124lbs lost ♥

Just wanted to share my story with you all~
I've always had weight issues.. from as long as I could remember. Looking back on photos from my childhood I could see that I was never "normal" as far as weight and I was on a constant roller coaster going up and down, but always was on the bigger side despite the fluctuations. I was content though. I may have been a "chubby" 170lbs (5'7) girl most of my adult life, but I was fine with that.

Fast forward to when I had my son. I gained a LOT during my pregnancy. I delivered him weighing 210lbs. A few short months later my weight went up another 20lbs. I joined weight watchers and was losing the weight very quickly.. thought I was just kicking booty! Turns out I had an auto-immune disease called "Grave's disease". It's an auto-immune thyroid disease. 3 weeks after the diagnosis they totally removed my thyroid.. and that's when my life changed. At the time I had a less than caring endocrinologist. She didn't check my levels very often and under dosed me on synthroid. The weight just kept piling on and I could HARDLY do anything besides lay in bed... I could hardly stay awake. Despite me hardly eating anything because I was too lethargic to put food into my body.. I gained and gained up till I reached my highest of 255lbs. I finally realized my "care" wasn't helping me and I searched for a new endo. I found out my TSH levels were over 60! I was VERY hypo... and was diagnosed with fibromyalgia and idiopathic intracranial hypertension.

After about a year with my new doctor my levels finally got to an "acceptable range". I started slowly going to the gym.. elliptical was the only thing I felt confident on. I hit a plateau and got myself a personal trainer. Learned a lot from him and stuck with him until I felt confident to continue on my own. I used myfitnesspal to track my food/exercise, a polar ft4 heart rate monitor to track my calories burned during exercise, and eased myself into running with a good c25k app. I ended up with a huge passion for running and I run 5ks as much as I can now with ease. Planning on training for a 10k soon...ultimate goal is to run marathons! I've lost 124lbs and I'm at goal. My health has never been better, even though I still have some issues now and then. It's been quite the journey. Thanks for listening. (By the way.. no longer have fibro issues and my IIH isn't as severe! )



Some random before's / progress photos




Before & After


:flowerforyou: