3 months on MFP 26 lbs. lost half way to GW with pics!

Hi everyone! It may be a little early to call this a success story, but I would say half way is just as good a time as any for me to celebrate! Today, I looked at the scale, and it is the lowest it has ever been since I've stopped growing. This might be a long post, so be prepared to read for a while!

About 5 months ago, I hit what I hope would be my rock bottom in life. I weighed the heaviest I ever did, I wasn't in school because I had to withdraw for a back injury, and my hours at work were minimal. On top of all of this, was the thing I was least proud of. From a surgery I had on my cheekbone a couple of years ago, I had developed a nasty habit. The surgery was very painful, and so naturally my doctor prescribed me some pretty strong pain medication. Which in the beginning, I was very thankful for because of the pain that I was in. Time progressed, and the pain let up. At this point I had been on opiate medications for a couple of months. My doctor then told me that everything was healing as planned, and I could stop taking the pain medication and replace it with ibuprofen. Well, at this point I was already physically addicted to them, and was completely terrified of the way I felt when I stopped taking the pain medication. I was embarassed, ashamed, and I had no idea where to turn. I began buying the medication on the street, wherever I could just to feel normal. This went on for a couple of years, and I did some things that I am definitely not proud of.

Four months ago, my little cousin, my best friend, was taken from this world in a fatal car accident. The whole family was just devestated, and we still are. It gave me some time to evaluate my life. If you don't believe in the supernatural, you should probably stop reading here. A few nights after the funeral, I was coming home from work and my parents were sitting in the livingroom. My mom asked me to sit down next to her, and she held me very tight. She began to tell me about a dream that she had. Sabastian (my late cousin) had come to her, and said that he was worried about me. She asked me if there was anything she should be worried about, and I lied. I told her no, everything was fine, my back was bothering me, and I was distraught about my cousin. That night, I couldn't sleep. All that I could do was think about how Sabastian was trying to help me, and I was just flat out denying it. The next day, I decided that I needed to get help. I went online, and found a doctor, a psychiatrist, and some local NA meetings to attend. After getting everything planned out, I told my parents. This was the most terrifying thing I have ever done. I was afraid they were going to yell, scream, disown me, hate me forever, I don't know, I just feared the worst. They didn't do any of that. They accepted it, supported me, and my mom stayed up and held me all night as I was going through withdrawal preparing to get clean. Well, now 4-5 months later, here I am, clean as a whistle, and making every improvement in my life that I can.

One day, my mom asked me to hit a zumba class with her. I wasn't going to go at first, but then I thought about that night that she held me, and comforted me at my lowest, and realized that I at least owed it to her to go humor her. So I went with her, and to my surprise ended up having a blast! That night, I signed up for a full time membership at the gym, and signed up on MFP to start my diet. My best friend, who also supported me through my recovery, then started working out with me. From there on out, there was no turning back! Here I am now, 26 lbs. lighter, a whole lot cleaner, and happier than I've ever been in my entire life! Okay, now I'm past the boring stuff, here's some progress pictures

I'm 5'5" and 23 years old:

12/15/2011... 183 lbs.


1/8/2012... 168 lbs.


2/22/2012... 159 lbs.


Sorry for the long post! haha