60 pounds lost and lottsa pics

First off, I want to warn all of you. You aren't going to see some glamorous change. I am not even halfway through my weight loss. What you are going to see is one normal girl that really likes food, and how she managed to still like food and still lose 63 pounds.

I was not always a chunky girl. Actually, growing up, I was fairly normal sized, leaning towards an athletic build. I played volleyball, softball, ran track, and in the summer I traveled with a competitive softball team. I was recruited to play softball for a college in my hometown, and I accepted. Midway through the season, I tore my rotator cuff while pitching, and lost my scholarship. I left college heart broken and returned to work at the only job I had waiting: Mcdonalds. In less than a year I had gone from living my dream to working minimum wage and drowning my sorrows in fudge sundaes. I gained 65 pounds in less than a year, while my husband (boyfriend at the time) watched me turn into a bitter, sarcastic version of myself. I was angry at the world, furious and feeling entitled that someone with my intelligence should be running companies, not flipping burgers.

Jump ahead to summer of 2012. I found out I was pregnant, shortly after joining MFP as a lazy attempt to lose weight. I was terrified. I had been adopted and raised by cold, unfeeling parents, and I did not want my child to grow up the way I did. I vowed to become a better person for the little one growing inside me.

While I was pregnant, I started reading the forums and understanding how this losing weight thing really worked. No fads, cleanses, shakes, or expensive equipment was going to save me. I needed to overhaul my idea on weight loss and work my way from the bottom. I started eating healthy (calculating my intake to maintain and gain at my doctor's recommend amount) and exercising every day. By time I had my daughter, I had only gained five pounds.

At this point, I had the knowledge, I knew what I needed to do. But as many parents can probably understand, I had no idea how difficult it would be to become a full time parent and also focus on becoming a healthier individual. I gained another forty pounds within months after my daughter was born. .

My beginnings:





Fast forward to July of 2013. I just woke up after another night of horrible sleep and decided, "This is enough."

I started lifting (excuse my bad form as a lifting newb):



I began to grow in confidence again, just like the athlete I had once been. Once I started seeing results, it just clicked for me.







I am currently sitting at 230 from 295, terrified of crossing that 300 mark. My plan is to lose another 60 and to get below 22% body fat. While the first fifty came off fairly rapidly, I have been losing and gaining the last ten pounds for the last six months. And it may be frustrating, but more than anything I have learned that life is about moderation, and learning to be happy where I am instead of where I should be. I have no doubt I will meet my goals. I ran my first 5k last month, have one next month, and am running my very first Warrior Dash in January of 2015. Also, I plan on exponentially increasing my hotness until the world just can't handle my sexy.

I started a blog for all the people interested in following my progress; or you can creep me on here:
http://todomikki.wordpress.com/

*I would like to also add that I was lucky enough to land a great job, and am in the works of going to back to play college softball again!

Me about a week/two weeks ago: