Hit my goal weight - I've lost more weight than what I weigh!!! (159 lbs gone)

gems74

You're absolutely beautiful! A great story, thanks so much for sharing.

allaboutthecake

Really is amazing. I didn't look at your age till I read your story. At your heaviest, I thought you were around 40y/o and then when I saw your pix w/your cute sassy new hair cut (minus the blue), I thought you were in your early 20s. So that's when I looked at your age. Well done. You absolutely have lots to be proud of, overcoming like this.

NewOR2015

Thank you for sharing your amazing journey. You are incredible! Very inspirational!

lorrpb

Thanks for sharing. You're so cute too! Great job. I'm right behind you.
SW 301
CW 179
GW 150
5'7"
18 mo.

TraceyKakes

Wow congrats! That took lots of hard work and j bet it feels so good. You're so inspiring!

katzunghope

ekahnicole wrote: »

I can't believe it's time for me to write about my own success story. I remember checking these stories myself off and on during my first year of losing weight and wondering "Will I get there? Will I be a success?".

Yes, I will. Yes, I am.

Just letting you know now, this post will have A LOT of pictures.

I started this journey in February 2013, weighing 309 lbs. I hadn't weighed myself in years for fear of what the scale would say, and when I finally did, it was nothing short of heartbreaking. But my god did it make me desperate to change. Seeing that number made it impossible to continue living in denial. There are virtually no photos of me from that time, but I'll share a couple here even though it is very hard to look at them now.


Ouch.


December 2013, 235 lbs (75 lost)


Who's face is that in the first picture? Not mine, surely...

As you can see though, in a year I reached a major milestone and dropped over 100 lbs. I can't even describe the difference in my life from before and after. No more constant fatigue, crippling social anxiety, depression, and so on. I was back in college and making good grades. I could actually see myself having a happy future for the first time in a long time. But I was damn sure not done yet. I felt better, but I was still 50+ lbs overweight. I was determined not to let myself get comfortable and stop before I was done.


Dropped another 20lbs, down to 180. I ended 2014 at 173 lbs. At this point I had gotten rid of 8 years worth of weight gain, putting me back at the same weight I was at the age of 19.

And now for 2015:


170 lbs, and one of the first times I didn't immediately delete a full body picture.


Annnd then I dyed my hair blue. You might not think this is relevant, but let me tell you, nothing can demonstrate how drastically my self esteem had improved more than this. I went years desperately NOT wanting to be noticed in public, so doing something that causes the complete opposite felt like I had truly overcome some major obstacles.


165lbs


155lbs, and the first time I'd worn shorts in a very, very long time.

And now, ending 2015 at my initial goal weight of 150 lbs.




Which included an NSV that I was seriously hoping to achieve one day - seeing a picture of myself that someone else took, and actually liking it.


Sidenote: I'm 5'6 and my current measurements are 38-28-38.

If you've made it this far, thank you for reading my story. I really could not have done this without MFP. It's helped me understand my body's relationship with food and given me a tangible way to manage my calorie intake. It's been a source of encouragement, through the forums and feedback, and things just as small and simple as getting "likes" after completing diary entries.

I'll end this with a few tips I've learned along the way:

- It really is important to drink a lot of water
- Log everything as accurately as you can, as much as you can
- But also realize that if you are on top of things 90% of the time, the 10% won't matter
- When you're in a rut, changes in routine work like a charm (food, activity level, etc)
- If you binge one day, the increase you see in your weight the next day is NOT actual weight gain, it's water weight. Get back on track immediately and you'll see it disappear in a matter of days.
- You do not have to kill yourself exercising to lose weight. It really is as simple as calories in/calories out. But of course, doing anything you can to increase your activity level will only be a good thing
- You can still eat what you want, you just have to work it into your calories. The only things I have "given up" are regular soda (haven't had one since April 2013!) and milkshakes (my god, have you ever looked up how bad milkshakes are? they just aren't worth it! I'd rather have pizza and chocolate)

If you have any questions feel free to ask and of course friend requests are welcome as well, I'm still going to be logging in daily.

Congratulations....you look so amazing.....hoping to write such story in an yr too ☺️ just aa query....what was your workout routine?? There are so many out there its so confusing!

chrissiejocastellano

This is great! Thank you so much for sharing. You look amazing.

Free2batx

I'm so happy for you! What a wonderful, heartfelt post. You nailed the emotional aspect of weight gain and loss perfectly. Can you detail how you started your journey and what you did for exercise at the beginning? I'm just starting out and any tips would be great!

IdLikeToLoseItLoseIt

What an inspiring, genuinely amazing transformation! Well done and thank you so much for sharing your journey with us. This is one of the best success stories I've seen on MFP.

LivingtheLeanDream

FABULOUS results! you look amazing ...well done on all you have achieved

bukowski_shine

wow lovely. Inspirational post.

igor1187

you look amazing and I LOVE your new fashion sense. Congrats!

ekahnicole

lorrpb wrote: »

Thanks for sharing. You're so cute too! Great job. I'm right behind you.
SW 301
CW 179
GW 150
5'7"
18 mo.

Thank you!

And that's fantastic! You're getting so close

justrollme

You are fantastic, and beautiful throughout your entire journey. Congratulations!

ekahnicole

mlays005 wrote: »

I'm so happy for you! What a wonderful, heartfelt post. You nailed the emotional aspect of weight gain and loss perfectly. Can you detail how you started your journey and what you did for exercise at the beginning? I'm just starting out and any tips would be great!

Starting out, I didn't really know what I was doing other than MFP telling me "This is your calorie goal" so I just did my best to follow that, which included cutting out soda and making my own food (I ate so much fast food and take out before I started losing weight). It took awhile to even incorporate exercise but then I started college and got a part time job that required a lot of movement and lifting so that helped. Then I incorporated walking/jogging a few times a week. My dad got me a Fitbit and for about a year that really kept me motivated to increase my cardio and do it regularly so I definitely recommend that if you need some extra motivation (it syncs with MFP too).

But honestly my main philosophy wasn't "I must work out x times a week and eat x amount of calories", it was "I must live a more active lifestyle and develop a healthier relationship with food". For me that meant finding joy in cooking and taking nature walks and swimming every chance I got during summer and chasing around my nieces.

If you hate working out, you're probably always going to hate working out. If you love pizza and Taco Bell you're probably always going to love pizza and Taco Bell. So you have to develop habits that allow you to be a healthy version of YOU.

RoxanneHull2

You look amazing and are so inspiring. I too am 5'6" and strive to get back to 150 which was what I weighed when I went in the Navy in 1983. I came closed a few years ago, but was on a very restrictive, unrealistic diet. I got down to 160 and a size 8 but wasn't able to maintain it and put all the weight and then some back on. I'm starting again and hope to be able to do it the right way this time. Thank you for telling your story and I look forward to telling mine some day soon!

Yivs_87

Congratulations! Thank you for posting this. I'm right now at that phase when I browse this forum and I wonder if I'd ever get to post my story here.
Btw - you rocked the blue! And the new hairstyle is awesome. Turn it blue?

akern1987

wow, wow, wow, you look amazing, I hope to be where you are in a year or two, you are inspiring. Also, sidenote, I love your BMO sweater!

kendratwcp2014

Very inspiring! We can all conquer our weight and live healthy and your the proof. Thanks for sharing your amazing story!

Nina_Ekoko

OUTSTANDING!!!!! So beautiful and so motivational! Fantastic Job!!