Before and During.

Alright. I've been promising it for months. Finally, here you go. This is what happens when you decide to change your life and get fit. This is what happens when you take your sophomore year of college and lose 35 pounds.

Some people may not like that I'm baring myself, but truthfully, the honesty I've had making myself vulnerable with my words on this blog has been much more embarrassing and scary than showing ya'll what I look like in a swim suit.

Cuz let's be real, I've gone out in public wearing both these swimsuits now. The only embarrassment is that I ever let myself get as fat as I was there only 9 months ago. Here's to progress! Here's to being proud of what you make of yourself.

1. Being tan never makes up for being fat (unless you ask the stylists for all the Biggest Loser finale episodes. In which case, spray tan orange, spanx, and changing your hair to the opposite color makes up for still being fat. I'm just ripping on them because I hate how fake everyone looks after. Okay, rant over). Although I certainly tried last summer. No apologies for looking like a porcelain doll right now. That is not my focus.
2. Look at the difference in my posture. I intentionally tried to stand how I usually stand... The past two weeks I've been going to the chiropractor and less back pain has equaled better posture. And I mean, when you're proud of yourself, you carry yourself differently.
3. Some people might be like, OOOH, SHE'S SUCKING IN! Well, I'm not. I am holding myself how I think I normally do, with someone tight abs. But I'm not sucking in. K? K.
4. Raising my arm to show the figure may have slightly altered the smoothness of my belly... but not much. What you see is what you get. still some pudge. Still a ways to go. But I'm on my way. :)

I share this not to boast, but to try and do a few things

1. Encourage you if you're on this journey too. Or even thinking of starting. Dedication, determination, and finding the right resources and support system... it's the only way to go. And I'm more than willing to encourage you ever step of the way. :) Just ask :)
2. Show that eating well and doing diverse workouts for not even a year can drastically change your health and wellness. I feel amazing right now. AMAZING. I didn't starve myself, I didn't take diet pills. I ate nutritiously (sometimes falling off the band wagon, but always getting back on, thanks really due to the people around me who encourage me to never give up!), and working out--walking, running, swimming, whatever. 
3.  I didn't want to show one horrid pic and then one perfect pic when I've hit my goal weight. I want to show that there is a journey and there are plateau's and they look something like this. Fitness and health isn't a before and after. But comparing the effects of a scary old lifestyle with a new, improved one--that's what's worth sharing something like this.
4. To make a statement--not that both bodies are beautiful, blah blah... Cuz honestly, I don't think the body on the left is "beautiful." I see a pretty girl who felt full of fried food and self-doubt. That's not lovely. But the potential that resides within both pictures is what got me across the finish line of my 5k's and the triathlon. It's what's alongside me training for the Peachtree Road Race and making plans for my first half marathon and next triathlon. It doesn't matter to me how beautiful I am--though sometimes I feel insecure and buy into it--what matters to me is the joy I feel in life. And feeling strong... that brings me joy.

If you want to change your life--start today. Start now. Don't wait to become something or someone... be that way now.

Much love, my friends. Much love.

EDIT: because after posting this on fb I got a lot of positive feedback, I felt encouraged to go ahead and post a few more. :)