Shannons in the house! You look great dahlink, what a difference.

Wow you look awesome! I'm so glad that you said you just lost the weight by eating healthier and exercising...because I have tried so many fad diets and none of them have worked so now I'm going to try the healthy lifestyle way.

Thanks for being an inspiration!

Maaahvelous, darling, simply maaahvelous

Awhh! Thanks everyone, you guys are so nice! <3

Congrat's you look great. Thanks for sharing the pic's with everyone. It helps to give us all some motivation.

awhh! Thank you! <3 I'm exactly like you, I'm super shy and self conscious too-- but I found that, with belly dancing (my favorite form of dancing), I let go of pretty much all of my self doubt. I definitely have a belly that jiggles and wiggles (it's shrinking though, which is good ), but when I'm moving my hips and dancing around I feel super confident! There's a ton of DVD'S out on the market if you want to check them out for dancing, but my request is ones that are belly-dancing oriented. I still want to get involved in ballet though, so I'll tell you how THAT goes too! (Probably including pictures of my many bruises from falling over my own two feet. I’ve seen ballerina’s before, all those leaps…-shudder- )

OMG are you a mind reader?! We have to be soulmates or something. I have several belly dancing videos on my Amazon wishlist! I just haven't gotten around to ordering any.

You look amazing !!! And you look younger too (even if we can't really tell from the first picture) Maybe it's the beautiful smile on your face !

That's so Shannon, it's the future I can seee !

Lmao!

Im on the "shannon diet too" lol I swear by it. We could probably market it. Our slogan could be.. " Eatting Healthy + Exercise = Losing Weight" Whodathunkit? I also eat when Im hungry, I just make far better choices. The concept is simple, the way you approach it is the hard part. Seriously though, thats how Ive lost my weight too. It all about changing your mindset.. the rest just falls in place. When I was in better shape ( i did put a little weight on, but I mostly wasnt able to exercise ( surgery and some other personal crap) I went to the doctor at 156 and he was like you are on the high end of your weight scale, in fact your 6lbs over weight and I was thinking you know.. Dr. Twerp thats because I can pick you up and squat you little man. OF course I didnt say that but I thought about. Then when I had to be pretty much naked, he was like.. "well I guess you do workout, nice oblique muscles keep up the good work" lol Point being.. I know how you felt especially when he was like.. "your still overweight " 6lbs.. oh no... whatever would I do. Now I have 16lbs... hope hes happy lol. 26 to goal though.

We should market it! But I swear, some people act as if it's the plague. I mean, when I tell some people how I lost the weight..Well, they stare at me! Then they say that I must be lying, because it 'can't be that simple'. Yet again, I just about attacked them! I think sometimes people think that you have to have some sort of gimmick to lose weight, like cutting carbs or cutting fat or just cutting out food all together. But, well, just eating healthier can really work! -Sigh- But, well, try explaining that to people who wear size 4 pants and call themselves 'overweight'.

LOL yeah I get the same thing... people think I am or should be "on a diet" LOL. The health industry has spent 70 gazillion dollars in research and what have they really come up with? "Your mother was right... eat your veggies."

Shannon--
You are such a cutie-- Great job!!

There was an episode of Absolutely Fabulous where the mom wanted to lose weight. The daughter told her to do what you do. The mom said, "Well if it was that easy, everyone would be doing it!" Then she spent zillions on fad diet guru stuff. :-) It's one of my favorite episodes.