I don't look that bad, do I?

Oh, yes. . . yes you do.

It's Day 9 and we finally took our Day 1 pictures. I doubt much has changed, so I'm sure it's still an accurate depiction of what we look like. What a sobering experience that was.

First we took pictures in our workout clothes, which is never flattering, then stripped down to our skivvies, which was even less flattering. I was so depressed looking at those pictures. It's one thing to look at yourself in the mirror, but it's a whole other thing to step back and look at yourself. Especially the parts you don't see, like your back. Oh. . . . my. . . . . god.

Even though I'm pretty much the same weight I was after having Katie, I had myself convinced that I was "carrying" this weight better. Uh, no, you're not. You're carrying it just as badly as you did before, you just can't use the excuse that you just had a baby. The only excuse you have is that you have been lazy and just not cared anymore. And that's no excuse.

After seeing those pictures, I surely do care now. It's taken some time to put this weight on, but I know in a mere 12 weeks I can take it off. TWELVE WEEKS!! That's really not that long. Cassidy's 13th birthday is in 12 weeks. I can weight 25 pounds less by then. I've done it before, and I'm pretty sure I can do it again. No, I know I can do it again.

I ate a little less cereal this morning, and brought a little less food today. I'm not saying I need to starve myself, but I wasn't that hungry at all last week. So maybe I need to be a little more hungry. I know, it's only week 1, give it some time. But I have been eating better. That's got to count for something.

Dana claims to have lost about 5 pounds already, but he's got more to lose. (Another cop out?)But it's also very frustrating for me. I know what will happen though. He'll lose a bunch of weight, then hit a plateau. Then I'll start losing, and he'll get frustrated. Then I'll hit my plateau. But in the end, we'll both have achieved our goals.

So the battle begins.