I always came to this forum to find inspiration and motivation. Now I'm giving back. Pics inside.

jessieleah wrote: »

I'm 25 and 5'5". I went from ~230 at my heaviest and I'm currently hovering around 144 lbs. I've been at it for a year and 3 months now. I'd still like to lose another 15 lbs and get more muscle definition, but I'm very pleased with how far I've come!

I went from a size 20/22 pant to a 6/8. I used to wear XL/XXL shirts, now I fit in S/M (I even bought an XS reebok jacket the other day?!?!?). Went from a 38C (I was prooobably a band size 40, but I refused to admit it) to a 34B. I wish I'd taken measurements of my body at the beginning, but unfortunately I didn't!

I started sometime around September of 2012 by cutting out my "problem foods" which were fast food, regular soda (I still drink diet soda to this day) and chips. I started logging everything I ate, regardless of what it was. I slowly transitioned to healthier foods. I ate 1350 calories a day to start. When I got down to about 170 I upped my calories to 1500 per day. I also started doing p90x 5 times a week 6 months ago. I couldn't even do one push up when I started, now I can do close to 20. I couldn't even run a quarter (probably not even an eighth) of a mile a year ago, now I've finished a 5k in 36 minutes.

This has been a long road. It wasn't easy at first. It's still not easy. Eating healthier foods has become a habit now, but baked goods and chocolate still tempt me. I don't follow any strict diet, I eat whatever I want but I pay attention to my macros a bit more now. I love bread too much to go low carb or whatever haha!

I've suffered plenty of plateaus and ups and downs, I've stressed out about the scale plenty of times and felt like I was making no progress. But in the end, there were results. Losing the weight is the best thing I've ever done for myself, but my new passion is getting fit and working out. This is coming from someone who, at the beginning of this year, couldn't even fathom the idea of committing to working out 5 times a week. Seriously. I thought I would never be that person.

You guys can do anything! You all inspired me and kept me going, and I hope I can do the same for you!

P.S. My one piece of advice is to take plenty of pictures. BE A NARCISSIST. It's so damn nice to have an entire library of progress photos to look back on, and it's the best way to track progress in my opinion.