Everyone has to start somewhere

I am pretty embarrassed to even be posting this but everyone has to start somewhere, right? Well to tell the truth I have already come a long way before I got to this point.  My heaviest point came my senior year of high school. I topped out at 230 pounds! On my 5' 8" frame that was entirely too much. I was 75 pounds over my recommended weight and that put me in the dreaded obese category. That was a hard pill for me to swallow....obese...not me, right? Nope, it was me and I knew exactly what happened. I had spent high school blissfully unaware of the terrible things I was eating (2+ bottles of Mt. Dew a day and a Taco Bell after school "snack" to mention a few) and how it was affecting my waistline.  Fast forward almost 8 years and I am now sitting uncomfortably at 176 pounds. I should be grateful and believe me I am but these last 8 years have seen me lose the weight and then put it back on, lose it then put it back on. I am doing really good working out and eating right and then I start slipping and as soon as I start tiptoeing away from my plan I practically break into an all out run. I have a terrible time finding the balance between working out and dieting to lose weight. My hope is that by putting all of this out into the world I will find not only support and friendship but motivation and accountability. This time I am determined to get the last 26 pounds off and keep it off, ending this life long battle once and for all!

The hard truth part....

Weight: 176
Jean Size: 12
Bust: 40"
Waist (the smallest part): 35 1/2"
Waist (love handle area): 38 1/2"
Left Thigh: 24 3/4"
Right Thigh: 24 1/4"
Left Arm: 12 1/2"
Right Arm: 12 1/2"

                                                 BEFORE

It was actually pretty hard to find an almost full body shot of me because I avoid those like the plague so forgive this random candid.



- E