When Irish Eyes Are Smiling!

My name is Shannon. Clearly, I'm Irish. Fortunately, the luck of my people - you know, the luck that inflicted potato famines, starvation, religious persecution and religious terrorism - rubbed off on me today in a decidedly good way.

I'm down 125 pounds. That means I only have 55 left to lose before I hit my goal weight. It also means I only have 41 left to lose before I'm back in the 100's again.

Woohoo!

Just can't eat any potatoes or drink any green beer like the rest of the amateurs...but I can wear a form-fitting green top and a smaller pair of jeans to my fiancee's band's show tonight.

These Irish Eyes are Smiling!

Weight Loss: The iMovie - From 365 to 244

You'd never know I was a television producer in a past life, seeing as I created this little ditty in iMovie...but for the purposes of showing my transformation thus far in as quick and painless a way as possible, here ya go.

Maybe I'll do the last transformation montage in Final Cut...full with R. Kelly's "I Believe I Can Fly" as a music bed.

Um, no.

If A Camera Adds 10 Pounds, Then Damn! I'm Looking Good!

I realized today that it's been a long time since I'd taken a progress photo. 18 pounds, in fact. It's something I often dread. In fact, photos in general have been something I've worked very hard to avoid being the subject of over these past ... oh, I dunno ... ten years?

It's getting less painful to see myself in a photo. Of course, I'd look even better in these had I bothered to put on makeup, a bra or waited for my hair to dry but, what the hell. You've seen me look far worse. Just scroll down! I also apologize for wearing all black - but I have precious little left in my wardrobe that's form-fitting. My old white tank that I used to wear in the photos is all kinds of stretched out, so I opted for a cami. That way, I can keep tabs on my arms as they shrink too. Even these black leggings are starting to get bulky on me - so I had to take a pic with me in them freshly shrunk out of the wash.

It's strange, but I'm actually really starting to look forward to having my picture taken at our wedding in July. I know I look good and I know I will look great - and that selfish and completely conceited side of me wants ample photographic proof. Is there any better "after" picture than one taken on the happiest and most glamorous day of your life?

I don't know what you see in terms of progress, but I'll tell you what I see. First, my bangs are finally the length I want and my hairstyle is more versatile, LOL! Second, my arms are definitely getting more toned thanks to all of the major strength training I've been doing. My butt is where it's supposed to be for a woman my age. Instead of being behind my knees, it's up on level with my hips. It's also considerably smaller. My saddlebags are smoothing out. Instead of two sets of hips, I seem to only have one that begins at my waist and curves down around the sides of my legs. Used to be, I had the spare tire set of hips and the saddlebags set. The backs of my thighs are starting to protrude less and look more sleek. My calves are smaller. I still have sasquatch feet, but hey, what can ya do? Finally, my belly is shrinking. It used to bulge forward about as far as my rear end did backwards. Now, it's just a little pooch that I can continue to tone down. I also have a waist!

Wow. It feels really good to have written that list. It's honest, real and a true accomplishment. I'm going to go pat myself on the back now - cause, for the first time in ages, I can actually reach. ;-)

121...59 to go!

Last week, we went on a much-MUUUUUCH needed vacation. Between Gabe's father passing away and the sadness and stress that comes after it, plus the stress of planning a wedding, a honeymoon, budgeting for it, ups and downs at work and some health and dental issues...dude, it was either Hilton Head or The Cuckoo's Nest.

In the weeks preceding, I flip-flopped quite a bit on whether or not to stay on my diet religiously while on vacation. That quickly flew out of the window after the first day of our drive. I was so tired and so flipping hungry that I splurged at Perkins for a burger with no bun and a side salad. FOR SHAME! I'm such a rebel.

Of course, I then proceeded to splurge a bit more and veer off of the low carb path quite a bit...lots of sushi rice, lots of pasta and booze, lots and lots of yummy goodness. That said, if I were who I was just a few years ago, very little of what I ate would have impressed me in the least, at least not in terms of its indulgence factor. Lots of salads, lean meats and veggies and reasonable portions, even. Still, it wasn't the diet of someone trying to lose weight.

I figured if I worked out, kept to a reasonable diet for a normal person and worked out some more, the worst thing that would happen is that I'd gain a bit of water weight without sacrificing any muscle tone. So, I spent a lot of time at the vacation club's gym and did some of my yoga/pilates workouts in our condo...we even rented bikes, but got so busy that we hardly even used them. Next year, we'll bike more. Hilton Head has over 50 miles of bike paths - it's really quite amazing.

Well praise the weight loss gods, it worked! I gained about 8-10 pounds (depending on what scale I'm going by) while on vacay...and that's as of Sunday morning. Today, I'm down that 8 and another 4.5. That's 121 pounds total now. So, it was all water weight (which I kept telling myself over and over on Sunday so as not to have a panic attack.) Guess I really shocked my metabolism good!

Here's hoping that this is the start of my final push to my wedding body. Just 59 pounds to go!