Over 100lbs Lost in < A Year! Lauren's B&A
 

I figured these are long overdue and since I've been enjoying maintenance I wanted to post them!

I started my journey almost a year ago (September 25, 2009) at 21 years old and 227 lbs.squeezing in to a size 18 pant and entered maintenance in early May before my 22nd birthday. While my final goal changed many time throughout my strict calorie counting losing phase, the one steadfast goal I had was not to be overweight when receiving my college diploma, and I am happy to report that I was successful!

You can read my first post here - NEW HEREl

You can read where I shared my "I've had enough moment" here - MY LAST STRAW

Anyway, over the summer I have not been trying to lose weight but I have continued to lose the final 10-15lbs through running and a focus on weight training. I now fit comfortably into a size 2 pant and a size XS - S shirt. I have learned so much on this journey, developed a love for running and healthy eating, and I have truly found that moderation is the key to making this a lifestyle change.

Each of these before pictures are around the 227 lbs mark (I was heavy through out my entire life, but gained an additional 50ish lbs upon entering college) but they are all before I started exercising and calorie counting, and the after photos were taken from the point of my graduation in May, when I ran my first 5k, and most recently 2 weeks ago in NYC)

http://i59.photobucket.com/albums/g3...0/9dde5c67.jpghttp://i59.photobucket.com/albums/g3...0/848f4554.jpg

http://i59.photobucket.com/albums/g3...0/44ed8a39.jpghttp://i59.photobucket.com/albums/g3...0/ac853342.jpg

http://i59.photobucket.com/albums/g3...0/912015e2.jpghttp://i59.photobucket.com/albums/g3...0/932b187e.jpg

http://i59.photobucket.com/albums/g3...0/e7509ccd.jpg

http://i59.photobucket.com/albums/g3...0/efcada1c.jpg

http://i59.photobucket.com/albums/g3...0/1c2a2ef2.jpg

A Huge thank you to everyone on 3FC because I surely would not be where I am today , I admittedly don't come on here as nearly as much as I did when I was focusing on weight loss, but this place was definitely one of the determining factors of my success. The challenges were HUGE motivations for me, and I learned SO much thanks to all of you. So I suppose that is it, perhaps I'll add more pics or information if you want or have any questions! Just let me know! :hug:

Added -

ANSWERED QUES. & POSTED STOMACH PICTURE HERE

POSTED TRANSITION PICTURES HERE

POSTED FIRST HALF MARATHON RECAP HERE

MOST RECENT 2015 UPDATE

Oh my gosh you look fabulous! Major congrats! lol-this is gonna sound weird, but I just love your beautiful jaw line! lol

What did you eat? Fruits and whole grains? Did you follow a particular diet?

Wow! You've done amazingly well! You look great!

Congratulations! The pictures were inspiring to see.

Holy crap. That's fantastic! :D
That must have taken a ton of dedication and determination, two things I'm trying to get for myself.
Love the pics and I wouldn't say no if you posted more of them! They're super inspiring.
OMG, you're so tiny now! If you don't mind my asking, what are ur measurements?
You look fabulous! Have a great time in maintenance land!

Laura

Quite the transformation young lady, you are beautiful! :) Wow, Wow, Wow-
You sure went way past your original goal weight I see. It's amazing what a lot of hard work can accomplish, eh? Congrats again, all worth the effort. Happy, healthy you! :)

Wow you are sure beautiful. Super congratulations.:carrot:
I hope I am half as beautiful as you when i lose my weight. Wow just wow.:)

You are really an inspiration, I'm so happy that you achieved your graduation goal! :carrot:


Thank you for giving me hope on a day thats been otherwise challenging!

:bravo: :bravo: :cp: :cp: :cp:
WOW!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
You look AWESOME!
Thanks for sharing - WHAT AN INSPIRATION! :woohoo:

Oh, forgot to ask. How did you deal with loose skin after the weight loss? Or is that something that just has to be dealt with? You don't look like there's any issues in your lovely pics, but one never knows.

Again, congrats on the achievements! :cheer2: :hug:

What a great job! You look terrific!

Wow! You really look smoking hot! Woohoo!!!

You look awesome! Thanks so much for sharing. I needed this motivation and to see that someone else can did it and so can I.

OMG, you're my new inspiration! It's cool to see a story and goal photos of someone who's my age (I'll be 22 in December). Congrats on meeting your graduation goal. :)

I'm with LaChicka, I'd also like to know about loose skin and how your body held up with the weight loss. You look amazing!

You look amazing. Congratulations. Thank you for providing me with more inspiration and motivation to know that what I'm doing is achieveable.:carrot:

Wow! You Look Great What An Inspiration I Know I Can Do It To I Just Need I Little Help. What Plan You Did?

This is incredible! You look absolutely amazing - well done! It's so inspiring to see how you've just made this happen for you so well, and seen it through from the start right through to your goal. This morning, I was feeling a little discouraged about losing my last 30lbs or so, thinking it would take me forever, but seeing your post and pictures, and the results you've achieved through hard work and moderation is really inspiring. Well done, and thank you for sharing :D

Great results, and you look fantastic!

Wow. You look absolutely amazing. Congratulations on your success!

Stunning!

Fantastic work. Would you please state your exercise plan and how many times a week you exercised--when you first intially started to now?? On one of your posts I read that you worked up to walking 5 miles. How long did it take you to work up to that? Also, what were your calorie amounts per day or throughout your individualized program? How did you go from stringent caloric intake to moderation? Any tips would be helpful. Most importantly, what was it about "this time" that you made your efforts work for you--you did not quit and were clearly very successful this time, where your previous attempts failed?? Wishing you continued success.

Wow! :o Thank you all so much for your kind words and responses! I really appreciate it. It is so surreal to be seen as an inspiration. :hug: I'll definitely post more pictures, just got to sort through some of my old/new ones! :)


When I first started my lifestyle change, I honestly had no idea what the **** I was doing, I just knew that what I had been doing the first 21 years of my life wasn't working anymore and it was time to do something about it. So that's where coming to this forum became such an asset for my success! I began reading different blogs, reviews, articles and decided counting calories would be the best for me.

I ate roughly around 1200-1500 calories daily and never experienced a plateau. I was very fortunate that I lost the weight very quickly, and since this was my first REAL experience attempting to lose weight, I had not expectations that the weight would come off in the time that it did. As a poor college student I began changing my diet eating a lot more "diet" foods - lean cuisines, 100 calorie pks, etc. although I did definitely start to develop a preference for fruits & veggies that I had never really gone for before. Over time as I continued to educate myself I learned that I needed to fuel my body, and I now focus on whole foods, and lots of lean protein, veggies, & fruits. Staples in my everyday diet include Greek Yogurt, melon, apples, Baby Carrots, feta cheese, and my night time 'treat' is always no sugar added ice cream! :D

Thanks LaChicka! I thankfully didn't have to deal with too much excess skin in comparison to what I thought I would be like at this point, and I'd like to think that strength training definitely came in to play! I've dealt with stretch marks ever since I was in the 5th grade, my stomach was/is the main location of my fat storage, so while it may I promised myself that I would wear a bikini this summer if I got down to this weight, and so I didn't let my deflated balloon stop me! ;)

I've debated posting this...but why not! (I took out my head and stuff for privacy reasons)

http://i59.photobucket.com/albums/g3...0/9ba2009f.jpg

So you can see that my stretch marks have faded a bit, but all things considered, I'm glad I didn't let my concerns of excess skin stop my progress!


Calorie counting and lots of exercise! :)


Thanks so much! The last lbs to my initial May goal were definitely the hardest for me as well. You can do it!!!! :carrot:

Excellent questions! I'll try to hit them all, but I apologize if anything is unclear! When I initially started I was WAY too embarassed to go to the gym or anything, so I would start by walking. I was going to school in Philadelphia at the time, so I'd pick a location on the map, and just keep walking until I got there and then turned around...I also would do Jillian Michael's 30 Day Shred...once I finished that I then bought two more of her DVDs - No More Trouble Zones and Burn Fat Boost Metabolism....After I had lost around 20lbs and felt more comfortable I started heading to the gym, just experimenting with different machines, elliptical, recumbent bike, & stair master mostly, then towards the end of my loss I focused on running (now the most I've run at once is 10 miles!), but I highly suggest interval training , as it really seemed to work for me! Through out my journey I have worked out 5-6 days a week, with the rest days spread out, but now a days if I need to consecutive days off I try not to worry about it and LISTEN to my body when it needs rest!

