almost half way with pics

Where do I start? I've been overweight my entire life. I can still remember my first day of kindergarten like it was yesterday where one of the other kids called me fat. It was the first time I heard those words, but definitely not the last.

I've figured out many things on my journey. It took a lot of reflecting on why I had been so heavy my entire life. Once I figured it out, the weight has been coming off ever since. I talked with my mom and I asked her why she fed me so much food as a child. I can remember being 10 years old and instead of getting a happy meal from McDonald's I would order a 20 piece nugget, large fry, and large milkshake, and eat it all! There were no boundries on food. There was always junk food in my house and never any fruits or veggies. I had to know why. It turns out that since my mom was 1 of 7 kids growing up on one income that they barely had enough food to feed everyone. Her parents gave each child a certain amount of food and they were not allowed to go in the refrigerator for additional food. My mom told me she weighed just 99 pounds when she graduated high school. After my mom had me, she decided that her daughter would never go hungry like she did. After hearing this story, it still doesn't sit well with me. I can now understand why she did what she did.

I decided on May 15, 2011 (3 months after having my daughter) that I want to live a healthy lifestyle and be a normal weight.

I still want to lose another 30-35 pounds bringing me to the 125-130 range.

I wanted to share my progress with everyone to help inspire and hopefully after hearing my story you will take some time to really think about what got you to the weight that you're not comfortable with. If you have to go back to childhood, it is difficult to talk to parents because you don't want it to sound like you are blaming them, but in my situation I'm really glad that I did.

Good luck everyone on your journey, and hopefully I'll be able to post in another 6 months or so a final picture!



first picture - March 2010 ( a couple months before my daughter was conceived )
second picture - January 2011 ( 9 months pregnant)
third picture - October 2011