running towards the me I want to be ... w/ pics

Where to start ... I just love reading the success stories so I thought I might as well share my story too, if it inspires just one person that would be fabulous!

I'm originally from England but have been living in Germany for so many years now ... my English is going down the drain ... so apologies in advance for the mistakes I'll be making ;-)

As a teen I was that long and lean blonde everyone hated because she could eat whatever she wanted ... well things have changed ... quite a bit ... I just turned 31 on Monday, so those days are long gone ...

My highest weight was 172 lbs about two years ago. I got away from that by quitting the job I hated and starting running again – only once a week but just those two changes got me to 165 lbs in a month. Since then I have been hovering between 163 and 167 with no massive movement - I think the reason being that I thought I wanted to change but actually I couldn’t really be bothered to invest effort.

In December I signed up for a half marathon, which got me moving 4 times a week but it wasn't until January, when a colleague told me about MFP, that things actually changed.
Logging turned into a fun kind of game and after a few days of browsing the forums I started the 30 day shred in addition to the running. I was hooked instantly - I just love a good challenge.
When I was hit by a flu a few weeks before the HM, and on day 7 of level 3, I was devastated that it was stopping me from working out – now that came as a surprise – me missing exercise – freaky but brilliant ;-)

Anyways – thanks to mfp and a great challenge group on here I slowly got back on track and am having the best first week as a 31 year old!
Tuesday I went shopping and everything I bought was size 8US/10UK/38EU ... yeeeeeeha ... its's been over 3 yrs since I could last wear that size ... 6 here I come ;-) AND after finishing my first HM two weeks ago, I finished a 10K run in under an hour for the first time ever, today!

Progress so far in numbers:

Size 12-14 to size 8
172+ lb to 148.1 lb

I'm 5'6 / 1.7m

OK, now I'll shut up and let you see what this *bla bla bla* looks like.
(Don't have pics from the time of my highest weight, but I think one can still see change)

The side by side - January vs April 2013




This was last summer - after dropping from the highest to a plateau.



And this is me today 30 min after the 10K run :-D