1 year down, and 170lbs lost - lots of pics and long

I officially started this weight loss on March 29, 2013 - I was waiting until the 1 year anniversary to do my success story... but I will be on vacation in NYC (oddly it was a trip out there that kicked my *kitten* in gear to really do something about it this time) so I am posting now

I've been overweight for a while - and I was OK with it. Due to a bad relationship with my mother and food, when I got on my own - I ate everything and anything. It was refreshing to be able to eat without hearing constant nagging about how fat I was getting... and I put on the weight...

This is me in college - already plus sized


and I went up and down from there, but I the lowest I ever got down to was about the 200's in the early 2000's -- highest was when I started this at the 340 mark



This is from 2011


Comparison picture from 5 months into this


Comparison picture from 10 months into this


This is pretty much what I look like today




I started this last year, not being able to fit in those size 26 jeans in the last picture. Now I am fitting into size 6 and 8 pants comfortably. I went from wearing size 30/32 shirts, to fitting into size large shirts (some mediums depending on the cut) I am apparently top heavy and the biggest surprise there was going from a 48DD bra to a 36DDD - because you know, just something on my body had to stay out of whack. I started at a size 14 underwear to fitting into size 6 underwear. My waist size went from a whopping 57 inches down to currently 31 inches

And to be honest, I couldn't be happier or more excited. This is a totally new person, one I had never been before.

Now I know some of you are going to ask how I did this. I went on a very very strict diet under doctor's observation. I cut out all carbs and dairy and ate a very measured diet of proteins and non starchy vegetables for 4 months and then took breaks where I stuck to 1200 cals daily. When I started, I had the most awesome food hallucinations - but by the time I hit the first break, I really didn't want to go back to how I was eating previously. I was diabetic when I started with high blood pressure and high cholesterol. I have since stopped taking all medicine for the diabetes and halved the high blood pressure meds. I went and got retested for the sleep apnea and the doctor wanted to know why I had the test - so that is gone.

I am literally in the best health of my adult life. I walk 2-4 miles daily and I work out with a trainer twice a week. Do I have some skin? Um of course, I shrunk myself in half and I am almost 43 -- Does it bother me? sometimes, but not enough for me to want to fill it up again.

And I have to be honest, I was basically the laziest person in the world - didn't cook, didn't exercise, no real motivation to lose weight until I went to NYC and couldn't walk around and couldn't make it back to the car and was just generally totally embarrassed

Now about a year and 1/2 later after that eye opening trip, I am going home again and as a totally new person.