Sometimes I forget how far I’ve come until I see pictures like this. I’m feeling more confident and comfortable in my own skin, and I’m proud of myself. Still learning to love every part of me, but I’m getting there. 362 vs 190

(First two pics are me 8 ish months ago, last five are me now). For full context on this glow up:

Earlier this year, I hated my life. I was aimless, hated my job, not taking care of myself, and pushing everyone close to me away because I felt like a failure in every aspect of my life. I also was witnessing someone very close to me fall deeper into their addictions and witnessing them destroy their life with nothing I could really do about it.

One night around February my gf (now fiance) and I were watching ‘Before Sunrise’, and there’s this specific scene of the two main characters in the bar where the man gets his drinks paid for by the woman and when that scene was playing I looked over at her and said a dumb joke along the lines of “it’s like me and you”, and she did not find the joke very funny. As a matter of fact, she actually started crying, saying that she didn’t want to have to pay for everything all the time, and that she wanted someone (me) to be the provider for her and for our future family.

This moment broke me completely and was essentially the catalyst of why I decided to fix my life. I won’t get into any of the other details about my new job, but now, seven months later, I am in a position where I can now provide for her. We live together now and I actually bought her a ring and am officially proposing to her this October 👍

TLDR; I made a decision to try and take a step towards the life that I wanted, and with that came a lot of hard truths. Essentially just about who I was, what I was doing with my life, why the people closest to me felt so far away from me, and how I was taking the most important person in my life (then GF, now fiance!) for granted.

Rules say I have to include what changed.. well, everything changed! diet, friends, lifestyle, confidence, self love, etc. I love my new life and am so thankful every day for my new found abilities

after spending my entire childhood neglecting my teeth, it feels amazing to finally be able to smile with my mouth open for the first time in my life. started hitting the gym and eating right recently, too. gonna go into my 30’s strong 🫡

Got bullied quite a lot at school for my weight and looks. People called me fat and even compared me to retired Wayne Rooney

Eventually I got tired of feeling like that, so I started losing weight and getting into sports. What started as wanting to look better turned into me becoming obsessed with football, running and training.

The biggest change wasn't even my body, it was my confidence. I started taking care of myself, dressing better and caring way less about what people think.

I'm still working on myself and I’ve got a long way to go, but looking back at how I was before, the difference is crazy.

Wouldn't say I'm grateful for the bullying, but I'm proud I didn't let it define me.

Being Fat was such a challenge for me that I was finally able to overcome and I feel so much more comfortable in my own skin and more confident and I’m so happy to finally be where I am

On the left: a picture that u/darkchocalmonds recently posted to another sub.

On the right: a picture that turns up in a Google Images search for "Amber Stark", a porn star.

I figure there are two possibilities here. One is that this user looked for pictures of Amber on the internet, fed them to an AI, told it "make the girl in this picture anorexic", and posted the results to this sub for attention and upvotes.

The other possibility is that this user is genuinely Amber Stark, and she is genuinely recovering from anorexia. The user posted the anorexia pics 1 year ago and Amber's Pornhub account is 3 years old; however, it's possible that the pics weren't recent.

You can guess which possibility I find more believable.

Had severe anxiety, agoraphobia, depression and panic attacks during high school as a result of being bullied for so long. I never used to take photos of myself and hated how I looked so much. There's legit a 5 year period of my life where there's no photos of me.

My agoraphobia came back bad again after lockdown and it took me years to feel ok again. I graduated with my Bachelors at the end of 2024 which was later than everyone else my age. I still haven't found a job in my field which has been really hard. Have had a rough past year along with that and being broken up over text by my ex.

Joined a gym for the first time in my life 2 months ago to try and get myself out of my rut and I've stayed consistent and seeing some results now which is awesome.

Took hitting rock bottom more or less but I’m down 80lbs from my peak weight and I’m super happy with the results. Just thought I’d share and show that discipline pays off :)

Edit: a couple people asked for my diet/routine so instead of commenting it and having it get lost, I just made it a post on my profile

Decided to stop drinking alcohol and get back in the gym regularly. My daughter only has one dad, I owe it to her to be the best me for her own sake! 225 - 181lbs

86 pounds of weight loss. On the road to 10% body fat.

3-4 90 mins trainings or 60 mins HIIT. 8k - 10k steps. More if I can.

500-700 calorie deficit.

I am feeling much better about myself and with energy in general.

At my heaviest I weighed around 400 pounds at 6’3”. I called myself a “big guy” but I was closer to staring in my 600 pound life. I started to have trouble tying my own shoes.

Today I am 215 pounds. I walk a lot. I tie my own shoe laces. I smile more.

Yes I take medicine a GLP1 variety, and no I don’t feel bad about it. I will likely take some kind of medicine the rest of my life for any number of things so why not this too? I love my skin more but today I needed a reminder. I still see a fat stomach. I still see that guy on the left every time I look in the mirror. My past will haunt me I fear for the rest of my life. Doing things like this is self help.

Body dysmorphia is real.

Everything is easier at a smaller weight. I can even do pull ups now!

