Looking through pictures of myself on Facebook is an interesting experience. I start off looking pretty foxy (if I do say so myself) as a high school graduate, but slowly a change starts to creep up on me.
Here I am as a hot little 18 year old.
You see, I gained the Freshman 15.Except in my case it turned into the College 50.
Murder Mystery night fun.
Mr. Avocado and I lived in the same building together for a year once before we started dating, and we don't have a single memory of each other during that time. I suspect it was because I was overweight and unhappy and lacking in confidence. It wasn't until after I had pneuomonia and moved home for 9 months that I finally made a change.
I had participated in lots of fad diets with my Mom in high school and after taking nutrition 101 in college I realized that I didn't want to be harming myself anymore. I decided I wanted to make a lifestyle change. I would be more active, and revolutionize my eating habits.
I have finally lost enough weight now that I am able to look at these photos. It has taken me a long time to accept what I used to look like.
I started using a calorie tracking program called Fitday, attempting to measure every single calorie that went into my body. My parents live out in the middle of nowhere and so it wasn't hard to avoid eating out. I was working on getting myself out of debt at the time and I began to see the similarities between calorie counting and bank accounting.
I thought about it this way: Your caloric intake is a lot like a bank account. When you have money, there are no rules about what you can spend it on, just the rule that if you spend more money than you have, you will incur a fee. It's the same idea with nutrition. You spend your calories by consuming them, you make investments for the future by making healthy choices, and the fees you incur are on your mind every day in the form of cellulite and stretch marks.
I focused on investing in protein, complex carbohydrates, and as much fiber as possible. I avoided saturated fat and refined carbs like the plague. Since the photos above were taken I have lost almost 50 lbs (using Fitday on and off). It has taken over 2 years to do it, but I enjoy doing it the right way. I feel happier, healthier, and have so much more confidence.
When I showed Mr. Avocado the photos below, he was shocked. The photo on the left is the night that I told him we either had to date or stop "hanging out". The photo on the right is last month when we were in Mexico. It's hard to believe that I was able to achieve such visible results in just 15 months.
As of today, I am still about 15 lbs away from my original wedding weight goal. Unless I crack down and make the last few pounds my focus before the wedding it's looking like I might not get to exactly where I wanted to be. It's hard not to look at gorgeous bride after bride who look to be a size 0 and think "I won't be happy with myself unless I look exactly like that on my wedding day."
The thing I keep reminding myself is that I am the product of my own actions. I've worked incredibly hard to get myself to where I am today, and I have to be patient if I want to do this right. I hope I haven't come to the end of this journey yet, but it sure feels good to be here, right now.
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