I have been wanting to post before and after pictures for a while now, but just couldn’t find any good before pictures. Makes sense, since I’m not really fond of having my picture taken, and really loathed it until recently. That makes me really sad, when I think of all the missed opportunities to have pictures taken with my kids.
So, last week, we had family pictures taken on Mother’s Day. Even though it’s been more than a year since I began my journey, I decided to compare to last year’s Mother’s Day photos. Wow! The photo on the left, below, was about four months after we started transitioning to eating clean and about two months after I started working out regularly. I was down about eight pounds total, and thought I was pretty happy and feeling decent. But man, oh man, when I look at the picture on the right, I’m just shocked at the differences I see.
My first thoughts when I look at these pictures side by side are:
- My goodness, those children are gorgeous!
- I really need to go shoe shopping.
- That girl on the left looks sooooo tired.
- That girl on the right looks sooooo happy.
You may not see as big of a transformation as me – I know what was under that dress. I loved that dress, and was so happy when I bought it that I was comfortable enough to wear a “shorter” dress in public. But I would not have been caught dead in shorts! The only time I wore shorts last summer was when we went to the pool; they were the shorts I wore in the pool. (I will not be swimming in full shorts this summer.)
If you had told the girl on the left that one year later she’d weigh twenty pounds less and be getting ready to run her first 10K (it’s next weekend, I am so excited and nervous), she never would have believed you. If you’d told her she’d be making 90% of her family’s food from scratch (with whole, clean, organic, real ingredients), that her kids would be eating ice cream made with spinach, and that her husband would (voluntarily) be eating salad on a daily basis, she’d have laughed in your face. But there she is, on the right, genuinely happy (that is not a forced smile) and feeling better than she’s felt in a very long time, maybe ever.
Yes, I’m still tired sometimes – I have two small children, a job, a husband, etc, who wouldn’t be tired? But I have energy, motivation, determination – all things I just didn’t have that much of a year ago. A year ago, I was going to the gym, eating better, etc, for other people – my trainer, my husband, my kids. And while I’m still doing all of this for my family, I’m also doing it for me. I see what I’ve been able to accomplish in the past year, what my body has been capable of physically, and I can’t wait to see what else I can do. I cannot wait to see next year’s Mother’s Day picture!
I just had to share this picture of my mom, my daughter, and me. I love this picture! My mom is a month or so into Insanity, and doing awesome, I’m so proud of her! I can’t wait to see how she does with the rest of it!
