26 pounds down.. and I'm not stopping! (with pics)

So this is my first REAL post on MFP. I've been lurking, posting a few things here and there, but I really thought I'd get into the nitty gritty about me and just put out another thread about how WE ALL CAN DO THIS!

I'm 25, and a sophomore at university (kind of a late bloomer). I've always wanted to really work on losing weight, as I've had problems since I was about 12, but I loved food so much - I still do. I love to cook and try out new things. My weakness is Chinese food. It probably shouldn't be near me for a while. I come from a huge Italian family, where pastas are a staple in our meals, and my grandmother was a woman who grew up in the Depression, so putting food on the table was a big deal to her. As such, she hated when we threw food away, even when we were moderately full, so I learned early on how to continue to eat even after my body asked me to stop. I won't blame her completely for my weight issues, but needless to say, she didn't help. In fact, it seems the people who stayed near my grandmother longer than the others tend to be a bit heavier.

I've had issues with weight since I was 12, like I said, although being active was never an issue. I had dance classes, I was a cheerleader, I played basketball, and I had friends that would run around with me till our parents called us in for dinner. It was the portions and a love for bad foods that really caught up with me. At one point, I got so depressed about it I tried starving myself, and would fast for days at a time. I tried diet pills, but the night my heart wouldn't stop racing was the night I stopped using those - I almost went to the ER. I went to a nutritionist, but as I saw the list of things she put that I could only eat, I was discouraged.

I can't fully see myself cutting EVERYTHING out that I love to eat. This doesn't mean that tomorrow I'm going to go to Taco Bell and order my usuals, but every now and again I'd love to hit a Chinese restaurant and have some of my favs. Or maybe in a year or two I'd want to have a chalupa just to see what it tastes like again. But that nutritionist made it seem like I'd need to eat steamed veggies for the rest of my life, and I just wasn't ready to do that. Truth be told, I like my veggies sauteed slightly in a pan with some garlic and extra virgin olive oil. I love a bit of a crunch with my veggies. I also never had anything against healthy food; I love fruits and veggies and everything like that under the sun, but anything can become bad when you eat a pound of it.

This kind of thing yo-yoed with me as I slowly gained 80 pounds over the course of four years. I went from 200 to 280 while dating a guy who was so skinny, but could eat 3 cheeseburgers from BK in one sitting. I ended up falling into a trap worse than I'd ever dealt with. Then, I met the man I am dating now. He's a big guy, mainly from his broad shoulders and thick frame, but he ate a lot healthier than my ex.. and then he met me. We ate a lot more fast food simply for convenience. I tell you, I could polish off a full pizza (thin crust, with pepperoni, onions, and bacon) or go to Taco Bell and eat two tacos, a mexican pizza, two chalupas, a nachos bell grande, and a crunch wrap supreme. I mean, I don't know how I packed it away like I did, but I went nuts. Until June of this year.

My boyfriend, who'd been lethargic for a week, was rushed to the ER with shortness of breath, and incoherent babbling. The nurses thought he was mentally retarded. Turns out.. he was suffering from diabetic ketoacidosis that had started from an abscess on his inner thigh. We assumed it was just a boil. It probably started out as one, but his abscess, plus his high high blood sugar (762!) was causing him to become septic. His veins were shot, and he wasn't reacting to the insulin and saline they were giving him. A nurse caught the abscess and knew what was going on. His infection was going to kill him. He was rushed to surgery, with 4 other surgeons on standby to be ready in case the infection had spread to other organs. We were told had it been found even 30 minutes later.. he might not be alive. I shudder to think about it. His diabetic shock, in fact, saved him.

A week later, he was out of the hospital, but his life - and mine - had been changed. He was to begin his blood sugar medicine, and to begin monitoring his levels three times a day. His diet had to change. He had a wound care nurse come by to re-dress his open wound caused by the surgery. This was a wake-up call to him, his friends (who realized their friend of 20 years had not been put into the hospital by some reckless driving, but because of health reasons), and me. I am not at risk for diabetes (my blood sugar is around the 90s - I checked) but I am overweight. Before I worked exclusively with this website, I was 286 pounds. I am now down to 260. My boyfriend is down to 257 from an estimated 300 pounds (he never weighed himself). We eat three healthy meals a day, we exercise when we can - although he is really restricted till his wound heals, but after two months, it's looking awesome! - and we motivate each other. The one thing I remember him telling me is whenever I want to eat something horrible, and go all out at <insert fast food place here> he says, "Gee, that sounds like $70,000 in hospital bills to me." While that may seem harsh, it's all I need to remind me I never want to put him in the position I was in watching him just two months ago in the ICU.

I feel better getting my story out, and I hope that anyone just coming to this website can read this and know that it CAN be done, and it SHOULD be done. We know how to do it, and we know it's hard, but if we keep pushing, we can achieve our goals. There are people here who have lost so much more weight than I have at this point, and I'm proud of them all, despite the fact that I don't know them. Changing a lifestyle is so difficult, but having your life changed for the better is its reward. I hope we all can have our goals met in a healthy, and happy way.

And here are my pictures - both from the back view. The first was taken June 27th, 2011 at 286 pounds. The second was taken August 10th, when I was about 265 pounds.

[img]http://i1200.photobucket.com/albums/bb330/xneurocentric/Weight Loss Pictures/June27Pic2.jpg[/img]

[img]http://i1200.photobucket.com/albums/bb330/xneurocentric/Weight Loss Pictures/August10.jpg[/img]