11 Months Later

twilight1542

So here I am 11 months after starting this journey with MFP and I just can't believe how far I've come. I began this journey in June at 235lbs. As of today, I'm at 136.2 : ) I have also lost 2.5" from my neck, 10" from my bust, 13.5" from my waist, and 14" from my hips. WOWZER! I also went shopping last night and bought....*gasp* size 4 Levi's! OMG! I never in my life thought I'd reach single digits let alone that small........So here's the pics! They'll be more coming as I'm certain now that my original goal of 130lbs is not going to make me happy......Although I really need to re-strategize and focus more on strength training to work on this excess skin issue.. but it's soo hard to break habits and for me it's been a lot about how many calories I can burn every day and there's no way to calculate the extra calorie burn from being more muscular......so wish me luck in starting this new chapter : )

Sweetie_Pie92

Congratulations! You look AMAZING! That is so many inches O.o WOW! I can't wait to be where you are!

juliefloyd

what an awesome story.congrats to you

MissingMinnesota

Wow great job. You have done what I want to do. Such and insperation. :flowerforyou:

sangrea

Oh my goodness that is amazing!!! You look fantastic!! I know that you will be able to reach your goal you have made it this far which is a huge accomplishment. I hope that i will be able to do as well as you have, but I have a long ways to go. Congrats!!

EKarma

you look FABULOUS!!

25anniversary2011

AMAZING! Reading your post brought tears to my eyes, in hopes that I will one day be posting similar to you. You have determination and should be extremely proud of yourself!

jlewis2896

Phenomenal!!! I had to bring my husband into the room to show him your pics. He said, "Wow!" Congratulation -- how amazing....

riri0301

:flowerforyou: such an inspiration u look beautiful

DeeDeeLHF

Truly what you have accomplished is AMAZING!!! Thank you for posting and sharing!

You must be really proud of yourself!

Your post is so inspiring! I am at a similar place in that I now need to really keep toning and building muscle!

Size 4 Levi's is incredible!!!!

Congratulations!

Editing to add that I just clicked through all of your pics and the progression is astonishing...everyone should do look!

You are really beautiful!!!!

futuredispatchhottie911

you look awesome

robynbirdy

You look absolutely amazing!! Great job!

blankcanvas

You can be a model now girl! Great job, you are such an inspiration!

aymetcalf

girl - you look AMAZING! wow! and all in 11 months.... that is so impressive. Thank you for the motivation... I'm hitting the gym b/c of this post! :flowerforyou:

guidosgal

(((APPLAUSE))))) You should be very pround. You have done an outstanding job. :flowerforyou: :flowerforyou: :flowerforyou: :flowerforyou: :flowerforyou:
Besides I would not expect less from a girl that lives in my hometown (I was raised Born in San Jose)

Yurippe

You lost a whole person!!! Congratulations, you look amazing.

JenSuazo

Wow you look amazing!!!!! Congrats!

Amanda_Bridges90

You look ABSOLUTELY AMAZING! You're an inspiration!!! Congrats!

Amanda_Bridges90

You look ABSOLUTELY AMAZING! You're an inspiration!!! Congrats!

CreativeRedhead

Fantastic job! How did you lose it all?? You look like a different person and I can't wait until I have the before and after moment. :flowerforyou:

kwardklinck

You look really good. You seem so young and healthy. Just don't go overboard. I'm having to wrestle with myself because I seem addicted to diet and exercise now. Don't lose the woman curves. But, toning is a great thing to do for yourself.

Edestiny7

Very motivating!

Holton

Kudos to you and your commitment! You look truly amazing. I wish your food diary was public, but since it is not, can you share some highlights about how you accomplished this amazing feat? Did you eat a particular diet program, or just healthy and under calorie? What exercise regime did you follow? Were you consistent or if not, how often and how long were your plateaus? What an inspiration you are!!!!!!!!!!! Congratulations and continued support and encouragement as you maintain what you have achieved!

aionsnow

Very Hot!

lovelypen50

You look Fantastic.!!!! Thanks for posting your pictures. They are motivating.:drinker:

pearlyfatcat

Truly amazing!!! Congratulations on the new you!

bethinagain

Kudos to you and your commitment! You look truly amazing. I wish your food diary was public, but since it is not, can you share some highlights about how you accomplished this amazing feat? Did you eat a particular diet program, or just healthy and under calorie? What exercise regime did you follow? Were you consistent or if not, how often and how long were your plateaus? What an inspiration you are!!!!!!!!!!! Congratulations and continued support and encouragement as you maintain what you have achieved!

