The photo that started it all!

A few weeks ago the hubs and I along with family took the girls to see Santa for the first time ever since they have been born.  Suppose to be such a memorable day with lots of photos....or so I thought.  Well I had my sister take a pic of me and hubs with the kiddos and that picture is the very reason I am on the journey I am on.  Here it is in all its glory.........yeah I am talking about ME!

I thought I was doing pretty good this last 17 months since the girls have been born.  I have lost ALL of my pregnancy weight and even 16 pounds since then.  Let me tell ya...after having kids...the weight just shifts into places I never expected! 

A little history about me...in 2005 I had the Lap Band Procedure done.  I am 5'8" and I weighed in at 298 lbs the day of the procedure.  Within 6 months of the procedure I had lost 103 lbs and man did I look fabulous.  I went from a size 24 pants to a size 14 and those were getting loose.  I have always carried weight in my tummy.  I am apple shaped as they say not a pear!  I maintained that weight loss until 2008...I put on around 20 pounds that year.   In 2009, after our first round of failed IVF I had put on another 30 pounds.  We went through the second round of IVF and the day I found out I was pregnant I weighed in at my original weight of 298 lbs.  I only gained 18 pounds up until week 31 of my pregnancy.  I was then diagnosed with Pre eclampsia and was immediately hospitalized.  From there the water weight just piled on.  The day of delivery I weighed in at 348 pounds!!! I was mortified when I stepped on that scale but at the time the health of my babies far exceeded my needs and wants.  Shortly after having the girls and going through the whole NICU experience, life with twins, new mommy hood and all that jazz lets just say that at my 8 week check up I dropped down to 286 pounds!  Doctor was very impressed that I had lost all my pregnancy weight and then some in less than 8 weeks and I was on cloud 9!  I have maintained the loss since then and am currently down to 282.2 pounds......but I have a long road ahead of me and I am hoping by journaling the progress it will help me and maybe others who struggle so much with weight.

I know alot of you are probably thinking about my Lap Band and if you know anything about it then you know I can just go into the office and get it tightened and be on my merry weight loss way right?  Yeah I went a few months ago and did that before my doctor got out of network with my insurance and I have had no restriction since then with food.  I also had a really bad history with it...lots of complications.  I may write about some of that along the way but just to set things straight I am really trying to do this on my own because of the issues from the past with the lap band. 

So on that note....HERE WE GO!