2012 Progress Pics (WW to MFP)!!

I began my journey in March 2012 after my picture was taken for a bulletin board at work that would be on display for the entire organization (bottom right picture). I took one look at it and say "who is THAT...?"



Let me preface the rest of this post by saying that I'm trying to lose weight not because I was irresponsible with my body, but because I went through some major medical issues over the past couple years (months of treatments, surgeries, countless meds, lots of steroids, many hospital stays, etc) and gained about 40-45 pounds from it all.

I was always a tiny, petite person up until about 3 years ago when all of this went down. But seeing what i USED to be (top two pictures in collage above) and what I had BECOME (bottom two pictures) was both exptremely depressing and extremely motivational for me! I had enough of the chunky, no-energy, chubchub self I had become.

I began my journey by joining Weight Watchers. I dropped about 20 pounds in about 2.5 months. About halfway through those 2.5 months I began to do alot of group fitness classes (zumba, 20/20/20, kardio kombat kick, boot camp, etc) -- this helped to tone my body.

The following picture was taken at the Motor City Comic Con (which was epic) in late May 2012:



The following week I embarked on an almost-2-week-long vacation which included an Alaskan Cruise -- this is where my WW/dieting came to a screeching halt.

...and the halt continued for roughly 4 months...

I had a hard time getting back on the proverbial "wagon" upon my return from vacation. I started to slip back into my old habits, stopped counting points, and basically karate chopped all fitness classes in the throat. I gained back about 10 pounds of the 20 I had lost while I was on WW.

I did, however, take a progress pic in July when I made the decision to switch over to a vegetarian lifestyle. I did this mainly because of all the animal cruelty, but also for my personal health as well. That picture is later in this post.

In October I went on a weekend ladies' retreat with a group from a church I used to attend. While there, I noticed several of the ladies had lost a substantial amount of weight, so I asked one of them what their secret was. Her response: MyFitnessPal.

This picture was taken on the retreat:



Immediately upon returning home from that weekend getaway, I cancelled my WW subscription and got serious about MFP in late October.

Where am I at now...?

Well, I've been a nazi about logging EVERYthing I eat as well as hitting the gym 3 times a week, and doing some sort of workout at home on my non-gym nights. I've have a personal trainer now, and I pre-plan all my meals. I've even gotten a couple friends to join me on my journey!

So here's where I'm at --- I've lost a total of 22.4 pounds so far and several inches (the exact number is unknown at this point). You can definitely see the progress in my face and neck (oh! and that's my adorable little Oliver in my arms):







Right now, I'm kinda stuck in my weightloss -- the scale hasn't budged for 3 weeks -- BUT I'm not giving up!!

A couple days ago I pulled ALL of my "skinny clothes" out of storage and tried everything on -- I now have an entire pile of skinny clothes that I can wear again!! I have another pile of skinny clothes that are either summer clothes or clothes that will fit once I lose another 5-10 pounds!

I'm about 15 pounds away from my GW, and about 20 pounds away from my UGW.

I don't just want to be thin again --- I want to be healthy and fit. Thank God for MFP, and for all the encouraging friends I had made on here. You all are AWESOME!

(feel free to add me as a friend on here if you'd like.)