Lost Half of my Body Weight and almost there (With Pics)

I have lost 175 lbs and I have 20 lbs left to lose. It is so exciting and overwhelming at the same time. So I thought I would share some motivation for this holiday weekend

Some background info- I have always struggled with my weight. But in 2008 I had hit my lowest-- I had gained a lot of weight and I weight well over 300 lbs. I didn't realize how bad it gotten- i had stopped weighing myself for years and I honestly didn't see the person on the left of the picture. I believe that I have always had a distorted self image. I never see what is there. Even now sometimes- I dont see how much weight I have lost.

So here are some things I have learned and things that have worked with me. I have done all of this weight loss through diet and exercise. And when I say diet- I mean watching what I eat.
**Make small changes- I didn't change everything over night. I didn't start out by giving up all of the bad foods. I started by slowly cutting back on things that were holding me back. And then eventually I cut some of those things out. The things that I have cut out I don't miss. Examples- fast food, soda, juice, bagels- these are things that I would waste calories on and things that I have given up over time. I dont miss any of them
**I used to believe that exercise was the most important part of weight loss. What I have learned is that what I eat is the most important part to losing weight, exercise will help me keep it off.
**Find exercise that you love--- I used to hate working out, now I hate when I can't work out. I used to hate running and now its one of my passions. Sometimes I just needed to get out of my comfort zone.
**This was not an easy journey. It is one that caused me frustration, produced tears and at some points lots of self doubt.. But in the end, every single one of those horrible moments were worth it. It was worth all of that to get where I am today.
**Give yourself credit. I just remember at one point meeting someone and talking to them about my weightloss. I remember being embarrassed that I had lost 50 lbs, 75 lbs, etc. And I remember them saying to me, wow that i was the strongest person that they knew. I remember thinking that day- that I had to be strong to endure this journey, to keep pushing through when i wanted to stop and when I didn't always have the support. It was at that moment, that i cherished my weight loss.
**I don't give myself 'cheat' days- I look at if I want to eat something, I eat it. In moderation, not to excess and i work it into my calories or I add in an extra workout. Life is about balance, not excess-- just the philosophy that I took.
**Be ok with shopping at consignment stores At the beginning I didn't and I wasted so much money on clothes. None of my clothes from last summer fit me so I had to replace them all. Last summer I really started looking at consignment shops and I love them.
**Take lots of photos- its awesome to see the changes in photos when you can't see them in yourself.
**Enjoy the journey. If I treated it as a destination and only enjoyed that I would have missed so many life opportunities and lessons.

I didn't have any idea or I would have never been able to predict how far I come. This was not in my wildest dream. I have never been this small as an adult. so to me, you just never know where you can go until you push yourself to get there. I would have laughed if someone would have told me that I would have run two half marathons in 28 days recently. I never thought I would do one. I would have laughed at someone had they told me that I would be wearing the size I am now. Just keep believing that anything is possible if you work hard enough and stay focused.

If you need some motivation or what not, feel free to add me.


bobbi jo