My Journey - Loss & NSVs

I so love the Success Stories board and honestly never really thought I would be here posting my own story. Especially not until I was in maintenance but here I am ready to share. I really wish I hadn't deleted every progress picture I took along the way but I could never bring myself to keep them on my phone as I just HATED every single one of them and they depressed me so.

A little over 1 year ago I said to myself "I will lose this weight" speaking at the time of the weight I gained during my pregnancy with my son. I'd always been a bit overweight and as I aged I had learned to accept that I would never be a tiny person. I was OK with being an average size 12 and was determined to get back into my clothes (so much so I wore maternity clothes for 7 months after he was born). In September I finally got back to a normal BMI, I was once again in my size 12s. When I started this journey I thought this is where I would stop and resume my normal unhealthy lifestyle after all I had been here so many times before.

But something was different this time. Something had clicked that had never clicked before. This wasn't simply "a diet". I felt better and stronger then I had in years and I knew I had it in me to keep going and to actually get healthy and not settle with what I had accepted to be "my size". Now 4 months after hitting my original goal I am still at it and I have lost 72 lbs, my size 12s are falling off. I have seriously been avoiding shopping, I am way to cheap to buy "in between" sizes so I was trying to hold off until I was in single digit clothing but last week I caught my reflection in a mirror and realized I look like a clown my pants are so baggy (buy hey they weren't falling off so it works right)?

So last weekend I broke down and hit the mall. Armed with a few 10s I started for the dressing room - on second thought I grabbed a pair of size 8 pants thinking I just wanted to see how close I was to fitting in them. To my dismay the 10s were too big so I went for the 8s also too big. Really? No Way? So I went back out and got a size 6 and for the first time since oh probably junior high they slipped right past my knees, over my thighs and actually buttoned! For the first time I can remember I actually enjoyed trying on clothes. I wore them to work the next day and when I caught my reflection I actually turned my head to see who was walking near me because I didn't even recognize my own shape anymore