It's been a Long Time Coming

wkay99 · October 2014

I started with MFP in October 2010 after having tried a number of other options to reduce my weight from its peak in 2005 of nearly 200 pounds. Truthfully that weight (along with sore knees and sinus/breathing issues) finally scared me enough. Weight Watchers had helped get rid of 10 pounds, but somehow group meeting just didn't seem to work - I'm not particularly group motivated - but their on-line program was interesting. Once I figured out that group meeting weren't my motivator, I signed up for MFP and decided to give logging food a try. I didn't come into this process with a firm "goal"; but, I found it really interesting to see what I was eating. It wasn't fun but it was eye-opening - especially seeing that portion control was a large part of my problem - along with a very low activity rate (which I knew mentally, but was never really honest about).

Got a fitbit in April 2013. In July 2013 I had a family member lecture me for the better part of our vacation about how much MFP had helped him and how easy it was to lose weight - ruined my vacation and certainly didn't motivate me to continue the effort. My husband mocked the fitbit step counts and the MFP calorie numbers which again didn't do much for my confidence, motivation and effort. Seemed like I was constantly discouraged and wondering if it was really worth it. Later that summer I learned that our son planned to marry in a beach wedding in May 2014 - now there was motivation!

Once I'd started to actively monitor my steps and physical activity I assumed that weight would drop off quickly. Not true - especially when you're in your 60's! Tried to keep my motivation focused by body measurements, etc - but it seemed like nothing caused anything to decrease.. I'd lost another 8 - 10 pounds by the wedding and my clothes were loose, but not what I'd hoped, just a little depressing, to say the least. But, I did find a couple of pairs of shorts for summer in a smaller size. Over the summer those two pares of shorts and my old shorts/slacks finally seemed to be getting larger.

My MFP daily logging is now at 75 consecutive days. My steps averaged 11,000+ per day in September and I was only less than 10,000 steps 4 days in the whole month. I was really pleased with those results. Because the weather is changing here, I broke out my fall and winter wardrobe last week to see what I had to wear. What a surprise to see that almost nothing fit anymore. I had my best pair of slacks tailored, only to find that they still didn't look or feel right.

Icing on the Cake!! Today, I went shopping for new slacks. I expected to be able to wear a size 14 comfortably but came home with size 12. What a day!