1 Year on MFP - Lots of Pics

As a background, I have always been heavy - at least since I hit puberty. I have PCOS which caused very rapid weight gain once I hit puberty. I also have Hashimoto's Thyroiditis. I've tried losing weight before and short of starving myself, diet and exercise would work only for a short time. I very quickly would reach a place where I stopped losing, due to the insulin resistance of PCOS. About 12 or so years ago, I started taking Metformin. By improving my insulin resistance, I was now capable of losing weight. However, because of the YEARS of hard work with zero results, I had no motivation and never put in a real effort.

In January of 2011 we left for Korea to meet our youngest son. It was an AMAZING trip for the whole family. We spent over a week touring Seoul with our older two children (also Korean). If you've ever been to Seoul, you know you will do a TON of walking. And stairs. Lots of stairs in the subways. During that trip, I actually lost 6 pounds. When we got back home, I was on maternity leave for 3 months. Finn didn't sleep much so it was a blur of Mt. Dew and toaster waffles. Surprisingly, I didn't gain any of those 6 pounds back. In May 2011, I went back to work and decided it was time to lose some weight. I found MFP and started logging on May 4, 2011. I didn't take any real before pictures because frankly, I didn't really think this time would be THE time. You know what I mean.

But I really did make the effort. I was logging my food consistently and having cheat days several times a month. And I was losing weight. I continued losing weight through September but the weight loss started slowing. In October, I started using my treadmill again for walking. I started with 20 minutes of walking. I continued this routine for quite a while. At Christmas, I had some major setbacks. I have a HUGE cookie baking day every Christmas. While I was able to give away most of the cookies, I got a bad cold right after and spent nearly two weeks doing nothing but eating comfort food (because of my autoimmune issues, I don't get sick often but when I do, it's BAD).

Once January hit, it was time to get back on track. I won't lie, after two weeks of nothing, it was HARD. But I got back on track. I started the 30 DS at the end of January and after 9 days, got injured. That took me out for 1 to 2 weeks, but I continued logging my food. In February, I started kicking up my workouts and by March, I was starting C25K. In April, as I was continuing C25K (even though I frequently redo weeks, etc) I upped my calories a little.

I am currently about to start week 7 of C25K. To date, I have lost 50.5 pounds, and that includes the 6 I lost before I started using MFP. From my estimated highest weight (after my oldest son came home but while we were waiting for my daughter to come home), I have probably lost about 69 pounds. I have gone from a size 18W/20W (at my highest weight, I was a 22W) to a size 14, or even a 12 on the bottom, depending on the cut. I will continue, and ultimately hope to lose another 45 pounds. This fall, I hope to find time to start weight training. That will be harder because it's not something I have the equipment to do at home

A couple of pictures from my highest weight, years ago:



A few pictures shortly before starting with MFP:




And now, some afters! These are all very recent, but sorry for the poor quality! I think you can still see the difference LOL.




And some side by sides of the above pictures: