175 lbs down. From Morbid Obese to Half Marathoner
bobbijodmb
Posts: 463 Member
Good Morning.
I thought I would share this with everyone in hopes of motivating maybe one person to keep up with their weight loss journey. I am including 2 photos. The first one is a pretty typical before and after photo. The photo on the left was from 2008. My heaviest- I hadn't realized how heavy I got and what I looked like. I didn't understand how always feeling tired, not feeling well and just being in a fog was all due to my weight. It wasn't until after much of my weightloss that I realized how much better I felt on a regular basis. The photo on the right is from last weekend- a 5k. The person on the left would have NEVER done a 5k and the person on the right has completed 2 half marathons this spring and has signed up for 3 more (not to mentioned I have committed to doing a full marathon in the spring).
The second photo is a body scan. I really wish I had one from the beginning of my journey. But the body scan on the left is from September 2012 and the one on the right is from April of this year. In the photo you can see what differences small changes can make on body composition. In that 18 month period- I lost 61.5 lbs- 10 points on the BMI scale, and doubled by fitness ability on a VO2 scale. I lost the following percentage of body fat in different parts of my body: 12% in my arms, 11% in my legs, 17% in my hips, 17% in my trunk and an amazing 23% in my stomach. Overall in this 18 months I lost 14% of my overall total body fat. Again, I wish I had this data/info from the beginning. Because even with 61.5 of the 175 its amazing to see the results and the photo.
But weight isn't the only thing that I have changed during this journey. At the beginning it was all about weight. Now its about health. I want to be healthy. I want to live a long life. I want to be able to make the most of what I can in life and I can't do that when I am at risk for some major health diseases. I feel lucky though- I didn't develop any health issues and I was able to make the changes before that took over. But I know this process works- I just ate less and moved more. At the beginning I refused to count calories- I thought it was horrible. SO I just focused on reducing portion size- I thought' what would I normally eat and just take some away. I moved more- started out with light activities. Over time I saw the changes that I was making and realized I could make more. So I started counting calories (which isn't that bad). I can pretty much tell you what most foods have in it. I am careful about what I put into my body and I have found exercises that I love. One thing that I was shocked though and I hear so many others talk about is about confidence and weight loss. I realized through this journey that confidence (for me) had very little to do with my weight- and more so with how I felt about myself. I realized that I had to get to know myself as a different person. Running has helped me do that-- it pushes me to the point that I want to break and then I learn something about myself. I have found my inner athlete and I strive to constantly do better. This journey has truly saved my life.
Some things that have helped me:
**Small steps- I was very resistant to change. So 175 lbs ago the things that I am doing now would have completely frightened me and made me not want to continue. But it took small changes over time and I don't miss anything.
**Being open about my journey. I saw the biggest changes happen when I was ok talking about my weight, my weight gain and my weight loss. I feel like an open book.
**Finding support. Throughout my journey I have had to change some of my support. Most everyone was supportive at the beginning. When you are over 300 lbs, most people are more than willing to support someone. But I noticed, the smaller I get, some people struggle with this. Some of my friends were a lot more supportive when I was way bigger than them, vs now that I am smaller than them.
**Find a workout that you love. I started out with water aerobics, walking, the elliptical. I loved these- now they drive me crazy. I found zumba and kick boxing and spinning. Now my new love is running and being outside and being active in life.
**Life is about moving more and experiencing more. I was always a believer that my weight didn't define me. But looking back it did. There were life events that I didn't try and subconsciously it had everything to do with my weight, I just didn't want to admit it. For example- I never kayaked until last year-- I said it was stupid, looked boring, etc. After I got outside my comfort zone, I loved it and realized that I would have NEVER done that when I was overweight. NEVER. So for me, it was admitting how much it stopped me from completely enjoying life at times.
Hopefully this helps someone. My journey has been about 5.5 years. It will be 6 years this fall. I have learned to enjoy the journey and trust in the process. If I make good decisions, change will happen. If I struggle today, there is always tomorrow. There is no time limit on health. It my life and I need to take control back. The only thing that can stop me, is me and today that is not an option. So please have faith- that exercise and diet alone can make HUGE changes.
