The Barnes Family

I was feeling a little down when this week I was only down a little but then I did find a few others that had the same thing done and found that they were stuck as well. I am happy to report a few things though... 1. My Body fat % is down. 2. My clothes are fitting better and I am fitting in smaller sizes which means I must be losing inches- I wish I would have taken measurements. 3. I have been working out 5 days a week, adding more cardio and been more strict on my diet so it really isn't lack of trying. Knowing the 3 things above I am okay with the progress made this week. I just have to keep it going! Thanks for all your support! March 7th Week One: 185.4 March 15th Week Two: 178.6 March 30th Week Three: 172.6 Total so far is 12.8 lbs lost April 3rd Week Four: 170.5 Total so far is 14.9 lost April 12th Week Five: 170.2 Total so far is 15.2 lost April 26th Week Seven 168.6 Total so far is 16.8 Lost May 6th Week Eight 168.8 Total so far is 16.6 Lost May 18th

I have been SO behind! I have been dreading this post because well once again I find myself stuck. It's not to bad though, because I did put on a pair of jeans that were a two sizes smaller than when I started this journey 8 weeks ago! So that is a HUGE plus for me. I have continued to work out and even added more days. All that being said, when you feel stuck its important to keep on pressing through! I will make a breakthrough one of these days! I think I just got so used to losing close to a half a pound to a pound a day that now when it slowed down, it feels like I'm not doing what I should be doing. I knew this is what happens and so now I just have to stick it out and keep on going. Thanks for all the support! On days when I want to give up, your kind words really do keep me going! March 7th Week One: 185.4 March 15th Week Two: 178.6 March 30th Week Three: 172.6 Total so far is 12.8 lbs lost April 3rd Week Four: 170.5 Total so far is 14.9 lost April 12th Week

I have not said a lot about this because I try to not engage in this on Facebook. However I do want to share this interesting article. It might surprise you that I am actually a very conservative person but yes this is my view on this subject... but for all of you boycotting Target you might need to add a few to the list... I do not agree fully with the way that Target handled this issue but I also don't agree with the way a majority of the people are handling it. I believe we are supposed to stand up for what we believe in. We know that we live in a sin filled world and people are not perfect, I am not perfect. Aaron Wilson wrote, "Boycotting as it turns out, is just too easy. Christians are not called to avoid the culture out of disgust, but rather to engage it in wisdom, love, and truth." His article talks about why boycotting is not the best answer for this situation. Other companies will likely follow Target with policies similar, are we going to boycott all

I am here to update you on week 7. I'll keep it short because, well I'm sad to say not much has changed at all. Week 6 the scale stayed exactly the same, which is not what I wanted at all but hey it happens. I could give you excuse after excuse but really I don't think I am trying hard enough. I know that this is just a little rough patch and that I will get through it. I just have to kick it up a little! I did start back working out which has been great. I love being back in the gym at 6:30 in the morning and I am focusing this week on getting back to eating better. I will say that even though I haven't had big victories on the scale I have had big victories in clothing and in just people noticing a difference which has meant a lot to me. Thank you for your encouragement! It really does mean a lot to me. I WILL reach my goal! March 7th Week One: 185.4 March 15th Week Two: 178.6 March 30th Week Three: 172.6 Total so far is 12.8 lbs lost April 3rd Week Four: 17

I had a win this morning and it was kind of a big win for me. So for just a minute I am going to brag. Go with it, I'm a little excited... mom if you're reading this I think you would be proud- they were in line on time! 5:40am: Quick Shower/wash face/ etc. 6am: Greeted a little to early by a sweet smiley curly headed face looking for Jax Quick Cuddle TV turned on Hair Dried Got myself dressed Two lunches packed up Two snacks packed My lunch packed Heated my scrambled eggs up Heated kids breakfast up Got bags by the door Grabbed Wyatt's clothes for Picture day out of dryer! 6:45am: little boy greeting me with a confused look because its mommy and not daddy getting him his breakfast ready. Wyatt gets dressed Let’s Dog out Feeds Dog Dress McKinley Fix Hair Fuss a little about shoes and ruffle dress socks but mommy wins that one 7:15am: Load up in the car buckle and head to school!!!! Got some gas and was literally walk

I still can not believe that my sweet little (sometimes sassy) McKinley is 5 today!!! It seems like yesterday I was in the hospital holding her. I love this girl more than words can say. McKinley @ FIVE sweet & sassy all rolled into one love /hate with your ballet and tap class sing & dance all the time the best imagination love to play "teacher" you love to play with barbies & princesses forget the one piece- two pieces are your favorite a true girlie girl from makeup to jewelry love tangled right now you like to hide my eyes when the princesses kiss in the movies you're favorite song is "God's Not Dead" & "Soul on Fire" love anything Disney you love your friends but also like to keep to yourself still love your two pink bunnies

So I missed my 4 week update... but I did check in before I left and I was happy to report that I had reached my first goal and finally lost 15 pounds! I'm sad to say that I have nothing new to report today, but on the flip side... I'm looking at this as a small win. Disney Cruise+ 8 days of being out of town + Yummy food + not working out, normally equals me being very unhappy on the scales when I return home. This time however I remained the exact same. So I calling that a victory. It's okay to enjoy a little piece of dessert here and there as long as I don't over do it. It was very hard though not having a scale on the boat. So I saved my new skinny white jeans (in a size smaller I might add) for the last night on the ship and when the fit.... I felt like I did okay! So maybe that's a good trick! Now that I'm back its time to get back to it! Tomorrow I start working out again, I have a feeling 6:30 is going to come way to early! Still dealing with reflu

The first small goal I set for myself was 15 lbs before the cruise. This morning I step on the scale and what do you know....  170.5  I kid you not I officially met it the day we are leaving for the cruise! Im excited! Sorry for short post just wanted to get it out before we head out.   

