How has weightloss shaped you?

I returned to the normal me from a few years ago.

I spent most of my life as a slender very active person, then spent a few years just recently less active for various reasons and gained some weight. I kind of thought my days of doing long distance cycling might be over ... but it wasn't. I lost the weight last year, and have been training and participating in events again this year.

At 5'3.5" I hit 140 my senior year of high school. I had been a gymnast and had "retired" and didn't realize I'd need to eat less since my activity level was lower. I dropped down to about 120 my freshman year of high school due to more walking and less money for food and vowed to never get that heavy again. I remained very active doing karate up until my early 30s when I developed a form of arthritis that comes and goes (autoimmune). I got lazy and stayed sedentary until a few months before my 45th birthday. I saw a picture of myself and realized how soft and puffy I'd become. I stepped back on the scale and that 140 I swore I'd never see again was staring back at me. I started "watching what I was eating" but still didn't truly understand how weight loss works.

I got a pedometer for a walking challenge at work in January 2011 and discovered that most days I wasn't walking even 2000 steps. So I started walking. In March/April I joined MFP and discovered people talking about C25K. I'd always hated running and being sweaty but thought I'd give it a go. I ran my first half marathon in January 2012. Now I run every other day and I've completed more races than I can remember. It's been amazing to do something I never thought I could do and to see my improvement year over year. I ran that first half marathon in just under 3 hours. I run that same race every year and this year I finished in 2:18. I'm hoping to beat 2:10 next January.

In the meantime I've taken up strength training and it feels so good to be strong. I've come to understand that weight loss isn't the end all and be all. Instead of trying to stay at 120 pounds by starving myself I'm much happier at the same clothing size weighing in the 130s with more muscle mass and a higher metabolism. That's progress.