I started last year before Thanksgiving at 280 lbs, and in total have lost 110 lbs since then. I've been stalled at my current weight for a few months now, but I continue to lose inches and recently got into a size 12 skirt that I've been dying to wear, so I keep on plugging away at it.

I caught some guy staring at me the day I wore that skirt, too, and at first I was all embarassed because my immediate reaction is that he's staring because I'm fat, but then he grinned at me and I realized he was staring because he thought I looked good- that was a new thing for me and it made me feel great. I've never been what I considered "pretty" so it's amazing to feel like other people think I am.

Aside from looking better, though, is how much better I feel. I'm proud instead of ashamed. I can do so many things I never thought I was capable of. I make right, healthy food choices without even thinking about it. I'm confident to order substitutions for carby foods while eating out without feeling like I am being "weird." I talk to strangers without panicking! I can sit in booths when I go out with friends without having to eyeball the thing and wonder if I will fit first. I don't have to shop in the fat girl section anymore. I can walk to my mailbox without being so out of breath I think I'll die. I don't have to exclude myself from social activities because I'm too big to sit in the seats, or too out of shape to participate in what others want to do. Last week I got on an airplane and I was worried about having to adjust the seatbelt in front of all those people but I had to tighten it from the last person who sat there!

I love no longer being the fattest person at every family gathering. I love having let go of always just being "the fat girl." There is so much more to me now that it's not overshadowed by that one defining characteristic. Other people take more interest in who I am instead of how I look.

I can wear cute clothes!

I'm just rambling, but having lost so much weight has changed my life in so many wonderful ways. I really couldn't be happier with being so much healthier. I'm still going, but it's no longer a struggle, it's just ordinary to eat the way I do. That makes me happy as well.