Today I finally hit 185lbs, which means that I'm no longer obese! Also I joined 3FC last Aug. and I'm happy to report that since then I've lost 40lbs (I joined at about 225lbs).
It's been a crazy journey for me. I gained most of my weight through my first pregnancy with DD. I started out at 175lbs and then gained 65lbs during the pregnancy so I gave birth at 240lbs!
While I did lose a good amount initially, I ended up gaining most of that back due to stress, emotional eating and just not being able to find time to exercise.
When DD was about 1.5 I decided I really needed to lose this weight. I started running in the summer 2010. We had a jogging stroller and DD had just started daycare so between those two things I was able to get in almost daily runs. At the time I wasn't ready to work on my eating habits but just wanted to focus on daily exercise.
In Aug. 2010 I joined 3FC and I really started to think about what I was eating. I admited to myself that I was addicted to sugar and cut it out cold turkey. That was the best decision that I ever made!
It was certainly hard at first but I started watching the pounds melt away.
I know some here say that the best way to lose weight is through calorie counting but that was something that I've never been able to do successfully. It really stresses me out and I end up eating more (and making more unhealthy choices) whenever I tried. I have tried it on occassion and always look up calorie counts on my favorite items to try and make wise choices. But I've found that my real issue was always sweets. Otherwise I've always loved veggies (and to a lesser extent fruit) so eating smaller healthier portions wasn't really that much of a struggle for me. Also, I found that eliminating sugar cut down on my hunger levels significantly so I didn't feel like I needed to eat as much anymore (I have no started eating it on occasion again but in a much more controlled fashion).
After cutting out sugar I started working on other areas too like eating more whole foods and cutting out white flour. I still do eat pizza on occassion but I try to eat it with a side salad and loaded up with veggies.
In Jan 2010 I had a surprise pregnancy that coincided with me reaching Onderland. I was very happy about the pregnancy but sad that I probably wouldn't get to stay in Onderland long. I did end up losing 10lbs during that pregnancy simply through healthy eating and exercise but it eventually ended in a miscarriage after 3 months.
I took the miscarriage hard but I tried to also think of this as an oppportunity to lose more weight and then have a healthy pregnancy later on when DH and I were ready. Unfortunately, it took a long time after my miscarrage for me to start losing weight again (about 2 months?). I was eating well and after my doctor gave the OK I started getting serious about weight lifting (I followed the New Rules of Lifting for Women). I found that I was losing a lot of inches so at least that was something to celebrate!
Finally, my weight loss started picking up again (although it averaged about 2lbs/month so it's never been terribly fast). However, I recently started dealing with hunger issues so I started looking at the time of day I was eating. I was getting extremely hungry in the late afternoon so I pushed back my breakfast and started eating very large lunches while also eating much smaller dinners. It worked wonders and I no longer have extreme hunger issues in the afternoon and am not as prone to binging at night! I was then able to reach an "overweight" BMI in Aug. 2011!
I still have a ways to go: 30lbs to reach a "healthy" BMI and 45lbs to eventually reach my goal weight of 140lbs. However, I've enjoyed seeing my progress and am thrilled to be wearing a size 10-12 now!
I'm at work at the moment so I'll try and add pictures once I get home tonight. Thanks to anybody who actually made it this far, I know this was very long.
After a year on 3FC I'm down 40lbs and no longer obese!
