Maintenance time!! (before/after pic included)

Hi guys--

I just wanted to share my "success" story but it comes with a caveat.

Before you look at my pictures I need to clarify that I did not start this journey thinking I NEEDED to lose weight. As you will plainly see in my before picture, I was by no means an overweight woman. More like a slender but still curvy woman, lacking in tone.
I have been blessed with good genetics and a pretty zippy metabolism that allows me to eat basically whatever I want without severe consequence which is both a blessing and a curse as many of you can attest to. I was eating VERY unhealthfully (mostly pizza, mac n cheese and gigantic plates of nachos) and worked out MAYBE once a year. I was ok with my weight, although (like most women) I often lamented my jiggly butt and the cellulite on the backs of my thighs. At a certain point though, I started getting sick more often and was experiencing issues with my lungs (chronic asthma followed by pneumonia, which landed me a 4-day stay in the hospital) and my skin was an absolute disaster. I decided it was time to change some of my habits.

The first thing I did was cut gluten almost entirely out of my diet. It started as a science experiment, as I had a work colleague who had done it and boasted of her newfound energy and I could plainly see her skin was glowing. After a few months, I experienced the same benefits she had and decided to stick with it. I still eat gluten products here and there when I get the urge (life's too short not to indulge sometimes, amirite?!), but overall I find that having a rule about keeping it to a minimum helps me stay away from foods that my body doesn't really need.

I also started exercising. I went through a year of trying different strategies of exercise. I began by going running a few days a week and hated it. I then tried to take advantage of my grad school gym and would spend 45 minutes on the elliptical 3-4 days a week but I hated that too. For awhile I sort of gave up on exercise (partly because grad school wasn't leaving me much free time). Then summer finally FINALLY arrived and I bought myself a rusty road bike off of craigslist and I started riding it EVERYWHERE. To school, to the grocery store, to Williamsburg on the weekend for brunch with friends, down to Carroll Gardens for band practice, etc. Everywhere. And I also downloaded one of those silly 7-minute workout apps on my phone and a few days a week I do 2-3 cycles of the exercises in my apartment and within two weeks of starting this new lifestyle I noticed a huge difference. My waist got slimmer and my obliques made an appearance. My quads and glutes firmed up. But most of all, I felt energized, excited, and incredibly independent. There's nothing like the feeling of biking somewhere in 10 minutes that would have taken 30 via subway.

Anyway, my main goal has always just been to eat healthier foods, to feel strong and to have more confidence. I did lose some poundage as a result of my lifestyle changes and I'm not going to lie, I'm pretty proud of my new slimmer physique. But mostly I'm ecstatic about the tone and strength that I have achieved!
And....my lungs are much stronger now

Thanks for reading!

PS: I have never posted a before / after kind of thing before so please be gentle with me!