AW: 100 pounds!!

adorebella · April 2014

I posted earlier this week that I was very close to reaching my goal of 100 pound weight loss. I thought I had another week or two to go but today was the day! I'm sorry for making this super mega AW when I haven't been around much but you ladies have been a HUGE support to me and helped me find the strength to reach my goal over the last year and a half. Thank you, thank you!

I never took official before and after photos but this is what I managed to put together: Owen and I in the first week home (237 pounds), me at my wedding one year prior (180 pounds), me today in my dress - look at the boob gap!! - and me today in my very first ever size 2 dress (137 pounds)!

lada85 · April 2014

That is incredible!! Way to go lady. You look amazing!!!!!

pinkangelmoon · April 2014

Wow you look amazing! Congrats!

aylafsu88 · April 2014

That is amazing and you look incredicble! Congrats.

adorebella · April 2014

MissMusic said:

Woooooah mama! You look WONDERFUL and I bet you feel great too! A huge, HUGE congrats on losing a whole person!

Thank you! Yes I feel better than I have in my entire life. So, so healthy and now that I'm working out and running a 5K in a month I'm in better shape than ever.

adorebella · April 2014

hijoi said:

You look amazing! A huge congratulations to you on reaching such an incredible goal!

Thank you!! You'll be AWing the same thing before you know it.

ThePinkSuperhero · April 2014

Congrats!!!! You look great.

adorebella · April 2014

fishybride82 said:

Congratulations. You worked unbelievably hard. Go shopping girl!!!

Shopping is my new favorite past time. Don't tell my H!

lkamenko · April 2014

Wow! You look fantastic. Congratulations! .

adorebella · April 2014

jfresh said:

I am so proud of you! You look amazing and it is SO wonderful that you feel so great awesome job, you are such an inspiration!

Thanks, frand! Have I ever told you how weird it is to think that I'm an inspiration for weight loss? It really blows my mind.

apollonia10 · April 2014

That's so awesome!! Congratulations, you look great!

OkieMama · April 2014

Amazing! Congratulations!!!

adorebella · April 2014

You are all so sweet! Make a girl blush over here, would ya!

sasa625 · April 2014

Awesome job, mama! What an amazing accomplishment. Enjoy the many shopping trips in your future... You definitely deserve it!

adorebella · April 2014

mrsrek10 said:

Girl, you deserve to blush, dance, shop, shout it from the rooftops... losing weight and getting healthy is hard! It takes a decision to do it every day, several times a day. Never make light of your accomplishment! Work it, girl!!

I. Love. You. Come be my life coach, mmmkay?

adorebella · April 2014

mrsrek10 said:

adorebella said:

mrsrek10 said:

Girl, you deserve to blush, dance, shop, shout it from the rooftops... losing weight and getting healthy is hard! It takes a decision to do it every day, several times a day. Never make light of your accomplishment! Work it, girl!!

I. Love. You. Come be my life coach, mmmkay?

I think I need you to come be my coach! I still have 60 lbs to lose to get to my goal/healthy weight! (That I was 5 short years ago)

You will get there! I'd been trying to lose 50 pounds for 5 years by the time my wedding rolled around... I just never put my all into it until now.

adorebella · April 2014

aimee223 said:

Congratulations. You are amazing. I have been battling my weight my entire life, so I know an accomplishment like this takes so, so much dedication and hard work. It is so much easier to stay heavy. You deserve all the praise in the world!

You are so right that it's easier to stay heavy. I LOVE eating and I love eating the worst kinds of food. My real challenge now is going to be trying to figure out a healthy, balanced diet to maintain this weight. Usually when I hit a goal weight I think I can just eat like an idiot again and I really can't do that this time. I never want to have to lose another 100 pounds.

sarahandeddiejune212008 · April 2014

Congratulations! I need to lose about 65lbs. You're inspirational. How'd you do it? How long did it take to reach your goal? I'm currently trying to figure out a realistic plan so I don't set myself up for failure.

nesenotes · April 2014

You look terrific! Bravo!

If you don't mind me asking, what was is that was so different this time? I'm also a yo yoer and have never been able to stick with it. Was it just sticking to your set calorie goal that did it? How were you able to overcome the pull to just give up and eat a damn cheeseburger? Did you do a ww style approach where you ate whatever in balance?

