Yippee!!!
This is a huge first for me...a whole year on the same plan. A new WOE, for real.
One year ago today, I weighed 328 pounds (or more!), my ankles were swollen, I was incontinent, out of breath after climbing one flight of stairs in the morning, structured my life at home to reduce how much I climbed the stairs or moved because it was painful, had terrible pain in my back, hips, shoulders, and ribs (from the underwire of my bras digging in), it took me about five minutes of excruciating pain for my back to straighten out when I lay down at night, I had increasingly bad cholesterol, blood pressure, and pulse, and I had a terrible self image. I could no longer do things I once enjoyed: ballet, wear skirts comfortably (my legs rubbed together), hike, go for walks (my hips and back hurt), yoga (I couldn't do many positions because my fat was in the way). My fat was pressing on my organs and I was in a lot of pain. Life was NOT good. On top of it all, DH and I wanted to get pregnant, and I knew there was no way I was ever going to be able to healthily become pregnant at that weight.
I picked up a copy of SBD at Wal*Mart one night after my doctor recommended it. I was thinking I would look it over, just to see, but DH was so excited that I had bought it...and I figured I might as well try it. I read the book, poked around online, found 3FC, read the FAQ and many, many threads, rid the house of OP food, did a two week binge of my favorite foods (not that I"d recommend it, but it helped me stay away from cravings later), and started when I knew I would have the time to commit to doing Phase 1 without cheats. Phase 1 was tough for me, especially the first three days of detox, but after one week, I had lost 13 pounds.
Another week and another 13 pounds later, I was almost into 200-land!
Now, a year later, I've lost about 111 pounds or so, and I'm healthier than I've been in more than a decade. I work out and all of the problems mentioned above are gone or much better. My blood pressure yesterday was 120/54. My pulse was 82. My cholesterol is back to normal.
It's a good life and getting better every day.
I know that I could never have made it this far without all of your support. This forum has made my journey infinitely more pleasurable and successful. The recipes you've posted, your encouragement when I was down or on a long plateau, and the questions you've posted that made me rethink what I'm doing have had no small part in my success so far. I look forward to continuing this journey with you and seeing your successes.
Yay for SBD and our beach chickies!