Testimony/Introduction Alice aka Madridmom

I am without internet at home and will be away enjoying the long weekend till Tuesday so I am reposting my introduction post from the last fitness challenge and will give more of an update when I post my measurements and recent photo next week. I did manage to get down to 129 in the summer but since the weather has turned cooler I have found some of those pounds again by eating too much comfort food (ie. carbs) so I hope to lose them again and get firmly entrenced back in the 120's weight wise.
Glad to be back!


Hello. My name is Alice and I was motivated by a friend to join this group for the Christmas Crunch Challenge. You can see my introduction and testimony for that one with my true "before" picture here. During that challenge I lost over 10 lbs. and 17 cm which was half of what I had decided was my weightloss goal. I gained some back at Christmas and joined up for the Spring into Shape challenge and you can see my updated before picture and testimony here. For some reason things never really clicked and I did not check in and participate very well in that challenge, but I must have been doing something right in my eating (exercise is still not a regular part of my daily schedule) and I did quite a bit of walking doing lots of touristy things with some friends and family during the last 4 months. I realized today that my starting weight for this Summer Sweatin' off the fat challenge is a full 10 pounds less than my starting weight on Jan 20 for the SSFC. And here I thought I wasn't getting anywhere. I am only 1 pound away from the "goal" I gave myself in January and 3 pounds away from my original 20 lb. weight loss goal back in October. If I reach that goal (133 lbs.) I will be content but since I have seen this much progress so far I have decided that the goal weight that the BMI calculators tell me is ideal for my height and age is not so far fetched as I thought. So, my new goal is to get down to 129 lbs. I really love the idea of going from the 150's to the 120's!
My husband and daughter just returned from spending almost a month in the States. The bad part of that is that they brought back at least a suitcase or more of food .... hardly any of it stuff that is good for me. Of course, I have to share those Apple Jacks with my kids so I won't get too much of it, and when it is gone it will no longer tempt me.
The good part of my hubby's trip is that he came back with a huge pile of clothes for me. I haven't tried them all on but some of the stuff is very nice and really looks good now that I have lost weight. I think most of the stuff I like the most should still fit me even if I lose the extra 7 lbs I hope to. There are also 3 summer dresses that he brought home for me 2 years ago that still bulge in the waist area. Those are my motivation to lose some more of this weight -- especially the tummy bulge. I had a pair of dress pants that I kept trying on in the fall and finally got into with the Christmas Crunch. These summer dresses will be the same for me in this SSOF challenge. They need to be altered a bit up top, and I will spend the money to do so, IF AND WHEN the gut is gone.
Here are a few pictures of me over the last year.

My hubby and I in France after our annual mission conference. So glad I won't be looking like this when I go to the conference this summer. Look at those rolls!

Nothing "angelic" to me about that shape.

On the beach at Normandy. Wearing black and standing slightly sideways helps camouflage the weight ... a little.

I will be looking for a new winter coat next year. This one is huge on me now, PTL.

Down about 10 lbs from the start, but the shapeless Christmas vest doesn't show it off very well. I think I'll get rid of the vest before next December.

January 2010 getting ready to head to a concert with a good friend.

February 2010 On a whirlwind 2 days of walking till I dropped in Paris.

March 2010 in Cartagena over Easter break. I'm liking the thinner arms and waist in this picture but would like to see more tone and definition before summer.

April 2010 Sightseeing with my sister. We both started at about the same weight and have gotten down to within a pound of each other. Wish lived closer to walk together.

April 28, 2010. On a whim I tried on a straight, very unforgiving (read: no stretch fabric) jean skirt that I haven't worn in years. It fit! But a couple more pounds lost would make it even more comfortable to wear.