I am a few days late posting this thanks to a little bug that hit my house known as the flu. Poor Wyatt started feeling bad late Friday night and come Sunday he was diagnosed with the flu. It came out of know where and as of yesterday I heard half of his class was out of school. He has made a great recovery and today he is finally back at school and I am back at work. We are praying that no one else gets it since our Disney cruise is less than a week away. This weekend was a little harder than most. Cookies, Candies, Cookie Cake, Brownies, Drinks for Natalie's Lingerie party/ Girls Night out, Lunch at West Lake for Easter and on and on. However I will say that for all of you thinking that this Weight Loss Procedure was the easy way out, it was not. I am still very tempted by these things however now even though I may be tempted I definitely can not eat them because if I do, I will get sick. To much in this stomach now does not just mean the scales will not be my friend but I will

There is one week that our Fitness Family looks forward to..... IHRSA!!! It's a fun trade show where anything related to fitness can be shown off. Classes, equipment, billing, clothing, insurance, you name it and if it relates to fitness and health it is going to be there. Natalie and Shannon try the new classes and equipment, my mom and I walk around and basically watch and take pictures of them doing all of that, Mike helps to find the latest new toys we can add to the gym and Bill attends the not so fun meetings. Night time is always fun because there is normally a great dinner to attend and well who doesn't love to get dressed up and go to dinner! This year the show was held in Orlando, which had its perks but I think I still love it being held in Vegas! The perk of Orlando though is when the show is over, there are a few great things to do there... like act like a kid again and hit up park! So Wednesday we picked Universal Studios theme park and for a day we were kids, w

It has officially been two weeks and I am excited to say that I have officially lost 10 pounds! I am beyond excited about that! 10 pounds may not seem like a lot to some but it feels wonderful. I am also starting to feel better and slowly start to eat more than chicken salad and soup, which as much as I love my mother's chicken salad has been nice. Discovered that my feeling constantly bloated might have been one of the medications I was on, so after stopping that I am starting to feel a little better there too. I will say I never feel truly hungry. I have to remind myself that I need to eat. Smaller meals and Sip on water throughout the day instead of trying to catch up on the water I missed by chugging it at night. I was always bad at getting enough water! This is a quick update but wanted to let everyone know that I am doing great and thank everyone for their kind words and prayers!

I'm going to be honest..... Today is the FIRST DAY I finally woke up and felt normal! I got ready without having to take a break, I was actually hungry for lunch, I am no longer walking at a snail’s pace and I just all around feel better. Let me just say this is a relief this past weekend was rough for me and I am not sure how I made it. Friday, seemed to be fine. I got cleared for soft food, ate some chicken salad, all was right with the world until bed time when I was hit with the worst stomach pain! We were leaving for an overnight trip to Atlanta in the morning so I did all that I could do that night to prepare and made it to bed as quick as I could and found some relief in just laying down. The next morning I felt a little better, it took me forever and a year to get ready because I was completely drained of energy but we got packed and made it out the door. I also managed to get half a McDonald's oatmeal down over the course of an hour which was pretty good and hel

Five days in and I am doing MUCH better than I thought I would be!! The doctor I met with in Charleston and Dr. Blaney had prepared me for the worst, endless nausea, vomiting, cramping, etc for at least 3-5 days maybe more. I went in knowing that could be what awaited me. So far, the only thing I have found is I have nausea, a little reflux and I am very weak because I can not eat more than about 3/4 a cup at a time. So for the last 5 days I have been on an all liquid diet and it hasn't consisted of much. Dr. Blaney also did a great job of prescribing medications that would help with all the symptoms I might have, and I am taking the medications around the clock to make sure they don't hit.  Someone asked if I could tell the balloon is there…. YES! I would say its not in a bad way though. I feel very full all the time. The feeling you get when you have eaten to much at Thanksgiving and you immediately regret it but its to late. The kind of overeating that makes it hard to ta

I have gone back and forth on posting this and finally after much debate I have decide that I wanted to share in hopes that it might be able to help someone else. Today at 2:30pm I am scheduled to have the Orbera Procedure. I will not go through all the details of the procedure right now, but for more information on it you can visit, orbera.com. I have prayed about this, talked to my husband, parents and close friends about this and they are supporting me with this decision that I have made. I know that not everyone will, which I why I have gone back and forth on putting this information out there but I know at the end of the day, I also don't want to feel dishonest. I also know that I would like prayers right now. The first part of this is supposed to the hardest part. I know that some will say, "Can't you just do it on your own?" Please know, this is simply a tool, which I will explain in another blog, that will help me to reach my goal. I still have to eat righ