Yayayayayayay!!!!
I am so proud of myself that I reached my goal, and I am so thankful to the entire 3FC community, for your knowledge and support. Thank you, thank you, thank you!
Stats
Age: 33
Height: Almost 5’3”
Start: February 1, 2011; 161 pounds
Goal: October 29, 2011; 139.3 pounds
Weight lost: 21.7 pounds
Average loss: 0.56 pounds/week
% Body Weight Lost: 13%
Plan: Calorie count, 1400-1500/day. Aim to exercise 6 days week.
My Story
I am 33, and over the last 7 years have slowly gained weight until an estimated high of 170 pounds last year. My only weight loss plan until February of this year was to wish really hard. Really effective, I know! I didn’t know anything about weight loss except generally, “eat less, exercise more.”
After lurking on 3FC last year, googling lots of information about weight loss and talking to my doctor, I decided that calorie counting was the best way for me. I liked that it gave me a semi-scientific way to track, “eating less and exercising more,” and to re-assess my plan if it wasn’t working. How could I know that I’m eating too much or too little, if I didn’t know exactly what I was eating?
My doctor advised that my goal weight should be between 140 and 145 since I have a large frame, and she also advised that I aim for 1500 calories a day, and do a combination of interval and weight training 6 days a week. That made sense with all the research I had done on creating a deficit.
My plan was to aim for between 1400-1500 calories a day, depending on if I was getting in the full 6 days of exercise. There were weeks that I couldn’t exercise at all due to lupus, and days where I just didn’t work-out due to laziness or life getting in the way, so on those days I’d aim lower for calories. Weeks that I was able to get in all my workouts, I’d go for 1500 or more. I also had a few days that I overate, and I made up for that by restricting slightly in the next few days, so that it would even out over the week. I always counted everything though, and I think that’ll be the only way I’ll be able to maintain. I just love to eat good foods way too much, and don’t think intuitive or non-planned eating will ever work for me.
From the start of my plan and first official weigh-in in February, it took me nine months to drop the weight, at an average of 0.56 pounds per week. This was of course not a linear loss, maddeningly so at times. I am very proud of my commitment and the reward of reaching my goal at all, but I will admit that I was impatient during the first few months and really wishful that I could sustain my early loss rate, even though I read that most people lose faster to begin with. Denial of a weight loss newbie, I guess. My advice to anyone thinking at all like this is to temper your expectations. Try not to be disappointed when your loss slows, but proud that you’re losing at all. Because I’m a visual person, I’ve been tracking and graphing my weight since the beginning of my “plan.” I’ve attached my graph in case anyone is interested. If I had maintained the average loss rate of my first two months, I would have reached goal by around mid-June and in my head, I saw that weight line moving consistently and mostly straight down to 140. In the cold Chicago April, I was totally fantasizing prancing around for most of the summer in a size 6 bikini. Didn’t happen. But next year, dang am I gonna look hot on the beach for a 34 year old, Chicago office worker!
Based on my experience, I wouldn't get anyone's hope up over a consistent linear loss. That black line is fantasy loss land of about a half pound a week. That blue line was my reality over nine committed months.
Some of you may note the wild fluctuations at the end. Water retention does exist. I re-read that sticky what feels like a thousand times. Every one of my “gains” was due to a change in workout plan or because I ate really salty one day. They can make you crazy, but less so, if you know why they’re happening. Of course my exercise and calorie and nutrition tracking made it obvious. If I hadn’t been tracking sodium, maybe I would have been 100% scared I was gaining fat during those spikes, instead of just 5% scared and mostly just chugging water and patiently waiting for it to fall back off.
I tracked everything on FitDay, as I had used it in the past as part of my wishful thinking weight loss efforts. I decided to use it again, but this time really measure how much I was eating instead of estimating. In the past I had eyeballed say a bowl of cereal at 1 cup, but boy was I wrong when I actually measured. I tracked calories in and out, and set-up my goal weight of 140. I chose this because 1) it was in my doctor’s range, 2) it was officially “normal” on the flawed but still useful bmi scale, and 3) because I know how easy it is to gain weight, and wanted some wiggle room in that range my doctor gave me.
For exercise, I started with 5 minutes at a time on the elliptical and walking the treadmill and around outside. I couldn’t go any longer than 5 minutes of elliptical at the beginning. I’m sure the other people at the gym thought I might have a heart attack from my red-faced wheezing, but it got better. I slowly increased that to 10-15 minutes of elliptical intervals, and now can go for 45 minutes no problem. I incorporated consistent weight training in April, doing the Bikini Ready Fast video available then on Netflix streaming over and over again, and started using gym machines. I’m most proud of my deltoids, and that I don’t get winded climbing to my 3rd floor apartment. Also, my lupus-related arthritis pain got exponentially better with about every 5 pounds I lost. Every step does not hurt like it used to. I don’t have to ice and hot compress myself every night, but only when the lupus is really flaring. Rule!!
About sizing, which I find really weird and frustrating, I went from busting out of the seams of size 12 pants and 8 tops, to really loose 10 pants and small/4/6 tops or A-line dresses.
I promised myself if I ever made goal that I’d post here, because out of all the great people and resources on this forum, when I felt the most frustrated or down or needed a boost, I would read all the goal stories and mini-goal stories. They really made me feel not alone and inspired. While I haven’t lost as much as those that have inspired me the most, I thought it might be helpful for those of you needing to lose 20 pounds to hear from someone who did.
I didn’t post much on 3FC to begin with, and I only joined a challenge for the first time over the last few months. I wish I had joined a challenge earlier, since this helped me immensely. Stuck at what I felt was a stall if not a plateau, stuck between 144 and 145 from the end of June through late August, I joined Sandy’s Scare Some Pounds Off challenge. Getting to know everyone there, the support I received, and the extra push to stay committed because I knew I would be posting my progress, really was the difference to meeting my goal now, instead of two months from now or never. I have always been committed, but it’s funny how when the loss rate slowed, my inner demons came out. Like maybe I’m “meant” to be 145, or maybe I’m about to gain it all back and there’s nothing I can do about it. Anyway, I thank them all immensely, especially Sandy, and I have now shooed out my weight loss fairy and sent her packing to Lindsy. You ladies can do it! See you in the Gobble Challenge!!
I am going to try to find pictures from “before”, and take an after or two, and will then post them here. One of my only regrets during this process is that I didn’t take a before pic and progress pics along the way. I hated cameras, and didn’t want the “evidence”. Now I’d love to have some pics for comparison, and obviously have some great pics to share with you all. Oh well. Anyone who’s just starting out now, just DO IT. Take the dang photo. I heard other people say this as well, but I of course didn’t get up the courage to do it myself. Don’t be me.
Good luck everyone! You all can do this!