is great! I cook dinner for the family every night so mom and I support each other at dinner time. And Ana and I eat lunch together on Mon, Thurs, and Saturdays so we got each other's back then.

My scale has been teetering at almost another pound down, so I am hoping I can update that banner above soon! My goal is to lose the remaining 25 lbs by July.

If you noticed, I am only planning on losing 37 of the 45 pounds I gained. I have never been a "skinny" girl. I have always been a double digit size jeans since I am naturally curvy. I was only at my skinniest after losing 20 lbs over 8 months and maintaining that weight for almost a year. And it was hard work!

I am a little older now and have a better understanding and appreciation for where me and my body are happiest. If that means I am 8 pounds heavier than I was that year, that's ok with me! Because I will be  a long way from where I let myself go! :)

Now I am going to leave you all with some more skinny pics of me that I am using to kick my butt into gear...