My Inspiration Picture

Diane, over at Fit to the Finish, recently posted her “Inspiration Picture” and the story behind it. She wrote:

I knew I couldn’t look exactly like that picture again, but it served as a reminder of the old Diane who had gotten lost under the layers of fat and whose self esteem was in the toilet. Every time I saw that picture I was reminded of how healthy and fit I used to be. I was reminded that the old Diane wasn’t gone forever. I was filled with hope.

She issued a challenge for us to post our own inspiration picture, so here is mine:

This photo was taken around 94/95 right before I found out I was pregnant with my first child. I weighed around 160 in this picture which was my smallest weight as an adult, so that is why it’s the one major milestone I am really looking forward to achieving. I remember how happy I was to have gotten down to 160 after losing around 30 lbs, and then I got pregnant and never did get back down to that weight. I just kept getting bigger and bigger. So that’s why even though I want to ultimately reach 135, my magical number is 160. That’s the number that will get me giddy as a school girl. The number that will make me want to jump up and down and wake my husband up with joy. The number where I can finally say “I did it!” instead of “I want to do it.”

Earlier tonight I was looking through some of my old diaries from when I was 11, 12, and 13 and I couldn’t believe how many times I wrote that I needed to lose weight, or that I was starting a diet, or more emotional things, like how I was teased for my weight, or how little I thought about myself because of my weight. (More on that in a future post) It’s always been an issue for me, even when it shouldn’t have been. Like Robin, I always thought I was fat, even when I really wasn’t. I look at this photo now and sure, I was overweight, but nowhere near the obese monster I thought I was at the time. Oh, what I wouldn’t do to look like that again!

Thanks Diane for inspiring us to look for and post these pictures. It’s a MUCH better idea than posting our fattest picture. I’d much rather be motivated to something rather than from it.