Confessions of a former fattie

A year or two ago, I was glancing at old pictures of the young me in a family album. Besides the embarassment of my former incredible awkwardness, I was shocked to notice that I used to be quite thin. Lanky even (but that might be because I was so incredibly awkward). So I asked myself the age old question: WHAT. HAPPENED.

University happened. Those years, for a million different reasons, were my cow-in-a-pasture years. Getting all fattened up. Then I graduated in December and I won't lie, I was 40lbs heavier than my pre-university weight. Sure, I've had people tell me "you can't expect to weight what you did at 18" or "it's because you're so tall" or even "you don't look that big". Well in December, it all kinda felt like excuses. Let me throw in the disclaimer here that I don't think curvy women are ugly or gross or anything. My friend and I watched the following commercial about 50 times wishing we could look like that:

But that isn't me. With my extra 40lbs, I felt sluggish, uncomfortable in my clothes, and very self-conscious. Not curvacious and sexy like Ashley Graham in the commercial there. Also I'm sure Ashley Graham gets up three flights of stairs without dying. In December, I couldn't.

Then my very fabulous, fitspirational friend Tara posted this picture with the caption "a year in jeans":

That would be size 14 jeans and size 6 jeans, if you're blind. And she's a 4 now.

It just BLEW. MY. MIND. If she could do it while raising two young (adorable) children, being a wife, and working/studying, what was my excuse as a single, recently graduated girl?

And really, that was it. From one day to the next, I went from eating crap and doing nothing to tracking all my calories and macros (proteins, carbs, and fat), hitting the gym 6 days a week, and drinking the recommended amount of water per day.

I'm now 33lbs down, but muscled up! I'm able to make better nutritional choices, though really I prefer to track everything because as a person suffering from mild OCD, I actually kinda enjoy it. I took up running and am now prepping for a half-marathon in October (more on running later). I had a trainer draw me up a strength training plan too and I now have the best biceps I've ever had.

I got my confidence back (and my smaller clothes!) and I feel a lot healthier (bonus: my skin looks like I live in a spa). Now it's a patience thing. Because, like my bestie Eddie put it when I asked him how long this would all take (he's basically my personal trainer/nutritionist/life coach), "It's gonna take your whole life."