Don't Ever Give Up! My Success Story! (LOTS of pics!)

TT64

Congratulations on a successful journey to a new life! You look younger now than before, and I know you must feel amazing! Thank you for your inspiring story!

agtapia09

Hi again, everyone! First let me just say WOW! I am so speechless at all of these replies and all of the messages I received from people! I still can't believe so many people actually READ the novel I wrote LOL! :laugh: Thank you all so much for all of your compliments and for being so sweet, so kind, so encouraging, and so loving! You all are wonderful! :bigsmile: I feel so honored and blessed that I inspired so many people! :blushing::bigsmile:

Second, to everyone who friend requested me, I will accept all of those requests, I always LOVE having more friends on here! But first, I want to first answer some questions I got from posts in here and from the messages that came with some of the friend requests:

-Someone asked about my height. I'm 5'4"

-The dress! LOL! I'm glad so many of you liked it! :laugh: The black and gold dress with the long back and short front that everyone loved is from BCBG. I also TOTALLY got it knocked WAY down from an outlet store! BOO YAH! :laugh: It's very different from any formal dress I've worn in the past because it's so dramatic, but my new increased level of confidence LOVES the drama of that dress!

-To nurse_beck, I'm glad we're MFP friends too!!! You're always so encouraging! :bigsmile:

-In response to the questions about my diary: Yes it's open to my friends, but I am afraid that some of you may be sorely disappointed by it. I am so far from being a perfect eater. I've gotten MUCH better! But I'm no where near perfect. I don't always eat clean. I still eat out and I still even eat fast food (just rarely and when I do eat fast food, I tend to get the healthier items on the menu). I eat some form of chocolate almost daily LOL! I'm also a total caffeine junkie. And I have way too many TERRIBLE days....sadly they happen a few times every month. :frown: And by terrible, I don't mean 200-300 calories over. I mean like, 1000-1500 calories over my goal (so that'd be like 500-1000 calories over my maintenance levels.) But when I have those days, I don't give up. I just keep going and take it one day at a time. I can always make up for it the next day. And even when I'm feeling discouraged after a day (or even an entire WEEK of bad eating during a holiday or something), my awesome MFP friends are always so encouraging! They help me to keep moving forward!

-To anyone who asked for or wants advice/tips about the details of how I did it, I will be more than glad to offer all of the things I've learned! Also...I HIGHLY RECOMMEND trying out a Fitbit or any similar activity measuring device. There's so many devices like that that can help you out a lot. My Fitbit has helped me out TONS! I sync mine to MFP and I love it! :bigsmile:


And finally...to everyone on their weight loss journeys right now: We can do it! Seriously! I've learned that the MOST important thing is just to NOT GIVE UP! That's what separates the dreamers from the victors. The only way you can be a failure is to give up on trying. If you keep doing your best, keep going, and keep trying until you figure out what works, you'll eventually succeed! And it'll be so worth it! :bigsmile:


P.S. When I get to my new "dream goal," I'll post more pics then too!

Yay!!! you are beautiful inside and out I'm so motivated now!

CareyE81

You look AWESOME!! What a wonderful story as well... very inspiring!! i am 5'4 as well ... Thank you for the motivation

Justacoffeenut

Super job!!!

In just under 5'4 thanks for the inspiration

livelaughlove384

thank you for the inspiring story!!! you look fantastic!

Debby0904

So well written and you are such an inspiration for others! You look phenominal! Thank you for sharing your journey.

miss_sneakz

Congratulations! So amazing.

arellolson

You look fantastic! You looked really pretty before, but you are just glowing in your "after" pictures! Thank you for taking the time to write this and post it. I have been a bit discouraged that it has taken me so long to lose weight, even though I am trying to do it the same way you are! Your post has encouraged me so much!! Thank you and best of luck to you!

BonnieandClyde29

AMAZING TRANSFORMATION!!! You look beautiful and much younger!!! Congrats on your weight loss!!! I'm sure it was a tough journey and you got through it!!!

littlebutnice

great post

llpaq

omggggg this made me cry!!! That is so wonderful! It gives me hope for my little bit of weight I've been ever so slowly losing- little steps here and there nothing drastic! YOU LOOK AMAZING AND SHOULD BE SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO SOOOOOOO PROUD OF YOURSELF!!!
AWESOME-NESS~!!:flowerforyou:

porcelain_doll

I loved your story. You gave me renewed hope in my own goals. By the way, you were pretty before at your original weight, but you look STUNNING now!! Thank you so much for sharing! I really needed this today because I have been losing hope. :ohwell:

But not anymore. This post was a godsend. Thanks again!! :flowerforyou:

-Jill

P.S. I am bookmarking this post for the next time I start feeling hopeless!

ImNotThatBob

Persistence Pays Off. CONGRATULATIONS!!!
Makes we want to do a celebratory dance!

ChubbyMummy18

Wow, I'm so glad I read your story! It was very inspiring to me. I really like the emphasis you placed on the fact that weightloss is a SLOW process and that you have to slowly make changes so that they can become lifestyle changes. I always want the weight to fall off overnight, but my failures have shown me that losing weight quickly does not mean keeping it off. I can't even tell you how many times I have started over, and it can kind of become discouraging. But to hear you say that you failed a million times, but still ended up succeeding is incredibly motivating. Thank you for sharing your story. I'll be keeping you in mind when I'm frustrated with how long things are taking--if I hang in there, I'll eventually see a change. Best wishes on the rest of your journey!!

Lish1234

Inspirational!! Thank you!!!

tdjohnson_11

This is a great reminder that, even though I have bad days/weekends/heck... WEEKS, that all I have to do is remember what my goal is and get back to the lifestyle I want to maintain. Thanks for sharing!

stephanj

OMG are you TRYING to make me cry at work? :sad: :flowerforyou: That was such a beautiful story and I really related to it. You are a great example of patience and consistency. You look fantastic, congratulations!

abbyy182

You look absolutely amazing, well done ! You've really done it

lucypaige_

Thank you so much for sharing! You are such an inspiration.

eep223

Thank you so much for this! I am right on target with you... same height, same goals. This is really an inspiration. I'm just at the beginning of my journey... down to 173.5 from just over 180 at my peak (that .5 is important, dart it!). Thanks for the motivation to keep it up!