Halfway to goal - how'd that happen?!

Hello MFP!

In the last week of July 2017, I finally decided enough was enough...my weight had begun to massively impede my life. Like a lot of folk, I have been overweight since I was a child. I'm 34 & just never bothered to learn what a healthy lifestyle entailed. To me, it looked like a whole lot of effort & a whole lot of deprivation with zero fun. Being healthy was for other folk, not me!

Occasionally I'd try to go on a "health kick" but after a fortnight(max!) you'd just find me on the sofa mindlessly snacking of an evening. I work from home most of the time so the kitchen was just there - boy did I utilise it! Junk food was basically my staple diet & frankly, I was just lazy. My back ached, my head ached, I was tired all the time....I had suffered vitamin deficiencies that left me with a whole host of allergies....the list goes on! Bottom line, I was going to end up in an early grave & no amount of denial on my part was going to change that fact.

After losing a stone, I joined MFP & have been logging religiously since. My lifeline has been finding healthier substitutions for all of the junk I clung on to for years...can honestly say I never feel deprived. Sure, there are times where it's far from easy, but even on the hardest days, it's easier than being the way I was.

I maintained I always "hated exercise" but around the same time as joining MFP, I stumbled upon a refitrev dance fitness video on YouTube. It looked fun, so I decided to give it a try. I was clumsy, uncoordinated, struggling, completely out of breath & sweating buckets...but I totally loved it & felt a strange sense of achievement. The next day, I did it again. The day after that, I upped it to two songs. Within a fortnight I was doing 20-25 minutes. 6 months down the line, I do 45 mins most days with 2 days of strength training thrown in too...if you'd have told me I was not only capable of this but would ENJOY it last summer? I'd have laughed you out the building!

I feel happy, healthy, AWAKE & excited to find out what joy is to come in the next half of my goal. A big NSV for me is that I actually trust myself to get there - I'm able. As I'm so fond of telling folk who ask "what diet I'm on"....I'm not on a diet. I'm just living in a healthier way & I want to do that forever.

As it stands, I've lost 52lbs with around the same to go to get to a healthy BMI...after that, I'll re-evaluate.

This is the first thread I have made here on the forums & I only tell my story so far because reading yours, seeing your pictures & quietly watching your own transformations has been SO inspirational for me. If I have any questions, I plug it into that search bar & never fail to find an answer to help me. These forums contain an invaluable wealth of knowledge! I've also made some wonderful pals through them that give me no end of support - so grateful of them all.

I don't profess to be any kind of expert. I learn every day & know that will never end, but I hope that if anyone beginning today or any other day in the future reads this, it will add to the mountains of proof in these forums that IT CAN BE DONE!

We have all read the line "If I can do it, anyone can" a million times...it's said so often because it's true. Anyone REALLY can. There are no magic formulas, it really is just a case of eating at a calorie deficit. Exercising in a way you enjoy may help to create a few more calories to nibble on too, but more than that, it clears any mental fog, dusts off the cobwebs & makes you feel stronger in every way.
Every time I don my workout gear I feel like a proud warrior....no matter my weight, I'm working hard on myself & that gives me more self confidence than I could ever dream of.

You don't need to change all at once or throw yourself into an unsustainable way of life.
Day by day, week by week. 10 minutes activity is a New Personal Best worth celebrating if every day before it involved no activity. One mars bar instead of two is a win if two is your usual...be kind to yourself & count the small stuff because before you know it, it adds up to create big big tangible changes!
This quote has always stuck with me:
"The time will pass anyway. You can either spend it creating a life you want or spend it living a life you don't want - the choice is yours"
....what more is there to say?

On the right is a pic from last Summer versus a cheesy selfie from yesterday. I am uncomfortable with how uncomfortable I look in front of the camera on the right! That was my life. Vanity pushes me to point out I was on a secluded & long dog walk hence my appearance, but no amount of makeup or nice clothing could ever hide the fact I was miserable in my own skin, despite trying to trick myself otherwise. That's why I don't mind sharing such an awful photo with you - I never want to be that lassie again.

Apologies for the long rambles & I hope that whatever your goal is today, you kill it!

Much love & gratitude, Von

Right: UK size 22 on bottom & 18/20 on top. Dress size 20.

Left: Bottom size 14/16 & 12 on top. Dress size 14.