Thanks MFP!

Skyler103

Hi fellow MFPers! I wanted to introduce myself and just say thanks. I'm a 40 yo female, 5'5 and I started logging 36 days ago. My starting weight was 150 and my GW is around 135.

When I was in my early 20's I'd gotten up to 180 and I lost 55 pounds with the help of diet pills (ephedra). I had never been able to lose before and just kept getting bigger and bigger. When they took ephedra off the market I was really scared I'd gain again. And I did, but not as much as I'd started out weighing.

I've yo-yo'd between 130-160 since that time. I've had long stretches where I've eaten very healthy and lost a lot, and I've had times that I've eaten whatever I want and I've gained. I'm tired of the yo yo and I'm tired of having 3 sets of different sizes of clothes in my closet.

In December I knew I needed to do something, so I started searching different forums for motivation. I found MFP and saw what you all are doing with counting cals and weighing and measuring food. This seemed so old school to me. I remember being a kid and wanting to lose weight and my mom buying me one of those purse sized calorie books that listed all the calories for stuff. I thought to myself that the calorie counting thing is ridiculous and I wasn't going to go to all that trouble, but I kept reading the forums.

Then, one day I got curious. I saw people here say that you're probably over estimating what you're eating if you aren't tracking. So, I decided to experiment and log. But I was only going to do it that one day, just to see. I didn't have a food scale, but I tried to be as accurate as I could without one. I stayed within my calorie goal that day and thought there's no harm in keeping it up.

Then I got curious about how much I was actually consuming by weight. The next weekend I bought a food scale. Some things I was over estimating, but I also wasn't even giving myself a whole serving of some things I like, like cheese and peanut butter! That was exciting to find out!

So here I am, 36 days in and I've lost 6 pounds! I know that's not a lot, and I know some of you have a whole lot more to lose. But for me those 6 pounds represent being able to be more comfortable in my body and in my clothes. I also feel like I've found a sure fire method for weight loss that I can stick to for the rest of my life and also keep it off when I get to my goal.

Good luck everyone! I hope you all reach your goals!