The urge for a lifestyle overhaul came to me after seeing how absolutely horrible I looked in pictures from my cousin's wedding in July of 2008. Up until that point I don't think that I ever felt particularly bad about myself but I wasn’t happy either. At that time I weighed 192 pounds and at 5 feet 2 inches tall, it seemed like every pound showed. I lost my first 15 pounds, before I joined these boards, by dieting alone. When I decided to join all of you here at 3FC, I weighed in the low 180s on my bad days and in the high 170s on my good days. I had reached a slump and knew that dieting alone would no longer take the pounds off. In addition to the mile and a half walk (more on nice days) that I took every day, I started using EASports Active for Wii to incorporate some cardio and resistance training. I never thought that playing a video game would actually help me lose weight but here I am at the end of October eleven pounds lighter on my ‘bad days’ than I was on my ‘good days’ in early September.

The night before last, as I was getting ready for bed, I glanced over at a picture of myself taken five years ago at my Class Night (a seniors only, less formal prom) and I wondered if I would be able to fit in that dress today. I thought back to my senior year and realized that I really liked the way I looked back then. I was a slightly athletic, completely healthy looking 150 pounds. Since 150 and 166 are only 16 pounds apart I threw caution to the wind and began the hunt around the house for the dress. After a few misses, I finally located in a container I keep wayyy under my bed filled with all sorts of things I used to wear. I pulled it out and put it on, back to the mirror and thought ‘maybe it isn’t on right’, when I didn’t have to wrestle with anything to get it into place. Never getting too excited, I cautioned myself before turning around, ‘You are five years older now. You just lost 26 pounds. There are lumps and bumps that you never had at 18’. When I finally spun around, I giggled like a school girl. It fit nearly perfectly! I took a few mirror pictures (something I’m horrible at) and then another thought crossed my mind. I wondered how the dress that I looked so bad in at my cousin’s wedding would look today. Unlike the other dress, I knew exactly where that one was. I had, over time, periodically taken it out and put it on to gauge subtle differences that would have otherwise gone unnoticed. When you lose 26 pounds over a year and a few months, differences aren’t usually very apparent. I will end my story here and let the pictures do all the talking. 26 pounds down 31 to go!


First: Here are two pictures of me at Class Night


Here are a few of me trying on my Class Night dress:


Here are a few from my cousin's wedding :


And finally, me in the above dress at 166 pounds :

You are so beautiful, and you look great! Congratulations!

I agree with Emily, you look great. Good motivation to keep going, huh?

You look AMAZING! Talk about weightloss and a total NSV to go with it Grats!

Wooowza!! You look amazing! Such an inspriation and a great idea!! My wedding dress is with my parents in Ohio and I am going back over Christmas and I will hopefully have lost all my baby weight and be down to around where I was when we got married... *thinks* I should take your idea and see if my wedding dress with fit again then!!

Keep up the great work!

You look fantastic. Thanks for sharing

You look GREAT! The class night dress looks wonderful on you! Keep up the great work!

AWESOME progress!

CONGRATS!! You are seriously beautiful!!!

WooHoo! Happy dance time!

First of all, you are a gorgeous young lady, before and after, just a different size. But the different size looks great! You've lost not only pounds but a bunch of inches, too - how exciting is that!

You can clearly see the results in both of the dresses - there's not a much better feeling than being able to fit in something again!

Thanks for sharing - keep up the good work - I 'm sure you'll reach your goal before you know it - probably sooner after this boost to your self esteem - well done!

Emily, angelfoxer, PammyFl, BrittniMarie, Onederchic, EveLHaelf, CountingDown, Mickeypnd and leeway: Thank you all for your awesome comments. I never really expected such a big response and to be called beautiful so many times really boosts the self esteem! I've been getting emails alerting me of new posts to the thread all day but haven't had the chance to write back until now. You are all amazing and now I can't wait to post pictures when I reach my goal and fit into my prom dress!!! LOL

BrittniMarie: Sending good vibes your way for fitting into the wedding dress! I can't even explain how great it feels but you will know in December! And we better get some pictures

Thanks again! You all made my day!

You look amazing! We have similar stats, and are at similar points now, but boy, is your tummy flat. I so want that!

Keep it up, and see you in the 130s.

Don't be completely fooled by the body. When I was heavier, I looked like I had a tire around my midsection, a tire around my hips and the most huge lovehandles ever! As I started to lose weight, I noticed it most in my face and neck (being able to see my neck without a double chin and feel my cheek bones), my boobs (Down a cup and band size) and the upper tire of my belly began slowly shrinking. The lovehandles were mostly gone too but the lower, hips 'tire' has barely budged. It's hard to tell from the dress pictures because that's always been a problem area for me so I bought dresses that flatter it but trust me, it's not all flat.

As far as the 130s are concerned, have you set a time limit for yourself? I wanted to be at least into the 130s by March and I'd have to lose 7 pounds a month but this month I only lost 4 . If I can be 163 pounds by Wednesday I will count that as part of October's weight loss though which will make it 7 pounds Here's hoping...