I know that's a lot of questions but I have never been able to make it of the rut so I'm so curious!

cwm11985 · April 2014

You are amazing!! You look incredible, so proud of you!

zyas · April 2014

Omg!!!! You look amazing! 100 pounds is a huge loss, way to go! So how did you do it?

lilahbean13 · April 2014

OMG !!! You look fabulous !!!! So happy for you girl! That is awesome

bumpuser1509193 · April 2014

Holy crap! You are such a HOTTIE!
You should be so proud of yourself, I'm certainly proud of you!

LBF DPT · April 2014

Congrats! You look great!

adorebella · April 2014

sarahandeddiejune212008 said:

Congratulations! I need to lose about 65lbs. You're inspirational. How'd you do it? How long did it take to reach your goal? I'm currently trying to figure out a realistic plan so I don't set myself up for failure.

Thank you! I did it by watching what I eat and starting to exercise, no specific program or anything. Though this time around I made changes to my lifestyle slowly instead of trying to do a total overhaul all at once (which I've failed at countless times in the past). I started with limiting my calories, then trying to make better choices with how I use my calories for the day - apple instead of chips sort of thing, and then in January I joined a gym and started doing cardio/strength training 3 times a week.

I keep making new goals to work towards and that helps keep my motivated. Right now my goals are running a 5k on May 10th and then doing a boudoir photography session (eeeek!) on May 15th.

Two other big things that help: I log my calories/food with myfitnesspal religiously and I bought a fitbit. The fitbit helps remind me to stay active. If I go a morning mostly hanging out with Owen in the house them I try to go for a walk later in the day.

It took me one year to lose the first 90 pounds, then I got complacent over the holidays and put back on 10-15 pounds and it took me the last 4 months to lose the rest of the weight.

Slow and steady wins the race! You can totally do it too

adorebella · April 2014

bellaxanthe said:

This had made me tears eyed. You look amazing. You've worked so hard and it shows. You give me hope. That's a really amazing gift.

All of these wonderfully supportive comments have got me teary eyed too, gah! It's so cliche but seriously if I did it then I know for a fact that you can too.

adorebella · April 2014

HuskieFanUW said:

Amazing!!!!!!! You are an inspiration! Also I love that green dress.

Thank you! It's on sale now at NY&Co!

grimesk12 · April 2014

You look awesome!! Congrats on reaching your goal!!

adorebella · April 2014

nesenotes said:

You look terrific! Bravo! If you don't mind me asking, what was is that was so different this time? I'm also a yo yoer and have never been able to stick with it. Was it just sticking to your set calorie goal that did it? How were you able to overcome the pull to just give up and eat a damn cheeseburger? Did you do a ww style approach where you ate whatever in balance? I know that's a lot of questions but I have never been able to make it of the rut so I'm so curious!

Oh I definitely eat my fair share of damn cheeseburgers still. On a "good" day I make sure I stick to my calorie goal +/- 50 calories. I make it a numbers game and if I get 14500 calories I'm not going to "waste" them on a handful of m&m's when I could eat a balanced meal and get to feel full.

I allow myself "cheat" days a few times a month. Like a couple of weekends ago I went to the club with some girlfriends and it was pointless to count cocktail calories and such so I just had fun and ate/drank what I wanted. But the next day I got my ass back on the wagon - which is something I've never been good at before. One cheat day would turn into a cheat week and so on. Now I consider my cheat days just a part of the program, nothing to feel guilty about - and I go back to eating well right away. I've also started to feel like shit the day after a cheat day so I'm less motivated to eat all.the.cheeseburgers.

adorebella · April 2014

hijinx said:

Congratulations! What an amazing transformation! You look absolutely gorgeous! Thank you for posting this, I'm currently working away at my own 80 lb goal and seeing this is so motivating.

Thank you! Get it, giiirl! You got this!

Tink522 · April 2014

That is amazing! Great job! Very inspiring.

julymommy12 · April 2014

Wtg mama!!!! Huge accomplishment, congrats!

adorebella · April 2014

Thank you all for such an overworking boost of confidence! Mentally I know I've lost a lot of weight but my brain has not caught up with the fact that I look much different. Hearing it from you ladies helps push my brain in the right direction.