*Newbie here* My weight loss journey....

DJ2120

I don't even know where to start honestly. I guess I will start with the person I was about a year & a half ago. I would not consider myself lazy, because I am a very hard worker when it comes to work, home, family etc. But, as far as exercise it's not something I ever did. I hated even the thought of it actually. As far as food, my diet was awful. I loved fast food, lived on soda & had no self control. I would indulge in food to the point where ice cream, chick fil a shakes & french fries were a part of my daily diet. If I ate anything that butter could be added to, I would add a disturbing amount of it. If I ate cereal, I would spoon tons of sugar on top. Don't get me wrong, I also enjoyed veggies & salads. But, most days you would find me sitting in front of the computer eating out of a tub of Edy's or in the drive thru window at KFC at 9pm at night. Now that I think about it, I'm actually shocked that I wasn't even heavier than I was? Crazy! I should consider myself lucky! Now nobody ever told me I was over weight, I was just "thick & healthy" & famous for my round butt. I should probably tell you about myself & my body as well. I'm 31 years old, I'm a professional make-up artist & I have a 5 year old daughter. I'm 5'4 with I'm guessing a medium body frame. Back then I was probably around 155 pounds & between a size 8-9.

So here is where my journey begins, I started going through a lot of serious personal issues. My Mother passed away & issues within my marriage. Now I know a lot of people turn to food when they eat & are stressed, I'm the opposite. When I am going through things I constantly feel like I have butterflies in my stomach & I literally can't eat or can only eat small light meals like fruit. So I went months without eating any real food & because of this the weight came flying off. I know this is a super unhealthy way to lose weight. But, it wasn't something that was done on purpose. It just happened because my life was literally falling apart around me. After things started to get better & I picked up the pieces & started to live again I looked in the mirror & by now I had probably lost around 20 pounds & weighed around 135 & I actually decided I enjoyed the slimmer me. I was getting tons of compliments on how great I looked. But, everyone kept telling me since I lost the weight because of stress I will just gain it right back once things went back to normal & I went back to eating the way I used to. Just like when you are on a fad diet & you lose a ton of weight, but gain it back as soon as you quit the diet. I knew they were right so I decided to change my whole lifestyle.

So I slowly, started working out at home & getting more active. At first I hated it, but then after a while I enjoyed it & actually looked forward to it. I joined a gym & now work out 5 days a week, I go Monday thru Friday first thing in the morning & rest on the weekends. My routine is that I do half an hour of cardio & then weights/machines.

My diet is nothing like it used to be. No fast food, no fried foods, no soda, no red meat. I eat things like lots of spinach salad, fish, chicken, greek yogurt, almonds, oatmeal, fresh fruits & veggies, egg whites. To drink it's usually water or green tea & I can't live without my coffee (I still load it with cream & sugar, got to give in somewhere lol). I will treat myself every now & then to cake, ice cream etc. But, small amounts & always in moderation. I try to stick to a "clean eating" diet.

My weight loss did become an obsession for a time and I would weigh myself constantly and I got down to 107 pounds which started to scare people because I'm 5'4 with a medium frame and people starting begging me not to lose anymore weight and even told me I was starting to look aged because the skin on my face was getting loose. I started eating more and got up to around 112-114 and everyone said I looked much better. When I look at pics of myself when I was at that weight I see what they meant, my head looked too big for my body and my face just looked odd, not like myself.

Im on vacation now and still working out when I can at the gym at the resort here, but I definitely haven't been sticking to my clean eating and I'm sure I have probably picked up a few pounds. But, I try not to weigh myself because I'll just start obsessing. I just measure my progress or lack there of by the way my clothes fit, measurements and how I look in the mirror. I want to maintain a weight around 110-12. So I know when I get back from vacation on the first I'm going to have to get seriously back into my clean eating and working out. I mostly do 45 mins of cardio on an elliptical machine and some weight training. But I'm thinking of adding in some Pilates routines because I really love the long lean look it has given Miley Cyrus for example.

I guess that's my story, I can't wait to meet everyone here and make some new friends :-)

DJ2120

"Bump" :-)

AliMariesDad

Welcome!
What a story. I'm glad you've picked up the pieces of your life and feel better.
Keep up the great work, and don't worry about the scale. As long as you feel and look good, the actual 'number' doesn't mean anything.
Feel free to add me.

FrauHausMaus

That's quite a tale! Welcome to MFP :flowerforyou:

rhondaoberling

The loss of your mother and marriage issues are difficult to handle especially when dealt with together! No wonder you couldnt eat! Very sorry for your loss!

beattie1

Hi! I'm so sorry to hear that life's been difficult for you recently, but well done for getting to grips with getting yourself onto a healthy track.

I can see why you got no response for a while though, if you ask a question that's easy to answer with a load of conflicting advice you'll get a whole heap of responses. As you gave us an introduction about yourself & what got you here, there were no knee-jerk, pile-into-the-continuing-debate posts having their usual slugging match. Congratulations! :drinker:

DJ2120

Thanks everyone! I've already made lots of new friends