Junior Member
Thread Starter
Join Date: Oct 2003
Location: Maryland
Posts: 15
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50 Pounds GONE!
I have been dieting for awhile. Well, awhile is since March 1st. Seven and a half months.
No matter how much someone tells me that you're beautiful, you're lovely, you're fine how you are, there came a time when I realized that, no, I wasn't fine how I was. I looked at photos from a party in January, and from a friends' birthday party in February, and was surprised at what I saw. I bought a scale that week.
After looking around a bit online and finding 'recommended' weights, I found that I weighed well over what I should weigh at my height and age; indeed, about 30 lbs more than I thought I did. I believe the national average for women is a size 14. I was wearing a size 24. That was clearly an indicator to me that I was doing something awfully bad for myself. I have a young son, and a new husband, and I wanted to be around for them.
I called my mom. Mom had recently begun yet another round of Weight Watchers. This is nothing new for my mom. She'll diet for awhile, lose interest, and stop. She's been saying how hard it is to diet my entire life, and I was a bit worried. She told me that she had an extra points slider and 'getting started' book from WW, and that she'd drop it in the mail to me.
About a week later, I received these items. If you're unfamiliar with WW, it's a pretty easy system. According to your weight, you should eat X number of 'points' in a day. A point is roughly 50 calories, and is determined by the use of a slider, based on the calories, dietary fibre, and fat grams in any given food. It's basically calorie-restriction for dummies. Well, yeah, I'm sort of a dummy, and I liked the ease of the system. Weight Watchers allows you to eat anything you like, up to your point target. There's also a number of 'flex' points if you want to eat more, plus activity points you can eat if you've earned.
So, I started following the program. I wrote down every bit of everything that went into my mouth, whether it had points or not (A lot of vegetables are 'free' foods, as are coffee and tea, etc.). I was hyper-vigilant. I cut out anything that wasn't good for me, or anything that was high in points. I ate a lot more fruit, and vegetables, and I started to drink water water water.
A couple of weeks later, I decided that I should join a gym. I happened to see a commercial for a women's gym, and went to their website to find that there was one less than a mile from my house. I started going faithfully five times a week.
This continued until the end of June. At that time, I headed to Canada for a family reunion and a long-awaited visit with friends and family. It also meant eating my step-mother's pierogies and (insert Homer-like droool) assorted other Ukranian foods. I didn't go to the gym for about a week, and I went off my diet. It took a concerted effort to not count points, after doing it for so long. I started going to the gym again after getting back to my mom's place, as there was a branch of it not too far away.
When I arrived back in Maryland after vacation, it was back to the gym with a vengeance. Then we moved, as we had the worst landlady in the history of slumlords.
The gym here isn't as near as the one in the last town, but I still go at least three days a week, and usually more. I'm still following the diet, and I am proud to say that I have now, as of this morning, lost fifty pounds.
Fifty.
I have to say it again, it's a little hard for me to believe. FIFTY.
I have lost 50 lbs, 30.25 inches, and four sizes from my body. I now fit comfortably into a women's size 16. Awhile ago I posted in my lj some before and after models from the My Virtual Model site. I was shocked at the difference, but I know it's real. I feel better. I don't tire as easily, and I don't have the creaks in my hips and knees that I had before. I keep getting looks from men. I've always thought I had a passably pretty face, but now I feel like the whole package. I get compliments and congratulations from my terrifically supportive friends who cooked 'light' for me when I stayed with them on my way home to visit last summer.
I didn't think it was possible. I have always heard that losing weight was difficult, but this really hasn't been. It's pretty simple, unless you have a medical condition: eat less, excercise more. I know that I can continue down to the size and shape I want to be, and it's not going to take me nearly as long as this has taken so far.
Tomorrow is my weigh & measure day at Curves, so I'm sure it'll be more than 30.25". I am fantastically proud.
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