A Victorious Story- 5'6" 24yrs, 170-153 progress pics

Hey all

Like so many others, this is my first post in this particular forum! It takes a lot of dang courage to do this- but you all inspired me and continue to every day! I may not be as active on MFP as I once was, but I'm still here, using this forum to kick my butt into gear.

I'm currently 24 years old, living in the city, and just purchased my first home! I have a wonderful job and live with a wonderful man-- but it certainly wasn't easy getting here. I come from the most wonderful family you could ever ask for- I was given every opportunity to succeed in life. Being the oldest, all I wanted to do was please my parents, so I did really great in school and ended up at the most wonderful university, Virginia Tech!

I was in heaven--no curfew, booze, FOOD (we have the #1 campus food in America!). And sure as shiz, I got that Freshman 15, actually, more like 20. I had NEVER had to watch my weight ever in my life before this point-- I also ran track, swam, and didn't drink in high school. All of my new found girlfriends were even crazier than I was, and did they ever go to the gym? NO! So neither did I. Needless to say, I was selfish and didn't feel like giving up any party time for gym time, so I started to 'explore alternatives.' So...I found myself hunched over in our shower forcing myself to let go of all that food I just ate.

Yes- bulimia. That was a word I refused to say for my entire freshman year-- I had it under control; it wasn't all that bad; no one will ever notice. That last comment was especially true because my job that summer was working at a gym...all the weight I was losing from bulimia along with all the exercising, all of my weight loss looked natural to everyone else. One night, I broke down and admitted everything to my best friend, then my boyfriend, then my parents, and so on...I went to therapy and learned some wonderful coping techniques-- I avoided my triggers and focused on making myself happy.

Flash forward 4 years- graduated VT, got a great job, put on ~40 pounds, and started to feel those familiar urges to purge. So, I signed up for our gym at work and started working with a personal trainer. That's when I joined MFP and started logging- I'm not going to lie to you guys, I do not log anymore at all. I did for about 5 months before I realized that I was making these good food decisions on my own and didn't need to track anything. And that urge to purge is finally starting to subside!

ANYWAY- here are my progress pictures...I started in February 2013 and these go through last week, so 5 months progress!

This is my February to April progress-- I'm including this to show that it's really me...in pictures to come, I've added on to my tattoo


Front progress- February to June


Tattoo side progress- February to June


Side progress- February to June