Day 70... 20 Pounds and 56 Inches GONE!

Katanthus

Day 70... 20 Pounds and 56 Inches GONE!
All my life, my mother called me "fat", not something a young girl wants to hear from the one person who SHOULD love you unconditionally. I was NOT fat as a child, but was not aware of that at the time. There is a photograph of me on my blog, you decide if I was overweight at 16 (many hundreds of years ago).



At the age of 23, I went through a bad breakup, and lost a lot of weight, I was 97lb. I got criticized for that. I was NEVER good enough. Well time went on, and the gap got bigger between my mother..and I moved away from my home city, then moved again.. until 1999, when I moved to the US.
After moving to the US, I stopped eating, literally, stopped feeding my body. I would drink coffee or tea and eat a granola bar or a handful of animal crackers. My body went into "starvation mode". I started to put on weight, and my friends could not work it out "you eat like a bird" they would say. I couldn't work it out, my doctor checked my hormone levels, my thyroid was checked at least 4 times, and nothing.
About 8 years ago, I was put on some oral steroids after having a major reaction to penicillin, and I was told to finish the course, which I did... my body didn't like that very much, I had nausea, vomiting. This went on for a good few days, and all I could do was eat a tiny amount every couple of hours. Whilst visiting with my gastro doctor, I told him I thought I had gallbladder problems, which he checked out when he did my upper GI exam. Yes, I did have gallbladder problems, but the nausea and vomiting was from irritation in the stomach from the steroids. Long story short, gallbladder removed.. on the road to recovery. After that, I continued to eat small amounts throughout the day, and lost weight. Guess what happened when I went back to eating sporadically? Yes, you guessed it.. I gained weight.
Life was so hectic, that I had no time to spend on me.. seriously. I was the last person I thought of. As with many people who are overweight, depression set in. I had to get rid of this weight.
I injured my knee a number of month back, an osteochondral defect, is what I was told I had. Basically, my cartilage was damaged. The pain was excrutiating. I could do one or two steps on crutches, and wanted to cry. I felt I would never walk again. "I know, I know" I told my orthopaedic surgeon, "the weight has to come off". Of course, he agreed. Through a lot of pain, I made it to the pool, and that helped some. I had physio three times a week, and those ladies were magnificent! I did the work as they told me, and then some, but the weight needed to come off still.
On March 31st (70 days ago), whilst browsing Blackberryworld Apps, I came across MFP, downloaded it, and then found the website. I registered and started logging.
When I entered my starting weight... I weighed.. 228lb... there I have said it. I never thought I would ever confess to that, but there you go.
I have logged every morsal of food I have eaten, and all the water I have drunk.
I measured myself.. that was even more horrific.

Bust: 53"
Neck 17.5"
Calf 20"
Forearm 12"
Upper Arm 17"
Waist 46"
Hips 54"
Thigh 30"

5' 2" Tall

Dress size US 22

I swim for about 30 minutes a day.. weather permitting, and sometimes twice on Saturday and Sunday. I bought a Fitbit, really only to try to improve my walking, as pain stopped me from doing it. I just tried at first to better my previous day's steps.
The scale wasn't moving for the first week or so, in fact, I started to get very upset.
MoH, kindly told me, "you are losing size, look at those clothes, they are hanging off you".
I held off getting on the scale.
It is now 70 days with MFP...and here are my stats.

208.3lb

Bust 46"
Neck 14.5"
Calf 16"
Forearm 10.5"
Upper Arm 13.5"
Waist 39"
Hips 46"
Thigh 23.5"

Okay...that is a total of 56" lost. (that is accounting for 2 forearms, upper arms, thighs, etc)
So, 19.7lb and 56" gone in 70 days. I can now fit in a large size 12 jeans. They are tight, but I can zip them up. I still have a LONNNG way to go, but couldn't have come this far without my MFPs. Thank you for your support.
I hope that this inspires and or motivates someone.

Kat

CountryMom03

Thats wonderful!!!:) Your doing an awesome job!!! Your story is so motivating and uplifting!! Lets me know that there is hope and it can happen with hard work and commitment!:) So proud of you!:)

juggalettenell

Thank you for sharing your story.You are doing so well and wish you the best on your journey to a healthier you !

pinklily905

Excellent! You've done a great job!

hbuehrle

Thanks for sharing your story, so inspirational. I so needed to hear this, and to see it CAN be done. I am on day 16 and haven't seen much from the scale, but refuse to give up!

pam6870

You truly are an inspiration!! Thanks for being one of my MFP pals=)

Katanthus

Thank you all for your best wishes. I was reluctant at first to post this, as I have found it very difficult to admit to anyone my weight, and was embarrassed. I really wrote it for me. You know they say things can be cathartic to release, and I guess that is why I did it. I am not looking for anything from the posting, just wanted to send it out to the universe, as it were, with the hope, that if anyone did happen to read it, they would find it a little inspirational or motivational.

Keep at it, forget the scale for a week or two, and make the tape measure your best friend.

Love, Kat

WaterBunnie

You're doing brilliantly Kat and no need to feel any embarrassment. It'll take me over a year to get down to your current weight - so consider yourself slim! x

Katanthus

Waterbunnie, I don't intend to abandon MFP WHEN I get to my goal, because I WILL get there. I will be with you every step of the way. Thank you for your friendship and support, friend.

Katanthus

Thanks for sharing your story, so inspirational. I so needed to hear this, and to see it CAN be done. I am on day 16 and haven't seen much from the scale, but refuse to give up!

I wish you all the very best on your journey to a healthier happier you.

Katanthus

It is now day 73, and the story so far:

59 inches and 21lbs GONE!

TheRoseQueen

Amazing story...I share a lot of your experience from the earlier years....except I was fortunate enough to have had a very supportive and encouraging family. Now in my 60 something years....and weight for me has always been a challenge. Many years of "yo-yo" dieting starting at about age 18 -- including the "starvation" mode in my college years -- and trying almost every new diet fad that came around the block. I, like you, thought I was 'fat' in high school - when in reality not....just much more developed (as I look back at those pictures now) than most high school girls generally are. Same with my daughter, as she looks back on her high school pictures --- now realizing she actually had a "body" compared to many of the 'skinny-minnies' of the mid-teens.

Anyway, enough about that. Both of us joined in May, and are now just finishing week two of documenting exercises and eating habits. The results are happening, and like you, they seem slow at first.....but using the measurements (not the scale in the beginning) is going to be the true test. I also, came upon MFP quite by accident...and am truly happy that I did. Counting calories (much less keeping track of the intake of carbs, proteins, and fats) has always been a bug-a-boo for me. With this, it has become a "slam-dunk" --- and since I have found out that my particular body type needs to be on a high carb low fat diet (before I thought it was all about lots of protein (meats in particular), which of course also raises the fat intake) --- I have seen significant improvement.

Both my daughter and I have embraced this accountability program along with a few friends...and I love it, love it, love it! The assorted posts and success stories really bring it home that we are not alone in the battle of the bulge. And together we can all make vast improvements toward optimal health. She uses the phone app on her IPhone (25 years old, so that is a natural for her) --- I use my desktop. Either way it works..... Thanks for your encouragement and sharing. I am now 5 pounds down with 55 to go.... my goal is by December.... and looking forward to being back to where I was in my dancing years of not so long ago.

Katanthus

Both my daughter and I have embraced this accountability program along with a few friends...and I love it, love it, love it! The assorted posts and success stories really bring it home that we are not alone in the battle of the bulge. And together we can all make vast improvements toward optimal health.

I think that is THE key to success here, accountability. People quite often fail, because they want someone else to take responsibility for their bad eating. That is the reason there are so many "quick fix" diets out there claiming you can eat what you want, do what you did, and get different results. Well, Einstein said "Insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results." I have seen it, and have read of people who want the results but not prepared to put the work in. The "why aren't I losing weight?" brigade, but will they will make the effort to go to McDonalds 5 times a day.

I am by no means the picture of perfect nutrition and exercise, but, I TRY MY BEST.


"It takes 4 weeks for you to notice a change in your body... it will take 8 weeks for your friends to notice the change, and 12 weeks others to notice. So, give it 12 weeks."