A year later, down 40+lbs w/pics

My original story from December of last year is here:
http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/425807-gaining-momentum

I did end up joining the Koko Fit Club gym in January and according to their online tracker I have lifted 2,124,241 lbs and used the treadmill or elliptical for 10,666 miles.

I feel, and am, so much stronger than I was this time last year. As an example of my progress, at a strength test in February I could only do one leg extension at 200lbs (max for the machine), the most weight I could do on the lat pulldown was 90lbs, max on the chest press was 120lbs, and I could only do one bicep curl at 100lbs. At last week's strength test I did 16 leg extensions at the 200lbs max, 3 lat pulldowns at 120lbs, 3 chest presses at 150lbs, and 4 bicep curls at 100lbs.

Best part of all this other than looking much better now in general is that I'm off almost all my meds. The last time I lost weight I did very little exercise and had to stay on my meds for blood pressure and cholesterol. Sure, I was on the lowest doses possible but I still had to take them. This time around I'm completely off of those and my antidepressant Rx was cut in half!

I also started running this year. The first was a 10K (what a way to start huh?!) that my sister talked me and a friend into since the finish line was the 50-yard line at Gillette Stadium where the Pats play. It was fun but oh man was it difficult. Since then though I got a good pair of running shoes and have been doing more and more races, mostly 5K's. I've learned that I still don't particularly like running on my own but I do enjoy it in a competitive race environment even though I have no chance of winning! At that 10K I ran it in 1:19:51 and that was in July. On Thanksgiving day last month I ran a 5K in 25:45.60. I'm running two races tomorrow on New Year's Day, a 5K and then a 1 mile, and I'm looking forward to them. I'm *really* looking forward to doing that 10K in July again. I've also set a new goal of running a half marathon by the end of 2013 and a full marathon in 2014.

The only real "before" picture I could find is this one from September 2011 at a bbq when I weighted a little over 200:


The most recent "after" picture from a couple weeks ago when I weighed a little under 160:


My secrets? Doing whatever it took for motivation and then just the basics of limiting my calories coming in and making sure I exercised enough of them out.