29/F/5'3": >150 pounds lost (11 months)

Zazoufit2014

This ! and wow congrats!

#5: Don’t be so hard on yourself. You don’t expect others to be perfect, and it’s unfair to expect yourself to be. Perfection is an unmaintainable standard that is likely to lead you to feelings of disappointment, shame, and guilt when you feel like you’ve “failed” for doing something you “shouldn’t” (but obviously wanted to in the moment you did it). These feelings may drive you to eat more than you would have had you just been easier on yourself from the beginning.

[/quote]

Jazzyjules71

I love this. Congrats! I love the 5 principles. thanks for sharing, you look fantastic.

jamesha100

Great progress and posts. I got a lot from reading your five pointers. Number 2 about the unconscious mind particularly spoke to me.

Thanks for providing my inspiration fix of the day

furry180

emilyCPA wrote: »

Hi everyone,

Here's my on-going story:

My name is Emily and I'm 29 years old. In 11 months, I've lost just over 150 pounds through nutrition, exercise, and focusing on identifying and modifying habits. Visual progress is directly below, followed by more of my story and what I've learned to date:



On June 4, 2015 I made the decision to seriously commit to changing my life. Overwhelmed and with almost no energy to spare beyond getting through my day to day responsibilities, I made very minor changes to my lifestyle.

I started by trying to improve my nutrition, which naturally led to having a little bit more energy. My definition of 'good nutrition' continues to evolve, but the premise of what I was and am trying to achieve has stayed the same (progress, not perfection). Through trial and error, I was able to find things that worked (and didn't work) for me.

I live a very different life than I did 11 months ago, and the changes I've made (both in terms of nutrition and physical activity) have had a tremendous impact on my health (blood levels are all normal, no more obstructive sleep apnea, etc).

I'm a bit of a data junkie and have worn a Fitbit Charge HR every day. For comparison purposes, here's an overlay of my heart rate measured throughout a 24 hour period on June 4, 2015 vs. March 4, 2016):



I was barely active on June 4, 2015 (3,675 steps and no 'active' minutes), yet by looking at the orange line (June 4, 2015) vs. the blue line (March 4, 2016), you can see how much harder my heart had to work throughout the day (including while sleeping) compared to March 4, 2016 when I walked over 20,000 steps and was active for just over 2 hours.

I've learned a lot along the way. I still have a lot to lose, but weight loss is not my primary focus. Below are five of my principles that I fully embrace:

---

#1: Willpower is a fleeting resource. If you’re not happy and you do not enjoy what you’re choosing to do, you will eventually stop doing it. Humans do not enjoy suffering.

#2: The majority of your day is driven by unconscious decisions. Your mind is efficient - how you act/react is so habitual that you do not consciously think about many things that you do on a day-to-day basis. Isolating and modifying your habits can therefore become your best tool to initiate and sustain real and substantive change.

#3: Habits can be broken down and thought of in terms of either being a barrier or facilitator to success. What can you do to either minimize/remove the barrier or enhance the facilitator so that you can better achieve what you want to accomplish? Remember #1 though - you have to be happy with whatever changes you make in order to sustain them long-term.

#4: Good nutrition is paramount. You can’t consistently out-exercise what you are eating and you can’t adequately fuel sustained exercise without good nutrition. Combine exercise and good nutrition in a manner that you enjoy and you will experience a synergistic improvement to your overall health. The internal struggle/battle with yourself will slow and weight loss will happen almost effortlessly.

#5: Don’t be so hard on yourself. You don’t expect others to be perfect, and it’s unfair to expect yourself to be. Perfection is an unmaintainable standard that is likely to lead you to feelings of disappointment, shame, and guilt when you feel like you’ve “failed” for doing something you “shouldn’t” (but obviously wanted to in the moment you did it). These feelings may drive you to eat more than you would have had you just been easier on yourself from the beginning.

Instead of struggling in a world where you “must” (unhappily) deprive yourself of everything you enjoy, aim to live the healthiest life you can while continuing to be happy (lesson #1). Recognize and appreciate that your version of “healthiest, happiest life” looks different than someone else’s and even your own version can vary in response to a variety of factors - some days that may mean you eat more or “junkier” food than others. That doesn’t mean you’ve failed. The path to “success” is continuous, but far from linear.

---

Thanks for reading and hope some of you find the above helpful.

this is so inspiring, I have copy pasted in my diary....

emilyCPA

Hi everyone,

I see my post got a bump from the influx of new friend requests. Hope everyone is well!

Some have asked for an update, so here it is:

Since my initial posting, I've now lost over 200 pounds since June of 2015. I sometimes get asked if I had weight loss surgery. I have not. The physical changes you will see in the progress pictures below are the result of habit modification, nutrition, and exercise.

I continue to choose not to weigh myself frequently (sometimes it ends up being less than once a month). Instead I focus on living and enjoying life -- the healthiest, happiest one I can on any given day. I also continue to embrace my 5 "lessons learned" daily and have never been happier.

Here's progress pictures, from a different perspective:



Some comments:

+ My resting heart rate ranges from 53-56 on most days.
+ Blood levels continue to be in normal ranges.
+ No obstructive sleep apnea and no CPAP required to sleep.
+ Completely off blood pressure medication - from stage 2 hypertension in June 2015 to completely normal now without medication.
+ I do not count calories (I stopped many many months ago) and instead focus on eating nutritious foods.
+ I do not weigh myself frequently because weight loss is not my focus (it's basically a by-product of living my principles).
+ I exercise regularly in order to feel good, not because I feel like I "have" to (it's really the best mood enhancer in the world!): During the summer I did a lot of hiking (usually in 5-10KM increments) and trail biking (usually in 10KM to 20KM increments). Now that the colder weather is here, the hiking and biking is less frequent, but I've started weight lifting and kickboxing with some friends.

For those of you wishing to print my principles, here's a slide of them:



Wishing you all success in your own endeavours to transform your life!
Emily

30lbslightergoal

Amazing results! Very inspirational

luvs2read1979

Wow!!! Your success is amazing!

lynder64

My morning cup of inspiration! :-) Fantastic!!! Wishing you well as you continue on your journey!

1PoisonIvy

Fantastic, even your skin looks healthy

TsukiTaiyou

This is truly amazing. You are a real inspiration. Keep up the great work!

oceanblue6

So much wisdom here. Thank you!

schwest76

Such great inspiration!

lorrpb

So awesome! I totally appreciate what you've accomplished and feel with you for every new progress pic. I'm 61, 5'7" and have lost 148 in 2 1/2 years. Your advice in OP is great and every newbie should read it and take it to heart.

2run2ski

So, the weight loss is fabulous; but, I think the insights you've gained are the best. Congratulations and thanks for sharing!

emilyCPA

Photo update @ almost 19 months since June of 2015 and over 200 pounds lost (naturally):

blwelch1

Fantastic job!! You should be so proud.

katanak9

@emilyCPA I just have to say how totally gobsmacked I am after reading your original post and then seeing your update today. Truly courageous and inspiring. You look absolutely gorgeous, good on you!!

CatMama526

Emily, you are amazing! Thank you for posting this. I'm just starting out, and this is very inspirational. I also think it's great how your face changed from looking sad and stressed out in the first picture, to smiling in the rest of them. Way to go!

kimv1188

This was such a great read for someone starting out on this journey...again. You are truly an inspiration! Continue your healthy living!

3293green

Brilliant post! You are doing an incredible job.