I reached my starting point!

sergeant771 · August 2010

I set out last March 12th to lose 65 pounds with a goal weight of 220. I weigh in on Saturday mornings and last week was 224. Knowing the 'beginning' was near I pushed hard this week and this morning weighed in at 217.2 pounds. I have officially arrived.

Last November I weighed 294 pounds. I 'dieted' and worked out in the old fashion manner and by March was lanquishing at 285. I'm 57 years old and was worried about health issues and for that matter quality of life issues. Then I got onto My Fitness Pal and that made all the difference. I've had yo-yo weight issues my entire life but MFP has taught me how to eat. In a matter of a couple months I have changed my relationship with food.

I call it my 'starting point' as reaching a 'goal' seems to have an ending point meaning to it. Now that I've reached that number on the scale I'm going to focus on maintaining it and work on conditioning.

You've heard all the tips but here's what really worked for me...

-Stay loyal/honest to My Fitness Pal! Every calorie counts so pick calories that count
-Do a lot of walking
-Drink a lot of water
-My eating style can best be described as 'a vegetarian that eats meat'.
-Avoid sugar, processed food, and get as organic as possible
-Don't go hungry. Eat something every three hours during the day
-Join a gym and hire a personal trainer (believe me, it will be time/money well spent).
-'Cheat Days' are fun and a good thing! If you Jones for something...eat it. But just eat one and be done

Something else I discovered was not to 'under-eat'. I found that if I skimped on calories too many days in a row my body would go into survival mode and I'd only lose a pound or two. My biggest weight loss weeks where when I ate well and and excercised a lot.

As for excercise, walking was the go-to excercise. Yes, I've sped up the weight loss process by some serious work-outs. I've concentrated on the basics of core training with planks, lunges, squats, deadlifts, push-ups, and a lot of time on an eliptical. One of the best work-outs for me was obtaining a large tire (225 pounds) that I flip around for 20+ minutes in the backyard. I'm now a Senior Citizen that can knock out 50 push-ups and visible abs (not quite a six-pack yet but I'm working on it)

P.S. I want to add something about joining a gym. I too thought 'I could never do that' Trust me, you won't stick out. Yes there are some 'pretty people' but you will fit in with the majority of people just like yourself. Just do it. Get yourself in there and work up a sweat.