The Big Anniversary

Today is 5 years that I finished the big weight loss. Sometimes I'm amazed that I did it, that I stuck to it anyway. I had been pretty skinny through high school and when I first started college. I started to put the weight on in college but still not too bad, around the 170s-180s. Then in the next few years after that my weight just kept going up and up and up. I wanted so much to take it off and to feel like my old self again but it just always seemed like such a daunting task. Honestly it was a health issue that finally got me dieting. To get rid of it I cut out every bit of sugar and any kind of unrefined grain. By the time I got everything back under control, I had lost 25 lbs and figured why not keep going. I'm so so glad I did it. My health is so much better. My cholesterol is down, my blood pressure is down. I have PCOS and was completely anovulatory then so I wouldn't have my precious son if I hadn't lost the weight. I know it would be so easy to put it all back on again. I've fluctuated up and down since then. I gained and lost 30 lbs a year and a half ago, and I'm getting near the end of taking off the 20+ lbs I put on since last summer. I guess I'll probably do this for the rest of my life, but I'm okay with that. The only other thing I'd really love would be a tummy tuck. When I lost the weight, the skin never bounced back. And having a child after that hasn't helped, but that's something for another day.

Here are some before and after pictures. The first is from March of 1999 not long before I started the diet. The second is May of 2000, after I finished the diet. The third is yesterday with my favorite guy.







Edited to add - The big anniversary was commemorated by a celebratory free cone of chocolate therapy ice cream at Ben & Jerry's followed by a trip to Ann Taylor Loft where I bought two pairs of pants and a skirt. I swear it felt almost illicit, chocolate nirvana and new clothes for me and not Mr. B.