52 lbs down - 5'3" female (pics + story)
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Zeuggma
Posts: 157 Member
Hi all,
I've been putting this off for a bit, but since my weight has stabilized within the last month, I wanted to own up to my success before I brush it under a rug.
Basic stats:
Height: 5'3"
Age: 23
SW: 195
CW: 143 (im happy and healthy here)
Overacheiver goal weight: 135
Calories for weight loss: 1200-1500
Activity level: high
Body fat stats:
May 2017: 170.3 lbs - 38.7 % BF
Aug 2017: 167.8 lbs - 34.8% BF
October 2017: 150.1 lbs - 26.1% BF
Today: 143 lbs -23% BF (estimated BF%. waiting for in-body in a few weeks)
For all you photo-hungry people, here's a quick before and after:
About me
I've always been on the heavier side, but as an athlete (soccer and martial arts), many people let me get away with it because of my activity levels as a kid. When I turned 18, I had recently started birth control (depo provera) and also injured myself during a soccer game badly enough that I had to stop playing. Combine these two factors with an already poor teenage diet, and the result is a quick 30 lb gain within a year, which really lowered my already low self-esteem. I jumped from 150 to 180 and didn't know what the *kitten* the stretch marks on my stomach were or how I was getting them.
For the next three years, I'd go back and forth on trying to lose weight while battling depression and low self-esteem, but ultimately, I ended up gaining another 15 lbs (thanks college).
Weight loss for reals
Part 1:
I didn't actually commit to weight loss until Nov 22, 2015, right before the holidays. I asked my mom for a year long gym membership for my 22nd birthday, and she gladly took me and signed up herself as well. This was also the first time I took MFP seriously and started calorie counting, aiming for 1200 calories a day and exercising probably 3-5x a week for 60 minutes at a time. I did group classes for cardio kickboxing and yoga each week, and on my off days, I used the treadmill, elliptical, or stationary bike while watching movies in the gym's "cardio theater."
I call this the first time I lost weight, because it took me two tries to get to where I am now. During this first attempt, I was just trying anything I could, without any real extra research or outside influence. Between Nov 22, 2015 and April 16, 2016, I went from 195 lbs to 161 lbs, losing 34 lbs fairly quickly. However, I was also on my last semester of college, working 30 hours a week, and both releasing and album and booking a tour with my band at the time, which took away all my focus from weight loss. I settled on trying to maintain, which lasted only a few months. By Jan 2017, I was 175 lbs again and super annoyed and unhappy with myself.
Part 2:
Life happens to all of us. During my weight loss break, I was adjusting to adult life, working on my career, and moving out of my parents house (had to move twice within 6 months!). Furthermore, I turned to my longtime habit and favored hobby of online gaming to cope with all the stress and unhappiness and wasn't regulating my food intake at all. I worked out on and off, but not with any discipline or consistency, and I found myself spiraling downwards yet again.
June 23, 2017 is the next turning point in my story. Sick of feeling depressed and angry at my lack of discipline and progress, I decided to give up online gaming completely and focus solely on weight loss. I'm the kind of person that intensely focuses and dedicates myself to one or two things at a time--to the point of obsession and perfection usually. I realized there was no way I could play these competitive games to the degree and caliber I wanted while also working on myself--weight loss, self-esteem, and depression control--to the same extent. So, I chose to give up my virtual self for the best possible version I could create of myself.
I started working out 5x a week consistently with a friend who was also losing weight. A month later, I felt much stronger, but the scale had only moved 3 lbs (from 170 to 167 or so). Feeling stuck, I realized my food intake was the problem, so, on Aug 9, 2017--having never been taught proper nutrition--I hired a nutritionist with a trainer background to help me with my diet. She helped me clean up my diet with permanent lifestyle choices; she helped me with my optimizing my workouts; she even helped me with some aspects of my depression and low self-esteem. By October 17, 2017, I had hit 144 lbs, losing a total of 23.7 lbs in a little over 2 months. Since then, I've been maintaining scale wise, but I'm eager to do my next in-body to see my BF% change (estimated at 23% now), since my goal is to get to 20% body fat.
(Obligatory after selfie in workout clothes =P)
What worked for me
This section will likely be controversial to people. Especially the CICO die-hards. Yeah, I get it, CICO works, but I don't particularly like eating stupid small portions just so I can have more rice or something. For me, the following things worked:
What didn't work
What I do now
Today, I remain on a low-carb diet with hardly any rice, pasta, bread, or other starchy and carb-heavy foods. I don't plan on going back. I feel better this way. I cook 6/7 days a week on average and am looking to transition into a weekday vegetarian for a myriad of reasons. I work out 6 times a week, with 4 lifting days followed by some short cardio, and then 2 cardio days (urbankick). Ultimately, I'd like to get to 20% BF, which is about 5-8 lbs away. Still, I feel confident in who I am now, and I'm not obsessed with the scale or numbers anymore. I'm just happy to keep working hard and grateful to be healthy and strong.
