My Weight Loss Story | Health and Fitness.

Hello everyone, 

This post is a little bit different as I wanted to write about my weight loss, I'm still in plus sized clothing, being a size 16, but I'm in such a healthier state both physically and mentally and well I'm just proud of myself for being able to achieve something I never thought was possible so this post is mainly for me to look back at to inspire myself to not give up because I refuse to become the person I once was. If this inspires or motivates anyone else then that's just a bonus!

I have always been an overweight child and on/off diets for the majority of my life, but nothing worked. From the ages 9-15 I was always humiliated to go to school as I was so much bigger than everyone else, which I found embarrassing, this led me to refusing to eat around people and I developed a little eating disorder, which I managed to hide quite well, where I would starve myself all day then binge at home on all the horrible foods. There was even a point in my life that I thought making myself sick would be the answer and help me lose weight, I was clearly wrong and now I have a little fear of myself or anyone throwing up as it makes me rewind to the dark days of battling my weight. 

It wasn't until I got to 16 that I started accepting the fact that I was bigger and I could either hide away or embrace it. Now getting into a state of mind that I was okay with my weight was hard because the truth is I was never okay with it, and even now there are days that I wish I could be smaller, but on the outside no one knew how much it all bothered me.

Towards the end of February 2015 I went through a real tough patch, suffering through a breakup and then my grandad passing away a matter of weeks after..it was shit to say the least. I'm the type of person who would rather eat my feelings than open up and and try and talk through my problems, which causes a lot of added weight as I would eat nothing but junk food because I thought that would be the answer to my sadness. 3 weeks later and probably over a stone in weight had been added that's when one day I woke up and just thought fuck this. I hated myself. So from that day I went into a strict eating regime and then when I got down to a comfortable weight I started going to Zumba with my friend, that's when the weight really started to fall off me. 

Once I started going to Zumba classes twice a week I found out that I loved exercising because of the rush you get afterwards and I find myself being much more happier once I've an hour at the gym as I get rid of all my frustrations of the day in a much more constructive way. 

As I said I had really strict eating habits at the beginning of losing weight, now I'm a bit more relaxed with it as I go to the gym a lot more now but I still eat a little under 1400 calories a day. For breakfast I would have porridge with fruit or a vegetable smoothie, lunch would be a chicken or a prawn salad, and dinner would be chicken or fish with a minimum of 3 vegetables. I cut out bread, pasta and rice completely as they make me bloat so I didn't want any risk of ballooning up again..and for a treat I would allow myself one small glass of Diet Coke, I was WILD! Now my eating habits haven't changed that drastically but I will allow myself carbs if they're brown, no whites for me! But soon I'll be back on strict eating to help shift this weight, as last year I lost roughly 3 stone..I stopped weighing myself as I became obsessed. The lightest weight I got down to was 14st 3lb, and I need to get back to that and a little bit more to go! Everyone talks about a goal weight but I still have no idea how far I want to go, ultimately I'd like to get to a dress size 12 and see what I look like as for me losing weight is to make me happier and to look shit hot..but I do it all for me so if I get to a 14 and think I look good then I'll just maintain that. I want to look healthy, not skinny.

Being proud of myself I found my most hated photo from when I was 13/14 and put it next to, what was, my current self at the time. I haven't gained that much weight from this image, thankfully, but I uploaded this to my personal facebook account and gained so much support in the comments and people I haven't spoke to in years congratulating me on my weight loss. 

First Image: Age 13/14, Size 20/22, 18st (ish).
Second Image: Age 19, Size 16, 14st 3lb.

I have about 7 pounds to go until I'm back at my lightest so I'm hoping to shift that in the next few weeks. For anyone wanting to lose weight I would say don't go for the crazy diets, just cut out all the bad things and exercise at least twice a week and you'll find the weight fall off, and don't give up. The best thing I read a while a go that keeps me motivated is "Strive for progress, not perfection" and I live by that quote because no matter where I get to I'll still find imperfections so as long as I'm seeing a progress I know I'm doing something right.

Hope you all enjoyed this post, stay positive!