Time to start taking progress pics!

I first realised I was seriously overweight when I got to university 4 years ago.
I was 22 and wearing a UK 22... At my highest I weighed in at about 17 stone.



This was me in 2009. Pretty damn embarrassing.



(I'm the hugger, not the hugee)

Then in my third year of university I moved to Japan to study. My diet improved, I walked every day and I began to feel a little healthier. I was still carrying around a lot of weight (especially on my face) but I was happier.





I was still very uncomfortable around cameras and it's really difficult being a tall, fat, white girl in suburban Japan. Seriously. I couldn't find clothes to fit, I got looks, sometimes comments from Japanese girlfriends.



After this picture (taken in Paris in summer 2011) I decided that as soon as I got back to university I would do something about my weight. I didn't want to graduate fat and go back to Japan and have all the same problems.

I started MFP in September 2011 and started a primarily vegan diet (I eat meat about once a month if I want it, I eat honey) I lost 20lb almost immediately. I started training with C25K 4 weeks ago and although the scale hasn't budged much, I have been losing inches.



The pictures from January are from before joining the gym.
The pictures from today are 4 weeks in.

I lift circuit weights (as heavy as I can, short reps) and train for C25K on the treadmill 3 times a week. I also do a basic yoga dvd for core strength and flexibility if I'm feeling stiff.

I feel stronger, healthier and happier. I am becoming more and more obsessed with the way that I feel and not the number on the scale.

You guys might not see a huge difference on the outside, but inside, I feel like a new person.

I still have a lot of weight left to lose, but I'm never giving up. Slow and steady wins the 5K!