Feel free to send me any questions you might have, and I'll try to answer as best I can.
I've been putting this off for a bit, but since my weight has stabilized within the last month, I wanted to own up to my success before I brush it under a rug.
Basic stats:
Height: 5'3"
Age: 23
SW: 195
CW: 143 (im happy and healthy here)
Overacheiver goal weight: 135
Calories for weight loss: 1200-1500
Activity level: high
Body fat stats:
May 2017: 170.3 lbs - 38.7 % BF
Aug 2017: 167.8 lbs - 34.8% BF
October 2017: 150.1 lbs - 26.1% BF
Today: 143 lbs -23% BF (estimated BF%. waiting for in-body in a few weeks)
For all you photo-hungry people, here's a quick before and after:
About me
I've always been on the heavier side, but as an athlete (soccer and martial arts), many people let me get away with it because of my activity levels as a kid. When I turned 18, I had recently started birth control (depo provera) and also injured myself during a soccer game badly enough that I had to stop playing. Combine these two factors with an already poor teenage diet, and the result is a quick 30 lb gain within a year, which really lowered my already low self-esteem. I jumped from 150 to 180 and didn't know what the *kitten* the stretch marks on my stomach were or how I was getting them.
For the next three years, I'd go back and forth on trying to lose weight while battling depression and low self-esteem, but ultimately, I ended up gaining another 15 lbs (thanks college).
Weight loss for reals
Part 1:
I didn't actually commit to weight loss until Nov 22, 2015, right before the holidays. I asked my mom for a year long gym membership for my 22nd birthday, and she gladly took me and signed up herself as well. This was also the first time I took MFP seriously and started calorie counting, aiming for 1200 calories a day and exercising probably 3-5x a week for 60 minutes at a time. I did group classes for cardio kickboxing and yoga each week, and on my off days, I used the treadmill, elliptical, or stationary bike while watching movies in the gym's "cardio theater."
I call this the first time I lost weight, because it took me two tries to get to where I am now. During this first attempt, I was just trying anything I could, without any real extra research or outside influence. Between Nov 22, 2015 and April 16, 2016, I went from 195 lbs to 161 lbs, losing 34 lbs fairly quickly. However, I was also on my last semester of college, working 30 hours a week, and both releasing and album and booking a tour with my band at the time, which took away all my focus from weight loss. I settled on trying to maintain, which lasted only a few months. By Jan 2017, I was 175 lbs again and super annoyed and unhappy with myself.
Part 2:
Life happens to all of us. During my weight loss break, I was adjusting to adult life, working on my career, and moving out of my parents house (had to move twice within 6 months!). Furthermore, I turned to my longtime habit and favored hobby of online gaming to cope with all the stress and unhappiness and wasn't regulating my food intake at all. I worked out on and off, but not with any discipline or consistency, and I found myself spiraling downwards yet again.
June 23, 2017 is the next turning point in my story. Sick of feeling depressed and angry at my lack of discipline and progress, I decided to give up online gaming completely and focus solely on weight loss. I'm the kind of person that intensely focuses and dedicates myself to one or two things at a time--to the point of obsession and perfection usually. I realized there was no way I could play these competitive games to the degree and caliber I wanted while also working on myself--weight loss, self-esteem, and depression control--to the same extent. So, I chose to give up my virtual self for the best possible version I could create of myself.
I started working out 5x a week consistently with a friend who was also losing weight. A month later, I felt much stronger, but the scale had only moved 3 lbs (from 170 to 167 or so). Feeling stuck, I realized my food intake was the problem, so, on Aug 9, 2017--having never been taught proper nutrition--I hired a nutritionist with a trainer background to help me with my diet. She helped me clean up my diet with permanent lifestyle choices; she helped me with my optimizing my workouts; she even helped me with some aspects of my depression and low self-esteem. By October 17, 2017, I had hit 144 lbs, losing a total of 23.7 lbs in a little over 2 months. Since then, I've been maintaining scale wise, but I'm eager to do my next in-body to see my BF% change (estimated at 23% now), since my goal is to get to 20% body fat.
