You wouldn't recognize the girl in the above photo right away, but yes, that is me. I am not sure exactly when this was taken, but I really want to say sometime around 2005. I was over-weight, (I weighed around 165) and extremely unhappy with almost every aspect of my life. I was working at Mc Donald's, a job I hated and would stress me out so much to the point where I would hide in the bathroom and cry. This photo was taken right after my Grandpa had passed away, and the last time I had seen my Grandpa was that Easter. My dad drove both him and my Grandma up to my work to say hi to me before they went home because I could not get the day off so I worked all day instead of visiting with my family, and it was the last time I saw him. I couldn't quit my job because the only thing I had going for myself was my own apartment with Kyle. No job=no rent money. I hid myself in baggy jeans, I never wore shorts or skirts, and I never, ever went to the beach. I wore black a lot, and since we were broke, I ate most of my meals at work. At home, we ate a lot of mac & cheese and take-out because I didn't know how to cook .

Things turned around a little in 2006-2007. I finally quit Mc Donald's and got a job as a cashier at Best Buy. I also got a YMCA membership with Kyle and managed to lose a little of the weight. I started wearing hoodies form Victoria's secret because they covered me up but still felt "nicer" than the plain black ones. After six months, I got my current job at Vesco Oil. I stayed at 155 or so for a few years, still hiding in my hoodies. In 2008, my work held a wellness program where each member would weigh-in weekly on a scale. Whoever lost the most weight, won money at the end of the program, which lasted about 12 weeks. I had a goal of ten pounds, but I managed to lose twenty, putting me at 135. In 2009 I signed up again and lost another ten pounds. When I graduated from OCC, I weighed 120 pounds, pretty much what I looked like in the pictures below: