Results of 40+ days without mfp or scales

Oishii

When Lent began I had reached my absolute minimum bmi of 20 (I'd read that below that fertility can be affected) having used mfp since just after Christmas. I was weighing every day and recording every mouthful, and I was worried it was becoming obsessive, so they seemed the perfect two things to give up for Lent.

During Lent I also did 27 days of the 30 Day Shred, went on holiday and found out I'm anaemic!

So, after Lent:

• My BMI is 20.5 (+2.6lbs)
• I think I look better! Jillian has helped add some muscle and, I don't know why, but my collar bone is more visible, despite the extra weight (how does that work?). My tummy is bigger but in better shape.
• I'm stronger. Level one of the shred was impossible, now level 3 is doable. The dr who saw my blood count ask if I got breathless going up stairs... Erm... No... I can hike up hills with a toddler on my back and still talk!
• I suffered some body dysmorphia without the scales. When I started shredding I thought my legs looked like tree trunks, just as I felt as a teen, but if I'd stepped on the scales I'd have been able to reassure myself that there was no big change. Ditto TOM when I felt like a whale. I need that unemotional, objective machine to keep my subjective self in check.
• I can't quite trust my hunger signs just yet. I was constantly questioning whether I needed something or just wanted it. Counting calories on mfp helps me to answer that.

So, I'm back to maintaining on mfp and I think I can rein in my weighing from once a day to once a week. I like being this size, but just letting go again will put me 20lbs up again, so I'm back on mfp for the foreseeable future.

Hope my experience helps or interests someone out there

soze

Sounds great!

cj1234cj23

Good for you. Sounds like you do have control, you're listening to your body and learning the signs and knowing exactly what is working and what is not. One day, I shall be at 20 BMI and hopefully sound like you! Keep upt he good work!

OLP76

:happy: Congrats on bein' at 20 BMI. :happy:

sunshine79

A great achievement. Well done. being able to live a 'normal' life without obsessing about every calorie or weighing several times each day is exactly what we need so that we remain sane.

Well done for this.

SCC88

I've come to terms with the fact that I will probably need to count my calories for the rest of my life. I just cant eat without the product knowledge. If I stopped weighing all my food, i would eat more and go over my cals and also I would forget the tricks and snack without realising. I also get comfort in having my meals already planned at the beginning of the day, so if I'm craving something or getting peckish - I will look at the diary and have whatever is next on the list instead of simply putting my head in the fridge and trying to decide at the point when I am hungry and more likely to make a bad decision.

Also you have just scared me out of doing the 30 day shred which me and a friend are due to start tomorrow!
I have a seriously narrow waist at 28" and seriously wide hips at 47" which carry on down into tree trunk legs and my non existant ankles ... do you think yours really got that much bigger?

Oishii

I think the big thighs were mainly in my mind, and a shock response to my suddenly reawakened muscles!!!

I love my lightly shredded body now and want to keep going. I want to be fit now, more than small.