Getting There

Normally I don't like to share my weight loss journey.  Mostly because I am a miserable failure at it.  However, I was asked to speak at our WW meeting this week and to bring in a before picture, just to show the change. It took me a long time to find a picture of me that showed exactly how big I had become.  I have over 10,000 pictures on a portable hard-drive and very few of them had me in it.  Besides me being the one that takes the pictures, that should tell a little bit of the story.  I had mentioned to one of my good friends about my little talk.  She asked me to send her the before pictures as well as an after.  I told her nope!  I hadn't taken an "After" picture.  Her exact reply was the following:  "I haven't seen you in a long time!  Stand in front of the mirror and take a damn selfie."  I didn't.  I waited until the next day and had my co-worker Anna take the shot for me.  Here are the pictures:


Picture on Left is May of 2012, it is included because it is one of the few pictures I had that really showed what I looked like before I started.  Middle picture is 2 days after starting WW, the heaviest I have ever been.  Picture on the right is where I am at now.  It wasn't until I actually compared the pictures that I could see a difference in me.

This, well, this is my story:  (So far)
As most of you know, I have been up and down for years.  Weight loss has been a total yo-yo for me.  I have a big event coming up, or a trip planned and I would lose weight for it.  But after said event was over, slowly, I would return to my old ways of eating.  Well, after my last cruise in 2010, I returned to my old ways.  This was then compounded with a very difficult time for me at my work.  Because of what I was experiencing I stopped going to the gym in the mornings (instead using that 2 hour gym time to get an additional 2 hours of work done) and my eating habits were worse than they had ever been. 
After quitting that job--and not having another to go to--I was pretty down on myself and watching what I ate was not even in the cards.  I had never let myself go quite like this.  I figured once I had a job I could start worrying about me again.  That didn't happen.  Then this last year during hunting season, I don't know if I even walked more than 30 feet off the road.  Which is unlike me, I usually go 60.  That isn't true, but you get the picture.  I knew something had to change and soon!  I could not give up on hunting, that had always been one of my favorite activities and I loved spending time with my brothers!  Not to mention, I knew I was bigger than I had ever been, EVER!
Well, I knew the local WW meeting was on Monday evenings, so I made the decision I was going to go and not say a word to anyone else.  I figured I could do it all on my just by going to the WW meeting.  I started off with a bang and then quickly slowed for the holiday season.  But for the first time in I don't know how long, I didn't have a huge gain during the Holidays.  But I still was not yet fully committed.  Until I received that call that told me I was a diabetic.  That made me put things right in my mind and I decided to be serious. 
Admittedly, this has been the most I have struggled with my weight loss.  But, because I have had to work harder than I ever have before, it means more.  And this time, I am not doing it for a big event, I am doing it for me.  As of today, I am down 72 pounds.  Which is just a good start!  I have more to go and I will continue to work at it, one day at a time.