So how was your 2011?

PedmomJill

I used to be in pretty good shape until about 2007. I gained a lot of weight and stopped taking care of myself. Too much food and drink, no exercise, just plain laziness.

On 12/27/10 I walked into my first Weight Watchers meeting. I was 70 pounds overweight! By April 1, 2011 I was ready to start exercising again. I started slowly with Stephanie Huckabee's Powerfit series, and treadmill and elliptical. Not more than 20 minutes a day, because that's all I could handle. By August 1, 2011 I had lost about 45 pounds. I decided to take a break from losing. I was feeling burned out from tracking every single thing I ate. I didn't stop exercising, and I didn't just throw caution to the wind and eat like a pig. I just relaxed a little and enjoyed my loss and kept improving my physical fitness.

Hearing that Cathe Friedrich's Low Impact Series was finally going to be shipping was the catalyst I needed to get back on the losing track. I upped the ante with the exercise (boosting intensity and frequency) and started tracking my food each day. I did the LIS November rotation and had great results. I fired WW as my (expensive) crutch, and came to MFP again. I had been here a little before but was not serious about it.

I won't make it to goal by the one year mark, because I pulled my hamstring on 12/9. But I am only 6 pounds from my original goal, which is pretty damn good. I have reset it to 10 pounds less now that I'm close. I've lost 64 pounds, quit smoking, gained a ton of fitness back, and am dating again after a long hiatus.

I couldn't have asked for a much better 2011.

How about you? What happened in the last year that made YOU decide to take control of your health?

cabaray

Last year in July I was at Dollywood with my kids. We rode a water ride (as this was one of the only rides I could fit on) and had to use a belt extension. That was it. At that point I decided I was over it. I've lost 41 pounds since and have no intentions of stopping until I hit my goal!