I’ve done it! I’ve finally lost 15 Kg (or for those of you metric measurers, 33 lb).
It has been a long journey, although honestly, not as hard as I expected it to be. I think it is going to be harder to maintain motivation levels now that I know the battle is won.
Here are before, during and after photos
This photo was taken in August last year. I hadn’t started gym yet, and at the time the photo was taken, I had no desire to exercise either. I was actually quite comfortable in my little (well large), round body. I was very happy (evident from the smile on my face) when this photo was taken – I was with my mom and Aunty Carol for a girls’ weekend in Cape Town. On this specific day, a special friend, Jakes, joined us for a visit to BouldersBeach (it’s a sanctuary for African Penguins). Now as I look at it, I am actually appalled that I let myself go to the extent I did.
This photo was taken about two weeks after I joined the gym. A few friends and I took a hike to the local dam. (FLTR: Ilayna, Liza, Elizabeth and I.) Everything is board-walked, but it is downhill all the way to the dam and a very steep uphill all the way back! I was huffing and puffing my lungs out by the time we got back to the car.
In November last year I was invited to a Moulin Rouge evening at a gallery owned by a friend. By then I hadn’t lost much, but my face does seem slightly less round in this photo 🙂
As time progressed a number of people who also go to the gym, but whom I don’t know from Joe (or Josephine) Soap would approach me and tell me that they’ve noticed the change, even though I couldn’t really see a difference, I could feel it on my clothes. Every second month, there would be an improvement on my fitness evaluation and I felt so incredibly proud. I couldn’t wait to get home and share my stats on Facebook.
I had my most recent evaluation this past Wednesday – in some areas I showed an improvement, in others a regression, but all things considered (being away for a week and not able to gym, and being booked off sick for always three weeks with the damn flu), I did damn well. In two months time I turn 33, and my next evaluation will be round then too. But as I am now, don’t I look damn good?
I’m feeling a great deal more confident and enjoying the fun of shopping for clothes that highlight the new, slimmer me. My mental attitude has changed a great deal too – I feel a lot more positive about life and I’m seeing the beauty in the small things that are so often taken for granted, like this morning’s sunrise.
Reflections of a Misfit 