A look back at 2017 - did you achieve more than you think?
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SueSueDio
Posts: 4,796 Member
I've been a member of MFP for close to two years now, but didn't consider myself a "Success Story" until today. I was writing this post for a group I belong to and I realised that yes, I actually AM a success! I may not have reached my goal yet, but I have been - and am still being - successful. So I decided to share my thoughts here for everybody. 
I thought I'd do a little "2017 roundup", to remind myself that I really did achieve more than it feels like during this past year...!
On January 1st I started the year at 172lbs, 45lbs down from where I started on Jan 11, 2016, and by Jan 19 I'd hit the 50lbs-down mark.
At some point in January I changed my deficit to lose 1/2lb per week rather than 1lb, as the calories had got too low to be sustainable for me.
At the beginning of March, I reached the goal weight that I'd initially set for myself when I started out, and which felt very ambitious at the time - 160lbs. I've revised this goal a couple of times since the start (it's now 140lbs), but back then I thought it would be a miracle if I ever managed to reach 160!
Also in March, I took a maintenance break for 2 weeks.
On April 8, I hit the 60lbs-down milestone.
On April 15, my wedding anniversary, I weighed just 10lbs more than I had on my wedding day back in 1989.
On May 6 I saw a weight that was just under the "overweight" line for the first time - I didn't stay there, and bounced around above that for a few more weeks, but around the beginning of June it settled under and stayed there.
Also in May, I took a three-week maintenance break.
In mid-July, I started a training course that threw me for a bit of a loop and I found it tough to stick to a deficit, so I decided to go to maintenance for the 6-week duration. I enjoyed eating more and was reluctant to go back to restricting...! It wasn't until after my birthday at the beginning of October that I finally went back to a deficit.
On Nov 10, I reached the second goal weight I'd set of 150lbs.
On December 1, I hit the 70lbs-lost landmark.
On Dec 22 I went into another maintenance break for the holidays!
And today, December 31, I'm at 148.5lbs - that's 23.5lbs down over the course of the year. Considering that I had around 4 months of maintenance in there, that's pretty darn close to the 1/2lb per week I was aiming for.
Although I'd been hoping to reach 145lbs by the end of the year, with all the sweets and treats around I had to accept that it probably wasn't going to happen! I did see 145.5 on the 23rd, but I knew it wouldn't stick around.
I'm a little disappointed that I don't have the willpower to resist all the yummy food and treats, but at the same time I think I can be pretty proud of myself for what I have done this year! In the grand scheme of things, 3lbs over the holidays is nothing. That's why I wanted to do this look back at the year, to remind myself of the bigger picture.
I would encourage you guys to do something similar, especially if you feel like you didn't achieve much. Are you a similar weight to when you started the year? Well, maybe that's not so bad! Did you successfully practice maintenance? Did you make improvements in other areas, like strength or speed gains, taking up a new sport or activity, or even something as simple as trying out some new recipes?
Have you been treating yourself kindly, forgiving your mistakes, and accepting that you're human?
Have you been dealing with stresses in your life that might have tried to push you completely off the rails?
Did you feel like giving up and throwing in the towel, but you stuck with it anyway?
If you did fall off the wagon, did you get back on it again?
All of these things are reason to celebrate! Don't wait until you reach your goal weight to tell yourself that you're "successful"... every step you take in the right direction is a success.
Keep on taking those steps in 2018!
Happy New Year, everybody! I wish you everything that you wish for yourself.
[Edited to add a milestone I'd missed out... ]
I thought I'd do a little "2017 roundup", to remind myself that I really did achieve more than it feels like during this past year...!
On January 1st I started the year at 172lbs, 45lbs down from where I started on Jan 11, 2016, and by Jan 19 I'd hit the 50lbs-down mark.
At some point in January I changed my deficit to lose 1/2lb per week rather than 1lb, as the calories had got too low to be sustainable for me.
At the beginning of March, I reached the goal weight that I'd initially set for myself when I started out, and which felt very ambitious at the time - 160lbs. I've revised this goal a couple of times since the start (it's now 140lbs), but back then I thought it would be a miracle if I ever managed to reach 160!
Also in March, I took a maintenance break for 2 weeks.
On April 8, I hit the 60lbs-down milestone.
On April 15, my wedding anniversary, I weighed just 10lbs more than I had on my wedding day back in 1989.
On May 6 I saw a weight that was just under the "overweight" line for the first time - I didn't stay there, and bounced around above that for a few more weeks, but around the beginning of June it settled under and stayed there.
Also in May, I took a three-week maintenance break.
In mid-July, I started a training course that threw me for a bit of a loop and I found it tough to stick to a deficit, so I decided to go to maintenance for the 6-week duration. I enjoyed eating more and was reluctant to go back to restricting...!
It wasn't until after my birthday at the beginning of October that I finally went back to a deficit.On Nov 10, I reached the second goal weight I'd set of 150lbs.
On December 1, I hit the 70lbs-lost landmark.
On Dec 22 I went into another maintenance break for the holidays!
And today, December 31, I'm at 148.5lbs - that's 23.5lbs down over the course of the year. Considering that I had around 4 months of maintenance in there, that's pretty darn close to the 1/2lb per week I was aiming for.
Although I'd been hoping to reach 145lbs by the end of the year, with all the sweets and treats around I had to accept that it probably wasn't going to happen! I did see 145.5 on the 23rd, but I knew it wouldn't stick around.
I'm a little disappointed that I don't have the willpower to resist all the yummy food and treats, but at the same time I think I can be pretty proud of myself for what I have done this year! In the grand scheme of things, 3lbs over the holidays is nothing. That's why I wanted to do this look back at the year, to remind myself of the bigger picture.
I would encourage you guys to do something similar, especially if you feel like you didn't achieve much. Are you a similar weight to when you started the year? Well, maybe that's not so bad! Did you successfully practice maintenance? Did you make improvements in other areas, like strength or speed gains, taking up a new sport or activity, or even something as simple as trying out some new recipes?
Have you been treating yourself kindly, forgiving your mistakes, and accepting that you're human?
Have you been dealing with stresses in your life that might have tried to push you completely off the rails?
Did you feel like giving up and throwing in the towel, but you stuck with it anyway?
If you did fall off the wagon, did you get back on it again?
All of these things are reason to celebrate! Don't wait until you reach your goal weight to tell yourself that you're "successful"... every step you take in the right direction is a success.
Keep on taking those steps in 2018!
Happy New Year, everybody! I wish you everything that you wish for yourself.
[Edited to add a milestone I'd missed out...
]25
Replies
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You ARE a success story!
I'm ending the year 20 pounds lighter, after losing then gaining then losing again My goal for 2018 is consistency lol 3 -
Aww, thanks Pinup! We can do this! 2018 is the year we meet our goals, right? 2
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Wow I love your post ....and I do not have any successes like yourself but I love how you have done things you truly are a success story I love how you go to maintenance at Xmas etc great idea .......can I add your age ? And what exercise kind of diet you did ?0
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Wow I love your post ....and I do not have any successes like yourself but I love how you have done things you truly are a success story I love how you go to maintenance at Xmas etc great idea .......can I add your age ? And what exercise kind of diet you did ?
Thank you! I find it very helpful to take a break around special occasions like birthdays and holidays - it gives me a mental rest, as well as allowing me extra calories for the treats!
I'm 52, and started this journey a few months after I turned 50. I'm very sedentary and do almost no deliberate exercise, although I do find that I move more now than I used to when I was over 200lbs! I'll dance around to the radio while cooking supper, or deliberately make more than one trip up and down stairs just because it doesn't exhaust me now, that sort of thing. I had started doing "Walk at Home" videos a while ago but got out of the habit, so I'd like to start that up again.
I also plan to start some kind of strength training, which is my one regret from the past two years... I should have been doing that all along, because now I'm smaller but flabby! My goals for 2018 include several that are fitness related rather than purely weight based.
As for diet - I eat the same things I always did, because I realised that any "diet" that cut out chocolate, bacon, pizza etc. was doomed to failure, but I just eat less of them. I have to eat this way for the rest of my life, so I didn't want to do anything that would be temporary. I haven't been "on a diet", I've been learning how to eat normally for the size I want to be.
I have reduced my intake of some things like bread and cake, not because I feel that they're "bad foods" but purely because they have so many calories and don't fill me up enough. I'm much more picky about what I spend my precious calories on these days, and poor quality treats just aren't worth it!
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I think your "diet" works ...i think I need to adopt that way versus of the numerous eating plans to there now ....but also incorporate healthier choices and also weight training along with some form of exercise as I just feel better .....so thanks for your post1
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I lost a whopping 20# this year, mostly maintenance with a few mini-cuts. My goal for 2018? Ba-dump-bum a huge 6#. So a half # a month to get under #130.
Great job OP, you have learned that there is zero reason to white knuckle this thing. Just be consistent.3 -
Great job everyone! Keep up the good work!
