My New Year's Revolution, part 1

I love new beginnings.  I've always loved Mondays as they are a fresh start to the week.  I've loved the 1st of the month and 1st of the year.  But I've never loved New Year's Resolutions.  Like most people, I make one (or more) with all the greatest intentions...but with no intentional acts to make my resolution a reality.  Last year I was praying about this and decided I would choose one thing to revolutionize my life for the year of 2011.  So I called it my New Year's Revolution.  (The funny thing was, after making this decision, suddenly that term was all over the Christian radio stations.  But I came up with it on my own!)

So, my Revolution last year was to improve on all things "kitchen".  That meant doing the dishes in a more timely manner (getting a new dishwasher in 2011 really helped with that!), cooking healthier, making meal-times more of a family affair.  That's really all there was to it.  I did not go into it intending to lose weight, learn about whole, clean, raw foods, etc...  All I wanted to do was improve in those little areas...cleanliness and family time.  But God heard my prayer and indeed made my revolution into a REVOLUTION.  I have never experienced so much change in one year. 

So I'm going to step out a little and put my before/after photos up.  I'm not finished with this revolution.  I need one more year to complete it.  But I've made such giant leaps that the baby steps left shouldn't be too hard. (I can hope, anyway!)  These photos are really hard for me to put up because they're embarrassing.  I never saw myself as being overweight, unless I looked at a photo of myself.  And looking at these photos was my reality check.  I'm so glad I embarked on this journey!  (may I never go back)

This was at my heaviest, 199 lbs.  Taken Feb 2011.  I call them my "Weight Watchers Pictures"

My "After" Pic, taken Oct 2011.  160 lbs

That was my favorite shirt but after taking this photo I realized it was a size 16/18.  It went into the donate pile!



This was taken Jan 4, 2012.  I haven't lost any additional weight BUT haven't gained any either.  Still at 160, I have 10 lbs to go to be where I want to be.  I'm very pleased that by eating Clean/Raw, I've been able to maintain a stable weight for so long.