Girl meets fitness. Girl falls in love. Girl loses fitness. Girl gets fitness back.

ickybella

All right, here goes. I'm a little embarrassed about all this, but I want to get the info out into the world.

If you don't know me, you don't know I used to be obese, and then I went on a two-year-long weight-loss spree, losing over 100 pounds. Here's a link to my original success story if you want to read about the person I used to be:

http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/168517-100-pounds-down-with-pics

The person I am now is so incredibly different from the person I was then, though. After I posted that story, I maintained my weight for a few years without any real problems until a two-week period at the end of 2013/beginning of 2014, when I was hospitalized for digestive problems. As it turned out, I have a chronic illness called Ulcerative Colitis, which limits what I can eat (unfortunately, many healthy foods give me so much pain that I can't bear to eat them). My medication also wreaks havoc on my body and makes it hard for me to lose weight.

And then there's the pain and the fatigue, which make it hard to exercise. I slept for 10 hours last night, and I'm still exhausted. Some nights I come home from work and fall asleep before I can even exercise. And let us not forget I'm a college student taking four classes with a full-time job and an hour-and-a-half commute each weekday. Blah blah, life is hard and I'm not going to whine at you anymore. We all have our obstacles. Anyway, this is how my days look:



The point is, I got fat again. I became overweight, bordering on obese, and it super sucked. My clothes didn't fit. I hated the way I looked in the mirror. I felt totally out of control and hopeless. Then I found a Jillian Michaels Facebook group, and they started a Bodyshred challenge. I looked up the DVD's but I couldn't find any real results (besides the ones in the trailer, which I never trust). The workouts looked hard and after reading reviews, I decided to give it a try. I started the program pretty much as soon as the DVD's arrived, about a week before the actual challenge started in the Facebook group.

At that time, I also came back to MFP to count calories. Mama needs to fit in that adorable little bikini this summer, you know? I had told myself this would be my last overweight winter, so I started meal prepping.





Meal prep alone was making me feel so much better, but I really wasn't seeing any changes. I had taken some before pictures, but I wasn't looking at them because I felt so embarrassed about how much I'd let myself down by gaining all that weight. I spent two years getting fit and then I threw it all away because I felt sorry for myself. I was intensely disgusted with myself and my befores.

But then one night last week, 20 days into Bodyshred, I put on some workout clothes and realized that they fit right again. I was like...well never mind. I swear a lot. I said a lot of swear words. And obviously, I took a selfie. And then I used the side-by-side thingy on Instagram to compare that pic with my January 1st pic. I didn't think I'd be able to see much difference in less than 3 weeks but well, I will just show you the pictures now.



The pic with the green shirt is from last week, and the one with the pink shirt is from January 1st. I know they are backwards, and I would offer my sincerest apologies, if I weren't so excited about the changes I've seen. Here's a side photo.



Clearly I still have work to do, but I'm excited to see what the last 4 weeks of this program will do for my body, and I'm slightly less embarrassed to be seen in public now.

Feel free to add me as a friend. I'm actually not this doom-and-gloom outwardly lol. I am just a little disappointed in myself right now.

TenaciousTAZ

I had a similar journey....Obese most of my life, lost 80 in 80 mos., bodyfat 45% to 22%, won a $1000 fitness challenge, and even worked as a trainer part-time and was a boxer. Gym closed, support network gone, injuries and 6 years later, 50 lbs packed on, and torn disc in my back. My health levels are generally good, but I need to drop weight to ease the pain on my back.
I can let it eat me up to think of the "good old days" but life is a journey and weight loss/maintenance is a marathon, not a sprint. I have a much better attitude than 7 years ago. No reason for you to be embarrassed, we all have bumps in the road, or in my case feel a train wreck. What you have on me is your youth, so you have a lot more living to do. We got this and if it's "To Hell and Back" then it is. But I will keep crawling out of this hell!
All the Best!!

GUARDiAN_GUiLD

Awesome post. Great read and you're looking great! I like the "no excuses" approach despite of your medical condition and with everything else going on in your life. You're really determined. Food looks great too. Girl, you got yo groove baaaack! I (Taye) diggs yo style!

Thanks for sharing!

EmilyNan

Hey there! Thanks for sharing your story! You are looking noticeably great after 3 weeks of hard work. Jillain's workouts are killer.
As far as being disappointed In yourself... You also need to be kind to yourself. It's just hard!
Good luck!

angelamichelle_xo

chajax

I'm on to day 2 of the 30 day shred and what a work out! You look great! Gives me motivation to keep going!