I wrote my summary to kind of remind myself what obstacles I had to overcome to maintain my activity levels and health:
So my total running/hiking/trail running mileage for the year is 580miles Some barefoot, some wearing my trusty huarache sandals, which have about 2,400miles on them and still going! I usually like to do over 600miles each year but fell a bit short due to some setbacks:
In January I was still recovering from chostochondritis (rib cartilage inflammation) as a result of severe kidney stone pain at the end of December ‘16
In February I had my first official fall while running (at night it’s not easy to see where someone suddenly decided to put plywood down on the sidewalk)
Luckily I only sliced up my knee and have a beautiful scar now.
In March I had a touch of Achilles tendonitis from running so many hills (I do love hills!) so I cut back and got aquatinted with the foam roller and we are good friends now
I still run hills every chance I get but balance it out with an almost equal amount of flat.
In August I was in a car accident (other driver ran thru red light and t-boned me) and was off of work for over a month. Luckily I recovered but it was no picnic
So all things considered, only falling a few miles short of my goal doesn’t seem so bad at all!
At the beginning of the year I lost the 13 lbs I’d gained slowly since I was off mfp for a time. I’ve maintained within 5 lbs of my goal weight so I’d like to lose those 5 lbs by next summer, of course. I felt the most confident I’ve ever felt in my bikinis this year
I got a clean bill of health from my Doc and all my labs were excellent! So overall I had an amazing year and hope you all did too... looking forward to the next one! Happy 2018!!! 
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You are such a success story! Sticking to our health goals when life throws us curve balls is so tough, but you weathered it just fine.
My successes in addition to weight loss is climbing a 14k elevation mountain, kayaking 76 miles in the Utah desert in August, and running 1 5k race, 3 10k races, and a half marathon.1 -
My roundup for 2017: At the start of the year I was working 4 days a week and studying (class one day plus lots of home studying) and was still 4kg from my goal weight
In January I took up running. My biggest fear as it was something that I thought I would not be capable of.
In May I took my final exams (and passed)
In June I started to apply for new jobs
In July I managed to run my first 5K ever and I hit my goal weight
In September I hiked my furthest distance ever (33K) totalling >50K steps in one day
In November I ran my first 10K ever
In December I started a new job and ran 61K in the month.
Yes 2017 has been a good year for me.
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You continue to be my biggest inspiration @SueSueDio and I'm so happy you posted this. I'm still struggling to keep my 10 lb loss since September. I'm not in any hurry, but I know it can be done. And it can be done without every single thing you put in your mouth being the center of your universe. I don't want to make weight loss my whole life. I appreciate your more human approach to this. I keep thinking that I didn't get fat in a year or even a decade. It makes no sense to try to get thin in a year. I would like for it to happen within three years though, and it sound so much more doable when I read your posts. Thank you for providing the inspiration.1
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Thank you everyone for sharing . I am proud I logged 70+ Days in a row . Going strong this year2
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I keep thinking that I didn't get fat in a year or even a decade. It makes no sense to try to get thin in a year.
Exactly! For me it was a slow and steady creep upwards, over the course of nearly thirty years. There was a year when I lost about 25lbs, but I didn't learn anything from that episode and I put it all back on within another year or two (and kept adding more).
I think that when we finally make the decision to lose weight, it's natural to want it to happen quickly. We want to become slim and fit and be able to enjoy our new-found health and self-confidence! (And sometimes there's a feeling of wanting to get it over with so that we can go back to eating "normally" - which is something we cannot do. Eating the way I did before is what made me over 200lbs, and I am NOT going back there.)
But taking it slowly gives us time to learn new habits along the way that will help us to keep the weight off in the long term. And we can enjoy life before we reach our goals, too! Even losing the first 10lbs or so gave me more confidence than I'd had in a long time, and it was much easier and less uncomfortable to do some things.
If I reach my goal by summer, which is what I'm hoping for, then it'll have taken me less than 10% of the time it took to put all that weight on. I can be happy with that!
(And thank you for the kind words, too. ) 0 -
I started this whole process in April of 2017 because after a blood test my doctor called me in ASAP. Boy was that a wake up call. Blood sugar was diabetes A1c 9.0. Had been steadily going up for a few years but I paid no attention to it.
Doctor said "stop eating sugar and processed foods as much as possible." I listened to him and started eating veggies and fresh fruit. The great side effect was I stared losing weight.
In July I found MFP and started to get serious about losing weight in addition to lowering my blood sugar. Best decision I ever made. Logging my food is a godsend. I may not hit my calorie goals every day but I definitely hit my carb and sugar goals.
The net effect is:
SW: 335
CW: 283.6
Starting A1c: 9.0
Current A1c: 4.7
I look forward to 2018, I'm really excited to see where this journey takes me!1
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