12 Weeks - Progress Pics

I really hadn't planned to do progress pictures yet, but for some reason I decided to have hubby take them, and I'm glad I did! :bigsmile:

It is *so* hard to really notice a difference when you look at yourself every day, but pictures tell the real story. I just shy of being 1/3 of the way to my goal. I already feel so much better than I have since I was a young adult, headed off to college. And I have been taking measurements, so I know that I've lot inches, but it is a huge motivator to see it.

BEFORE: (Beg of August 2012)


12 WEEKS OF MFP: (9/27/2012)


I will be keeping track of my progress on my new Photobucket account:
http://s1321.photobucket.com/albums/u550/Wendy_Terry/


For those that will ask, I will share a little of what I've been doing. I began with just tracking my food and trying to stay under my calorie goal without being hungry. MFP wanted to start me off on 1200 calories, so I switched my settings to only losing one pound per week, and it brought me up to 1580. I survived on that for about a week until I found Dan's "In Place of a Road Map" and learned about TDEE. I wasn't really exercising regularly yet, but reading exercise books and doing some light calisthenics. (about 3 minutes worth, honestly:blushing:) ... So, I kept with my "sedentary" calculations and upped my calories to 1700. That made a *huge* difference in how I felt.

Soon after, I read about the Couch to 5k program and decided that it sounded like the perfect program for someone like me. I ran a lot in high school, including long-distance track plus sports like soccer, basketball, softball and volleyball in the summer. I also spent a couple days a week in the school's weight room. I remember bench pressing 150 pounds and considering how cool it was to be able to bench more than my body weight. (Now 150 is my goal weight.) When I graduated high school, I joined a gym and lifted there, plus killing myself on the stair-master and such. I always loved being active when I was a kid. I loved the way it made my body feel to test my muscles and my skills and endurance, to play without feeling as though I might have a heart attack. But then life happened and I had two kids (c-section), then desk jobs with excessive trips to the snack machine, etc. Before I knew it, I was too fat to sit comfortably in a movie theater seat. :frown: :blushing: ....... Soooo....

Around week two or three of C25K, I did some more calculations with my TDEE and decided to eat at 1800 calories per day, whether or not I exercised, then not eating back exercise calories. At that amount, I feel like I am eating "like a normal person" again and still shedding fat, left and right. I've added strength training exercises and a resistance band (thanks to a generous MFPer that mailed them to me at her cost) I am mostly still doing calisthenics, along with the C25K. I have finished week seven of Couch to 5k now. For the first time, I made it a road run instead of hiding in my bedroom. It was so brutal compared to being barefoot on the flat carpet, but I managed two miles. :bigsmile: :drinker:

So I am now reading "The New Rules of Lifting for Women" and plan to begin lifting in the next few weeks. There is a community center here with a weight room that has a cheap annual membership. I am pretty stoked about it. I am sure that my bench press will be down to about 50 pounds, maybe 80, I don't know. It's been a *very* long time.

But none of that matters. I have changed my lifestyle now. I am no longer the mom that sits around the house in the evenings. I jog (outside even) and I serve vegetables with dinner and I don't mind cleaning the house so much anymore. I track what I eat, even though my diet still needs improving. I am improving myself, and I'm proud of myself.

And I MFP! Cheers! :drinker: :bigsmile: