3 Fat Chicks on a Diet Weight Loss Community - 50 Pounds in 50 Weeks; 143 Total; Uncharted Territory

I thought about waiting until I hit my first full year of being on plan before posting something like this, but I was excited about a few things. ;)

First of all, I did my weekly weigh-in last night and realized I've lost 50 pounds in 50 weeks! While I still have an occasional gain, my overall average is a one pound loss per week. I'm pretty happy with that pace and look forward to what I can accomplish in the next 50 weeks and beyond. Here's a comparison shot of the difference with the last 50 pounds:

http://distilleryimage4.instagram.co...0a1fbe38_7.jpg

Secondly, I finally, finally got below 220! It's such a huge number for me. See, ever since I was 13 years old I spent most of my life between 250 and 275. Twice I managed to struggle down to the 220's and would quickly regain. But about ten years ago I was going through a lot of personal problems, and my weighed skyrocketed by about 100 pounds. Once I realized I was 360 pounds, I was a complete mess. But I collected myself and realized that the only thing I could do was move forward.

It has taken years to get where I'm at now. I'd work hard to lose 20-30 pounds, then would maintain for several months before deciding to crack down to lose another 20-30. I settled at 285 when I went through some major life changes in 2006, and maintained my entire loss until I was ready to start over in 2009.

All along my main goal was to at least make it back to 250 again, but one of my ultimate goals was to someday make it under 220 for the first time ever. Part of me believed I'd never be able to stay under 250, and I struggled with that from 2009 through 2011. But some intense family stress hit me, and I anxiously munched my way back up about 25 pounds, the only major gain I'd had since I hit my highest weight in 2004. And on top of it all, I had a short-lived pregnancy that ended in miscarriage early last year. :( I took some time to mourn and did a lot of thinking. I knew I needed a healthier body, and gave myself a starting date to shoot for. And when the day arrived, there was no looking back.

I can't believe I've made it this far, that I've stuck it out for so long and have made such steady progress. I've always dreamed of getting under 220, it's even a more important number to me than getting under 200 (although that's gonna be awesome too). :dizzy: Here's a shot of my weight chart and scales:

http://distilleryimage3.instagram.co...0a9f12ad_7.jpg

So I've currently lost a total of 143 pounds! Here's another photo set to show the total loss:

http://distilleryimage10.instagram.c...0a1fb079_7.jpg

I'm at my highest on the left, in the middle I'm about 255, and the one on the right was taken this morning at 217. My number one change with the past 50 weeks? Keeping a food/health journal. I write down everything I eat, and doing so has made an enormous difference with how much control I have over my eating habits.

I've been doing a lot of walking lately and started to add short bursts of jogging into the mix. A few weeks back I finally felt ready to start the C25K program, something I hadn't been strong enough for on my previous efforts. I'm hoping to run my first 5K in early June.

At one time I was too big to buy jeans at the plus sized stores! Lately I've been able to buy 16's. When I was a freshman in high school I wore a size 10 ring, and now 7's are getting too loose. And I've been a size 10 in shoes all of my life, but they've been falling off me the past few months (I can't believe I'm a 9 now). I haven't been anything but fat since I was a preteen, so all of this is uncharted territory for me. It's awesome and frightening all at the same time. :o

I'm hoping I can be under 200 by July. If I keep up this pace, it'll only take 50 weeks after that to reach my ultimate goal of 150. Can I make it? I can't wait to find out. There will always be stress. There will always be potential excuses. But I'm pushing through all of that to take care of myself now.

Many more of my weight loss-related photos can be seen at my Instagram account. :)