30 and Flirty

Today is my 30th birthday! Wow! It's seriously hard to believe. I have to tell you I am definitely not where I wanted to be by the time I got to 30 BUT I am happy with how this are going. SO much happened this past year. It was a great way to end my 20's. My 29th birthday party was by far a blast, I found a great guy who I'm in a serious relationship with, and my wish for weight loss surgery was granted. I have lost 52 pounds so far...as of a couple weeks ago. I haven't weighed myself recently for a few reasons. 1: Thanksgiving was just last week and 2: (prepare yourself for a shocker) I haven't worked out in 3 weeks. Ugh I'm so ashamed! But I have valid reasons! First of all I had a mole removed in my back so I have 6 stitches. I sweat quite a bit when I work out especially at my back and my dr's notes said that an infection can occur within the first 24-72 hours. So there was no way I was going to even risk that. So I took that week off. Then the next week was Thanksgiving. The next week(this week) I got that horrible bug that has been going around. So not fun but I got over just in time for my birthday! That bug though might've been a blessing in disquise to get rid of what I might have put on at Thanksgiving haha.

I'm super excited about the rest of the week. Anyone who knows me know that I like to stretch out my birthday as much as I can. I mean who doesn't? I started it off last night with Lauren, Brady, and Brent(my boyfriend). They got to meet for the first time. We went to Patrizio's in Plano. It's really good! We had a great time! Tonight, Brent and I are going to Three Forks and then to see Gabriel Iglesias. If you don't know who that is, look him up. He's hilarious! I mentioned I have never been to a fancy restaurant and being the sweet guy he is made reservations at Three Forks. I'm super impressed! And to say the least excited! It's not even the place that I'm most excited about either. It's the fact that I'm going with someone who listened and then took the time to find something to do to make me happy. Tomorrow I'm going out with my family and then Saturday I'm going for a massage(gift to myself) and later my sisters have some secret plans for me. I am so blessed to have them in my life. They always take care of me. I'll make sure and post another blog with how everything went. In the mean time here are my latest pics.

I actually want to show how much has changed in the past year. I wore the outfit that I wore on my 29th birthday party, yesterday.

2011

            I just noticed Shannon and Lesa in the background too photobombing. That's awesome!                                                                                                                                                                                                                

   2012

Nifty Fifty

Well I have hit my FIFTY mark!! Since May 22, 2012 I have lost 50 pounds, 4 dress sizes, and gained so much confidence! I put myself out there alot more and even though I may still have many insecurities, which I know everyone does, I'm getting over some of mine. I think my shirt in this picture is very apropos for many reasons. First of all, it is in support for my stepmom Barbara who is a survivor! (It's a breast cancer shirt from Old Navy). Second, FIGHT because of my boxing classes. No I'm not fighting but learning the punches and how to execute them properly helps in self defense so I can fight if need be. There was a new trainer the other day at the club and she(yep a woman and she gave those male trainers a run for their money) was really impressed with the power of my punches and how well I did them. Made my night! Also I fight every day towards my goal of being healthy and strong. I fight against my mental cravings, the doubts I have in my head, and I fight to be patient because this is not an easy road and it will take time despite people thinking that surgery is the easy way out. It definitely is NOT! I fight my laziness. As much as I love my boxing and training sessions, there are days I want to go home, lounge, and read a book especially if I'm in the middle of one that I want to finish so badly. But I know that skipping out will lead to eventually stopping all together. It's happened before. I do try to go every day, it doesn't always happen but I only skip if I have other plans that prevent me from going at all. I don't even let dates prevent me from my workout. I just go out later. I've been on a few dates lately and I make sure they know that working out is priority #1. I know some of you are probably thinking I'm crazy but, well...I am lol. Thankfully they understand. So here is my 50# picture. It's pretty much the same as on the last blog but I wanted to document.

Float like a butterfly, sting like a bee

I'm changing my name to Hayley Ali! JK lol Maybe I was some kind of boxer in another life lol. I say this because I just joined a boxing club. It's all fitness not an actual boxing gym though. But we use hand wraps, gloves, and punching bags. I went for the first time last night and joined right up! For the past 2 months I've been going to kickboxing classes at the gym. I would go 4-6 times a week.  I enjoy them but I want something more. I've always wanted a boxing bag but never had anywhere to put it. After my surgery I even told some people that I wanted to join a boxing gym or get a real kickboxing trainer but didn't neccesarily want to compete or anything. Well I found my fit! Title Boxing Club is focused all on fitness. It was like bootcamp the first half, doing calisthenics like push ups, squat jumps, running with high knees, burpees(hands on the floor, kick legs out to a push up position, then bring legs back towards hands and jump up).

To tell you the truth those scare me haha. I'm always afraid my hands will slip and I'll fall flat on my face. But I still do them. Anyways, the second half of the class is bag work. We put on gloves (hands on wrapped which this makes me a huge dork but I feel so cool wearing the wraps) and start doing rounds of punches. A great stress reliever!! Which I definitely need! Not that I am stressed but I tend to have high emotions so when I'm feeling like I need to punch something, now I can! That kinda sounds bad but we've ALL felt that way, right? I was read somewhere that after this surgery your hormones go into overload. When you lose fat it releases hormones and so since I'm losing very quickly, my emotions are pretty high especially since I've always been a pretty emotional person. I'm going to really enjoy this place. I thought I was going to be extremely sore today but I feel pretty good. Although sometimes it takes 2 days for you to really feel how well your muscles have been worked on so ask me again tomorrow. I was filling out paperwork last night and my hands were shaking. You don't know how hard you hit even with gloves.

