Halfway to Goal, 32.5 pounds down (pics heavy!)

Wow, so, let's be honest: Even the whole time I was trying to lose weight, I never actually thought of myself one day hitting a goal. I was doing this because people thought I couldn't... that was honestly my only reason. So I never actually could see myself one day being on the Success Stories board, saying "I'm halfway to my goal weight!" I never even really had a goal weight in the beginning, actually. I just recently found out a good goal weight for my body (I've set it at 140). So I guess that's why I didn't really realize it when I hit the halfway mark, because I had never really strived for that goal.
So anyways, I hopped on the scale yesterday, saw a nice 172.5. Thought to myself "Oh hey, that's cool." Crunched the numbers right now and immediately thought, "Holy *kitten*! I reached the halfway mark!" And being an MFP junkie, I knew the first thing I need to do was to post a success story.

(FYI, some of these pictures are old, from when I was 16 or 17. I never really took photos of myself after that- too afraid- so these were all stolen from my tagged photos on Facebook, haha).

Highest weight- 205
Current weight: 172.5

So the first picture- YES, I know I look like a man (that's actually a good thing, since that was our goal. I was playing Hercules who had lost his way and become a fat old man. We squished my then-massive boobs down, but the fat hanging around was quite convincing for my part. By the way, the eyebrows and beard were fake!) My weight here was probably around 200, though I refused to weigh myself at that time.


Here's another one from the same weekend, I believe:


And this one was from my VERY highest weight, 205 (the dress was a size 20):


After seeing that photo, being disgusted with myself and constantly being fun of by my family, who said I would never lose weight, I decided to change. After I had finished school, I was going to be a foreign exchange student in Germany. Did I want to protray the stereotypical, overweight American? NO. So I started watching what I was eating. I didn't exercise in the beginning, but I stopped shoving crap into my mouth. I lost my first 20 pounds that way.

So, right before I left for Germany, I went to a formal dance with my study abroad program. I actually got "asked" (I would have gone anyway, haha) to the event. Even though I didn't feel that pretty at the time, I was extremely happy with myself and wasn't so self-conscious.
Here's a picture of me at 185, hanging out with the foreign student from Germany:



So while I was in Germany, I did not actively attempt to lose weight (I knew I only had one year to enjoy it, so I was going to enjoy it to the fullest. I was okay if I gained 20 or 30 pounds, it's normal for exchange students). I adopted the German lifestyle- healthy eating (well, for the most part) and lots of exercise! I joined a badminton group while I was there. I had never played before, but my skills improved quickly, and I found myself enjoying the game, playing 3 or 4 times a week for 2 hours each time. According to the scale, I only lost about 5 pounds in Germany, but I can see a huge difference from when I first got there to when I left Germany. I gained a lot of muscle and lost some fat. This picture is me around 180ish.



So after my year in Germany, I came back home to America. After a couple days of eating crappy food and getting sick each time, I realized it was time to continue my journey! I started back at counting calories, got a gym membership, and started exercising regularly. I can see such a difference from my "before" pictures, and I'm more than happy to be showing off my "during" pictures.

I can't wait to see what I look like when I get to my "goal weight"!

At 172.5:
and

To all of you guys out there just starting out, or stuck on a plateau or if you just feel like giving up- YOU CAN DO IT. I promise you, keep going, plug on through. It's so worth it in the end (and I'm not even to the end!). I'm so happy now. I wake up in the morning with a smile on my face, happy to be alive and healthy. My confidence is literally SOARING every day. I look at myself in the mirror and think "D*mn, she's hot!"

P.S. Sorry it was so long, haha. I'm a bragger, what can I say?