Hi!

I'm Amanda. I'm 26, and a fifth grade teacher. This May I weighed myself for the first time in over a year and was horrified to discover that I was up to 240. I'm 5'10". At my healthiest, I was running track and a very fit 175, but I'd never been slender.

I decided I needed to know what it was like.

Luckily, my boyfriend was very willing to dive into a new healthy lifestyle with me. We tried a few extreme restriction diets (VLC, vegan, and everything in between) before settling into a varied, moderate diet. I believe that has been the key to our success.

We joined a gym last month and I found a new passion: SPIN! It helped me drop 9 lbs in the last month, finally pushing me back under 200 for the first time in years! Yippee!

I have gotten a little complacent in the last few days, because my clothes are all falling off and whatnot, guess I started feeling a little too confident. I need some friends who can help push me to my ultimate goal of 160.

Can't wait to learn more about you all and good luck on your journeys!

Amanda, your story caught my eye. First, CONGRATS on your progress and really really hard work. You rock! Let me tell you a bit about my journey... At my highest I was 239. That was when I was a junior in high school. Today at age 25 (and standing at 5'9") I am 178.2 with an ultimate super, can't-believe-I-could-be-it goal of 160. I've been in the 170s (at one point seeing 172) since March of this year. I know exactly what you mean about being complacent---so easy to be feeling good and saying to yourself, well one little cheat can't hurt. Which for me then turns into a week full of cheats! Anywho, I follow the weight watchers program and am in the midst of training for a half marathon in January. Are you following any specific plan?

We have got this girl! 160 can be ours! Keep up the good work!!

Rebecca

Hi Rebecca! Wow, our weights/stories are so similar. I'm not following a specific plan, except keeping my calories around 1400-1700 each day (I counted religiously for 4 months, and now I have 15-20 recipes that I know are around 500 cals, so I just cycle through those). I have one cheat meal per week, and won't beat myself up over a couple of drinks on a Friday night. I haven't logged or eaten back exercise calories since hitting 210 or so...I haven't needed to. It's a new kind of challenge: eating real foods when hungry, getting enough protein/sleep/water, etc "by feel."

Ultimately, my goal is to be able to keep this up forever, so it's mostly relearning habits. In a time crunch? Instead of burgers for dinner, it's a veggie frittata, or thai soup or something.

I try to exercise 5 times a week, but the start of this school year has been nuts, so I haven't been as often as I should. Generally I lift 2x per week, once in a barbell group class and once on my own. I run sprints one day, and spin the rest. Occasionally we swim or go to step aerobics or something new, and try to keep it interesting.

How do you like weight watchers? I wish I could still run more than 1x a week. I have had recurring issues with plantar fasciitis that make it super difficult, especially on the road.

Hi Amanda! You'll find lots of support here! Browse around and jump right in! Good luck!

I know! Very very similar stats for us. Your exercise routine and diet sounds on point. I wish I could work out as much as you do. I'm in grad school full time and work on the side...so working out seems to take a side seat. It's strange though--I think I've hit the point in my training that I look forward to running. Which is a strange feeling, as I have never been a runner. never. never. ever. I don't belong to a gym currently (who knew they make grad students pay for the campus gym?!), but I know come November and December running outside in Boston might prove to be tricky.

I LOVE weight watchers. My faorite part is that I can have 5 fruits and veggie servings a day that don't count towards my point total. It's great!! I did try low carb for a while. My boyfriend does low carb, but I found that I am not a happy person when I feel like I can't have certain foods. And then minute I go to have a serving of ice cream or that glass of wine, I hate myself and the scale shows a gain. So needless to say, I am back to counting points. WW is how I initially lost weight at age 17, and it's how I maintained around 190s for the past 7 years. It was only this January that I really buckled down and go serious about the dieting. And now I am seeing numbers I have never seen!

I have grad classes all day today so I am packing my food for the day. Hope school and the kids are treating you well today! Yesterday, I went apple picking with the middle schoolers I work with---so you know an apple will find a way into my menu today!