(Obligatory after selfie in workout clothes =P)What worked for me
This section will likely be controversial to people. Especially the CICO die-hards. Yeah, I get it, CICO works, but I don't particularly like eating stupid small portions just so I can have more rice or something. For me, the following things worked:
- Consistent working out (5+ times a week for 45+ minutes at a time)
- Weightlifting + cardio
- Cutting starches and going low carb (sorry carrots, potatoes, corn, rice, pasta, and bread)
- Not obsessing over calorie counting, but instead obsessing over which foods I ate
- Measuring my food
- Cooking a *kitten* ton more often
- Meal planning, and meal prepping breakfast
- Eating 3 meals and 2 snacks a day
- Eating every 3-4 hours
- Eating a *kitten* ton more vegetables (hello cauliflower, my new best friend)
- Incorporating the "never two days in a row" rule
- Working in a treat once a week (alcohol or dessert usually)
- Telling people I'm losing weight so I don't want x, y, or z
- Cutting restaurant portions in half or asking for substitutions
- Accepting help and asking questions
- Weighing myself daily and recording my weight weekly
- Giving each new change a 1 month trial period. If it didn't work after that, i would change something.
What didn't work
- Calorie obsession still led me to try to work in dessert or calorie-dense foods still because I thought I could have it everyday. I ended up always at maintenance or over goal as a result.
- Cardio only exercise
- Cutting out the fun stuff (alcohol, dessert)
- Not exercising
- Eating back my exercise calories
- Being impatient and not enjoying the process
- Not telling people what my goals and intentions are
- Trying to finish all the food on my plate to be "respectful"
- Reading a million contradictory articles and blogs about nutrition and fitness (just choose a diet or fitness plan and stick with it for a while)
- Travelling without a plan
- Not meal planning
- Not measuring food at each meal
What I do now
Today, I remain on a low-carb diet with hardly any rice, pasta, bread, or other starchy and carb-heavy foods. I don't plan on going back. I feel better this way. I cook 6/7 days a week on average and am looking to transition into a weekday vegetarian for a myriad of reasons. I work out 6 times a week, with 4 lifting days followed by some short cardio, and then 2 cardio days (urbankick). Ultimately, I'd like to get to 20% BF, which is about 5-8 lbs away. Still, I feel confident in who I am now, and I'm not obsessed with the scale or numbers anymore. I'm just happy to keep working hard and grateful to be healthy and strong.
Feel free to send me any questions you might have, and I'll try to answer as best I can.
59
Replies
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You look great! You loo so confident. Love your hair2
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Thanks for sharing your story. I admire your analytical approach. Your results are amazing. You look so strong and fit and healthy.2
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All I can say is GOALS for sure, for me!!! I post with you on the accountably forum. I promise I’m not stalking. I just came across your success story and recognized your name and pic. I envy your active lifestyle. That is my issue, finding the time with kids and a husband who shift works. There’s no consistency with my routine and my gym doesn’t offer childcare. I am going to try harder to get there and be as consistent as I can. You motivate me for sure! Also, on your section of what did work for you, you listed the “never two days in a row rule”. What is that? I’ve never heard of it before. I’m interested. My stats are similar to yours. While I’m taller at 5’7”, I weigh 190 now (started at 198) and want to be around 140-145 with a little more athletic build. I’m struggling pretty badly. I know what I need to do, I just give up too easily. I’ve been in a slum this week. Your results are motivating me again! Congrats on your achievement and hopefully I will have one too sooner rather than later.1
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Congrats! ...and thank you for the post. very informative.1
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ah this is such an inspiration to me! starting at 180 also at 5'3, I am always looking for short girl motivation
congratulations on all of your hard work!! 4 -
tammierlewis wrote: »You look great! You loo so confident. Love your hairThanks for sharing your story. I admire your analytical approach. Your results are amazing. You look so strong and fit and healthy.Congrats! ...and thank you for the post. very informative.
thank you all! i hope some of this can help you too 1 -
ah this is such an inspiration to me! starting at 180 also at 5'3, I am always looking for short girl motivation congratulations on all of your hard work!!
Thanks! I definitely have spent a ton of time in the forums just browsin for stories like mine too, and taking inspiration from others too. You'll have a story up here, I'm sure!2 -
@aganey Thanks a lot!
The fact that you're here means you're on the right track!
If you have a hard time with the little ones, you could always try at home exercise. My mom does that now and it works great for her! Depending on the age of the little ones, you could get them to do it with you too.
