Accountability Photo #1

Friday, July 24, 2009

Let's be honest, I was far too lazy to put a swimsuit on. But, I did take a photo of myself using my camera's self-timer. I am trying to really push myself to finally lose this last 15 pounds and get into better shape, I feel like Phase 1 of my diet was just ridding myself of junk food, amping up the cardio to drop pounds, etc. and now it's time to get into toning & fitness much more.

(sorry it's so blurry, not on purpose, it's just my self-timer skills are quite sub-par). So hopefully as the weeks go by, these pics will get hotter & hotter :)

Diet Pills & How NOT to Lose Weight

Tuesday, April 28, 2009

I think if I went through my ENTIRE weight-loss journey of ups and downs in life, you'd be reading for hours; but I wanted to do a brief summary just as a warning, to tell you how NOT to lose weight.

I've been 5'11" since 7th grade. At that time, I was a lanky middle-schooler and was 135 pounds. Over the next few years, I grew up, went through puberty, etc. and not surprisingly gained weight. I was at about 165 pounds my junior year of high school. My mom noticed and decided we ought to go on a weight-loss plan together that summer. Except, I took it way too far - it went from "oh, I should eat a little healthier" (not hard to do, given that in my meat-eating days of high school, I went to McDonald's or Chick-Fil-A basically every day!) to "how few calories can I eat in a day" to "perhaps some diet pills would help me lose more" - this turned into a bad eating-disorder situation, where I became convinced that 600 calories a day and 6 Metabolite pills was great for me. Well, I did lose weight - I got down to about 140 pounds, which is pretty low for someone 5'11" - and also started to develop a heart condition from all the caffeine/ephedra in the diet pills. That's when I knew it had to stop.

Me in 2002, Senior Yr. of High School, about 140 lbs - look how bony my shoulders are - eww!

In college, I didn't use any diet pills anymore (thank goodness), but I did still struggle with eating habits. I was working out 5 days a week with the women's boxing team, and yet eating 1,000 or less calories a day. I was still only about 145 pounds.

Me freshman year of college.

Luckily, after freshman year, I wised up and realized I could maintain a healthy weight of between 155-165 just with my boxing workouts and eating, well, almost whatever I wanted, given the calories I was burning. I'd usually gain some weight in the spring in the off-season, but then lose it again in the summer/fall. I, of course, again thought I was fat all the time at 160 pounds or so, which is laughable now - I'd die to be 160 again!

Hey, look, I finally look healthy in this pic - this is junior yr. of college

So, the real trouble began 2nd semester senior year - no more boxing...like ever...and I was continuing to eat whatever I wanted. In the last three years of law school, I have gone between 169 at the low end and 192 pounds at the high end. When I finally realized I was 192, and just couldn't get married in that kind of state.

The dreaded "before" pic

I started to get my butt into gear - over the next couple years of the engagement, I went up and down a lot, but did get to at least my 20 lb goal and got married at 172.

Me at the rehearsal dinner

So, now I am trying to see if I can work hard to lose that last 10 pounds, but more importantly, I want to do so in a healthy way, no matter how long that may take :) Oh, and the best news of all is, I have FINALLY gotten my resting heart rate down to a healthy level, meaning I can finally run!!

The Infamous Before/After Photos

Saturday, February 21, 2009

So, when I first decided, oh, like a year and a half ago, that I really needed to lose some weight, not just for the wedding, but for my own health, I thought it might be good to do before/after photos in a swimsuit like they do in all the infomercials. So, I didn't actually get around to taking the pics until I had already lost some weight, but I do have some before pics of me in a swimsuit at a lovely 185 pounds, and when it gets to the day of the wedding, you guys will be lucky enough to see those as well as the after photos - hopefully I'll look much better in the second set :)

Anyone else done their own before/after photos?

I Know This Is Selfish...

Friday, January 16, 2009

But sometimes, I just feel like I wish at least someone noticed all the hard work I have put into losing the 18 pounds I have lost so far since last year (well, besides Andrew, but he's too biased to count, lol). I just am beginning to feel like it's not even noticeable, and I am still wearing almost all the same clothes/sizes I was wearing before, and because I am tall, maybe this weight loss on me looks like 5 pounds would look like on someone 5'2", I don't know.

And I just feel like, looking at pictures of myself, I still think I look really overweight, I just don't look different to myself either. I mean, if I get down to 155, then I think I'll look better, but right now, I don't know, my initial excitement about being 174 has kinda died when I think about how that is still 10-20 pounds heavier than I was in college. Basically, I just feel blah, like I haven't done enough to really amount to anything, and I basically have to lose 20 pounds in 2 months to really be a fit bride.

Success!!

Thursday, January 8, 2009

Today was a day of great success, diet/exercise wise. In addition to my awesome workout this morning, I feel like I am really getting somewhere in terms of how fit I am - the exercises seem easier to do now, and my arms feel much more toned, I feel like I am beginning to see the results!

And, I weighed myself today before going to the gym and I am FINALLY 175, I have been trying to get to that for so long! This means that according to the lovely BMI calculator, I am no longer overweight :) My BMI is at 24.4 now (I am 5'11"), so I am just below the "overweight" level. I haven't weighed this since Summer/Fall 2006, so I am very excited!

And finally, I fit into a pair of jeans I got for Christmas 2006, that I wore all the time for about six months, then after May 2006 and all the things I ate that summer, they have not even come close to fitting since. But today, I was finally willing to try them on again, and they fit, yay!! (Above is me in these jeans back in January 2007)

So it is good after like a year of trying to lose weight for the wedding, I am 17 pounds down and really have good momentum to lose that final 10 pounds!

This is the Dream

Wednesday, December 17, 2008

This picture of me from 2004 are basically my weight loss dream - it's not me at my thinnest, I am not trying to be 140 pounds or anything; I think this picture is me at around 155-157. Really, 160 is my main goal (I am 5'11, so that'd be right around the "recommended weight" for my height) - I am now around 177, which doesn't seem that far away, but losing that 17 pounds will I know be really hard.



I have come down from an all time high of **I can't believe I am going to say this out loud, or that I ever let myself get to this!** 192 pounds in Summer 2007, so I am just going slow & steady towards my ultimate goal. So, I am hoping these pictures will inspire me :)