One year after my halfway point.

"What a long strange trip it's been!"

One year ago, I made my first success story post, about reaching the halfway point to my goal. Fun read. Funny to see that my opinions haven't changed much. I'm still happy with eating more than I ever thought possible while losing weight. Still enjoy running. Still enjoy taking some time off from logging my food.

http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/186679-whoah-i-m-halfway-there

A year ago, I hadn't run a race yet. Now I've run several 5k, a few longer races, a mud run, and a 10k, and even won a couple medals! I went from hoping that someday I could do a 5k in under 30 minutes to finishing one in under 25 minutes.

A year ago, I was soooo embarrassed to post a photo in a bikini. I never thought I'd be comfortable showing skin.

About a month after that post, I switched my calories to a half pound a week loss, and two months later, I reached my goal, lowered my goal, reached that, and reached another goal beyond that. Added strength training in July. Then I went on maintenance in October, and gained a few pounds, but I stopped caring about the scale. Got a stress fracture in late December, and took most of January off to recover. Started running again a month ago, and doing my first race of the season in a few weeks.

One year ago, vs about two weeks ago. (Got the date wrong on the image... should be March 5, not 4.)


What strength training has done for my arms:


What strength training has done for my back, legs and bum... funny how I'm smaller now weighing three pounds MORE than I was at my "goal weight."


Thanks MFP and all the MFPers who've been so supportive and encouraging. I'm not saying I COULDN'T have done it without you, but you sure made it more fun!

To anyone just starting off... Stick with it. It works. Don't be afraid to shift it into low gear and go slower... you'll still get there. Trying to lose too much too quickly is the same as spinning your wheels when your car is stuck in the snow. And take pictures. No matter how much you hate them, keep them. You'll be happy you have them.