My one year anniversary w/pics

So today marks one year since my husband I decided to change our lifestyle. I honestly can't believe it's been a year. We've had our ups and downs (thankfully, mostly downs... pun intended lol), but currently we are at a standstill so I'm hoping that writing this and maybe motivating someone out there will get me back in the spirit and I can finish this long journey and get to my goal.

The particulars: my starting weight when I started MFP was 291, but last June I saw the scale at 304 at my yearly doctor's appointment. So somehow I managed to lose 15 pounds June-October before we actually started "dieting"... We had pretty smooth sailing at first, the pounds were coming off, and I actually started *gasp* enjoying exercise. I started out small, doing Wii Fit, and worked my way up to the 30 day shred and Turbo Jam. We also walked the dog outside A LOT. My favorite thing about using MFP is that we don't have to give up our favorite foods, we can still eat what we want, just in moderation. I've always said our problem is portion control, and that was confirmed for me when we started losing weight by simply counting our calories and exercising. We both lost around 60 pounds in 8 months.

But then we were victims of the economy and my husband was laid off from his job in June. This hit him hard and he sort of fell into a depression and had no interest in exercising anymore. Then he couldn't find work near home so he was forced to travel out of town during the week and come home on the weekends so it was hard for me to do it on my own (yes, I know I am lucky he was doing it with me at all).. but anyway, long story short, he finally found a job but it is less than ideal and he drinks a lot of soda again, which I think contributed the most to his weight gain again. He put 20 of his 60 pounds back on. Surprisingly, I have only gained 4 pounds since we stopped being serious about dieting, but I soooo want to get back into it and get him and myself motivated again.

I am so unbelievably proud of us for accomplishing what we did, but I know we can finish this. When I look at the original goals I set out for myself a year ago, it makes me sad to think that I could (should) be near my goal of 100 pounds by this point in time, and the fact that I'm still 40-50 pounds from that, makes me mad that I've wasted the last 4 months. Buuuut on the other hand, I have to say that I am still proud of myself for basically maintaining for the past 4 months, since i've only gained a few pounds back. Makes me not so scared about maintaining when I do get to my goal. AND I WILL get to my goal!

So the long and short of it is: I am so happy that we decided to take this journey together and I wouldn't change that for anything. I just hoped we'd be further along after a year, but I know this is a lifestyle change and won't happen over night, so we just need to keep working at it.

Edit: I forgot to include some of the reasons I am proud of my progress.
- Jeans - from a size 24 to size 18
- Shirts - from a size 3X to regular XL!
- Chest - from a 44DD to a 38C
- We also completed two 5Ks this year... a year ago, I could barely walk around our block without feeling like I was going to die.

Here are some pics of my journey: