Weight loss goal = surpassed!

Ok, again with the huge lapse in blogging.... anyway, here I am again with another update, and again it's about my weight loss journey.  I have reached my goal and am still going!  I've taken up jogging which has proven to be a challenge, but I am improving day by day.  I'm aiming to run a 5k in September, and maybe one in June too if I decide to sign up (I probably will).  I've done 2 practice runs so far, and I've clocked in at 36:48 for the first 5k attempt, and just today I did the same thing in 34:34.  I'm definitely not super fast, but I'm still very proud of the progress!

When I started my weight loss journey I weighed 174.3 pounds (June 2012).  This morning I weighed 138.8 pounds, which is a total loss of 35.5 pounds.  Crazy!  I'll be very curious to weigh myself on the exact date that I started, one year later, and see where I land.

So, now some photos.  Remember these pants?  They started fitting quite loose after I had lost about 15 pounds.  35 pounds gone now and they are RIDICULOUS.  Actually "laugh out loud" funny.  I can't imagine these being tight at all, but I certainly remember the feeling.

Will be glad to ditch these pants for good!

I also remember trying on a pair of very cute yellow shorts in LA last March.  A teacher friend who was shopping with me (we were there for an education conference) encouraged me to try them on, and also to buy them.... I didn't.  I told her that I'd never be comfortable wearing them in public, even though she thought they looked good.  I knew what I WANTED them to look like on me, but I wasn't seeing it in the mirror.  Regardless, I took a picture.  Now, fast forward a year, and I've actually just purchased FOUR pairs of shorts.  This is crazy for me.  I finally feel good wearing them, and can walk around without being self-conscious (except for when they do that weird riding-up-in-the-crotch thing... this has to happen to other people too, right?).  Anyway, I am so very happy to finally be able to wear shorts and feel good!

Love my new shorts... $19 and fun, funky patterns/colours!

I take pictures of my scale when I weigh myself in the mornings so that I can track my weight over time.  The picture on the left was taken in January, which was after 9 pounds of weight loss - remember that I did reach 174.3 last June, and 175 was the highest weight I ever saw on the scale (although I may have actually been heavier than that in the picture with the yellow shorts).  Part of me wishes that I would have taken more pictures at my heaviest weight, and yet I understand why I didn't want to... I didn't like the way I looked, and I certainly didn't want to admit the number on the scale.  Either way, here's a noticeable difference of 26.5 pounds on my scale over the span of 4 months.

When Jeff and I went to Mexico in 2011, I had a stranger take the picture on the left.  We were at Xel-Ha for a day, and I had been snorkelling.  I wanted to record that memory, and it's one of the only shots of me in a bathing suit from that entire trip.  The picture on the right was taken about a week before we left for our Mexico 2013 trip.  I've lost almost another 10 pounds since that photo, although I'm not sure if it has made a significant change in the shape or size of my body, as I still think I look very similar to the photo on the right. (PS - I can't believe I'm posting this photo... but it's a good reminder for me of how far I've come!)

Mexico 2011 vs. Mexico 2013

And here's what I look like today - 138.8 pounds and feeling fantastic in my new clothes!