8 years of yo-yoing hopefully over (lots of pics)

I find these success posts really interesting and motivating, and thought I would put one together partly out of interest, but also because my weight loss has stalled and I want to motivate myself to keep working. Hopefully it can also help motivate others. I am 5'5'' and 30 years old. I exercise once or twice a week, a mix of running/stairclimber and weights.

At 18 (in 2000) I weighed 119lbs, I wasn't terribly fit but looked good and felt fairly confident. I gained weight for the first time from about age 20, gaining steadily during my first two years at uni and in April 2004 I was 150lbs. I dieted (1000 cal/day) and exercised for 3 months prior to graduating, and got down to 126lbs (for one day). I felt good about myself but as soon as I stopped dieting I gained a few pounds overnight. I slowly went back to eating more and not weighing myself, and by mid-2006 I was back at around 145lbs.

These first pics show the results of my first weight loss (don't have any befores), and the gain over the next two years.


I didn't make a concerted weight loss effort, just avoided things with stupidly high calories and didn't pig out, and by mid-2007 I was about 135lbs and again feeling ok about how I looked. My back is the only place that gets a slight bit of a muscular look, and this is as much as I am aiming for, I prefer looking 'soft'.


Don't really know why, but by the end of that year I was back up to 140lbs - think I just became less mindful of what I was eating. I don't remember making a particular effort this time but in nine months I got back down to about 128lbs and maintained that for a few months.


Then I went back up 10lbs and back down 10lbs.


Then back up 15lbs, and then I did make a concerted effort over 2 months, logging on here and again eating 1000 cals/day, to get back down to 126lbs (for one day, again) and maintained around 128-130lbs for a few months.


This is the weight that I think suits me best.


I didn't gain much until May 2011 when I started writing my doctorate thesis - sat all day and eating rubbish to reward myself for all my hard work. I'm wearing a padded coat and padded trousers in the first two.


Only one month and about eight lbs between these two pics but I look quite different. 140lbs is about where I start to get unhappy with how I look.


I gained a pound per week from May to December last year. I had made a decision not to be bothered about my weight because I had so much to do and didn't want my effort to be taken up with thinking about dieting (I do think about it a lot when I'm losing weight).






These are at my biggest.


I couldn't believe how wide my shoulders look in this one. I started dieting and logging with MFP on 1st Jan 2012 and by the end of June I had lost 30lbs.


I haven't really lost any weight for a couple of months now - just fluctuated between 127lbs and 133lbs. I'm not quite there yet. I always had a fairly flat stomach before my last gain, but now it sticks out a bit, and I would like my arms and upper thighs to slim down a little. I've got 8lbs to go on my ticker but I'm not necessarily going to go that far weight-wise. I'm aiming more to reduce body fat now and going by how I look and how my clothes fit. I'm currently wearing a UK12 and would like to get back to a 10, which I haven't worn since before I first gained weight..


My daily calorie intake is very variable and I was often eating below my BMR. I'm now making an effort to eat at least my BMR everyday. I'm aiming to maintain at around 125lbs, and will probably keep logging and weighing myself long-term.

Having put these pictures together I noticed a few things. I think my arms and shoulders show the most noticeable difference. A few pounds can make me look very different. I can also look quite different at the same weight. My face doesn't change much until I get to about 150lbs. I can see the confidence/self-consciousness at different weights. I tend lose weight over the summer (for holidays) and gain in autumn/winter (Christmas).