(US) Size 12/14 to a size 6/8 - please share :)

Don't mean to promote another site...but this website was SO HELPFUL for me with regard to body image.

http://www.mybodygallery.com/

Put in your search info and you can view pictures of real women at different sizes. Height / weight / pant size / shirt size / etc its all there.

I have major body issues and found this site to really put my mind in check.

I want to thank you guys for this thread. I'm currently a 12 and my goal is to be the size 6 I was three years ago. I'm 5'11'' and need to lose 20 or so pounds to get back there.

What I love most about this thread is that everyone got to their goals on a variety of paths. Some of you did it just by eating what you want and staying in calories, some ate clean, some lifted heavy, and some did at home DVD programs. There's so much, "this diet is the only way" and "_____ is the only way to workout and everything else is a waste of time" posts on the other boards that it can get discouraging. Even when I tell myself to ignore the noise and do what I know my body responds to, the thought that I'm doing it "wrong" still seeps in like a subliminal message and I get off track.

When I went from a 12 to a 6 in late 2008, I did it by eating sensibly and banning nothing from my diet, doing 30 minutes of cardio 3-5 times per week, and using exercise DVDs that employed body weight calisthenics and light weights. After I lost the weight, I slacked off and stopped working out, so obviously I regained the weight. In January of last year when my size 12 jeans could barely button, I decided to go back to what had worked in the past. Then, I joined MFP around February of last year and discovered that my routine was apparently useless and my eating was all wrong.

Hence, I started tweaking my routine and trying a bunch of different workouts. I even tried eating clean for a few weeks and that ended with a smashing failure in week four. I started Turbo Jam in June of last year and got down to a loose 10 by September. However, a series of illnesses and injuries started in October that all but shelved me for five months and I lost all of my progress. Afterward, I did Turbo Fire, but the results weren't great and I think it's because the schedule is too light on resistence training. I also tried Supreme 90 and got nice muscle firmness and definition, but it's short on cardio. Ideally, my body needs both.

I made a decision last week to go back to the tried and true. It is not my goal to have an athlete's body, to look like a fitness model, or to get ripped. My goal is to be firm with a little definition like I was a few years ago. I'm following the Turbo Fire cardio schedule and then doing my resistance DVDs, alternating upper and lower body each day like used to. I feel better already and am determined to stick to what works for me in spite of what anyone else thinks. You ladies have all encouraged me that the best path is the one you will stick to and get results from.

Thanks and congratulations on all of your great progress!

I'm a 29yo Australian, so I'll put the Aussie sizing/weight and then the US conversion as well.

Height = 5'7 - 5'8 = 172cm
Start weight = 96.7kgs / 212.74lbs
Current weight = 67.5kgs / 148.5lbs
Goal weight = 62kgs / 136.4lbs

Starting size = AU18-20 / US14-16
Current size = AU10-12 / US6-8
Goal size = AU10 / US6

The 29.2kgs loss (64.24lbs) I've lost has taken just under 15 months and these photos were taken at 2 weeks before I started the weight loss, and the "after" was taken on the weekend just passed.

I am a REAL girl who has a job and a social life and I was always "medium" sized through high school and my early 20's. In mid-20's I gained 32kgs / 70.4lbs in just over a year and I was determined to get myself back to "healthy" before my 30th birthday (which is in 4 months). If I can do it, really, anybody can!!