After losing more than 130 pounds, Texas mom Jordaan Kirkham has a lot to be proud of: she's happier, healthier, and able to do more with her kids and her husband can pick her up, as she recently celebrated in a now-viral Instagram post.
When the couple realized this one day at the pool, Kirkham asked her mother-in-law to snap a photo of them, local news station KVUE reports. She decided to post the photo to Instagram to not only celebrate her progress, but also to start an important conversation about one of the less glamorous parts of extreme weight loss: the loose skin that comes with it.
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"The excess skin is real, but that's what you get when you've lost 130 lbs," she wrote in her caption. "Anyways, this post isn't about my skin, it's about the fact that my husband can pick me up! Hot damn."
The young mom's post clearly struck a chord with her followers, as it quickly went viral and racked up more than 48,000 likes. But this isn't the first time that Kirkham has spoken out about loose skin post-weight loss. In fact, she talks about her own struggles with loose skin frequently: Just last week, for example, she posted a before-and-after transformation photo showing off her loose skin and raising awareness for her GoFundMe page, where she's working to raise money for an eventual skin removal surgery.
"Guess what?! If you lose over 130 lbs, more than likely you're going to have loose skin. AND that is OK!" she wrote in the caption. "I would much rather carry around a a couple extra pounds of skin vs. hundreds of pounds of fat!"
Although Kirkham says she still wants to lose a few more pounds before undergoing surgery, she's come so far already: She had always been overweight, but she really began to struggle with her health after getting pregnant in 2013. After two years of giving into cravings and avoiding the scale, she weighed more than 310 pounds.
Finally, after seeing several unflattering photos of herself that her family had taken over the holidays, the young mom began her weight-loss journey in January 2015. She adjusted her eating habits and incorporated easy Pinterest workouts into her daily routine, ultimately shedding more than 130 pounds and reaching her current weight of 173.
At the end of the day, Kirkham is excited to be taking good care of her body and getting active with her kids, who she says have been her "motivation from the start." And no matter what internet trolls say, she's proud of her progress and all the new things her body can do.
"I would love to have the excess skin removed one day, but for now, I'm so very proud of myself for coming this far in my journey," she told KVUE.
You can donate to Kirkham's skin removal surgery fund here.
[h/t KVUE]
Link:
Mom Shows the Honest Reality of 130-Pound Weight Loss in Her Viral Photos - GoodHousekeeping.com
