Ta Da!  After a full three weeks I am down 20 pounds and have lost four inches off of my waist and 1.5 inches off of my hips!  While the weight loss this last week  was not as great as the in cycle one, (about four more pounds) it is definitely ongoing and I can feel it in my clothes, I see my cheekbones and jawline starting to reappear and my energy is through the roof!  Now that I am in cycle two, I have increased my exercise considerably and have clearly seen my body responding very quickly.  It is quite amazing how the muscles remember how they used to be, my abdominal muscles are firming and my legs are definitely showing signs of actual muscle definition (thank you Sketchers Shape Ups!).  

As with many others, I have seen the scale fluctuate over the past few days, on Saturday I was down to 211, which would have been a total of 23 pounds gone, but by the next day it was back to 214 and it was the same this morning.  I'm not sure what the reason could be for that kind of fluctuation, I'd like to think that my body is on the verge of losing more, it's back and forth a bit with water perhaps, maybe I did not hydrate enough on Friday and was a bit dehydrated when I weighed in Saturday morning.  I'm not sure but I do know that I put on my jeans this morning and there was no struggle with the zipper, I didn't have to "tuck in" my muffin top - there was no muffin top!   Yipee!!

I'll be posting new photos later today and I've also decided to add my dog to the photo gallery as he is an unknowing (but very happy) participant in this journey.  He's been getting a lot more walkies lately, much to his delight, and as he is a little tubby for his size and breed, I think it only fair that he get his own "before and after" shot.  His name is Puckleberry Hound and he is a four year old Shih Tzu currently weighing in at 22 pounds.  Enjoy!