Just a girl with Celiac Disease going from Fat to Fit

Current Weight: 265
I saw my family many for the first time since the holidays yesterday. Everyone told me how good I looked and while it was nice hearing compliments, the photos made me realize how far I still have to go.
When I pose for pictures for an internet photo or profile shot I get the opportunity to stand up straight, suck in my belly and hold my head up to reveal my jaw. Playing with kids, sitting on a park with a "look here" followed by a *flash* doesn’t provide that oppertunity. 
85 pounds down from my highest weight feels like so much. Yet I’m only 1/2 way to the "under 200lbs" first-goal-weight. My 1/2 way marker is more weight to lose than most peoples total weight loss goals. It’s funny how it took losing over 80 lbs to realize how fat I really was.
I looked back to other family visits over the last few years and decided to share some of progress shots. 
2006: Heaviest- 350 lbs.  
  
(Sister, Grandma, Me, Mother)
2009: At this point, I’d been exercising, "dieting", but losing very little weight for 3 years.
I even HAD the chance to pose. But no amount of stretching my chin, lifting my head or smiling could make that double chin go away!



 (I think of my sister as how I *should* look)

 2010: 320 lbs. Down 30 lbs from my highest but making no progress. I’d figured out on my own that eating wheat was correlated to making me sick, so I’d stopped eating. But the "test" for Celiac had come back negative, so I never completely stopped. I’d have a slice of pizza here, and a piece of bread there. Enough to keep my stomach from healing, but not enough to show up on "tests". The pictures on this day, coupled with a miserable plane ride after pizza, pasta, and essentially a gluten-binge in New York City made me really re-think my life. I *knew* the wheat was making me sick, even if the doctor didn’t.


Yesterday: 265 lbs. 85 lbs total loss. 55 since joining myfitnesspal in October. Gluten-Free since finally receiving Celiac diagnosis in January 2011. 



I still have a lot of work ahead of me, but knowing I’m on the right road and I’m getting healthier each day sure feels great.