So, I'd been working up to a diet for a couple years now. I was tired of being fat, hated all my pictures, and was terrified to step on the scale. Then five months ago exactly, two things happened within a weekend.

1. We took my new puppy to play in the lake for the first time. I saw pictures and was horrified. I didn't recognize myself at all. A top that I liked, that I thought made me look cute...really didn't.

2. My husband and I booked a cruise with my in-laws for Christmas.

After much panicking and stressing about bathing suits and formal dresses, I started my diet the next day, and stepped on the scale for the first time in maybe 4 years. It said 222 lbs! Which sucked, but truthfully wasn't has bad as I thought it was gonna be. I really had no idea at that point and figured it would be 250+. My goal was to lose 40 before our vacation and be more comfortable. And fit into my older "fat" clothes.

I haven't followed a real diet plan. I started eating clean. No junk food, pop, alcohol, or eating out. I broke up with bread, pasta, crackers, and processed carbs. I'm not counting calories, but eating mostly lean meat, veggies, and fruit. And I exercise 1 to 1.5 hours a day, 6 days a week. For home workouts I have a stationary bike and I do P90x for weight training. I also use the elliptical at my university and walk my dog twice a day.

I not only met my goal, I exceeded it by losing 56+ lbs in 5 months. I went from a size 18 to a size 10! Not longer obese, I'm the lowest weight I've been in at least 8 years. My health and my endurance is so much better. I'm gonna hike a volcano next week! I bought that tiny gold cocktail dress with sequins that I always dreamt of wearing, and I can't wait to show off!

I'm determined not only to make this loss permanent, but to lose the last 26lbs in the new year. Maintenance is the real battle for me, but I've worked to dang hard to let it go again.

When I started I was so discouraged, but I wasn't alone. We are probably gonna get a flood of discouraged people in the new year, and some probably feel that way now because of stalled weight loss because of the abundance of food at the holidays, but we can push through it. If you are struggling now, just relax. Enjoy the holidays and your family, but after the new year, lets get busy. Lets continue to take back our lives and our health!

WOOHOO! Good for you! That is such a wonderful achievement and great encouragement for me to read! Thanks for sharing it, I'm so excited for you!
-Jodi

That's awesome! Congratulations.

That is fabulous!!!!

YEAH! Rock that sequin dress and have fun w/your new body on your trip. Fantastic work!

Congrats leopard! Well Done!

Mad congrats! What an achievement.

Yay go you!! Best of luck on the rest of the journey, you seem more than capable!!

Congratulations - that's very inspirational .....

Wowieee...was looking for inspiration to get back on track. .your success story will help me immensely..Thank you for sharing

Congratulations on losing over 10 lbs. a month!!!

Awesome! What an inspiration

Congratulations! I'm new to this site and yours is the first post I've read. I started exercising after Christmas and feel exactly as you described. Glad to know I'm not alone. I love that you said you "broke up" with carbs. I too believe I need to break it off to make this work. Thank you for your inspiration! Good luck!

This was so inspiring to read, thank you for sharing your story. I'm one of the discouraged newbies right now, needing all the encouragement I can get! So, THANK YOU!

Thanks for your story. I've been saying on and off for years that I wanted/needed to lose the extra weight. Well, now almost 8 YEARS post-partum, I am finally in the right frame of mind, but it feels like such a huge mountain at times. I want the instant gratification of the weight being gone, but when I think about it, you losing that much in 5 months, it really is a very short period of time in the grand scheme of things. I have a long road ahead, but this is something that will help keep me going.