Sometimes you can’t see the changes in the way you look until you see a picture of yourself or someone says something. Then you tend to take a harder look and think… ‘huh, you’re right!’

Well, that’s where I’m at now. People are really noticing that I’ve lost weight and are mentioning it to me! I love it! They want to know what I’ve done to lose it, how much I’ve lost, and how I feel. All of it is so encouraging and makes me really feel great about myself and all the hard work that I’ve done.

I truly believe that without the Cinch program I wouldn’t be where I am today!

Okay, so remember how I just said that you don’t realize what you look like until you see a picture? Let’s take a look at the progress that I’ve made.

Take a look at these pictures…. in both of them I thought that I looked pretty darn good. I didn’t think that I was that overweight… guess I was blocking it from my head. In all reality I was wearing a size 16 and was pretty…. round I guess.

Early in the year I went to the doctor for some cold or ailment and as always they have you step on the scale. The number that stared back at me was horrible. It was a number that I refuse to share because I can’t believe that I ever let myself go that much. It was a number that was higher than when I was 9 months pregnant. I knew that something had to change.

When I applied to be part of the Cinch Blogger Program I never expected that they would actually select me, but they did and I was ecstatic about it! I can’t say enough about how great the program is and how well it has worked for me.

This is me (obviously) when I started the Cinch program in June. The fact that I had to actually take pictures like this scared the crap out of me because it would really show all my flaws and how I really looked. But I did it… I posted the pictures for the world to see.

And now here I am 3 months later. Smiling, slimmer, trimmer, and in much better shape than I’ve been in a long time. There isn’t a day that goes by that I don’t do some sort of exercise even if it’s just a short walk and lately I’ve dusted off that 30 Day Shred dvd that I bought a few years ago and have been doing that too.

Losing the weight isn’t easy and it takes time but in the end it really is worth it. I won’t say that I haven’t cheated… because well that’d be a huge lie. I do cheat, but I’m human and really like food…. I’m careful about it though and try to count the calories of what I’ve eaten. I work out a little bit more and I don’t go overboard and besides everything is okay in moderation.

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I’m linking up with Seven Clown Circus and Parenting by Dummies for Wordful Wednesday too!