Late to the Party :)

Hello ladies, sorry I am late to the party but better late than never huh? I wanted to write a little post to introduce myself. I am Kate Desmond. I am the mother of 5 wonderful children, my oldest will be 12 in August and my youngest just turned 1 last week. Here they are on Alexandria's blessing day (Can't figure out how to crop here so just pretend my Jared doesn't have his hand in his pants ;):

I have been married to my wonderful husband Dave for 13 years. Here we are (this was taken in July 2010 post weight loss):

We have lived in Bear River for a little over 4 years which is the longest we have lived anywhere since we have been married. We have moved a total of 13 times. We decided with this last move that we really need to settle down and let our kids make some real friends. Moving is hard but staying is too I have found. I think I might have some nomadic blood in my body :).

Ok, on to my weight loss/health journey. I had a late miscarriage (13 weeks) between my 4th and 5th children back in September of 2009. I was at a really low point in my life for not only the obvious reason but because I just didn't have very good self esteem. Growing up I felt like I could do anything I put my mind to but once I started having kids I didn't feel pretty anymore and being a parent is a much harder job than I ever thought it would be. I was just plain depressed and felt like a failure. I was at my heaviest after that miscarriage including when I was 9 months pregnant with my other kids and I just couldn't see how I was going to be able to take the weight off. Usually when I nurse I lose my baby weight but without a baby to nurse that just wasn't going to happen. My husband and I decided to take at least a year before trying for another baby to give my body a chance to heal from my D&C and for my mind to heal from this very hard loss. I decided in early November of that year to start trying to lose weight. Yes, I started BEFORE the holidays. And guess what? I lost weight instead of gaining it between November and January! My secret was that I followed the weight watchers system on my own (ie I never went to a center and just used the materials my SIL had from when she was a member). I also started exercising on a regular basis. I went to a Zumba class once a week and then did Biggest Loser for the Wii at home. Also, remember those pesky holidays? I gave myself the day off from counting points only on the actual holiday itself. That doesn't mean that I pigged out (ok lets be honest sometimes I fell off the wagon and pigged out) it just means I didn't stress out too much about what I was eating but did try to make mostly good choices. Long story short, I was able to lose 33 pounds before I got pregnant with my little girl and had a much healthier pregnancy. In fact I only gained 23 of those pounds back and was back to my pre-pregnancy weight within 3 months of giving birth to my baby.

Now, why am I here? Because this is how I look now:

I am proof that the number on the scale doesn't mean a thing! Even though the number on the scale is close (I have gained back about 5 lbs in the last 6 months, stupid hormones!) to what it was pre-pregancy my body is different. I had my 3rd c-section. My clothes don't fit right and I am positive that a lot of the muscle I built before has been replaced by fat. Mostly, I want to feel as good as I did before I got pregnant, there really isn't a better feeling than being able to keep up with your kids. I have fallen out of some of my good habits. I personally have a very hard time drinking water. I know that I need to and it isn't that I drink other stuff it is just that I forget to drink anything. I am sure that I am dehydrated 90% of the time. I read somewhere that when you start to feel thirsty you are already dehydrated so don't wait until you feel thirsty ladies! I also need some motivation from you guys. I am struggling right now because I have been through this all before and I know just how hard it is. I know that I CAN DO IT though and

YOU CAN TOO!