Again as I said before I fell in love the dress and bought it, the store model actually fit me quite well but I was buying MY dress, a brand new dress made just for me. So we took measurements and add a little extra length to it because I'm tall. I took about four months from the time the order went in and when the dress was delivered.
Those four months were winter in Minnesota and even when training back late October there were some very cold and windy 30 degree runs. I don't belong to a gym so like most winters I just don't exercise as much. Well, over those four months I went up to 216 pounds. When the dress arrived, those extra ten pound didn't help me at all trying to get into my brand new dress. I wasn't able to get it zipped up. That was no good at all, after spending my money on my dress and I couldn't even wear it.
Back when I purchased the dress the salon owner said I might need to get it altered once it arrives. I could do that in Las Vegas at the salon or have it done locally. Initially I though I would do it locally but with the shows coming up in May/June I thought I might be able to do it in Las Vegas. And that would give me a few months to try and get back into wedding dress shape.
I have tried diets and exercise in the past without much movement on the scale but now I had a mission. I needed to get down to 205 pounds by May 31st, the day of my fitting which I scheduled back in March. So now I was going to start tracking my weight every Monday. My regimen consisted of smaller portion sizes, less sugar (no soda's), less beer, more fruits and vegetables, and starting to run again.
Naturally winter decided to make things hard and it was on April 14th that we had a blizzard that dropped one foot of snow on us. Things had been looking better up until then, the sidewalks were starting to clear, I could run in 30 to 40 degree weather and I was making progress. When the snow hit I had to stop running and I decided to dust off the old T25 exercise DVD's and try that. I could only do those on Tuesdays and Thursdays though.
In order to meet my goal I would have to lose about one pound a week over 11 weeks, that was my minimum. I set a secondary goal of 200 pounds, I called that my ideal weight. I wanted to have a little wiggle room if I needed it. Then I tracked my actual weight and charted it so I could see how I was doing.
At this point I have five weeks left and things are going very well. I have actually made my wedding dress minimum with time to spare. I am continuing to work to lose that last five pounds to get to my ideal wedding weight. There is even a chance that I can surpass it. I graduated college in 1990, since then I have been under the 200 pound mark only three times. I hope to see a fourth. Here is a chart of my current progress. Wish me luck.
