Friday, September 25, 2009

GOAL.

Today's weight: 157. A loss of 1.6 pounds! But more importantly... I HIT THE 90 POUND MARK! (and then some!)

The scale pic:



Started the journey May 2007. It's been a damn long haul, but worth it, obviously.

So what now? Well, I must confess, I'm not going to start maintenance quite yet. Between surpassing my goal by a pound and my recent plans to implement a new fitness routine and fine-tune my diet, I'd like to see if I can lose any more. Call me crazy, but I'm somewhat confident that by pushing my body a little harder and eating even cleaner, I could maybe knock out another pound... or five. I'll see how things go over the next month and work forward from there.

What's your reward? Unfortunately, my budget won't really allow for the type of big reward I was hoping to give myself (new clothes shopping spree, a trip, a jumbo gourmet cupcake, etc.). It leaves me a little bummed, but if I may be so old and wise and cheesy and shit, I've already been rewarded in so many ways. I've added years to my life, significantly reduced my risk of diabetes (take THAT family history!), I've become a runner, I've bought normal-sized clothes off of a clearance rack, I've built a whole new loving, respectable relationship with food and I just feel plain great. These are all things I never would have imagined accomplishing at 248 pounds.

Oh, and I suppose my super-short haircut was also a reward too, even though it was done pre-goal, heh.

ANYWHO, on to the before/after pics:

BEFORE, 248 pounds:



AFTER, 157 pounds:



I don't want to ramble, so I will just say thank you to EVERYONE who supported me through this. Your kind encouragement was greatly appreciated and I could not have done it without you.

And, although it's a cliché, if I can do this, you better believe that you can too. Make a promise to yourself. Be disciplined. Be selfish. Respect yourself and your goal. Seek out support from others, but always remember that only you can make the necessary diet and exercise changes to become a healthy individual.

Everybody has the ability to do this, it's just a matter of changing your attitude, taking responsibility for your actions and throwing any and all excuses out the window. Everyone deserves to be healthy, plain and simple. And it's NEVER too late to start, even if it's for the 100th time.

9 comments:

Leah @ L4L said...

Congrats! That's amazing!

Tamara said...

Thank you!

Anonymous said...

I am so proud of you. And look how thin you are. Holy crap. What do you see when you look at the comparison pics? Isn't that nuts? Were you ever as thin as you are now? Look at those collarbones. Mine were hiding under my fat. I love how prominent they are now. I'm glad you took a picture of the scale. I so wish I had a picture of the scale when I first started and showed the progression. I have lots of scale pics tho. I think I have some when I was in the 230s. Weird.

2 year and 4 months? That's fantastic. I am really rooting for you to keep on shedding a few more pounds. Don't maintain! Lose! :) If you start to waiver, think about me and how I gained back 20lbs after I stopped counting and just tried to eat healthy (which I obviously didn't).

I love your cheesy rewards, because it is so true. You don't need material things to reward yourself (altho they are nice). Buying clearance clothes of the rack is so awesome. I love being able to buy nice stuff for $3. I couldn't really do that before... remember when big girl clothes when on sale? What a joke! They were still not THAT cheap.

I love clichés too, because it is true. We're just normal people, doing this basically on our own, and it can be done. No matter what. It just takes some determination, motivation and using the right tools. I am re-starting everyotherday. I rule.

How do you feel when you hear people making excuses? I get annoyed. I am such a bitch. There is always something people can do to work around injuries, being broke, rushed for time...

In conclusion, you are amazing. I am so proud of you. And you have definitely re-inspired me to get my ass back in gear and shed these 10lbs that I keep losing, then gaining, then losing again.. oh and gaining again. I wasn't going to go for a run today but then I read about your accomplishment and it pushed me to go. Plus I figure I need to take advantage of the beautiful weather as long as I can, because before I know it, it will be -40C. YAY!

Tamara said...

I've never been as thin as I am now. Well, not since about age 7, anyway. This is my first time experiencing life as a normal sized gal. Ever.

And I will NOT miss big girl clothes, or their "sales." I remember paying up to $40 for a blouse. ONE BLOUSE! And it wasn't even anything fancy. Just something business-casual for work. Ugh. When I think about how much money I wasted on fat clothes (and how much debt I have now), it makes me so angry. Oh well. Those days are GONE.

Yeah, I get bitchy now when I hear excuses. Before, I was more sympathetic because I was still sorta in that mindset too, but I'm definitely less forgiving these days. Doug can vouch for this, haha. I'm always complaining to him when I hear/see people making excuses and bad choices.

And THANK YOU- Tina, you were (and still are) such an inspiration to me, right from the beginning. I'm so glad we've been able to share each others' progress! It's really made a difference for me, so please believe me when I say how grateful I am. More importantly, I'm glad I got you to get your ass outside for a run today :D

Anonymous said...

jello tamara,
bobcat sent the headsup on you and I'm so glad he did.
CONGRATS!!! remarkable acheivement..
Being 'calorie challanged' my whole life, the many qualities it required for your conquest leaves me in awe... YOU RULE.
Further, I know that no matter how great you look.. your hottness.. you will never exceed your internal beauty.
so now go out there tamara.. the world needs and is waiting for you.......
love and respect
motorcity

Tamara said...

Thanks for the kind words, Mike! So good to hear from you. Take care!

Ashley said...

Wow, you look amazing! Great job!

Dara Tucker said...

Heard your story on "Half Size Me" and was really inspired. I'm 20 lbs. into a 90 lb. journey myself, and I listened to your episode on one of my nightly jogs. I've espoused the "no excuses" rule for my workouts, and it's the best thing I could have done for myself. Much success to you in maintaining your loss!

Tamara said...

Thanks for listening, Dara! I always love to hear from others during their weight-loss efforts. Keep up with those workouts and best of luck; starting is always the hardest part and I'm proud of your success so far! Take care.