Here are details than you'll ever want to read, for those of you who want to know "how I did it."
For most of my life, I had a normal or lowish BMI. When I graduated high school, I was 5' 5.5" and about 120 pounds. In my freshman year of college, I gained 15 pounds--then another 20 in my sophomore year--then lost about 20 (without trying, just happened) in my last year of undergrad. I weighed about 135-140 for the next couple of years. Then, from 2007-2010, I gained until I was 168 pounds (I'm 29 years old now).
In mid-June 2010, I saw my nurse practitioner for a yearly check-up. She gently inquired into my exercise and breakfast habits while I was there. I thought, I should take this as a sign! At the beginning of July, I began trying to lose weight. I ate 1200-1400 calories a day and did 60 minutes of cardio (elliptical machines) 6 days a week. I did this for the first month and lost about 8 pounds.
In the meantime, I had started researching online, including here at 3FC, and I realized that I needed to be doing strength training and eating more protein (was a vegan for 9 years, ate a super-carby low-protein diet, went vegetarian at the beginning of my weight loss) if I wanted to prevent muscle loss. While I was only about 15 pounds overweight from a BMI standpoint when I began, I was almost surely obese by body fat percentage standards. I have used my measurements to estimate my bf% using the Navy method. About a month into my weight loss, I weighed 160.5; my waist measurement was 33.25 inches, and my hip measurement (around the booty) was 43.5 inches. That put me at an estimated 40% body fat (and I believe it!
I was really flabby for someone that weight), with a lean body mass of around 96 pounds.
So I started incorporating more strength training and less cardio--and discovered that I loved weight training! This was exciting for me, as I'd been sedentary for most of my life, and endless cardio on the elliptical was just not a thrill. For a few weeks, I used the machines at the gym; then I started using dumbbells and doing videos at home; then I started making my own routines using dumbbells and started to do more bodyweight exercises (pushups, planks, etc--was already doing squats, lunges, stepups). I was eating about 1300-1500 calories most days and doing full body strength training 2-3 times a week, with cardio about 3 times a week.
By Christmas, I was at 134 pounds. I took a maintenance break while I finished some important projects; I worked out about 3 times a week and kept rough track of calories. It worked fine for me; I lost about 2 pounds during that time. In mid-March, I weighed about 132, waist 27 and booty 39.5, est. 28% bf and lbm around 95 lb. I decided that I would give P90X a try. I ate about 1500-1700 calories a day, with one day a week around 2000-2500 cal. I ate 120-150 grams of protein most days.
As of a few weeks ago, when I finished P90X, I weighed about 128, waist 25.5 (and I actually lost 3 inches off my bellybutton measurement during the 12 weeks of P90X) and booty 38, est. 24% body fat and lbm around 97 lbs. I gained plenty of strength--went from being able to do 2 pushups on my toes before dropping to my knees for "girl pushups," to 30+ in a minute (and lots more in a full workout) on my toes. I am more fit cardio-wise. I even gained some flexibility. I've always been flexible, the only part of fitness that came to me naturally, but I've regained the Gumby-ness I had when I was a teenager--can do my front splits again, etc.
I took a week off of exercise after finishing P90X and took a diet break. Managed to maintain (127-128, same measurements) while eating higher calories. I see another round of P90X in my future, but for now, for variety and to shake up my body a little while I'm still trying to lose weight, I'm doing some different workouts, from the Tony Horton One on One DVDs. (I swear I'm not affiliated with Beachbody; I just like Tony Horton.
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I am pretty happy with how I look now (especially in clothing), but I'm going for those last several pounds to see if I can drop some more body fat and get more muscle definition (and drop some weight off my pear-shape's thighs
). Progress continues infinitesimally slowly now, but I'm doing my best to be patient and enjoy the little changes in my body. I'm continually fascinated with my muscles now, and curious to see if I can get a really "fit" look--if not now, then as time goes by in maintenance.