The "never two days in a row" rule means exactly that--never have two treat days in a row. It helps me keep moderation in mind. For instance, instead of letting a night of drinking and sweets and snacking leave me feeling guilty and then sliding into a 2, 3, 4 day binge, i just get up the next day and say "that was good and fun, but not two in a row." Usually, this ends up meaning I plan my treat days, and try only to have one, maybe two a week. It's also worth noting some people apply a "never two bad meals in a row" rule or a "never two bad weeks in a row" rule. All depends on you
If you're having trouble with food, I totally understand. It took a lot of conscious everyday effort in the beginning to alter my habits. You could try turning calorie counting into more of a check list instead to help you stay on track? That's something I started doing when I picked up the nutritionist. I try to eat 3-5 cups of veggies a day, so I aim to eat at least 1 cup of veggies per meal. That's a checkbox in my head. I also have protein and snack checkboxes. If I'm still hungry after eating my regular meals, then I'll eat a bit more.
Losing weight is simple in theory, but hard in practice. It takes a lot of time and energy. I had to hyper focus on it or I'd never have lost weight. Don't feel bad if you don't lose weight all at once. Maybe you have to spend energy else where for a while, but that's okay. You can lose weight in intervals or only .5 lbs a week, or however works for you. That's one thing I'd wish I'd accepted at the beginning and suffered for years because I didn't. You got this!2 -
Thanks so much for sharing your story! I am 5'3" too. I am working on that last 10 to 15 lbs. It is a *kitten* You look fantastic! Great work. I like your approach a lot.1
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You are fantastic! Another shortie here, but three decades older than you.
I too gave up with CICO based calorie restriction and counting. 1200 a day meant no treats ever and 2.5 pound loss a month and it just wasn’t worth it. I ended up with 5:2 intermittent fasting, and it is working well- I feel like I’m dieting two days a week and maintenance eating (which has enough calories for an occasional treat, Yay) the other five.
I never heard the not two days in a row idea before, I so love it and am going to make it part of my routine.
You are very inspiring to me, thanks for your story, thanks for the acknowledgment that CICO based calorie restriction sucks for folks whose small stature means such a small calorie budget that it is almost impossible to not go crazy, thanks for your amazing before and after photos.
You look great, you look so strong and healthy, and I think you are awesome!
(Btw, age 53, 5’3, SW 195, CW 156, goal less than 145. Started in April but CICO based weight loss was snail pace and restarted on new 5:2 strategy to much better success in October.)2 -
@zeuggma thanks for all the info and pep talk. I will also incorporate the never two days in a row into my plan. This will help me a lot. As for the kids, son is 11 next month and daughter is 2. We have a soccer goal in the back yard and we will go back there and practice with him or I’ll pull daughter in the wagon or push her around in her cozy coup car a lot. Of course it’s not everyday or on a routine. I will just try harder to make it more routine and go to the gym for strength training when my husbands schedule allows him to watch the kids for me. Thanks for all the inspiration!!1
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Congratulations! You look and sound like you feel so healthy, physically and mentally. I am very proud of you!1
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wow congrats that is amazing and you look fabulous
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You look great! Congratulations. Thanks for sharing your story.1
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You look great! Congratulations on your weight loss. You really make me want to start working out more. Very inspirational, Thanks.1
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Thanks everyone for the encouragement and nice comments!
@ryenday Yeah, CICO just didn't click as well for me. It worked all right the first time, but the way I was doing it wasn't sustainable. Focusing on the kinds of foods I was eating and measuring those foods helped me wayyy more. Now, I feel like food choices are more intrinsic and automatic, instead of me crunching numbers all the time. I'm glad IF works for you!0 -
Awesome work!! I’m also 5’3 and started at 160, I’m down to 143 and aiming at 130. Thanks for sharing such a detailed story and your graphs especially! I wish more people did that. It really shows that it’s all about perseverance through plateaus. I really like the “not two days in a row thing.” I’ve found that if I let myself go for Friday and Saturday, it can take over a week to get back to where I was, but you can’t cut out all fun completely!1
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Really good work. The weight lifting especially has really sculptured your upper body. You look great!
Thanks! Growing up, I was primarily a soccer player, so I had noooo upper body strength. It's been a trip seeing my muscles get defined and feeling them get harder and stronger. I definitely recommend it for anyone!1 -
Awesome work!! I’m also 5’3 and started at 160, I’m down to 143 and aiming at 130. Thanks for sharing such a detailed story and your graphs especially! I wish more people did that. It really shows that it’s all about perseverance through plateaus. I really like the “not two days in a row thing.” I’ve found that if I let myself go for Friday and Saturday, it can take over a week to get back to where I was, but you can’t cut out all fun completely!
I had the same problem! Having no fun made me miserable and feel left out. Incorporating at least one treat day a week in coordination with the "never two in a row" rule really helped me change my mindset about treats, fun, and moderation. I hope it works for you too! 0 -
your confident smirky smile in your after pics...amazing transformation!! 1
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