For the walking I think it took me possibly 2 months to work up to the 5 miles, and then I didn't even attempt to start jogging till I was abot 3/4 done with my weight loss portion....I would go on my walks and then pick out different points during the walks that I would run....like to a street sign, fire hydrant, etc. If you had told me that I would have been able to consecutively run < 3 miles multiple times a week (as I do now) back when I started, I would never have believed you! It's just all about being motivated and pushing yourself.

When I was calorie counting I used the iTouch Lose It Application, so I relied on that to tell me the amount of calories I should have been eating in order to lose my desired amount of weight. I also plugged in my daily eats (ignored the exercise portion of the application since it created a deficit). I stopped calorie counting after the first month of maintenance, as I was concerned that I was getting TOO obsessive about every little calorie and I've learned that I will continue to discover my hunger cues and eat when I am hungry working on fueling my body vs. when I am bored. I've tried eating more intuitively now in maintenance with the occasional treat!

Lastly, this was my first real attempt at weight loss, my previous attempt was more like eating one meal a day, not knowing a thing about nutrition or calories, so going into it attempting to be educated on the subject this time around and realizing (although I'm sure I sound like a broken record at this point) that any change I made had to be one I could keep for life, otherwise the weight WILL come back! Having the college diploma motivation that I could envision daily during my workouts and anytime I was feeling like I wanted to quit was also a great push for me.

Phew...hope I answered any questions people may have had...feel free to ask more if you have any or if I was unclear about anything and I'll try to expand! :)

You look amazing! Great job & thanks for the inspiration. I've recently started running during my usual walks & I have the same strategy as you did...get to the streetlight, mailbox, etc. Running does make you feel good though at this point I can only go about a block before a rest. My short term goal is to run a mile without stopping. Thank you so much for detailing your plan, you've provided me with encouragement today.

COngrats lauren! Ive followed your journey and you have always inspired me. You look great keep up the good work!

Thank you for answering all those questions. You really worked your butt off. Amazing results.

Thanks Lauren for your post. My goal is 100 in 365 as well. I have lost 44 and have found myself unmotivated and uncaring at this point. After seeing your pics and hearing that you went from an 18 to a 2 is so inspiring! Back on track...Thanks again =) and you look ah-mazing!

You look amazing! I can't believe I whine about possibly getting loose skin when I am losing half the weight you have. You look so fantastic! I hope I can get my body that smokin one day!

Congrats on meeting your goal, you look awesome! Thanks for sharing! :)

Congrats! You look so great and happy! :congrat:

It's crazy how much it sounds like I was reading my plan as I was reading your story (down to the first time really trying to lose weight, counting calories, the Lose It application, running to certain points, etc).

Thanks for the jolt of inspiration!

You look great! Wow!

you look stunning! great job!

My goodness, what a spectacular achievement! Congratulations!

Holy Smokes! You have done an incredible job! Congratulations!!!

WOW! Beautiful pics. Thank you for sharing. I am motivated even more.

Holy cow look at how thin your arms are!!!!!!!!!!! You're inspiring me!! Thank you :)) You look stunning by the way

congrats! you look amazing! I am from RI too!

You are truly my inspiration.

WOW you look wonderful!!

HOOOOOOOOOOOLY BLEEEEEEEEEEP!!! Honestly, you look like a different person, no lie. You look absolutely flippin' fabulous and in such a short time too, well I consider a year a short time. I'm blown away......I have to show this to my friends and Fiance. CONGRATULATIONS! Also, I'm so glad you posted a pic of yourself in a bikini because I had to admit that I was curious about what you looked under your clothes.....haha, okay that didn't sound right, I meant your skin- I'm curious to know what everyone's skin who has had a dramatic weight loss. You actually don't look bad at all! I'm really just incredibly inspired.