Before and After Photos

No 5am jog today... I'm happy to report that I am not the person who cancelled....D did !  I keep surprising myself because I was actually disappointed not to go!  I wanted to see if I could keep going! Let me be clear... I enjoy my accomplishments... not the sweat!

DeShazo has been telling me that I should post some before and after photos of my weight loss...I have the Biggest Loser type in a sports bra and shorts... but let's all be honest... not everyone should be scarred by that view!  So, I've scrounged up a couple before losing, halfway, and today!  I wish they were all uniform, but this is the best I can do!

September 2011

April 2012

August 2012

These gals in the last photo have been awesome !  They have been exercising and eating well and kept me going.  DeShazo has kept up with her stats... she's lost 6.5 inches and 5.5 pounds! YAY!  V didn't keep track of her success, but man, she's running like crazy and in shape like nobody's business!

Well, today was the day!  Sam's it was!   Something I forgot to share last night.....the new recipe I tried last night was a bust... and it went down the drain.  If you are keeping count, yes, that's two bad meals out of four this week.....I.CANNOT.COOK....unless it's ridiculously easy (and sometimes those even suck).  I'm feeling even more certain that the new recipes are part of my grocery bill issue.

Speaking of this issue...the gals at work do not understand why I feel the need to cook dinner every night, rather than serve up a salad or sandwich.  There is NOTHING wrong with doing this, I just can't do it!  I was raised with a home-cooked meal EVERY night and I feel like this is something I should do.  While discussing the meals we used have as kids, I discovered that DeShazo and V have NEVER even HEARD of a sweet potato pie!!!! How can this be??!!  I've tried to convince myself that "It's a Southern Thang", just like sweet tea (2 cups of sugar).. but it's not really working.  These gals thought Alabama was singing about sweet potato casserole in their fabulous country song... I had to break the news and inform them otherwise!!  Needless to say, I fully began to realize just how hard my mom worked to prepare those home-cooked meals and desserts!
I did take from this conversation that I can stick with only the things I know I can cook (even though they are easy and not like my "mama") and that it will be just fine.  So, that's what I HAVE to do!

Oh..... DeShazo and V have also never heard of purple hull peas....I just do not understand.  Shelling those suckers was a family affair at my house.  We used to sit in the living room with five gallon buckets to put the pea hulls in...all that hard work and these girls have never even seen one....Oklahomans:)

Sam's..... This was EXHAUSTING! and so STRESSFUL!!!!  In fact, I'm going to give you guys numbers tomorrow...when I'm not so tired and can actually analyze my purchases (DeShazo and V are eye rolling right now).

That's all for today folks!

Until next time....