Progress photos: The dreaded bikini photo-in-the-mirror, I'm-not-where-I-want-to-be-yet-but-I'm-getting-there shot...

So before I address today's topic, I'd just like to say I ABHOR the pictures people take of themselves in the mirror.  I mean, c'mon - just how narcissistic can some people get?!!?!

But this isn't about narcissism, it's about humility.  I so truly wish I had taken photos of my body before I embarked on this journey, but I didn't for two reasons:  The first was that I couldn't bear to see on film just how far I had to go.  There is something strange about looking at a 3D reflection of yourself in a mirror versus a 2D shot in a photograph.  Somehow the photograph seems to be more telling of how you truly look.  At least that's how I feel like it is.  Anyhow, the second reason I didn't take "before" photos was because I have tried "dieting" so many times in the past, and failed miserably within the first 2 weeks, that I thought it would be stupid to try to be "all official" with this particular stint at dieting only to watch it fall to the wayside just like everything else I've tried to be official about in the past.  Once I realized that I was going to make an honest effort at this diet/fitness program (about 3 weeks in, when I started logging my weight/body fat stats), I wasn't ready to potentially sabotage my efforts by, again, taking photos of my body and being discouraged by how awful I looked.  Ignorance was my best tool at ensuring I stay motivated.  But my advice to people just starting out is this - if I could go back and do it again, I would take "Before" picutres at the very beginning (and measurements!!!) and just not look at them.  I could have easily done that on my digitial camera on a spare memory card and if I failed, delete the photos without ever looking at them.  I really wish I had done that.

In any event, I did dig up some photos from years past which give an indication of how soft I had become (in addition to those I already posted HERE):


First of all, THIS IS A COSTUME!! It was for a friend's birthday party and the theme was "80s disaster".  I am heinously wide in this photo - at least, to my mind.  I was playing in 5 highly competitive soccer leagues at the date of this photo (2008ish) and going to the gym 6 days a week, but I'd only do cardio, no weights.  And my diet was abysmal.

This photo was from May 2009 and it horrifies me.  I know it doesn't look bad perhaps, but again, I was working out 6 days a week.  This is the type of image that illustrates what I mean when I say, "My body didn't reflect the effort I was putting into it."  I was about 150lbs in this photo, no muscle.  All I would do is hours of cardio at the gym, on the elliptical, the same speed and the same difficulty level, 6 days a week.

Took this photo in August 2009 just before a volleyball tournament (I was a spectator, never had played the sport at the time of this pic).  There are two things to keep in mind in pic - the first is that I took this photo and kept it because I thought I looked AMAZING in it.  That was helped in part by my hands cupping my hips (aka MASSIVE muffin top) and hiding them, giving the appearance of a more trimmed figure, and also pushing the fat forward a little to create an illusion as though I had the beginning of ab definition in my upper obliques.  This is the only surviving front-on photo I have of myself prior to starting my training program.  And while it is 3 years old, trust me when I say I hadn't changed much - I was the exact same weight and size when I started this time around.

So, now that THAT embarrasment is done, I can get to a little bit of "light at the end of the tunnel / there's hope for the future" pictures.  These pictures I'm about to share are still difficult for me to view, because they confirm, as I suspected, that I'm nowhere near where I want to be.  But they DO reflect results.  And those results translate into hope for me.  And on a broader scale, I realize that I should be enjoying these photos now, because all they represent is a former version of myself that won't be around much longer.  They are pictures that I will one day share without shame, but rather pride, because how I will eventually look, won't be anything like how I do in these.  And I can relish in the fruits of my hard labor, and will use these photos to motivate people to undertake the same steps I did, to achieve the body I never knew I was capable of until I tried.

(ps, I'm a goof ball.  For all the ensuing progress photos that I'll be sharing on this blog, I can assure you cross-eyed monkey faces will be used in all of them :D)

The following sequence of photos were taken on April 8th / the last day of Week 10

The following sequence of photos were taken on May 6th / end of Week 14

So, there you have it.  I'm a real-life blogger on a real-life mission with real-life evidence of real-life results!!!!!

And I can tell you this - I'm nowhere near where I want to be.  And yes, I've been at this for 14.5 weeks, and perhaps I'm not achieving results as fast as some people, but I'll tell you this - I won't stop until I've made it to the finish line.  I know I have a lot of work to lose that hip fat, but dammit, I'm going to achieve it.  I BELIEVE!! :D 

And once the fat loss cycle is done with, the muscle gain cycle will begin, and a whole new series of befores and afters will make the journey that much more fun :)

So, here's to enjoying this body now because it's only going to be here for a short while longer :))

OH! And, week 15 stats :)