61lbs & 15% BF buned in 365 days (VERY PIC HEAVY)

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Hello MFP!
Today marks 365 days of logging into MFP. I haven’t missed a day so it was exactly 1 year ago that I decided enough was enough, got my *kitten* into gear, and changed my life. Let me back up a bit and explain what led me to that point (but feel free to skip to the pics )
I’ve struggled with weight all my life. About 7 years ago though, I was put on Phentermine and lost about 30 lbs. For one all too brief year, I enjoyed being skinny (I wasn’t in the least bit fit) but after I got married, I got lazy and gained all that weight, and a hell of a lot more of it back.
April 2012, I went to India for 3 weeks on a business trip. During the trip I met many amazing people. One of their favorite things to do was to take pictures, chuckle about how white I was compared to them (I’m Irish-Scottish, I can’t help it), then post the pictures up this side of Facebook and down the other. One night after work, I was back in my hotel room logged into Facebook, and I got an eyeful of just how viral these pictures went… I cried myself to sleep that night and a couple more nights following. Here are just a few of them…
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After this, I cancelled my FB account so I wouldn’t be face to face with reality and went on with life.
I got home from India May 5th, 2012 but it took me until May 30th to find and get on MyFitnessPal. Once I did join though, I joined with my full heart. I am lucky enough to have an amazingly supportive husband who when I flipped our lives upside down in pursuit of a healthier life and weight loss, he just said “Okay, what can I do to help?”
I started out with the 1200 calories MFP allotted and lots and lots of cardio. Then I found the group Eat More 2 Weigh Less which had me doing just that. I figured out my TDEE, subtracted 15%-20% and got heavily into weightlifting, starting with the program in the book New Rules of Lifting for Women. After I finished that program, I moved on to Cathe Fredrich’s STS and am currently in the middle of my 2nd round. I absolutely love it and the results are freaking awesome.

I was also very fortunate to develop the best friends list on MFP. I freaking love you guys.

Here are a few things I’ve learned along the way that helped me succeed….
1. The scale is a dirty rotten liar and cannot be the only method of tracking progress. I learned to check and monitor progress by how my clothes feel, how I look in the mirror, pictures and measurements, and not just by the reading on the scale.
2. Setting and sticking to a rigid pound goal didn’t work for me. I originally set my goal to 120 lbs which, come to find out, isn’t what I want because to get there, I would either need to fall into the low teens in BF% or sacrifice lean mass (no thank you). Instead, I’ve focused on a goal BF% of between 18-20% which using the ideal body weight calculator on Fat2FitRadio.com, gave me a pound goal of 130. I started back in May of last year at around 35% Body Fat or more (I’m guesstimating). Today, I’m happy to report after getting my BF% tested in a BodPod, I’m at 20.9%. I’m so close I can taste it 

Here are how a few of my measurements changed:
Natural Waist = 36.5 to 26.5 (- 10 inches)
Thigh = 25.75 to 20.25 (- 5.5 inches)
Chest = 37 to 31 (- 6 inches)
Hips = 43.75 to 31.75 (- 12 inches)
Bicep = 13.5 to 11.25 (- 2.25 inches)
3. I don’t have to starve to lose weight. Thank god because I have a very VERY healthy appetite. I’m very grateful I found EM2WL only a few weeks after deciding to change my life.
Okay, enough blabbing. Here are my progress and NOW pics!

This first one is 25 lbs down…
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This one is 36 lbs down, what I thought at the time was my ½ way mark…
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This is a difference of 50 lbs… and the pic on the right is somewhere around 35% body fat, the pic on the left is 24.5% body fat…
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This is 60 lbs lost…
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These are a couple tummy comparison pic from about when I started to this past weekend.
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And here are a few more now pics just for fun 
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I remember just starting out and spending a lot of time on the MFP forums looking at other’s success stories. I hope this provides motivation for someone somewhere to not give up, to keep going, to get it done, like so many success stories did for me.

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Replies

  • doin_it
    doin_it Posts: 414 Member
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    wow you look amazing...great job...very beautiful!!
  • justbecause2014
    justbecause2014 Posts: 371 Member
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    WoW!! Way to go!!! You look great!
  • rassha01
    rassha01 Posts: 534 Member
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    Way to go!!! You truly are an inspiration for others!!
  • sarahmoo12
    sarahmoo12 Posts: 756 Member
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    looking fab girl !! well done you :)
  • susanwair
    susanwair Posts: 78 Member
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    WOW - you look great. Congratulations on your accomplishment :smile:
  • footiechick82
    footiechick82 Posts: 1,203 Member
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    Rock that body sexy lady ;) Congrats!
  • mcouturezz
    mcouturezz Posts: 145
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    You look absolutely fantastic :))))) Congrats on your journey You are a star !!!
  • ViDexSha
    ViDexSha Posts: 46 Member
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    Thank you so much for this. You are truly inspirational. You look great!
  • thepandabare
    thepandabare Posts: 16 Member
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    Great work and the pics are inspiring.

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  • Iron_Lotus
    Iron_Lotus Posts: 2,295 Member
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    You look fantastic!!!
  • GiddyupTim
    GiddyupTim Posts: 2,819 Member
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    Yes. Super!
  • rbn_held
    rbn_held Posts: 679 Member
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    Wow. You look amazing. It's stories like these that motivate me when I feel ready to give up. thanks for sharing and congrats on an amazing loss
  • cupcakes_and_cardio
    cupcakes_and_cardio Posts: 369 Member
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    This is what I'd like to look like some day and I know I will. Thank you for the motivation. Question...how many cals were you eating when you first started, for the EM2WL? Thanks
  • KatieHPhoto
    KatieHPhoto Posts: 37 Member
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    Very well done, you look amazing! I'm hoping to be in the same shape when I've completed my goal. :)

    Very inspiring!
  • zombiemomjo
    zombiemomjo Posts: 546 Member
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    DAYUM!!! You are an inspiration! And now I want to get heavy lifting into my cardio-heavy routine!!! Amazing change, gorgeous lady!
  • KAR1959
    KAR1959 Posts: 4,236 Member
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    Wow!!! Congrats...how inspiring...you look fabulous:flowerforyou:
  • clobern
    clobern Posts: 341 Member
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    Very great job! You have done wonderfully.
  • TOMEKA18
    TOMEKA18 Posts: 103 Member
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    You look awesome...
  • RichOC
    RichOC Posts: 243 Member
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    I guess you did alright... Yeah right, lol, j/k, you killed it! That's a great transformation and definitely very inspiring!
  • Elif84
    Elif84 Posts: 287 Member
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    OMG amazing work!! Very pretty!!
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