Good morning, everybody! As of today, July 9, 2017, I have reached my weight loss goal!
Ready for the story?
I started this journey at 202 pounds. I had been sitting roughly between 195 and 200 since I started putting on weight in middle school, when I stopped growing up and started growing out instead.
For a long time, I struggled with really poor body image that contributed to low self esteem. That really didn't help with my anxiety disorder. I wanted to be smaller, but I also knew that would require a significant lifestyle change, not just swallowing a pill. So, before I was willing to commit to that, I focused on feeling good about myself and my body first, no matter what weight it was at. By the time I started losing weight, I was much happier than I was before, and feeling pretty good in my skin. I felt like it was important that I like myself and have good mental/emotional health before I tried to change my physical health. I did that, and I'm very glad I did.
In 2016, I started thinking it might be about time to change. I went through a couple phases of exercise, but I wasn't willing to change how I was eating yet. These "attempts" at weight loss didn't go very far, but at least they primed me for the actual weight loss journey.
On January 17 of this year, the cast list for a musical I was in came out, and I knew my character would be wearing a kimono (historical figure here in Japan). I also knew I wanted to look good wearing it. So, I set the goal to weigh 170 pounds by the day the show opened on April 9. I worked and I sweated and I weighed 169 on that day.
After I reached that goal, I kept on working towards my next goal, which was a soft 150. I wanted to get that low, but I remembered my mom telling me her doctor told her to stop losing weight at 160. So, I promised I'd look in the mirror when I hit 160, and evaluate whether I really needed to lose more or not.
I reached that point, evaluated carefully, and decided to go for 150. By the time I hit that goal, I had done a lot of research and carefully looked at where my body was and how I still wanted it to change, and decided on a hard target weight of 145.
So here I am, coming to you LIVE (sort of) at 145 pounds! The sun hasn't even come up yet. I was so excited to weigh myself this morning and see if I'd reached goal that I couldn't sleep. I've been on a water loss whoosh for the last couple of days, and knew my chances were good to see that magic number today.
I lost 57 pounds in 173 days. I did it by paying attention to three areas:
hydration (8 cups of water a day
at least),
exercise (biking to work plus 20 minutes of working out strength, cardio, and abs: 6 times a week), and
nutrition (lots more vegetables, a little more protein, much less sugars and oils and processed foods). I was aware of the rough amount of calories I was putting into my body, but I never really counted the exact numbers.
I was hoping to form a way of eating I could follow the rest of my life. I refused to completely cut out any kind of food, but I did cut down how much I was eating and made junk food a "sometimes" treat instead of an "almost every day" food. Other than PMS cravings and the initial burst of cravings I got from suddenly changing how I was eating, I haven't felt deprived this whole way.
I'm not going to post pictures, because I don't really like having my face out on the internet. So, in conclusion, thank you very much for the forum, thank you for the support, and trust me, YOU CAN DO IT!
G-G-G-Goal!!
