This post is the first in a series of monthly progress reports.  This is where I let it all hang out for the whole wide Internets to see.   This is where I show where I started, and where I am.

Before we get to the gritty details, I’d like to give you a brief backstage view of the making of this post.

When I am heavier than I like, I hide from the camera.  As a result, there are not a lot of before pictures to choose from.  TMOTH (The Man of the House) tries to shelter me from any existing fat, unflattering pictures by not sending them to me or showing them anywhere.  He’s a good man who understands what I need (well, most of the time).  That’s one reason why I keep him around.

When I decided that I needed to do a monthly progress report for my loyal readers (all 5 of you),  I asked TMOTH for some pictures from before I started losing weight.  Somehow that translated in his male brain to any recent picture in which I look fat and gruesome.  I tried to explain to him nicely that we were going to take pictures of my current flab and batwings especially for the post.  I only wanted pictures from BEFORE I started to lose weight.  I did restrain myself, and the beautiful stainless steel frying pan from Sur La Table that TMOTH gave me for my birthday is still undamaged.

Well, I guess I have procrastinated long enough.  It’s time to reveal my before and now photos.  You might want to avert your head if you are sensitive, or ask any impressionable young people to leave the room.

This first picture was taken  July 5, 2011.  I weighed 150 pounds and had a 31-inch waist (that’s the only body part I could bear to measure.  The adorable young man who I am sitting with is my grandson.

Here are current shots taken from the front, back and side.  There’s been some improvement, but there’s room for more.

Here are my current stats:

Weight                   136           -14
Breast                      38
Chest (Bra band)   30
Waist                        29          -2
Umbilicus                35.5
Hip                            36.5
Upper Arm               11
Thigh                          19
Calf                              14

I started out in July eating an Atkins-style low carb diet.  I lost 6 lbs. doing that.  On August 15,  I started my 30 Day Paleo Challenge.   At the end of the challenge I continued with following the Paleo lifestyle.  I have lost 8 pounds since then.

I’ll provide those brave (or perhaps foolhardy) souls who are interested in my progress an update on the second Sunday of each month.

Coming Up on Monday:  What is the Paleo Lifestyle?