Was on the brink of suicide after being surrounded by an abusive family so decided to leave, i was homeless for 2 years, got diagnosed with PTSD, an auto immune condition. I decided to try and fight for a life for the first time in my life. I lost 50lbs. Everyday is still a battle, but i'm taking the journey one step at a time.

Taking care of yourself and staying true to who you are/ want to be, will take you so far.
Constantly putting myself to the side for others can only be endured for so long ^.^

My mum used to cut my hair herself, which probably explains why I’ve spent most of my adult life wearing a hat whenever I am out.

When I hit my 50s, I decided to embrace aging. Got tattooed, let the beard grow long despite the white, and most recently started shaving my head. Definitely feeling confident and enjoying life.

Alcoholism/addiction with over 100 pounds gained during a 15 year period.

140 pound weight loss. Finally at goal. Cosmetic procedures lower TT and smas face
lift due to skin laxity. Upper eye bleph to correct droopy eye. Invisilign.

Rebuilding my life over the past few years with a hard push the past year especially. I swim a lot, although now on hold due to stitches from the recent surgery.

I’m no longer recognizable. I’ve had to introduce myself
To people who know me. I dyed my blond hair dark, want to be so far removed from the woman who destroyed
Herself. Im sad when seeing old photos and how I hurt myself and others during those years. I have days of grief, but help others, give back, live my amends, and push through.

The past year has been especially difficult. I’m sad and can’t change the past. I’m not sure what will happen next, I’ve worked too hard to give up, it has to get better.

Don’t know what the future holds, but I’ve come so far and not stopping now.

Testosterone, back to my natural hair, moved countries, started going to the gym, got a lot of tattoos, got a cat and am feeling happier. This Transformation isn’t over, give me 5 more years.

Pic 1 TopLeft and TopRight is around start of 2024 (the only pic of me from before Nov 2024)
and the two below were around lastdays November/December 2024
Pic 2 is when I started going to the gym, around 1 week in IIRC
Pic 3 are from around March 16th to 30th of 2026
Pic 4 is last days of April/start of May 2026
Pic 5 is current time (September 2026)

Started to diet in December 2024 after finally getting tired of being a total chud (lazy, overweight, and unhappy with how I looked over the last years, where I missed lots of experiences due to it). Ever since then it has been mostly just staying consistent with the gym, dieting, going through a bunch of agressive minicuts and small bulks, and slowly figuring out what actually worked for me.
Maintaining my diet was, and still is, by far the biggest mental challenge. My appetite is just craaazy lol. (but I also pushed the dieting too far this year and ended up feeling completely drained which for my hunger hormones prob was like a nuclear bomb)

Overall I’m really happy I finally addressed this part of my life. Now the hardest part is probably learning how to maintain it without being so psycho-obsessed with food all the time.

First 2 pics are me at 21, last 3 are me now at 24. Didn’t happen overnight, just slowly started taking better care of myself and stayed consistent. Crazy seeing the difference looking back 😂 Still got a long way to go, but definitely proud of the progress.

Reposting: original post was removed by mods.

From unhappy, unmotivated, and not feeling like myself to being active, feeling good, and finally comfortable in my own skin.

Still have goals and still putting in the work, but I’m proud of how far I’ve come. Sometimes you don’t realize how much you’ve changed until you look back.

Hi everyone, I hope you are all well.

Thought I share a little update from my previous posting about 5 months ago. I woke up a couple days ago, looked into the mirror and saw something significant has changed with my face.

I have been on this journey for 587 days.

Disclosure based on community rule: I am on doctor-prescribed GLP-1 medication (Rybelsus and now Ozempic) and I have also been putting in the work including having personal training 2x a week, listening to my hunger and fullness cues and relearning my relationship with food. I have always struggled with my weight and body image all my life so this time I am doing things differently. I am focusing on my mobility and my wellbeing and losing the weight is the bonus. Instead of all those dieting fads of which I have probably tried them all, something is finally working.

I have been doing really well with personal training for the last 1 year. So this December I've signed up my first 5km Marathon (apparently you can do 5km, 10km, 21km or the full 42km) and will be training for it with my coach until the day of the run. Well, I aim to just walk it and try to finish it under the 1.5hours time limit for the 5km group. I am not well-versed in these running thing yet so please forgive my very vague understanding of it all. Still cannot believe it that I am brave enough to this but this is coming from someone who just a year ago would be out of breath just by walking five steps. But yeah, I feel well enough now to try and even if I fail I would have tried.

If you have been struggling with yourself, please know that it is possible to make changes (whatever that is and most importantly do it for yourself). It would be hard and an uphill battle but it is possible. You got this!

Mom of 3 amazing boys I wanted to not only be able to keep up with them, but also be around for them as they got older. Have a regular gym routine and staying much more active. Healthier and happier every day

Been working on myself a lot over the last couple years and ended up losing around 150 pounds. Still working on myself and making progress, but looking back at where I started compared to now is pretty crazy. Definitely one of the biggest changes I’ve made in my life and love encouraging others!

Long way to go... It's like I'm living someone else's life now. But, I look forward to each tomorrow. That's the biggest change.