It’s funny, but my life has come full circle. Ten years ago, give or take a few months, I was in the exact same situation I am in today. I had just given birth to my first daughter Bridget and I didn’t think it was possible for me to ever be normal again. I would stand in front of the mirror and pinch my back fat wondering if anyone had ever successfully bounced back from such a fall from grace. I would Google weight loss success stories to see if it was actually possible. The difference between now and then is that I’ve already done it, so I know for a fact that it is.

This is a picture of me in 2002 it was taken in June about a month and a half before I gave birth to my first daughter.

I had insisted on having a pool party for my baby shower. I swam in my shorts and tank top because I couldn’t fit in my maternity swim suit anymore. I’m a summer girl and when it’s summer I’ve gotta swim!

This picture was taken the day before I gave birth to an elephant my first daughter, Bridget. Bridget was a pretty big baby weighing in at 8 lbs 13 oz. I weighed in at 266.

My doctor told me that if I were to give birth to my baby in the African bush I would be a survivor. However, we weren’t in the African bush, so I needed to lay off of the enchiladas. But he was wrong, my indulgence of choice was Samurai. For those of you who don’t know, Samurai is the best hibachi restaurant you will ever step foot into. Hello, water retention!

Since this was my first child I had no idea what my body would do once I gave birth. I just assumed I would just go back to being me. Christmas rolled around and I was still stuck at 212 lbs.

Yeah, that’s right Nina. You just go on and shrug that shoulder because there’s no way to tell you’re fat when you do that.

At the time one of my best friends got engaged and she asked me to be a bridesmaid. We decided to drive to Dallas to go shopping for dresses and this was the first time that I had been away from Bridget for a whole day. I was breastfeeding and didn’t have a pump. Needless to say by the time we got there both of my boobs were bigger than my head and it made absolutely no sense for me to try on dresses.

When the sales lady asked me what size I wanted to order, I ordered one 4 sizes too small. I had eight months to lose the weight and I figured that was enough time. She looked at me like I was an idiot and tried really hard to convince me to buy a bigger size. I wouldn’t budge. I took her lack of faith as a challenge.

Game On!

From that point on I worked out nearly every day and started counting calories. Within four months summer had arrived and I was taking Bridget for her first swim.

 

I weighed in at 160 pounds.

Then, Bridget had her first birthday. (Go on… you can scroll back up to the top to compare.) It’s amazing what can happen in a year!

My boyfriend at the time was a resident firefighter in Breckenridge, CO. Bridget and I couldn’t stand being away from him so we had to visit a lot.

FYI Those aren’t really my feet, they belong to Forest Gump

Finally winter arrived and it was time to go back to Dallas to try on the dresses we ordered. You should have seen the look on that lady’s face when my dress was too big.

Ah… victory is sweet.

It wasn’t long before I was engaged and I moved to Colorado to marry the love of my life.

The End.

Okay, OKAY! I just had to revel in the memory of when I was the hottie in the relationship. To be fair, he has lost a lot of weight since then only he hasn’t put it back on. Then again he didn’t have a baby. Damn those men and their lack of ovaries! He found crossfit, olympic lifting and mixed martial arts. Like I said he’s now a personal trainer.

Ummm… Hello! This blog is supposed to be about me! (Gah.. put a shirt on)

Anyway, we lived happily ever after… that is, until the back fat came back.