One year on, nearly 60lbs down...(pic)

It's been a whole year since I made the decision to lose weight. I've been really self-concious over my weight since I was about 14 and was forever doing faddy diets that lasted 5 minutes in attempt to get the weight off, but could never find something to stick to. The simple answer of "move more, eat less" escaped me.

At just 5"2, I was 13 stone 1lb (183lbs) putting me in the "obese" category according to my BMI. I never took my body fat percentages or measurements beforehand because if I'm being honest I didn't think I'd be able to stick to it and didn't want to depress myself with beginning photos and percentages only to look at them a few months later to find I was the same if not worse. I was a UK size 16/18 depending on the store/fit and was considered "plus size" or "curvy" by a lot of shops and struggled to find nice clothes in the shops that included 16/18's in the normal ranges. I had no self-esteem. I hated myself. I was so paranoid, it was awful.

A year on and I am now 8 stone 12lbs (124lbs), dropping 59 lbs (4 stone 3lbs). I took my body fat percentage and measurements etc. in March and have gone from an obese bodyfat percentage of around 33% to 25%, which I'd like to lower a little more. I've lost over 10 inches from my waist, 9 inches from my hips, 9 inches from my bust, 6 inches from my thighs. I'm now a UK size 10 though I occasionally fit an 8 in some things. In fact the dress I'm wearing in the right photo is a size 8! I'm now a lot happier, a lot more confident and more importantly, healthy. And clothes shopping is now a fun, rather than painful experience. I'm by no means where I want to be, I want to lose around another 12 or so pounds, a few more inches and I want to work on my body fat, but I am relatively happy and I know I will be where I want to be before the end of the year. And if I'm not, it doesn't matter. It's not a race!

Here is a photo - the right was from a friends birthday a few years ago, believe it or not this probably wasn't me at my heaviest weight either! I didn't take any proper before photos as I mentioned above and as you can imagine I wasn't a fan of getting many full body photos taken of me, so this is the best I could find. I'm really embarrassed to be posting it, but eh. The photo on the right was taken today. I often have days where I look in the mirror and think "you don't look much different, in fact you look worse", so putting these photos side by side is a bit of a shock for me. It's really made me realise I've come a long way.



I done this by *gasp* eating less and moving more! Sorry if that sounds patronising but it really is that simple. I cut down on my calories, ate healthier though still had treats, just ate in moderation, 8 glasses of water a day, walking, 30 Day Shred, Just Dance, Wii Fit, Callanetics, jump rope, My Fitness Coach for the Wii, elliptical, light weight lifting, squats, crunches, Ab Roller etc.

If I, a greedy and lazy so-and-so can do this, so can you.