Before and After

With the start of this diet, I also started the 2012 IsaBody Challenge - 24 weeks to a healthier me!  The challenge only stipulates a few requirements.  Among them, participants must submit before and after photos.  I have seen many before and after shots, and always found the differences laughable.  Of course the "after" shots looked better.  Every "before" photo was full of scowling, unhappy people who didn't seem to even try to look good.  It was like looking at a caricature, extra frown lines and fat rolls drawn in to accentuate prominent features. 

Then I took my very first "before" pictures I have ever staged, and I realized why those people always look like that.  It's not that they're trying to look their worst so the after shots will look better.  It's how they actually feel!  I feel like a caricature with exaggerated size and emotions.  I didn't smile because I don't feel like smiling when I look and feel this way.  I didn't try to dress up and look my best because no fancy outfit or special hairdo is going to make me look like I want to or even how I picture myself.  That girl underneath all these extra penciled-in fat rolls and frown lines is still in my head, and she's trying to find her way out.

I can already picture my "after" shot.  I can see my smile.  The smile that used to be a constant facial feature.  The bright eyes that show a happy, confident woman who lives and loves.  The difference between the before and after photos will be drastic not because it was staged that way, but because the difference between the before and after woman will be drastic.