Why I started this journey.

alyssarenea1996

I'm pretty typical I suppose; 19 years old, I'm engaged, we have a pretty house, both work full time, and our lives are ruled by hunting for raccoons and our 4 coon hounds.
I'll start from the beginning; I was a really active kid so I was always scrawny. I did gymnastics, soccer, rode horses, four wheelers, and explored in the national forest that is my backyard. When I was in 1st grade my mom and dad got a divorce, that was when my sports quit. I gained a little bit at that time, but I was still a cute kid that just wasn't as scrawny as I was before. Around 5th grade I really started to gain weight, but when I was that young I didn't notice that it was a problem. By 7th grade I didn't want people to see me; I didn't want to go to pool parties or wear shorts. Through high school I hovered around 180 pounds which was about 50 more pounds than I wanted to weigh but I still was invited to parties and guys still wanted me so I didn't let it get me down too often. Then the end of my senior year I met my fiancé and he is about 30 pounds LESS than me at his heaviest.. that bugs me a lot. I graduated in 2014 and he proposed July 18th of this year.
It didn't really set in how much my weight was impacting me until one night we were hunting and the hounds ran a raccoon about 800 yards away. So, we had to walk through rough woods and climb ditch banks for 800 yards until we reached our dogs. I had three panic attacks. The cannot breath, sweating, crying panic attacks because I couldn't keep up, and I couldn't breath. By the time we got back to the truck I was crying, my legs were shaking, and I could barely breath. That still wasn't quite enough to motivate me.
What finally put my big butt into gear was finding THE dress. This gorgeous, one of a kind, lace, vintage dress. When I put the dress on I knew it was the one. It hugged all the right places and looked incredible. My Nana half nonchalantly asked the saleswoman if the dress could be taken in if need be. The saleswoman told us it could be taken in however much needed because the designer of the dress actually owns the bridal shop.
Thus began my journey. I am 5'1" and 208 pounds. So far in 16 days I've lost 5.2 pounds! I've set not only my short term goals: look good in my dress, compete in a 5k. I have also set my long term goals: lift heavy, get awesome muscles, do cross fit, and run a marathon.
I am so happy to have found a place so full of inspirational people with incredible success stories! Please feel free to add me, give me tips, help keep me going. Thank you!

Alex

Welcome to the MyFitnessPal Community and wishing you the best of luck with your goals. Also congratulations on your engagement!