A Big Fat Reality Check

I was thinking about the post I will write when I reach my Weight Watchers goal. I'm getting close. Really close. I may choose to go further, but that's another post entirely.

I started looking in our files for a "before" picture, as that seems appropriate. Given that I had basically banished any cameras from my presence for the last few years and any of the sneaky buggers that managed to snap a picture of me were immediately destroyed in a shower of hellfire, there were very, very few pictures of me in my "before" years.

Last night we had friends over for a dinner party (oooh, aren't we fancy) and one of our guests brought a flash drive with some photos from their wedding last August. There was one of me, that I obviously did not know was being taken or the photographer would have been shot (pardon the pun) on site. I was 7.5 months pregnant and it was a freakishly hot day so there was some swelling going on, but I can't really blame that. I can't really even blame the fact that I was pregnant, as I only gained 16lbs during my last pregnancy. Yes, the belly was pregnancy-related, and boobs too to some extent, but the arms, chins, and general width were all mine. I introduce you to my "before" picture:

I mentioned in an earlier post that I really didn't have a clear image of what I looked like before I started this weight loss journey and new lifestyle. Even Mr. Awesome couldn't really remember as he's spent almost every day with me during the gradual changes. When he showed me the picture he thought there must have been some stretching or the photographer must have been using a "funny lens." He didn't remember me looking like that and neither did I, but there I was, almost one year ago exactly, in all my glory.

I knew I looked different now because people I haven't seen in a while are always surprised to see me, but I didn't fully comprehend just how far I'd come.

This is me today. I'm the same person, but at the same time a very different person. It's weird to think back to how I felt then. I was happy with my life but not my body. I'm now stronger, I'm healthier, I got my waist back, I can jog and climb stairs without getting winded... I don't think anyone is ever 100% happy with their body, but now I'm a hell of a lot closer.

And when they invent a magic pill that gets my boobs back up to where they used to be, I'll be that much closer again. But that's fodder for another day's writing.