Proud of the first 37 lbs gone !!
 

It's taken 4 and 1/2 months, and I've lost 37 lbs (as of this morning lol).
It's definitely been hard and a struggle, but i managed to do it without going to the gym(though right now i wish i could afford to go, but i'm hoping in the next couple of months i'll be able to re-buget and start going to the local YMCA lol) and healthy eating and just getting more active.

The very first photo was taken a month after i started. When i first started my journey, I was 270 lbs, the very highest i have ever been and i got so disgusted with myself that i decided to do something about it. The second photo was taken this morning and i weighed in at 233 lbs.

I'm proud of my accomplishments and even though i have long ways to go, I've gotten over that "hump" where i just wanted to stop and kept going. I have the body i've always wanted, it's there but it's just underneath all the fat i gained and will keep going until i finish chipping it away and i'm where i want to be.

This forum has been the BEST tool i could ever use in terms of support and all of the motivating stories i've read. One day, my own journey WILL be of one of strength, determination and a motivation to others.

Well done on your hard work so far! Looking good :D

I completely know what you mean about this forum being such a huge help, it's awesome :carrot:

Best of luck with the rest of your journey.

Looking good! I didn't think that 37 pounds could show so much, but your body has changed a lot! It's weird, though, because it seems like every week or so someone announces losing the exact number that I've lost (37 pounds today!).

Congrats!

thanks !! and congrats Kelly, 37 is a big number !!

I definitely carry the weight well, when i gained, it spread out kinda evenly, so when i tell people how much my highest weight was at, it's been all "no way !" kind of reactions lol.
I notice the difference more around my face, especially when i'm looking dead on into the mirror or the camera, the double chin is pretty well gone now for the most part, my back flab has shrunk quite a bit, so that there's now only one roll of flab instead of two now lol and there's a bit of difference in my legs ,at least i notice it more when i try on old jeans that are in smaller sizes and the leg parts are much looser. I'm sooo close to my second downsize in jeans, I went from an 18, in a 16 and i have roughly 3-4 inches or so to go before i fit into my 15's comfortably(where as right now i can squeeze them on and the legs fit perfectly, it's just the waist of them push all the belly fat up and it spills over the top of my jeans... not really all that pretty to look at LOL but i was really happy that i was able to button and zipper them, even if they were just a little too tight for now.

Another thing i noticed was that i got a new shirt the other day, just an old one from my sister, from old navy that was an XL and i thought there was no way in **** that it would fit, or at least fit comfortably without being tight... it's actually loose on me and fits perfectly ! I was ecstatic !!

the only downside is that my boobs have stayed the same size, I was able to go down a band size, but that was it lol I'm quite convinced they will never shrink on their own (luckily my plastic surgeon is just waiting for me to get to a good weight in order to be as safe as possible, aside from regular risks, so that i can have the reduction i've needed since i was 16 lol)

Doing great keep it up!!!!

Thanks Dolly !!

I'm seriously thankful for this forum, just incredibly amazing support from people who are going through what i'm going through and have been there themselves.

So, a NSV, but a huge milestone. And i mean HUGE!! I've posted the milestone i reached today in one of my other thread's but i really wanted to share it here too along with the photo i took.
Just on a wild whim i decided to take a pair of jeans out of my closet that i've been getting close to being able to wear and haven't worn(except to try them on once in a while to see how far i've come) in 3 years. Tonight, I put them on, and while bringing them up, they felt good, and bringing them over my hips, i thought, so far so good. Normally when i get them up and go to button them, i never could, two weeks ago i was able to button them, but i had to lay down and they were pretty darn tight. So tonight while i was doing the normal "just to see", I was able to button AND zipper them without having to lay down on my bed to do so. As soon as i was able to do that, I called my mom and she got so excited for me, and i cried a little lol.
I was jumping around and squealing like a little girl lol There are no words to describe how HAPPY i am !

I really hope that my story and my journey, the struggles i've faced and the milestones i've reached so far are inspiring others and I hope they realize, even though it's hard and you have crap days along with really great days, that they can do this too.
I never really believed i'd get to wear these jeans again, and if i can do it, anyone, no matter their size, can do it too !