I've noticed alot of changes in myself these last 3 months. Obviously physically, but with my confidence and self esteem too. I told my mom this morning how before my surgery I would have never set foot in that boxing club. My self esteem being so low I would've have thought that everyone would be staring at me and thinking why is she here, or laugh, or they would think that I couldn't handle it. I still have those feelings but not nearly as much. The instructor even told me I did well and that he could tell I've done stuff like this before. That I had good execution. Made me feel great and know that I can keep up. It was still HARD but I have so much more energy now that I know I will stick with it. That's another thing I've noticed, that I'm more committed to things. My mom said that and I realized hey that's true. For the past 2 months I've been pretty religious about my workouts. Sticking with it and going everyday when before I would go only a couple times a week and then start feeling lazy and stop going all together. I hate when I miss a workout I feel like I've gained 10 pounds. Weird I know. Also I have committed to becoming a Parklane Jewelry consultant! So get ready for me to be asking you to host a party! HAHA! Don't feel obligated to have one but it I had so much fun at mine and I because I got 10 orders I get $500 in jewelry for FREE! So just something to think about. And there are some great deals for your guests.

Here are my progress pics plus my "boxing" pic with my new red gloves.

Forty, Friends, and Fabulous

I have hit my halway mark for my FIRST goal! I've lost 40 pounds! After this weekend that might not be the case though :(. But I had a good weekend and I work out like a fiend so it'll be ok.

One of my best friends came in town this weekend.  She hasn't seen me in person since before my surgery. We had a good time this weekend. We went to dinner and then met up with another friend, Brian, on Friday. Sorry B I meant to get a picture of us. As yall know I like pictures :). Saturday we met up with Ashley, Shannon, and Lauren at PF Changs. Mmmmm! Haven't had that in a long time. Still pretty amazing how little I eat now compared to how I used to eat. Carla and I shared(which I used to never do I wanted all my food) and we didn't even eat it all between the 2 of us. Sunday we met up with Melinda and Jessica. Melinda is like a 2nd mom to Carla and her step daughter, Jessica, I've been friends with since 4th grade. I always thought it was funny how Carla met Jessica before even knowing Jessica and I were friends and how they clicked as friends right away. So our friendship turned out pretty good in high school.

My sister Heather brought some pictures of my niece Bronwyn and nephew Cooper up to my office today. As I was putting one of the pictures in a frame at my desk I found a picture of me and my other sister Hillary from her wedding. Wow what a difference. I showed it to my cousin Leslie and she said she didn't even recognize me at first in the picture.  I'm also going to post a picture of me and my sisters and Lauren's wedding last October and compare it to a picture of me, Carla, and Jessica from yesterday only because I am in the middle in both pictures. I think its a good comparison.

I hope everyone has a FABULOUS week!

Compare the one above to the one below

And this one is the picture I found from 6 years ago.

Keeping up

 I am down 39 pounds! Come on you pesky little one pounder, let's round it off! Things are going pretty well.  I work out 5-6 times a week doing kickboxing. I've even recruited Hillary to go with me a couple times a week now.

I did something this weekend that I don't think I've been able to do since high school. Drum roll please...I fit into clothes from Old Navy! Clothes from the girl side! Not t-shirts from men's side like usual. Being a big girl my whole life, this is well...big! After going to weight loss camp before my sophmore year I remember trying on some shorts and how they fit really well. I didn't have to squeeze or suck in. It was a very heady feeling for someone who's never been able to go into any store and just pick something out and it fit perfect. But then of course I gained it all back and could only wear men's t-shirts and even then they weren't well fitted. That feeling I had after camp had resurfaced though. I tried on some jeans and a dress.  I didn't get the jeans because HELLO it's August and blazing outside! I'm hoping by the time I need jeans I will have gone down another size anyways. Old Navy has different styles and I only tried on one pair but these were even baggy! It was a good day!

So here's my progress picture in my Old Navy dress.  I still have a looong way to go and I'm sure I look the same in the last couple posts to some of you but to me I notice my back is smoother and I'm losing my tire hahaha.

                                                                                              

                                                     

I feel pretty, oh so pretty. Pretty, and witty, and...YEA!

I've noticed how much I really like wearing dresses lately. Even with such blindingly white legs :).  Before I was just never comfortable, which I know I've mentioned before. But I just feel so much more confident that I feel pretty now! I have lost 36 pounds now and I know it's not an insane amount and only 2 pounds more than the last post but I feel good and I'm moving forward. PLUS I got asked for my phone number by someone who I didn't meet online! Hey that's pretty huge for me. Anyways I'm not going to give any more details just incase in doesn't work out. Just the fact that he asked is HUGE! So here's my 36 pound loss photos.

7 weeks

Just want to post some before and 7 weeks after pics. Well it's more like 9 weeks because the before picture is 2 weeks preop and its been 7 weeks since surgery.

 

I have a neck!