160 to 125 with pics

up2me2lose20

This is me about 2 years ago...roughly 160lbs. I stayed at that weight for a long time depressed and unhappy to be who I was. But at the same time I was unwilling to work at making a better me.



This is me this past weekend. I am now 125lbs and happier than I could have ever imagined. People kept telling me I looked like a model. Which I'm sure was an exaggeration, but I relished in it all. I have no desire to lose more weight, but I want to keep this new me in tip-top shape. So, I am still working out 6x a week and eating enough calories to maintain my weightloss success.

A little hardwork, okay, a lot of hardwork, faith and patience. If I can do this ANYONE can!

maloryanne

wow thats amazing!! kudos to you!!

Stephinow

Congratulations! You are beautiful!

Lilsquirt64

Congrats! Great job!

jesseBYAH

You look beautiful!!! Congrats on reaching your goal!

rachaels7

Good for you-you look fantastic!!

cafeteriagirl

wow you look great!!

cubanita28

Congratulations! Stories like yours inspire me to continue on my on and off journey. Thanks and keep up the great work. You look beautiful!

schieca

You look 10 years younger! Great job :flowerforyou:

angelaplaxton

Congratulations!!!! Im around 160lbs myself and can't get to the gym. no one at home eats healthy. i just can't do it for some reason.

Jenn316

Wow ! You look great!!!!
I am at 166 and would love to get down to 130. What kind of work outs did you do? I have been thinner and feel so much better about me when I am and your success is great motivation!

Sweetcheeks278

Wow! I am 5'6 started here at 156 and my goal is 125! How funny! I'm currently at 135 and everyone is telling me to not loose more but I feel like I need to loose a bit more. I'm going to show everyone who says I don't need to loose anymore your pic to show them how GREAT you look! Congrats! You look gorgeous and SO happy!

Elle_Jamaicangirl81

u look great! Nice looking family too Congrats to u!

murfto

WOW!!!! Great job and what a happy family!!

Have you been on a certain workout plan? It seems like a short time that you have reached your goal.

Congrats and very motiviational for sure!!

DoctorWhoFan

Congratulations! You look fantastic!

marilou32

Wow...very inspiring. I have fallen off the weight loss track so many times and now I am trying to really stick to it. It's still challenging but MFP has totally changed my perception on keeping track, staying fit, and eating healthy. I hope to have great pics too! Keep up the awesome hard work!!

Setof2Keys

You look great. Your kids have a wonderful rolemodel now. You all look like such a happy little family.

tukrainets

you look amazing you look so much happier! great job!

getfitdiva

You have done such a great job and look great.

Wow how did you get those last 10 off? I'm struggling w/ the last 8 lbs.

TOYGRRRL

Incredible! ! ! ! You look fabulous! I needed to see this. I have 3 lbs to go to reach 125 (my goal) and it is NOT easy right now. I was ready to give up on losing and just concentrate on toning this tummy that won't go away. You have given me motivation and regained hope. Thank you.

fuminator18

congratulations! you do look great

gatorgirl7

congratulations!! all of your hard work and dedication paid off! enjoy it!

erzille

You look awesome! Thanks for sharing!

sandybeach11

Great job! Thanks for sharing!

literarylin

Your an inspiration!

daisymaegreen

You look great! Your numbers are so very similar to mine, that you are giving me hope! Thanks so much for posting.

JThomas61

Great job on your transformation!

momof4Oneal

What a great feeling to know YOU DID IT! HUGE accomplishment! Congratulations!

tiggerlilly1001

Yeah!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

cweiler4

You look great! Very inspirational!! Congrats!

up2me2lose20

Some of you are asking how I did this and how I did this so quickly.

I woke up on Jan. 1st, 2011 knowing I had to change something in my life. I took a good look on the inside of me and saw that I was depending on others to make me happy. My children, my husband, my work, my church etc....I was trying to make others like me in order to feel a sense of self-worth. And it dawned on me...THIS IS UP TO ME! No one will "like" me if I don't like myself first.

So I decided that I would start a workout and eating regimine on the following Monday, which happened to be Jan. 4th. I decided 5AM was the only time I could fit some ME time into my schedule. My days of using family and work as my excuse of not having enough time were officially over. And let me tell you, that was so liberating! Really, there are no excuses. If anyone has them, I do. But that's another post.

As far as what I did to succeed? I used MFP! YEAH!! I set the guidelines to lose 1lb per week. And that really worked for me. As I look back, I've lost roughly 32lbs over 5 months. That's less than a 1lb loss per week, so I don't think I lost too quickly. And toward the end when I started ramping up my exercise to lose, I also upped my calories by setting my goals to lose 1/2lb per week. I recorded my exercise everyday and was honest in recording my food intake. Calories in -- calories out. I changed my eating a little bit in that I eat much more "fresh" than I had before. I also eat a lot less "white" than I had before. But I didn't nix anything totally out of my diet. Fridays are a family pizza night and I never once skipped that outing. Instead I loaded up on the fresh fruit & veggies and only had 1 slice of pizza and sometimes I skipped the dessert. I still drank a beer or two or even a glass of red wine or two. But all those calories were recorded. I usually ate back my exercise calories. Most of them, anyways. There were a few days I went over, birthday celebrations or other family-type parties, but really, I never totally lost control and binged or lost my way on this journey.

Exercise? I started the 30 Day Shred in January and stuck with it. THen I did the JM 30 Day Slimdown. And I stuck with it. Then I started the C25K program and am sticking with that (3 days/week -- just having completed week 8) and mixing up my JM DVD's on my "off" days. I rest on Sundays. The Lord rested on Sundays so I can too. Only it's not a cheat day. It's a rest and non-recording day.

I went in this with the goal of a life-time change. Not a diet to lose weight and go back to my regular old eating habits. I've measured and counted food. I've enjoyed my foods. I've found out that I LOVE exercising and am excited to get out of bed in the morning to go workout. I know that sounds weird, but it's true.

Some people say 10, 20, 30lbs isn't a lot. For me each LB was huge! Consistant losing was motivation in itself. But I really feel that I'm finally in the right frame of mind and the right place in my life to make it happen. Sure, I want to look nice and maybe even try being a little sexy once in a while, but for this 35 year old mom of 3 -- it's really about me and finally doing somethign for myself. This makes me happy. This puts me in wonderful place where I can take care of others without the guilt and shame that I was always heaping on myself.

Oh, and I want to be clear -- none of this is "baby weight". My last bio daughter was born 12 years ago, lol. We are an adoptive family also, so that little munchkin you see in the "after" photo has nothing to do with any weight needed to be lost. The only culprit to blame is me. And I'm done with the blame. Life has so much more to offer when you take the lead and don't sit back and watch things pass you by. :happy: