My "1 Year on MFP!" post (with pics)
Michelle_Padgett13
Posts: 417 Member
Today marks one year that I've been logging my food and exercise on this website. I have not reached my goal weight yet, but so much has changed in the last year that I thought I'd share.
Here's me about a year and a half ago, at 250 pounds (I'm 5'8"):
I did a lot of sitting. Most of my work and hobbies could be done sitting. Eating, watching movies, knitting.
My depression had gotten really bad after my kid was born, I didn't own a scale, and didn't really care about losing weight, so the weight crept up on me.
Then one day in January of 2013, a friend invited me out to ride her horse. OH MY GOD YES. I grew up riding horses, I am a card carrying horse nerd for lyfe y'all, but I hadn't ridden since before my son was born. Would my breeches still fit? Could her horse carry me? Yes and yes.
Unfortunately, I only lasted 10 minutes in the saddle before I pulled nearly every muscle in my lower body and felt like I was having a freaking heart attack. Ten. Minutes. Oh my god.
So there was my wake up call. A horse named Finn changed my life.
I decided to just start with running. Runners are fit, right? If I run, I'll eventually get good, and the weight will just fall right off. That's how it works, right? So I got the Couch to 5K app on my phone and obeyed the nice robot lady voice that told me when to walk and when to run. I kept at it through some pain and some hate, but something happened about 6 weeks in and a switch flipped in my brain. I loved running. I looked forward to it. This was great.
Unfortunately, I was still eating massive amounts of food, so the weight was not, in fact, dropping right off me. Dang it. I hated to admit it, but I needed to lose some weight. To get lighter so I could run faster and ride better. So, despite having quit dieting in a feminist rage back in the 90s, I got a scale and started on MFP. :grumble:
At first I just estimated a lot. I didn't have a food scale, and I bought convenience food groceries with food labels and serving sizes that could be easily logged. Not a lot of meals from scratch at first. It was easier for me that way.
By the fall of 2013, I had dropped 20 pounds. Yay!
I was starting to get fitter. My running got better. I started taking taekwondo classes twice a week.
I also felt confident enough to start riding again.
In February of this year, I got sick with endometritis (an acute infection). Plateaued/maintained for a month or so just above 200 pounds. It was frustrating. I was really sick for a while, but eventually able to resume working out, and was able to keep going with taekwondo.
Lurking around on the forums and searching for plateau threads got me through my recovery. I had been trying to gross about 1700 calories per day, with daily workouts of running, aerobics, taekwondo, biking, swimming, and strength training. This led to binges which would erase my deficit. The scale went up and down.
I figured my TDEE and it was about 2800-3200 calories per day. So I decided to shoot for about 2300 daily, no matter how many calories MFP said I had left for the day. I bought a food scale and started weighing my food. (Man, was I wrong about a lot of portion sizes!)
The scale started going back down. At about 197, I was able to fit into my old riding breeches. The smaller ones.
May 1st of this year was my anniversary. 194. Size 12 dress. Cut my hair. Wearing Spanx and sucking it in...
192. It's weird, but at this point, I'm starting to not recognize the reflection in the mirror. It's so weird. I don't look like I did. I've changed so much. In the last 10 years I've come to think of myself as the awesome fat chick, and now that the fat part has been taken out of the equation, then who am I? Hm.
At 187, I got myself a new taekwondo uniform because the old one was too big. I also earned my green belt.
Now it's July, one year of counting calories, and I am down 67 pounds. I went from a tight size 18 to a loose size 12. From 250 pounds to 183.
I want to get to 160, and at that point, I'll re-evaluate my goals. If it takes me another year to get there, so be it. I'd rather go slowly and have lots of food than try to lose fast anyway. I eat a lot and work out a lot and love it. Here's me after I kicked my husband's butt riding 13 miles on the bikes this morning (he's napping right now, bless his heart)...
So that brings us to now. Thanks MFP for helping me get here.
I hope the pics post nicely the first time (ohpleaseohpleaseohplease)...
Here's me about a year and a half ago, at 250 pounds (I'm 5'8"):
I did a lot of sitting. Most of my work and hobbies could be done sitting. Eating, watching movies, knitting.
My depression had gotten really bad after my kid was born, I didn't own a scale, and didn't really care about losing weight, so the weight crept up on me.
Then one day in January of 2013, a friend invited me out to ride her horse. OH MY GOD YES. I grew up riding horses, I am a card carrying horse nerd for lyfe y'all, but I hadn't ridden since before my son was born. Would my breeches still fit? Could her horse carry me? Yes and yes.
Unfortunately, I only lasted 10 minutes in the saddle before I pulled nearly every muscle in my lower body and felt like I was having a freaking heart attack. Ten. Minutes. Oh my god.
So there was my wake up call. A horse named Finn changed my life.
I decided to just start with running. Runners are fit, right? If I run, I'll eventually get good, and the weight will just fall right off. That's how it works, right? So I got the Couch to 5K app on my phone and obeyed the nice robot lady voice that told me when to walk and when to run. I kept at it through some pain and some hate, but something happened about 6 weeks in and a switch flipped in my brain. I loved running. I looked forward to it. This was great.
Unfortunately, I was still eating massive amounts of food, so the weight was not, in fact, dropping right off me. Dang it. I hated to admit it, but I needed to lose some weight. To get lighter so I could run faster and ride better. So, despite having quit dieting in a feminist rage back in the 90s, I got a scale and started on MFP. :grumble:
At first I just estimated a lot. I didn't have a food scale, and I bought convenience food groceries with food labels and serving sizes that could be easily logged. Not a lot of meals from scratch at first. It was easier for me that way.
By the fall of 2013, I had dropped 20 pounds. Yay!
I was starting to get fitter. My running got better. I started taking taekwondo classes twice a week.
I also felt confident enough to start riding again.
In February of this year, I got sick with endometritis (an acute infection). Plateaued/maintained for a month or so just above 200 pounds. It was frustrating. I was really sick for a while, but eventually able to resume working out, and was able to keep going with taekwondo.
Lurking around on the forums and searching for plateau threads got me through my recovery. I had been trying to gross about 1700 calories per day, with daily workouts of running, aerobics, taekwondo, biking, swimming, and strength training. This led to binges which would erase my deficit. The scale went up and down.
I figured my TDEE and it was about 2800-3200 calories per day. So I decided to shoot for about 2300 daily, no matter how many calories MFP said I had left for the day. I bought a food scale and started weighing my food. (Man, was I wrong about a lot of portion sizes!)
The scale started going back down. At about 197, I was able to fit into my old riding breeches. The smaller ones.
May 1st of this year was my anniversary. 194. Size 12 dress. Cut my hair. Wearing Spanx and sucking it in...
192. It's weird, but at this point, I'm starting to not recognize the reflection in the mirror. It's so weird. I don't look like I did. I've changed so much. In the last 10 years I've come to think of myself as the awesome fat chick, and now that the fat part has been taken out of the equation, then who am I? Hm.
At 187, I got myself a new taekwondo uniform because the old one was too big. I also earned my green belt.
Now it's July, one year of counting calories, and I am down 67 pounds. I went from a tight size 18 to a loose size 12. From 250 pounds to 183.
I want to get to 160, and at that point, I'll re-evaluate my goals. If it takes me another year to get there, so be it. I'd rather go slowly and have lots of food than try to lose fast anyway. I eat a lot and work out a lot and love it. Here's me after I kicked my husband's butt riding 13 miles on the bikes this morning (he's napping right now, bless his heart)...
So that brings us to now. Thanks MFP for helping me get here.
I hope the pics post nicely the first time (ohpleaseohpleaseohplease)...
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Replies
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Happy Anniversary!
Congratulations on the green belt and horse riding and all the awesomeness in your life.
You look terrific!
I recently went private with my diary because I found it easier to be honest that way. I ate what I wanted and recorded it all and realized that I needed a lot more calories than I thought to maintain this big ol' body of mine.
That lead me to the revelation that I can EAT. I averaged 2173/day last week and still lost over 4 pounds.
So thank you for telling us your caloric intake. It helps to see other women about my height and starting point achieve success while eating more than what I thought I needed to.
Here's to reaching your ultimate goal! :drinker:0 -
I did TKD for years with my dad! I always love seeing someone else enjoying it!
Great job! :drinker:0 -
You look amazing! what wonderful results
Congrats to you!!! 0 -
you look fantastic!!!!! congrats!!!!!!!0
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Awesome story and great pictures! Congratulations on your achievement! (I love horses too).0
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Congratulations!! What an inspiring story! Enjoy the moment and keep on keeping on! And thanks for sharing!0
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Congrats!! Your story is very inspiring! You look great and look like you're enjoying the journey 0
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What an inspiring story! Congrats on all your hard work and the amazing results. Keep it up!0
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Awesome - thanks for this - so motivating!0
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You should feel very proud. Quite an accomplishment!0
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I'm using my first forum post to say you are a great inspiration. I still consider myself an awesome fat grrrl, but hopefully next year I can drop one of those adjectives. 0
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You've done awesomely! Congratulations. You look great and it's wonderful to see the different activities you've been enjoying throughout the process.0
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Thanks for sharing! Congrats to you. Motivation and inspiration ????0
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Thanks for sharing! :happy:0
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Amazing! You look happy and strong 0
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Congratulations! I have only been at it since the middle of June. I investigated weight loss surgery (the charts have me at morbidly obese, and I have a couple of co-morbidity conditions), and one of the requirements is 3 months worth of supervised dieting. I have lost some since then on he nutrtitionist's plan, but today I looked in the notebook she gave me, and it said one serving of nuts was 1/2 cup. (I read it 3 times, just to make sure). Ai-yi-yi! I recorded it here with the 1/2 c of cottage cheese and 5 olives for a snack , and the nuts alone come out to 553 calories! Oh well. This Atkins stuff is weird, but good!
Read your post and it cheered me up, since I was about to get bummed about the snack. Guess I'll just keep on doing what I have been and see if the weight keeps coming off before the surgery. I am really looking forward to the enforced portion control once I have it.
Keep on riding - that seems to be your magic wand! and Good Luck.0 -
Great story of perseverance! You've become a completely different person, both physically and mentally! Way to go! I especially love the smile on your face in the last few pics - it says a lot about your amazing attitude!0
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Love this! :flowerforyou:0
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You look 15 years younger and so healthy. You were consistent and continue to be. Thanks for showing how it is done. WTG big time!0
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So nice to read a detailed story with lots of inbetween photos. Well done on losing the weight and sticking with it.
Have to say I relate to where you said that a lot of your hobbies are the ones where you sit down.... ouchh...
Keep on riding!0 -
Thanks for posting and sharing! Your journey is an inspiration!:flowerforyou:0
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You are a true inspiration! Thanks for posting this!0
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This thread gives me some serious hope! Thank you for posting it.0
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Fantastic progress! What a motivation. Thanks for posting the details too. :drinker: :flowerforyou:0
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You look fabulous ! I think you have the best attitude and right towards food and exercise... enjoy the process, work hard , eat good food and have a laugh while you are at it!! Congratulations!!0
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So inspiring! Thank you for sharing - you are awesome!!0
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Just fantastic!!! congratulations you did so great You are definitely going to reach your goal....keep going! 0
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WAY TO GO!!!!0
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Great story and wonderful progress! You look amazing????0
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Just love this story - well done you look amazing.0
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