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I DID IT!!! I FREAKING DID IT! I reached my goal weight!
It took me about 8 months total, but I am down my 30 pounds goal! Well, at least my soft goal. I still have some work to do, shaking off some of the layer of deception and toning up and fat loss, but that's where my hard goal of 130lbs comes in. But I did it!
I learned a lot of things on this journey. If you really, truly want something, you WILL do what it takes to get it. EVERYTHING it takes. Motivation has to come from within, you can't count on other people to motivate you, or to be your motivation. You will fail if that's the case. There will be people out there who don't want to see you succeed, the whole "crabs in a bucket" mentality. Don't listen to these people. You do this for YOU, and maybe one day, they'll want out of the bucket, too.
I started out at 165.5lbs last April, I slacked off from around October through January, but maintained my weight, which is why I call it 8 months rather than a year. I usually take final/new measurements at the end/beginning of each month, but as of the start of this month, my measurements were, in inches: Underbust: 32 Waist: 28 Hip: 35.5 Thigh: 22 Bicep: 11.25
So, before and after pictures will be linked below, I really hope I don't need specify which are which. Sorry for quality, I'm just not very good at this whole picture-taking thing. Those jeans are size 6, by the way, I'm about a 4 now. My new size 4 jeans are still a little tight in the thigh, but the waist fits just fine. I just have big powerful thighs, apparently, but I'm okay with that. At this time last year I couldn't even get these jeans all the way up, let alone buttoned and zipped. Now I can pull them down and off of me without unbuttoning them, they fall off!
Something I've noticed is I tend to be a "1 steps gained, 2 steps lost" sort of person when it comes to weight loss, mostly centered around my cycle. I tend to really retain weight/water weight, sometimes even for the whole month, seeming to gain or at least maintain weight, then the cycle hits and I just DROP it off. Not sure if anyone else goes through the same thing, but it's definitely a pattern I've noticed.
One of my favorite physical parts of losing weight is my chest/collarbone area. It's just really pretty, I think. I notice a huge difference in my thighs and hip area, too. And I love my little thigh window!
So, I guess what I'm trying to say is this: YOU CAN DO THIS. It's much easier than you think, in the long run, and it's about patience and self-motivation. You have to confront a lot of things about yourself doing this, really see yourself for who you are, inside and out, and confront some of those demons. You're stronger than they are, and you can prove it. DO NOT GIVE UP. You'll get there, and there are fewer things that feel greater than this feels.
Potentially NSFW before and after photos! (I'm in my bra in one of them).
http://imgur.com/a/Gb7Io
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