African American success stories?

a friend of mine pointed out that while i had posted in this thread before it got locked, i hadn't posted an actual success story. my bad, as for some reason i was thinking this was African American women success stories, but i stand corrected. since i haven't reached my goal i won't call this a success story, but i guess i can post my progress story.

here's me, running around 290 pounds, wearing some jeans that i bought large but ended up fitting like stretch pants as i gained more and more weight.





here's me, holding my then 6 month old daughter, wearing a shirt that i loathed, but was the only shirt i owned that fit.





i tried a bunch of BS to lose weight. crash diets, weight loss pills, meal replacements, alli (DO NOT TRY ALLI) to no avail. i was considering expensive weight loss meal plans or even surgery. i just figured that i had tried everything and that nothing but the most drastic measures would work.

but then......i found mfp. i created an account, put in my data, and started eating to whatever my calorie goal was ( i think 2200 at the time). i started exercising on the regular, even tho i was waaaaay to out of shape to run. i couldn't make it to the end of my block without feeling like i was gonna die. hell, i couldn't make it past 3 houses without stopping. so i walked. and lifted. and ate up to my calorie goal each day. and ate back exercise calories. and ate the foods i loved, which included at least 5 McDonald's Double Quarter Pounders each and every week.

and you know what? it worked.

here's me semi-recently.





remember me in them tight *kitten*, catsuit-looking jeans? i had to give those jeans away to charity because they had 10 inches of slack in the waist. here's me trying on a new pair




the fat guy that hates running and couldn't run a single block trained his *kitten* off for 6 months and completed a 13 mile Tough Mudder course. i got hurt, but my team full full MFP Badasses dragged and pushed me all the way to the end.





oh, and my daughter is 6 years old now.






anyhoo, i hope what you take from this (whoever you are and whatever your race, ethnicity, sex, religion or home planet of origin may be) is that you can succeed here. the site has it's problems, but it works. the forums have their problems, but they work too. there's tons of fantastic information on here if you're willing to listen. there's also tons of terrible information if you're willing to be gullible. so listen and don't be gullible. and don't fall into the trap where you think that just because the person giving you advice is in shape that they couldn't possibly know the problems you face.

I don't know why my photo went blank.

But here is my progress so far.

African Canadian checking in! 110lbs plus lost over here!!

** Don't make fun of my ashy elbows and grandma panties.

5'4"
SW 207
CW 143
GW 135 (flat stomach)