2 trips to Lambeau - 321 days, 72 lbs (with pics)

So last year, after avoiding pictures being taken of myself my entire adult life, I started to actually get out and do things I wanted to remember. So I let people take pictures of me. Witness my trip to Lambeau Field, November 23rd 2013.



This was the beginning of the end for my old, fat denying self. These pictures, along with others taken over the Thanksgiving week woke me up. They were there staring me in the face - I had always been chubby, a chubby kid, a chubby teen, a chubby college student. But now here I was in my 30s and I was no longer chubby, I was fat. When I got home the following Monday, I logged onto MFP and have been faithfully logging for 321 days.



The jeans in the first picture are a size 18 Old Navy (so really like a size 20 or 22). This weekend's jeans are a size 8. Probably some vanity sizing,since everything is vanity sized these days, but not Old Navy level of vanity sizing. Shirt in the first pic is a men's XL. Shirt in the second set is a women's L. I fit into a women's medium, but didn't feel comfortable with it being quite as form fitting as it was.

The end is in sight. The arbitrary, pie in the sky goal of 75 lbs lost will be conquered in but a few short weeks. 321 days ago, I didn't seriously think I would ever weigh this little. And now, I'm not only thinking about hitting a final weight of 115 lbs, I know I can actually reach it.

Now as I near the end of the weight loss portion of my journey, I am starting to think ahead to the rest of my life. I've lost this weight in way I hope is sustainable. I haven't given up anything, except for large portion sizes and eating out frequently. I eat everything I love, just less of it and less often. I have incorporated exercise into my daily life (I bike to work 8 months of the year and enjoy going to the gym). So once I reach "the end," I know it's not really the end. My life isn't going to change much from what I've been doing these last 321 days. I will get a few hundred more calories a day, but I'll still ride my bike where ever and whenever possible. I'll still limit my eating out to once or twice per week. I won't eat 6 cookies in a single sitting. Do I really derive extra benefit with each additional cookie I consume, or can I be satisfied with one or 2? I can enjoy my McDonalds french fries a few times a month instead of a few times a week. There's no need to shovel huge portions of food into my mouth - my body doesn't need it. Eat delicious food, just less of it.

In short, make sustainable changes. Wake up every day and work at it. The weight will come off, fast or slow, but you've got to see it through to the end and beyond. This is not a diet, this is a way to live. Onward and downward friends!