30 Pounds Lost (!)

This semester has been REALLY good to me. Honestly I feel amazing. I feel like in this small amount of time that I've been living on my "own" that I've really grown and have tried to become better in multiple areas of my life. I know there's always room for improvement, but I feel great about what I've accomplished this semester.

I've had a lot of ups and down with my weight since Christian and I got married 2 1/2 years ago. I think that weight is a sensitive topic, and I think women are beautiful in all shapes and sizes. But for me, being overweight has made me feel terrible. Not necessarily self-esteem wise (though I hated looking in the mirror for a while), but physically and health-wise, I felt terrible. I had back pain and my eating habits used to be atrocious. Since I've lost this weight, I feel a million times better.

I was always skinny in high school  (I'm 5'11" and wore a size 4 my senior year in high school), and even when I got married I was only about 10-12 pounds heavier than I was in high school.

Since our wedding, I've gained weight, lost it, then gained much MUCH more weight than before. 

Now I'm on the road to losing it again, and am determined to never gain it back.

I know some people struggle with weight like I do, and I know some people who can eat whatever they want as stay thin as a rail.

My goal isn't necessarily to be stick-thin. I want to be healthy, I want to feel good and know that I'm making healthy exercise and eating choices. 

This semester I lost 30 POUNDS and I can't believe I reached my goal (ahead of schedule too!). I still have 15 pounds to go to reach my goal weight (what I weighed when I got married), but I reached my goal for the semester and I feel amazing. I worked really hard and have completely changed my eating habits (smaller portions, healthier, less processed foods, and only a little dessert every once and a while) and exercise habits. For good.

Here are some pictures from my weight loss journey. You might not be able to tell a huge difference, but for me, 30 pounds has changed me in a lot of ways. 

The before pictures is from this summer, and the after is from this morning. :)

Here are a few more "before" pictures. They are honestly hard for me to look at (I'm cringing).

Thanks for letting me share. I just was too excited not to!