Three Years and 100 Pounds Later

BEFORE: March 20th, 2009 - 268 pounds

On March 9th, 2009, I decided I'd had enough.  I had stepped on the scale and, weighing 270 pounds, decided that I was tired of being the fat girlfriend, the fat friend, the fat mom.  I was tired of being FAT.  I had a friend who'd lost a lot of weight with exercise and counting calories, so I figured if she could do it, I could do it.  At first it was easy.  Every time I stepped on the scale, the number went down.  I couldn't believe that I was actually doing it and sticking with it for once!

During those three years, I did end up struggling a lot.  I had a lot of setbacks and plateaus and even a pregnancy thrown into the mix.  But I never once gained more than 12 pounds back (except during the pregnancy, which I managed to gain just enough weight to have a healthy baby - and I lost the weight as soon as Ben was born).

Today is my 3 year anniversary since I decided to change my life and I'm so proud to say that I stepped on the scale this morning and weighed 169.6.  Yep, that's right!

AFTER: March 9th, 2011 - 169.6 pounds

 I have officially lost more than 100 pounds!
100.4 pounds, to be exact. ;)

I have been so close to this pivotal milestone so many times but I could never quite get there.  I am so happy to say that I FINALLY did it!  And it's kind of nice that it happened on my 3 year anniversary.  I wish it hadn't taken so long, but the fact that I DID IT is really all that matters.  :)

Some Things I've Learned in the Last Three Years:

• Sweating isn't so bad. It actually feels good, because it's proof that you have busted your ass.
• Clothes shopping is waaay more fun when you have more to choose from then just muumuu's and old lady clothes.
• Exercise won't kill me.
• Healthy food CAN taste good and tastebuds can change.  In the last few years, I've eaten a lot of things I probably would never have tried had I not decided to make some lifestyle changes.  In fact, I even like things that repulsed me as a child.
• Diet is a bad word.  Diet is a temporary fix for a permanent problem.  If you're not willing to make the changes for a lifetime, then you'll yo yo.  A lot.
• Black is not the only color that looks good on me.
• When you lose weight, your feet can shrink.  I went from wearing a 8.5 or a 9 (depending on the shoe) to wearing a 7.5.
• Exercise has kept me off antidepressants for nearly 3 years.  I still have my depression episodes, but they aren't as bad, nor as frequent as before. 
• Truly, the longer it takes you to lose the weight, the more likely you are to keep it off.  I managed to keep losing (slowly) or maintaining for 3 years.
• If I'd learned all of these things before I let it get way out of hand, I wouldn't be facing $20,000 worth of uninsured cosmetic surgery (just to fix my abdominal area, my thighs and my butt).  This is kind of a negative point for this post, I suppose, but it is something to think about...