From 248 to ? My Progress so far!

Okay here goes. I've finally gotten up the nerve to post.

I am 35 with two kids, 15 and 11 and gained 20 lbs within the first 2 months of pregnancy, gaining in total 30 lbs each time. That only accounts for 60 lbs, I had no good reason for the other 40 and still no reason to be still walking around looking pregnant having to look for clothes that will make me look skinnier.

I started around Christmas 2012 not long after I was told by my doctor for the first time since 1999 that my blood pressure was high. Back then I was on Depo-Provera. I'm not on sythentic hormones now and have gone through lots of stressful things in life and it's never been up so I knew I was in bad shape after hearing this on this particular visit. She didn't prescribe anything or lecture me but I was scared. I had already heard about MFP through a YouTube guru I follow and had looked around. I ended up coming back and researching what to do.

I knew that my weight was 248 and I have been up to 260 before back in 2004 (wearing size 22 or 3x and had lost down to a 16 in summer 2005 by walking and eating less). I'm 5'4 so that's well over what all the charts say about my suggested height to weight ratio. I knew that I had to do something because it had gotten bad again. I knew how to lose weight because I had done it many times in the past 8 years but I had a problem with going so far and becoming content (giving up) telling myself I couldn't get back to my pre-daughter (pregnant 1996) weight of 150 so I would eat it all back on again.

I researched how to make weight loss stick and everything I read or watched said to make it a lifestyle change and not a diet, to forget fasting, take it slow, and build up endurance. I also started to take to heart all the information that said to eat more veggies and whole grains. I started bookmarking healthier recipes and ideas for snacks. I stopped pulling up at drive-thrus and ate at home 98% of the time. I started working out like a lunatic with strictly cardio to start off in January. I favorited YouTube videos with workouts that I liked (fun music and dancing) and made playlists on there for dancing too when I wanted to freestyle. I got out and walked (I used to be so embarassed to do this before) in the spring. When It got too hot in the summer I worked out inside again but added a kettlebell. I put in work on average 5 days a week with that thing. It's 10 pounds but I wanted to try something harder so I made a sandbag weighing in at 20 lbs. It seemed to energize me so I wanted to do more and get smaller clothes (I had gotten new things in smaller sizes twice this year and I kept seeing cute stuff for fall/winter and I wanted more). I researched again and decided to get back into cardio but to go harder.

Right now I use the 10lb kettlebell, the 20lb sandbag, and I do HIIT all in my front room. I workout 5 days a week for 40-50 minutes a day combining all of these things. I recently started using the tip I got from a fitness guru who stated that calorie to exercise defficit should add up to 1000 (i.e. 500 less calories + 500 calories burned or 200 calories deficit + 800 calories burned, so on and so on).

I have been logging daily since March. I input recipes instead of using other member's submitted data to get an accurate account of sodium (I learned to count that too and it has made a big difference in how I feel), calories, fat, and protein.I make nearly everything from scratch (it's annoying but it helps me). I'm still on BP medication but I plan to go back in first of the year to see if I can get off. My doctor stated last month or so that she feels that it is controlled now and I can try off of it when I am ready. I want to really be sure.

My final goal to feel that I'm in shape is at 154 lbs. I can go to the 110's for my height but I don't like that on me. I'm considered a large frame. I last checked the scale in October with a reading of 209.

Now here are my photos: