So it’s taken me a while, but

I have now reached my weight goal as of this morning! About 20 months of hard work to lose 40 lb do so but I’ve been doing it slowly and in a way that I can sustain. No rush!

I am 5.4 and 135lb. 9 stone 9. BMI 23.2 UK size 10

So here is a little more about my story and then lots of pics

I have always been awful at sport, no coordination and no fitness behind me but even without being able to run very well without collapsing in a red gasping mess as a child/teen I did at least walk/cycle everywhere so I was never overweight (although I was often at the higher end of average).

When I went to university in 2003 it really bumped on, I was only waitressing/bar work in the holidays and lived on campus and drank lots of things like beer and cider etc most days. I got in the habit of eating cheap large portions of pasta as a student which definitely did not help and I hit the overweight category pretty quickly as a standard size 14.

I walked more in my second year of uni off campus and I maintained a UK14 for a long time – including when I met my husband in 2005. My weight fluctuated doing various jobs that involved more walking and then more driving, and got to its highest in Summer 2010 after I had spent a year at a job that involved no walking at all. I did not have a scale at this point.

I was being a bridesmaid in October 2010 then a bride in June 2011. The company I worked for moved offices to central London and needed lots of walking! So still with no scale I was hoping to lose lots for my friend’s wedding and it was coming off but I was still unhappy in the very unflattering size 16 dress.

I was on a brides forum in the UK and there were several people losing for their weddings using MFP so I decided to join them – hi ladies if you’re reading!

I bought a scale and recorded my current start point and lost 24lb on the run up to my wedding and amazing Kenya honeymoon between January and June. I was down to a UK 12 in most clothes. I was still overweight at this point though so carried on plodding on.

I started lifting by doing Chalean Extreme in October of last year and loved the effects. I did not really have heavy enough weights for my legs by the end so I bought some heavier weights and ran through it again in January. I then started New Rules of Lifting for Women. I love the effect that it has on my body.

My weight loss slowed down considerably when I started CLX but the inches kept moving and I lost a further dress size in the run up to Christmas to fit comfortably in a UK size 10 (12 in a few shops) – I did not ever expect to reach that as at my previous thinnest I was only ever a UK 12. I had not worn size 10s since my early teens so I didn’t mind the scale not moving much!

It didn’t really move for some months properly – I think I was struggling with how many calories to have and balancing it up for the last 10lb or so and it was taking aaaages to get them to budge. I then got the fitbit and didn’t look back. I set it up at a 250 deficit of 0.5lb per week and set my activity level on both sites to lightly active – this gives me a net of 1590 but as I am usually more than lightly active my fitbit automatically gives me more on MFP depending on what I have been doing and I eat it back in general. So the last 10lb has been achieved generally eating between 1800-2200 calories.

So there you go, the slow road but I’m there and since starting lifting I’ve not been in any rush anyway...also I have been far from perfect along the road, maybe it would have been faster but I’m happier that I don’t feel like I’ve had to restrict my life in any way. I love my wine at weekends! I've never felt deprived and I have always eaten my exercise calories (or worked out so I could eat more!)

Maintaining a 14





The worst ones... Summer 2010 at my biggest





My hen night....down 21lb


My wedding day....down 24lb


Honeymoon with a skirt from previous holiday


December 2011


May 2012 and in old BM dress




Holiday June-July 2012




August (for face)


Today at goal! Now well into size 10 but not going down, hips rather large....


Scuse the weird face on the second one


I love reading these things so I thought why not!

Ooof I thought I sized them all smaller than that.... some rather large...can't be bothered to go back and change them...