A new me in almost a year of MFP (with pics)

Let me give some background of myself to explain my success. My name is Beth, and I am a 27 yr old single mother of 2 small children (Laci is almost 3 and Carson is 18 mo old). I have always struggled with my weight, even though, I was very involved in sports (volleyball and cheerleading). In high school, my weight was around 160 then I went off to college where I gained the sophmore 15 or 20 lbs. I finished college around 175 lbs.

Short after college, I met my soon to be ex husband on Myspace. We dated and married way too quickly (within 6 mo). My ex had some court issues which landed him in jail for 5 months - he got out July 2007. In Dec, we decided to start trying for a baby, and I was pregnant April 2008 with our daughter, Laci was due Jan 2009. When my daughter was born, I weighed 200 lbs, but I quickly dropped back to about 180 lbs, but the up late nights and Laci having me up alot caused me to snack during the night which the scale quickly showed. Before I knew it, I was back up to 200 lbs. I started to try to lose weight again and dropped 10 lbs, but then I got pregnant with my son who was due June 2010 - the babies are 17 mo apart. When Carson was born, I weighed around 211 lbs then I quickly dropped back to around 195 lbs. To give you some more background, my ex landed back in jail in Dec. 2009 (for 6.5 to 40 yrs), I was 8 weeks pregnant and had a 11 mo old at home - I was all alone.

My mom moved in with me Feb. 2010 to help with the babies and financially help me because I couldn't do it on my own (on a single income). I stood faithfully by my soon to be ex for 18 months, but I had enough of my ex's abuse. He was emotionally and verbally abusive. I was never good enough. I spent too much money on myself/my babies but didn't send him enough money. I wasn't pretty/skinny enough. I also found out that he cheated on me while we were together. I walked on eggshells around him because I never knew what was going to send him over the edge next. I started my weight loss journey in Sept 2010, and after losing 40 lbs I told my ex to hit the road. I asked for a divorce in June 2011. He tried everything possible to get me back, but nothing worked. I had enough, and he wasn't going to change for anyone. I have realized throughout this whole process that I can only change myself and NOT someone else. He is who he is, but it doesn't mean I have to put up with it.

When I started this journey, I weighed 194 (I am 5'3"), so I was obese. - Sept 2010


This picture was taken yesterday. My current weight is 132 lbs (62 lbs down)



The moral of this story is....NEVER put up with abuse of any kind. Everyone deserves better! I now feed of what my ex says to prove a point - he is part of my motivation to keep going and NOT put the weight back on. Plus, my babies... I want to be healthy for them since I am the only parent around. Plus, I hope to find true love some day who will truely love me for me and not how I look. With my new look and outlook on life, things will look up with time. I am learning to find joy in the small things. I am also learning to rely on God more - with Him, NOTHING is impossible!!!