I need your stories

I'm still a work in progress, but on August 31, 2016, this was me:



A couple of weeks after that photo was taken (next to Eldon "Foggy Nelson" Henson, btw), I was in the ER with cellulitus, which led to lymphedema, which led to a vascular surgeon telling me that my bulk had caused the veins in my legs to collapse, that the condition could be managed, not controlled, and that I needed to lose weight to minimize future flare-ups. At that point, I had a weeping wound on my leg that ended up needed multiple courses of antibiotics to treat, not to mention daily dressing changes from home-care nurses. I didn't want that to be my life.

October 30, 2016 I found and joined MFP. In August 2017, I looked like this:



Last summer, I started training for my first 5K. I ran it on August 30th 2018. That's me in the skirt and headscarf (bib #241):



And the following day, I had another convention pic taken. Two years to the day after that first pic was taken, here I am with Rose "Tinker Bell" McIvor:



I've still got a couple of pounds to go to reach the healthy BMI range (okay, 6.4lbs to go) and they are taking FOREVER... but knowing how far I've come and how little I have left to lose helps keep me from getting discouraged.

You've got this. It's not a race. It's not a sprint. It is doable.