R3P2D37/43 -- Photo Flashback

May 25, 2012

Round 3 (R3), Phase 2 (P2) Very Low Calorie Day (VLCD) 37 of 43

Since it's almost Memorial Day weekend, I thought I'd spend this blog "memorializing" my old weight.  "Uh, why?" you may ask.  Because it's encouraging to remember the old weight and how I'm shrinking ... I actually am.  That's nice.  And, it's helpful when, like this morning, the scale goes up an entire pound when I didn't do anything "off protocol." 

Now, keep in mind ... I am not sharing these pictures because I thought I was or am anything spectacular.  Just that it is a journal of my progress, so why not have some pics every now and then.  Sometimes, they are worth a thousand words.

1994, Summer

This is me, at my smallest adult weight.  It's during (what I unaffectionately call) "my bar days."  18 months of dancing every night, drinking, smoking (yep, I know) and hardly eating anything during the day, except for iced tea and whoppers.  Yes, I loved junk food all of my life.  I'm right there in the middle to the left of the guy in the red/blue flannel. 

Maybe you can see me better here (sorry, Mom, I know you probably don't like seeing these pictures).  I only show them because THAT'S the weight I want to beat.  I have 63.4 pounds to lose to surpass that time in my life.  It's the only thing about that time that I enjoy.  It's right before I started back to Bradley after realizing, "I do NOT want this life."  Little did I know, then, that the only thing from that life I wanted was my body size (not my eating/life habits).

  

2003 (Summer)
Here is a grainy picture of me (with my friend Kate and my sister) around the time I lost 30 pounds on my 2nd round of Weight Watchers.  I think I was right around what I weigh now.:

July 27, 2005
Not my highest weight, but close.  I'm at a work farewell function -- notice, I'm hiding behind the table?  That's a major technique of the obese.  We think we can hide people people or things and the picture will turn out okay.  

July 14, 2011
Here's a rare torso shot from last year.  I'm at the Harry Potter 8th movie premiere (hence the shirt & the HP glasses.  I believe this was my highest weight.  I hovered here for several years, so give or take a few pounds, this is my highest.  

November 19, 2011
Here I am (after Round 1 Phase 2 just ended) with my friend JoEllen's Dad (at her daughter's wedding).  Man, when I saw these pictures, I couldn't believe how big I still was.  I'm happy to say, this dress fits me like a tent now (30 pounds off of my highest weight):

May 8, 2012 (not May 14, 2008, as the photo says)
Here I am on my planned break (almost at the end of Round 3 Phase 2) with my Gram on her 98th birthday.   In these photos, I am 66 pounds down.  Still a long way to go (almost 1/2 way there).  Still big.  Still obese.  Getting smaller little by little.

Head Shot Comparisons

August 3, 2011
Pretty much, my highest weight.  About 2 weeks later, I started investigating hHCG.  I started hHCG on October 17, 2011.

 

December 27, 2011
Here I am almost ready to start Round 2 (I was just finishing up R1P4) at 33 pounds off. 

March 31, 2012

Here I am almost ready to start Round 3 (I was just finishing up R2P4) at 51 pounds off.  

May 24, 2012

Here I am last night, almost done with R3 P2, down 74 pounds.  I'm almost done with Round 3.  I wish now that I had taken a true before and after.  But, oh well.  I realize this isn't a full body or upper torso picture, but, I think my face looks a little different.  Maybe it's the lighting.



So, I'm moving into the last week of P2 in R3.  By this time next week, I'll be in the protein (P3) phase.  I've been thinking I should go into it now, since it's cookout season with Memorial Day weekend, but nah.  I'll stick it out.  Why not see where my Last Dosage Weight (LDW) day (next Tuesday) takes me on the scale.  Then, I'll ride out Wednesday and Thursday without the hHCG drops and go into P3 the way I should -- living up to my promise to myself.  Honestly, if I quit now (which, for a moment on the scale this morning, I thought, "Okay, you're up a pound, quit now"), I'll only be 2.4 pounds lower than I was when I was SUPPOSED to end P2 on May 1.  All of this work for only 2.4 pounds?  No thanks.  If you'll remember, I did the Planned Break (my first, and hopefully last) the week I was on vacation (Gram's b-day, Mom's day, etc.) so I could get back to it and end P2 with more weight loss than my short little 23 day Round gave me.  Well, I gained a chunk (pun intended) in that break (which is normal, because on a break, you can't stabilize like you do normally), and all of the success (most of it) that I've had so far has been to get that weight off.  And, off it came.  I'm praising God for that!  And then, a little more came off.  But, not where I want to be.  I'm really wanting to drop 2.5 more pounds (at the least) to get me into that "old" decade where I haven't been since August 2001.  Come on new decade!

Fortunately, in the last week alone, I've had many non-scale victories.  For example, I drove my friend Linda and her Mom to Wisconsin (taking her Mom home after a week with Linda and the fam) on Sunday -- all day -- and was around some of my triggers (I LOVE road trip food).  I didn't mind.  Yes, every once in a while on the trip, I'd think about something that I'd love to eat (all of that greasy truck stop stuff), like a Whopper (a staple on a road trip), or ice cream, etc.  But, I resisted.  I drank a TON of liquid (some diet soda, I'll admit), but I made it.  First time in my life.  I even packed my own lunch and dinner.  All good.

Another non-scale victory came last night.  My Dad and step-Mom wanted me to come to a later dinner with them after his choir concert was done.  We went to Applebee's and had a lovely time.  It was 10 pm, I drank about 4 diet cokes (probably attributed to my 1 pound weight gain because of the sodium), and I don't care!  I didn't eat anything, and I was happy about it.

And, another -- 4 (count them, FOUR) instances at work this week of fritters/donuts, strawberry shortcake, sandwiches and caramels being put around me, and 2 (yes TWO) lunch invites with the large team to places like Buffalo Wild Wings, etc.  Guess who passed up all of those?  Yep, you know who.

So, at this point, I don't care what the scale says.  I'm changing from the inside out.  And that rocks.  Thank you, Lord!