Before & After - Lost 24 lbs. and maintaining!

blurayne · January 2011

I reached my goal weight about a month ago, but I'm finally getting around to posting - this is my first post on the boards, too.

Had a bad day at work today, so thought I'd cheer myself up by taking a look at my success over the past few months.

Anyway, I started on MFP in late September at 144 lbs, which I've since realized was way too heavy for me, even though I was technically in a healthy weight range (I'm 5'6"). I wasn't taking care of myself - I wasn't eating the right foods and it was like pulling teeth to get me to exercise. After changing the way I eat and carving out time to go to the gym, I'm now 120 lbs and happier than I've been in a long time. It's been really easy to maintain this weight, too, even with the holidays and the fact that I went to Las Vegas last weekend and wasn't especially careful about what I was eating (and drinking... haha). I find that as long as I eat the right foods 80% of the time and keep moving (even if it's just walking to work), the other 20% doesn't really make a difference when it comes to maintenance.

My diet has been mostly gluten-free, although I don't go out of my way to take gluten out completely. I just try to stay away from bread and pasta. Trader Joe's has made the mostly-gluten-free thing really easy. I also used to order in quite a bit - usually Thai or Chinese food, yum - but I cook the vast majority of the time now. I was working out for at least an hour a day for at least six days a week while trying to reach my goal, but I'm now down to half an hour a day, 4-5 days per week.

I lost the weight relatively quickly, I guess, but it was usually less than 2 lbs a week... I didn't do anything that felt drastic, I think my body just wasn't meant to be carrying that much weight.

Stats, before:
Weight: 144.3 lbs.
Waist: 27"
Hips: 37"
Clothing sizes: Dresses: 4
Tops: XS/S
Work pants/slacks: 6-8
Jeans: 29 (equiv. 8)

Stats, after:
Weight: 120.2 lbs.
Waist: 23.5"
Hips: 35"
Clothing sizes: Dresses: 0
Tops: XS/S
Work pants/slacks: 0-2
Jeans: 27 (equiv. 4), sometimes 26 (2)

And for the pictures...