4'10" and eats 2000 calories a day?! Eeegads. :-) PICS!

OK, I never posted a success story as I still consider myself a work in progress, but I got new workout clothes and realized I really like what I'm looking at in the mirror.

I am 4'10". I grew up a chubby girl, was about 120+ pounds and hated it. Was called "The Little Teapot" by some very mean boys in school. I ate like crap, never exercised, and put up with the mean comments and being "The Fat Girl" in the group.

Then I went off to college and actually lost the Freshman 15 and then some, through starving myself. I got down to my lowest weight ever - probably 90 pounds at the time, and I was losing my hair, stopped having my period, nails got brittle - the whole nine yards. I exercised like a mad woman and for a time didn't consume a thing except for Diet Coke for a few days. I was unhappily anorexic, and even ended up dropping out of college and going to counseling.

I gained a lot of the weight back, but picked up a new good habit: running. I found I loved to run. I didn't run that much back then, but it was enough to keep my weight down.

I've been running consistently since then. That was almost 15 years ago. My weight has always remained within 10 pounds of my ideal weight, but even a 5 pound gain on my frame would look like a lot!

I started running marathons, then in 2011 decided I want to get faster. With that, I realized I had to make changes with my body. Though I ran a lot , I also drank and ate like crap, thinking I could just run off the calories. Of course, big mistake.

So I joined MFP in late 2011 to lose a few pounds I gained during marathon training. (YES, you can gain weight training for a marathon). I lost the 9 pounds and have maintained ever since. I lost it by keeping a verrry small deficit. I told myself I NEVER wanted to be that same, anorexic girl back in college. I'm so adamant about NOT starving yourself to get results you want. I told myself I just want to live a healthy, active lifestyle, and lose weight sensibly. For me, it was about making a lifestyle change, and being able to sustain the good habits for a lifetime - not just providing a temporary fix to the underlying problem.

I live to eat, I'm a big foodie, and I still love to drink. I decided not to cut anything out, but just live by moderation. I eat clean most of the time and enjoy food and drinks as a big part of my social fabric on the weekends.

What I do works for me. It may not work for everyone, but I just can't see myself living off of less than 1200 calories a day and running the way I do. I eat anywhere from 1600 to 2500 calories a day depending on my workout. Mostly, I run (about 50 miles a week), do P90x, strength train, and mountain bike.

Just because you're petite doesn't mean you have to eat like a little person.

So here are stats and pics.

Heaviest weight was about 125+ pounds before MFP. 2011 I was around 112 pounds, then March 2012 got down to 103 pounds. I've been the same weight ever since. I don't own a scale but I weigh in about every month or so.

Right now I'm focusing on lowering my body fat even more, so I am not sure if I have a new goal weight in mind. I think my body can handle being 95 pounds or so. I wear a size 00, 0, or 2 petites in women's, and can wear a size 1 in juniors. I'm at 20% body fat and would like to get down to 16%, so I'm still a work in progress. But I LOVE how I look like right now. :-)

(As Mary J. Blige sang "I like what I see when I'm looking at me when I'm walking past the mirror!" :drinker:

At my heaviest weight, probably near 130 pounds:





And now:

Dressed up as a Dallas Cowboys Cheerleader for Halloween 2012. Lots of fun. :happy:





Before I chopped off my hair:




And finally, today. This was just taken about an hour ago. I just got new running attire and shoes as a birthday gift.