Way to go! Keep up the awesome work!

Thanks !!, I even took out my only other pair of 15's and they fit too !! I wasn't sure they would because their both different styles from different stores, but i'm so happy they do !

Amazing! You look great.

Not only do you look great but I can tell in the last picture how proud you are by your smile! Adorable. Way to go...you are definitely inspiring!

Well done! That's great :D

I have a new pair of jeans that I'm just waiting to fit into too. I can do them up but my muffin top is a little bit too big to wear comfortably!

You look AWESOME!!!!!!!!!!

Your victories are so worth celebrating. You can tell a huge difference in your pictures. I am always so curious about what 10lbs or 20lbs or 30lbs difference looks like. Your difference, especially around your midsection, are outstanding! Keep up the good work!

Congratulations on a great job !

Thanks guys !, you all are the best !

Whatchout- I am really proud of this milestone. I'm still in the "obese" category according to my BMI, but to get back into regular sizes and out of being "plus size" is a much more incredible feeling that i thought it would be. I'm fairly excited for the next time i have to go shopping, just to know i have way more options with stores, then only having 3 different stores that i could shop at, which were overly expensive, is a really good feeling.

I can finally start looking at clothes at some of my favorite shop's again, a few i may not be able to buy anything quite yet because of the style of clothes, which i'm ok with, but even at my favorite shop, I don't have to just go in the back to their plus sized section, i can finally look at clothes in the whole store.
Even going through my closet, and i have a lot of clothes, but the sizes are all over the place, a lot of the shirts i could wear 5 months ago that looked really good, now they look awful because their way too big lol. So i'm pretty excited to lose some more and see which of the smaller shirts i have, fit better then they do now.

1987- I still have a muffin top too, but i know it's just because a lot of my weight i carried in the stomach area, but i'm still going to rock these jeans lol

Sept2012- When i was at my heaviest, I didn't think i'd see a big difference, and looking at the photo's i've taken, i'm pretty astound to how big of a difference i actually do see.

Looking in the mirror every day, you don't notice much of a difference, and then when you take photo's .. it's like wow! I'm seeing a lot of changes now, especially around my face, my back, which is quite a bit less flabby then it's to the point where when i go to shower and take a quick look at myself in the mirror, the back fat is so much less where it's almost smooth without much bumps and bulges.. except for the sides LOL But i'm ok with that because i know i'm making progress and my body is going to lose the weight where it chooses to and eventually the stomach area is going to reduce even more then it already has. (haha if i could spot reduce i totally would !)

You guy's keep me motivated and i'm not sure i could do it without the support that i get from here.

Congrats!! Keep up the great work! :cheer:

Very noticeable....great job!

You look amazing! Great job!

Thanks guy's !! After a long weekend of being incredibly sick with a chest cold that's FINALLY gone, I ended up eating some pizza and a couple of slices of garlic fingers over the weekend, I also had some strawberry shortcake, and thankfully not all in one day.lol

When i got on the scale this morning, I still ended up getting down to a total of 40 lbs gone ! I'm incredibly excited about it. But new week, new month and a whole new complete overhaul on my eating habits.

I also spent the weekend doing a bit of research on the Paleo "diet" and from what i've read, it makes a lot of sense to me. I will not be completely cutting out every thing since i plan on having one healthy "cheat" day per week(like having milk, since that's restricted, and a really good veggie filled turkey or chicken sandwich with some really good cheese, or having some whole grain brown rice or quinoa, which those are technically also restricted).

I don't like to say i'm never going to have "such and such" again because yeah, there will be a time where i'm going to have that piece of cake or yeah i'm going to go for ice cream with my son. But at least for the next 30 days (excluding 1 day a week) i'm pretty ok with restricting myself to 100% clean eating habits and if things go really well, then i'll extend it again for another 30 days and so on and so forth, at least until I hit goal and go into maintenance and keep the "restricted" items limited to a few times a week and not an every day kind of thing.

The oddest thing is going to be not having cheerio's for breakfast LOL.