Bobbi Jo
I thought I would share this with everyone in hopes of motivating maybe one person to keep up with their weight loss journey. I am including 2 photos. The first one is a pretty typical before and after photo. The photo on the left was from 2008. My heaviest- I hadn't realized how heavy I got and what I looked like. I didn't understand how always feeling tired, not feeling well and just being in a fog was all due to my weight. It wasn't until after much of my weightloss that I realized how much better I felt on a regular basis. The photo on the right is from last weekend- a 5k. The person on the left would have NEVER done a 5k and the person on the right has completed 2 half marathons this spring and has signed up for 3 more (not to mentioned I have committed to doing a full marathon in the spring).
The second photo is a body scan. I really wish I had one from the beginning of my journey. But the body scan on the left is from September 2012 and the one on the right is from April of this year. In the photo you can see what differences small changes can make on body composition. In that 18 month period- I lost 61.5 lbs- 10 points on the BMI scale, and doubled by fitness ability on a VO2 scale. I lost the following percentage of body fat in different parts of my body: 12% in my arms, 11% in my legs, 17% in my hips, 17% in my trunk and an amazing 23% in my stomach. Overall in this 18 months I lost 14% of my overall total body fat. Again, I wish I had this data/info from the beginning. Because even with 61.5 of the 175 its amazing to see the results and the photo.
But weight isn't the only thing that I have changed during this journey. At the beginning it was all about weight. Now its about health. I want to be healthy. I want to live a long life. I want to be able to make the most of what I can in life and I can't do that when I am at risk for some major health diseases. I feel lucky though- I didn't develop any health issues and I was able to make the changes before that took over. But I know this process works- I just ate less and moved more. At the beginning I refused to count calories- I thought it was horrible. SO I just focused on reducing portion size- I thought' what would I normally eat and just take some away. I moved more- started out with light activities. Over time I saw the changes that I was making and realized I could make more. So I started counting calories (which isn't that bad). I can pretty much tell you what most foods have in it. I am careful about what I put into my body and I have found exercises that I love. One thing that I was shocked though and I hear so many others talk about is about confidence and weight loss. I realized through this journey that confidence (for me) had very little to do with my weight- and more so with how I felt about myself. I realized that I had to get to know myself as a different person. Running has helped me do that-- it pushes me to the point that I want to break and then I learn something about myself. I have found my inner athlete and I strive to constantly do better. This journey has truly saved my life.
Some things that have helped me:
**Small steps- I was very resistant to change. So 175 lbs ago the things that I am doing now would have completely frightened me and made me not want to continue. But it took small changes over time and I don't miss anything.
**Being open about my journey. I saw the biggest changes happen when I was ok talking about my weight, my weight gain and my weight loss. I feel like an open book.
**Finding support. Throughout my journey I have had to change some of my support. Most everyone was supportive at the beginning. When you are over 300 lbs, most people are more than willing to support someone. But I noticed, the smaller I get, some people struggle with this. Some of my friends were a lot more supportive when I was way bigger than them, vs now that I am smaller than them.
**Find a workout that you love. I started out with water aerobics, walking, the elliptical. I loved these- now they drive me crazy. I found zumba and kick boxing and spinning. Now my new love is running and being outside and being active in life.
**Life is about moving more and experiencing more. I was always a believer that my weight didn't define me. But looking back it did. There were life events that I didn't try and subconsciously it had everything to do with my weight, I just didn't want to admit it. For example- I never kayaked until last year-- I said it was stupid, looked boring, etc. After I got outside my comfort zone, I loved it and realized that I would have NEVER done that when I was overweight. NEVER. So for me, it was admitting how much it stopped me from completely enjoying life at times.
Hopefully this helps someone. My journey has been about 5.5 years. It will be 6 years this fall. I have learned to enjoy the journey and trust in the process. If I make good decisions, change will happen. If I struggle today, there is always tomorrow. There is no time limit on health. It my life and I need to take control back. The only thing that can stop me, is me and today that is not an option. So please have faith- that exercise and diet alone can make HUGE changes.
Bobbi Jo
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Replies
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where can I get one of these body scans!? And you know that I look up to you a ton when I'm struggling with this journey... It is through role models like you and others that I pick myself back up after I fall and get back on track... thank you for sharing
ps how was foam fest - the mud run was a bit of a mess though i'm glad I did it... just slightly beat up now! going to do foam fest next year.0 -
Incredible transformation!!! You have done an amazing job. I'm behind you on a similar journey, and your story is inspiring.0
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Awesome story and way to hang in there! I love to read see, success of people that refuse to give up!0
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WOW!!!! Impressive!!!!! Congratulations!!!!!!!!!:flowerforyou:0
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WOW! You look amazing and even more important what a testimony to inspire others. Congratulations!0
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Awesome! Thank you for sharing this.0
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Congratulations on your journey and thank you for this post.
For me it really highlights that this is a long term journey to a healthy lifestyle which should last forever - it is not about quick fixes - achieving a goal and returning to old habits. It is about finding a way of life that you enjoy, being more active permanently, getting out there and really living life to the full. Sure, some eating habits will need to be broken and better ones adopted but everything we do on this journey should result in greater enjoyment of life.
Thanks again0 -
Thank you so much for taking the time to post your story -- what an inspirational transformation! Huge congratulations and best wishes for continued success!0
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Wow. You are amazing! Well done on your fantastic loss!
If you dont mind me asking how is your skin holding up? At 100lbs down mine is already looking rather sorry
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Great achievement!!! Thank you for sharing your story!0
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Great job. You look fabulous0
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Wow. You are amazing! Well done on your fantastic loss!
If you dont mind me asking how is your skin holding up? At 100lbs down mine is already looking rather sorry
Its doing great-- lots of water and lots of working out. Strength training and all. Its really bouncing back 0 -
Wow!!! This is so amazing. Thank you so much for sharing your journey with us. It is truly inspiring!0
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Thank you for taking time out of your day to encourage and inspire. You look fantastic. I wish you continued success on your healthy lifestyle.0
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Your story is amazing. You have lost an entire person. Thanks for the inspiration.0
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super duper transformation and all that info and those pics are bound to inspire others
great job0 -
WOW! Congratulations!! What an inspiration you are.0
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You are amazing! Totally rocked my morning!0
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Thanks for sharing. Very heartfelt. You look awesome. Congrats!0
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Amazing! Congratulations! It seems cruel to ask this of you at a time where you are in a celebratory mood, but did you stumble at all, and if so, how did you handle it?0
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Absolutely amazing!! Great job - and it's nice to hear your honesty about everything! Thank you for posting your story and photos.1
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Amazing story & Journey, thank you so much for sharing with us. :flowerforyou:0
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You seem like a beautiful person inside and out. Congratulations:flowerforyou:0
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"If I struggle today, there is always tomorrow. There is no time limit on health."
This I needed to hear this.0 -
Amazing! Truly amazing. Your story is an inspiration to so many. Just shows what determination, will power and attitude can accomplish. What you have done is no small feat and all the praise before this post and after is well deserved!0
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Amazing! Congratulations! It seems cruel to ask this of you at a time where you are in a celebratory mood, but did you stumble at all, and if so, how did you handle it?
Not a cruel question-- of course I hit road blocks and stumbled. This journey has been hard. Probably the hardest thing I have ever done and will ever do. There were lots of doubts, days of wanting to give up, tears and lots of sweat.
But I dealt with each hurdle as I got there. Last year my mom was diagnosed with Stage IV cancer and it would have been so easy to give up and go to food- but instead thats when I started to run.
There have been lots of cruel statements by people over the time- and I have just learned to be like- ok call me fat, but I am less fat than I used to be.
I have decided everyone has obstacles in life--- the people who are successful learn how to grow from those obstacles and get over them-- even if it doesn't look the conventional way.
Other tough moments were having to buy new clothes- A LOT and finding consignment stores. Dealing with lots of self conscious feelings that I haven't felt before. I probably felt more self conscious losing weight than I did the whole time I was heavy.
But to me you can't learn without pain. It makes me feel strong and pretty badass and those feelings help me get through the tough times 0 -
WOW.....to say that you're an inspiration is a bit of an understatement! What a great job of posting your pics and putting it all out there for us to read. Your story is so well written it's one that I'll want to go back and re-read! Fantastic job on your weight loss and your new goal to be healthy and to live your life! Keep it up
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So awesome! Thank you for sharing!0
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Wow. Just WOW! You are a definite inspiration to me. I'm looking to lose about the same amount of weight and this just boosted my confidence level tremendously. Thank you for sharing! You look AMAZING!!!! I bet you feel it, too!0
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You continue to inspire me, girl! You're the best!0
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