My Before and After (and where I'm going)

Early in July I posted a "one year difference" post with photos from the July 4 5k in 2010 and 2011. I tried to find, my search skillz are poor, so no link to that post for you :ohwell:

But ....BUT! I had the opportunity to get another before/after photo and decided to take advantage of it. This past weekend we (me, the wife, the kids) spent some time with my sister and her family at the happiest place on Earth. They were down from Ohio, we caught them on the last full day of their trip to Disney World and decided to explore the Magic Kingdom together. Since we had agreed to do the character lunch at the Crystal Pavilion, it set itself up perfectly for a Tigger-riffic before and after.



The pictures on the left are from March, 2009. I can't really remember if I had started to lose weight from my high point by then or not, so "somewhere on the plus of 300 pounds" is about as accurate as I can get. I know my high point was in April 2008, somewhere around 340 pounds. I wish I had better, planned out before photos like some posters do, but I don't, and I'm not willing to gain all the weight back just to get them

The picture on the right is 2 days ago.

I started using MFP on January 3 of last year. That's when things really started to click for me. I've discovered in the past year that I can lose weight without giving up any particular food or food group. I've found that I like green vegetables, particularly broccoli. I've found I really like running (really, really).

My next goal is going to be to add about 5 pounds of muscle, particularly to my chest and arms (my legs are f***ing fabulous, if you ask me). And I actually think this is going to be difficult for me. First, to gain muscle I know I have to eat a surplus of calories, but I struggle to reach my maintenance calories in a day, even with the scoop of ice cream in the evening. I'm "happiest" around 1800-1900 calories, MFP tells me to eat just under 2100. So there's a new thing to work on. Second, I just don't like the strength training stuff as much. I like the running because I've found I'm pretty good at it. I don't like the strength training because, frankly, I'm not that good at it. Hopefully, as I stick to it, that will change.

So here's to another year and continued success. And here's to the MFP friends and community for inspiring and supporting me. I wouldn't have been able to do it without you all!