A year

It is really easy to let yourself go.  You start eating convenient food and do not work out as much as you should.  I have done this several times.  When I was about to turn 30 I realized how unhappy I was with my body and started to work out.  It was the classic circuit training and running and swimming.  At my heaviest I was 140.  That is 140 with little to no muscle to speak of.  I dropped down to 111.  Still, with little to no muscle to speak of.  My dead-lift at that time was 65lbs. 
I know, that is just silly but it was heavy and I did not bother trying to do more.  At that time I still thought girls did not really lift weights.  Stupid I know.  I will say this in my own defense: I was told by my track coach in high school that a weight room was not a place for girls.  If someone told my daughter that I might clock them. 
I just listened to that advise until I found CrossFit. 
When I moved to NC I got fat.  I blame delicious food of Durham and laziness.  It is funny how it creeps up on you.  It is just a pound at a time and suddenly (it seems) you look like this:

This was me last Thanksgiving (the one on the right). 138.... again.  This time my make up was different.  I was much stronger, so arguably I had a lot more muscle.  I could dead-lift 200 in this photo.  I had been working out religiously but was not watching what I ate.  I realized that my body was not responding to exercise alone any more and that I need to start watching what I ate.  I tried paleo for a little while but that made me angry and honestly some what depressed.  Whether we like to admit it or not food is a huge part of our social lives.  It is ingrained into us from childhood.  Yay!  It's your birthday, let's eat.  Yay! Its Christmas, let's eat.

4 hour body worked much better because it gave me a cheat day and legumes.  I dropped down to 122.  I think I could loose a couple more pounds but over all I am much more comfortable in my skin.  This is me now (the one on the left):

 

I wish there was an easier way to do it and that once you were there you could just relax but that is just not reality.  Over the next 2 months I am going to be watching myself because I have a lot of social gatherings involving food coming up.  I will still eat Thanksgiving dinner with mashed potatoes and soft rolls but I am going to do it in moderation.  I want to enjoy life and the way I look and feel while living it.