Did you have to say "Kudos", that's all I'm thinking about right now! Those were my favorite in every flavor. I could eat a whole box right now!:devil:

twilight1542

You lost a whole person!!! Congratulations, you look amazing.

Scary but true : p)

my2boystx

Oh wow! That is awesome! Great Job!

twilight1542

You look really good. You seem so young and healthy. Just don't go overboard. I'm having to wrestle with myself because I seem addicted to diet and exercise now. Don't lose the woman curves. But, toning is a great thing to do for yourself.

I know what you mean....Unfortunately I feel like I'm way past the point of losing the "woman curves" which truly saddens me. Unfortunately our bodies don't let us chose where the weight comes off : ( I've found that for me it comes from my upper body 1st and hangs out in my lower body. Which is unfortunate because having always been well-endowed in the chest I was very sad to say goodbye to the girls...... So here I am having lost the weight of a small person and while I'm happy with how I look clothed I am very unhappy with how I look unclothed...I guess I was just hoping that my skin would have more elasticity than it apparently does....So I'm hoping that with enough strengthening and toning I can be happy with myself in a bathing suit...Don't get me wrong...I can life with the stretch marks but the excess skin is leaving me underwhelmed with my results....So either I find a sugar daddy to pay for a boob job and tummy tuck or I pray that extra muscle with mediate the effects of having lost soo much weight.

twilight1542

Kudos to you and your commitment! You look truly amazing. I wish your food diary was public, but since it is not, can you share some highlights about how you accomplished this amazing feat? Did you eat a particular diet program, or just healthy and under calorie? What exercise regime did you follow? Were you consistent or if not, how often and how long were your plateaus? What an inspiration you are!!!!!!!!!!! Congratulations and continued support and encouragement as you maintain what you have achieved!

*LOL*....I've contemplated making my diary public at times....but I don't consider myself a poster child for perfect nutrition and don't want anyone to try and duplicate what I do because everyone's different.

So, NO! I didn't do a particular diet system...I've had friends do Jenny Craig, Weight Watchers, South Beach, Atkins etc. with varying results but I don't want to feel like I'll always be dependent on expensive foods or limited in what I can eat so I took the "healthy approach". For me this means low-fat, high protein, moderate carbs. First I gave up fast food entirely. I eat out occassionally, but try to be careful about what I eat when I do. Other than that everything I eat is home-made. That was a huge shift for me because I used to eat out all the time. So now I hit the grocery store every week and stock up on lean meats, fruits, veggies, etc. When I cook I do large quantities of things that can be re-heated because with my schedule--2 jobs and daily gym visits--if I had to "cook" every night I wouldn't last very long. Thank goodness I don't mind eating the same thing several days in a row. I also gave up my favorite beverage--white mochas-- with rare exception, and completely gave up all soda. So now it's only coffee with truvia and maybe some non-fat milk, water, and frs--a low-cal energy drink.

For exercise, I do 1 hr of cardio everyday unless I'm doing something active that day like landscaping or hiking. This is not for everyone, but I've found a perfect balance wherein I'm able to do this without over-taxing my body. I switch up between the stairmaster, the elliptical, and the treadmill. I also try to squeeze in strength training when I have the time. I always increase the intensity when I find that it gets too easy--I use my HRM to determine when it's gotten easy...that's usually when I can't get into my target heart rate zone within the first 10 mins or so of my workout.

In terms of consistency, I'd say I've done pretty good...I've had times when I couldn't workout, like when I had a cyst removed from my neck and wasn't allowed too, but I made up for that by being very careful with my calories during that time. I still have good days and bad days. But I just keep reminding myself that working out means having more calories to eat and for me that means occassional treats--like reese's peanut butter cups : ) .....I don't know if I would say that I've had a true plateau...I've had times when my weekly weigh in was great even though I felt like I had an off week and times when I thought I'd had a great week and my weekly weigh-in was so-so or crappy...But in the end I'd say that I've pretty much managed to do 1-2 lbs per week overall.