Fat to not so fat

I was fat, there is no way around it. I loved to blame the kids on it, but really, they are 13 and 10, how long can you keep pushing that off on them and not take some responsibility? About 4 years ago, I lost 50lbs, I didn't do anything to loose it except pay for Nutri-system meals, and maybe walk a bit. Once I stopped eating their food, I put it all back on, even added a few pounds just for good measure...sigh. I was working from home, which means eating what ever I wanted when ever I wanted and not having to move much, except from my bedroom to the office and maybe downstairs to get more food. And for reasons only God knows, the company I worked for no longer needed me, I got laid off. So, I went back to school and got my CNA. I desperately wanted a job in a hospital, unfortunately, it is very rare for a hospital to give a job to a brand spanken new CNA, so, I applied to be a patient transporter.

I got the job, so for 8 hours a day 5 days a week, I push, pull and transfer people from one spot in the hospital to another. This was not a job for an overweight, out of shape, old woman. The first pair of pants they gave me were a size 22, and I couldn't even button those, how embarrassing. I started walking at work, and after about a month, I could almost button the pants, whoo hoo. There were women at work that actually ate healthy, and I decided I can do that, I can eat fruit and salads, and food that is not fried to death. I decided I wanted to start walking during the week, on my days off. I gave myself a goal 10lbs per month, pretty ambitious I admit, but I figured I could do it.

There were plenty of nights I went to sleep hungry, and listened to my stomach make noise, just to fill it up with water. The weight started to come off, those pants I couldn't button started to get baggy, my jeans were no longer my jeans, they were now called my clown pants by my husband. I was walking more than just a mile, I started adding more, I was up to about 5 miles when I stalled with the weight loss. I was driving home one day and the high school was getting out, the cross country runners were practicing, and I remembered how it was to run and decided I want to do that again. I ran cross country in high school, I wasn't very impressive, but I got my behind out there and did it, so I figured I can do that again, start slow and work your way up. So one mile at a time, I started running. I ran my first 5K since high school, and it felt good.

Back to the fat becoming less. The new work pants started getting baggy too, they are now a size 16, and I was told by one of my co-workers, "I look like a 10 year old girl wearing my big brothers clothes". I agree, they are crazy ridiculous, but I have some more to go before I buy new ones. I know many woman who don't want to say what they weigh, but here goes, full disclosure, I started at 210lbs in March 2011, as of 4:30am today I weigh 145lbs. I am not longer shy about it. I would like to get to 130lbs, but we will see. Below are some pictures, so of me really fat, weighing more than I know because I wouldn't get on a scale, and some from when I was a little smaller.