10 months; 75 lbs GONE!!!

bjbixler

I posted about 6 months ago after I lost the first 50 (see that post here: http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/354966-30-lbs-before-30-blew-that-goal-out-of-the-water )

I've been overweight ever since puberty. More or less just "chunky" through high school until I went to college and gained the freshman 40. End of undergrad I decided I wanted to lose weight, so I tried with diet and exercise and some running, and I lost about 35 lbs and felt great. But then grad school happened and I gained it all back and then some. Then I moved to a new city with my boyfriend and became quite sedentary. I can't believe how bad I let it get. If I wanted to eat it, I did. Thanksgiving 2010 on a whim I decided to start C25K, and I stuck with it up until got married in March 2011. I even ran a 5K the DAY BEFORE MY WEDDING with some girlfriends. But up until this point I hadn't done a thing about my diet. Yes, I felt better because I was more active, but I was still really slow.

Looking back at the wedding photos I can barely stand to look at myself. It was the happiest day of my life, but maybe that was the kick in the butt I really needed, because that's what got me here. And the fact that I was still only running a 14 minute mile. I realized that I didn't want to run to lose weight, I wanted to lose weight so I could really run! So in June 2011 I found MFP and decided to change the way I ate. Let's just say the weight loss was really fast at first, 50 lbs in the first 4 months, and the next 25 came off much slower, in fact, I'd been stuck at 74 lbs down for the last month, something I attributed to marathon training and increased appetite to meet the demands of training, but today's weigh in brought new numbers on the scale and I couldn't be any happier to see it budge!

I'll be running my first marathon 2 weeks from tomorrow, close to 17 months since couch potato status. After that, I'll start triathlon training and hope to complete my first sprint triathlon in August. I also hope to step up the strength training because not only is my aim to be healthier, I also want to be strong! I still have about 25 more lbs I'd like to lose, and hopefully it won't take 6 more months to get there, but I will work at this as long as I have to, and will keep working for the rest of my life, because there is no return for me.

I blog about my training/journey: http://www.myfitnesspal.com/blog/bjbixler

Thanks for letting me share my story.

And of course, the proof is in the pictures (I'm 5'8"):

Close to 260?


My first 5K, 256#


206#


180#





PS... in a year my 5K time has gone from 42:38 to 28:31

edited to add my height: 5'8"

mzbehaven1

you look great!

stiggysworld

Wow! You look amazing!! Keep up the great work!!

feb06momma

You look AMAZING! Great job!!

SDawgW

Someone get this girl a jar of AWESOME SAUCE!!!!!!!!!!!!!

WTG, girl! SO amazing - keep it up!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

WOOOOOOOOOOOO HOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

:flowerforyou:

tjalt

You are my HERO!!!! So blessed to call you "friend" and watch you succeed and reach your goals! I adore you!!! I could go on and on but I'm sure you know how I feel about you by now So glad you posted this to be an inspiration to all of the MFP world...just like you inspire me daily!

kristinajaffe

you rock!!!! what an awesome accomplishment...!!!!!! look fabulous!!

chrystee

Wow, that is inspiring.

patriciaannbibo

Awesome Job! You look Beautiful

gogojodee

You look super! Congrats! :] My goal is 65 and it's been slow, I hope I can achieve 65 in 10 months! :]

Keeshaja

Congrats!! you look awesome!!

hapoo100

Oh you rule!!! very inspirational! thank you for sharing and wonderful job! :flowerforyou:

Nicoleo1

WOW! That's fantastic!

brocflores

Amazing!! You should be so proud of yourself 😉

KeepGoingRhonda

you look amazing! you should be proud! ....that first photo of you looks amazing, whoever took it should do another like it now!

TheAnie

Amazing job and I can't imagine running 3 miles in under 30 minutes! Wow! Heck, I doubt I could run one mile in under 30 minutes. :laugh:

NamsdnaL

Awesome job!

bjbixler

Thanks everyone!!! I'm holding on to those jeans from the first pic. I can't wait to put them back on once I reach goal!!!

kolkol

you look great, very inspiring to me.
do you think you lost so fast due to running a lot? Iv heard a lot of ppl say that it will make the weight fall right off especially w/healthy eating. I ran my first 5K 3/17 this year and was so proud to finish in 33 mins. I want to get faster too and believe that getting smaller it will get easier. Im at 170 right now.
Cannot wait to see the final pic w/those pants from the first pic!

bjbixler

Running in and of itself will not promote much weight loss, but it can speed it up if you pair it with a healthy diet, but the more you do it, the more efficient your body becomes, and the less cals burned doing it. A broad variety of activity is really the way to go. My cross and strangth training isn't my focus right now because of marathon training, and I had to increase my caloric goals to properly fuel my body for the rigors of marathon training, so that's what I attribute the slower weight loss to, when in fact, I've been running so much MORE, the weight loss has slowed. The body likes variety.

TiffanyAching

great story! thanks, i'm on a mission for c25k success stories today and they keep on coming. can't believe how great you looked at 206!