Maintaining 125 pounds lost~

I've posted my story here before but wanted to update since the last time I posted was in July! I'm still maintaining my weight loss and wanted to post some new pictures, documenting my journey.

For all who never saw my story the first time.. I'll do a brief 're-do' of it. Though, it's changed a bit since I found out one of my health issues was a misdiagnosis.

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.

After having my son I discovered I had something called Grave's disease. It's an autoimmune thyroid disease. I had my thyroid removed shortly after.. and that's when the weight went up rather quickly. My endocrinologist didn't check my labs often enough.. I had a TSH of over 60 by the time I found myself a new doctor. At that point I was already at my highest weight. During that time I also was diagnosed with idiopathic intracranial hypertension, thyroid eye disease, and fibromyalgia. (the fibro was a misdiagnosis, the real DX is listed at the end of the story).

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. Planning on training for a 10k soon...ultimate goal is to run marathons! I've lost 125lbs and I'm at goal. Size XS tops and size 0-2 jeans depending on the brand.

I haven't been running lately and I miss it. I hope to get back to it soon. I was recently diagnosed with undifferentiated connective tissue disease and I may have Lupus (labs are still being worked on, first set of labs showed some markers for Lupus). I still refuse to let it hold me back from my goal of running a marathon one day, but I am giving my body a rest because the medication they put me on for this is kind of kicking my butt! Anyway, Thanks for listening to my story! Here are some pictures!

"No matter the medical crisis, no matter the battle that I fight within myself, I know that I'm far too strong to be conquered~ I'll never stop fighting to live & never stop loving myself." - Running_Spirit















(GOAL - most recent pictures!) ♥