My Skinny Husband

I am so proud of my husband. He has lost over 40 pounds since we started our diet about 5 months ago. 40 pounds! Joe and I got into the bad habit of eating fast food and eating in front of the TV prior to having children. Even when Ella was born, we were all about convenience, and we still ate in front of the TV! Once we moved to our house in New Berlin, we began to sit at the table, where the TV was out of sight. Ella had started eating "big people" food, and we wanted to actually sit down as a family to eat our meals. I didn't think too much about my weight, and thought it was pointless to lose weight if we were going to try to have another baby anyways. So we continued our bad habits...but at least we were sitting at the table, right? During my 2nd pregnancy, I didn't eat as healthy as with my first pregnancy. I basically gave myself free reign to eat whatever, whenever. I think Joe did the same thing. I felt like I had a free pass to eat and eat.

6 months ago, after I had stopped breastfeeding, and pounds slowly started adding up and Joe and I realized we needed to do something about it. I decided to try Slimfast and Joe decided to try it along with me. At first, we followed the plan to a T. We bought the meal bars, snack bars, and meal replacement shakes. We signed up with the Slimfast website and tracked all of our calories and exercise. We made recipes suggested. And guess what? It worked! We started seeing results after the first week, and just kept on going. Now we feel comfortable enough to substitute some things so that we don't have to keep buying all of the Slimfast products, which can get expensive. What is comes down to is watching calorie intake and exercising daily (or at least 5 times a week.) And not eating fast food so often. Sure, we splurge every now and again...I think we have to, or else we'd go crazy restricting ourselves.

Joe has needed to buy all new pants. His old pants were literally falling off of him. Since he is so tall, he has to order them online, but luckily has found that Old Navy carries the right length...and at a pretty decent price. Fortunately, and thankfully, my parents got Joe a nice gift card to Old Navy for his 30th birthday and then he got another one from his parents for Christmas. So at least we haven't had to spend too much money on replacing his wardrobe! Yay for birthday presents!

Joe might get angry with me for posting these pictures, but the difference is amazing. And if you see Joe often, it's hard to see the little differences, but man, it's obvious now! Way to go Joe! I'm so glad we decided to change our eating habits together. We support each other and encourage each other on a daily basis. It's pretty easy to stick to the plan when you have another person doing the same thing. Thanks for cheering me on, Joe.

The top picture is from August 2009 while on vacation on Lake Michigan. The 2nd picture was taken at Kelly and Tom's wedding on October 31st, 2009, just 2.5 months later.