4 months worth of success!

In February 2010, I sought out professional help for my eating disorder and weight loss goals.

I have been working with a nutrition coach to guide me on the correct ways to eat for someone like me, and it has been so helpful. I used to never eat breakfast, just several cups of coffee to "fill me up", I'd eat minimal throughout the day and then I'd binge every night and continue to eat until I ate myself to sleep. Even when I was "dieting", I'd save up all my calories or points or whatever and then eat them all at once at night. And the things I chose to eat were horrible for me. The more sugar I could cram into my mouth at that time, the better I thought I felt. I got so used to the feeling of being stuffed when I went to sleep, that those days I wasn't completely stuffed I'd have a hard time falling asleep and I'd get up and eat more until I had that desired sensation and would be able to fall asleep. The first month on the new eating plan was the worst. I never thought the desire to binge would go away. It may never completely go away, but with the new way I'm eating, the desires have subsided considerably, and when they do come up, I have the skills to tackle them in a positive manner. I don't think I ever learned how to eat like a "normal" person. I never thought my body could feel so good. Since I've been eating healthy foods only I feel amazing. My body feels "lighter" (and not just from the weight loss), I have so much more energy, I don't constantly feel lethargic, I'm not having overwhelming cravings for sweet and salty all the time. I have been able to reprogram my mind to think about food as fuel and not just food. If food is just food, then I'll eat anything and everything. If I only eat fuel to give my body energy, then I have to fill my tank with the right gasoline. You can't put oil in the gas tank. And when I do eat too much fuel or eat too many of the "bad" foods, my body really does know the difference now. It protests and gets angry when I don't feed it right. I can't imagine anymore that that is how I used to feel every day all the time. I didn't know it could be different and now that I've experienced how my body can really feel, I never want it to go away. I never ate healthy for an extended period of time in my life. Even when I was limiting calorie intake or carb intake or whatever, I was still eating unhealthy foods, just less of them.

I have also been working with a personal trainer who I see 3X a week for strength training. I go to a company that specializes in this type of thing and it is much more private than seeing a trainer at a gym. We have our own little room to work out in so no one is watching me. I go 10 min b4 my session to warm up on the cardio machine (my fave is the eliptical), then the trainer stretches me out for 5-10 min and then we do strength training for about 35 minutes. After the strength training is over I am to do a minimum of 20 min back on the eliptical (or another cardio machine of my choice). The trainer has me do lower body one day, upper body the next and then full body the 3rd day. Abs get done every day. Each 4 weeks the program gets switched up. I just started my 5th 4 week program yesterday. And then I have to do cardio 2-3X (preferably 3) on my own per week.

I'm about 2/3 of the way done with the package I purchased from this company and unfortunately I already gave them my life's savings so I can't continue with them, so the support of my MFP friends will be crucial when I'm on my own. Even though I'm broke, it was well worth it. I've been at my wit's end with my weight for some time and I really did need to seek professional help. A lot of people recommended the surgeries for weight loss, but after interviewing a bunch of people I decided that the only thing appealing about it was the weight loss. The recovery sounded horrible, it would have still costed me $3,000 for the procedure and 6 weeks + off work. It also would not cure my bad habits. To those that have had the surgery and have had success, I think that is wonderful and I'm so very happy for you. By no means am I trying to knock it. It just wasn't for me.

Now, on to my statistics. When I started with the trainer in February, they gave me an assessment to see where my fitness level was. They "tested" me on lots of different things including heart rate, blood pressure, flexibility, overall upper and lower body strength, they do weight, height and measurements, they also do what is called a pinch test. They basically measured my fat rolls to get a more accurate result for my percent body fat. On a side note, I did not realize that fat got hard after so long. So the fat I've had for a long long time actually became hard and it is difficult to tell what is fat and what is muscle when it gets like that. Ever meet an older guy with a large beer belly, but it is hard and not squishy? New fat is squishy, old fat gets harder. After 8 weeks, they did the assessment again and then after the 2nd 8-week block (which was just on Monday of this week), they did it again. I wanted to share my results with you and compare the very first assessment with the most recent. Here are some of the highlights:

4 months ago, I was in the 11th percentile for my age group which was well below average and now I'm in the 40th percentile which believe it or not is AVERAGE! Yeah, overall my fitness level for my age group is average! Even though I still weigh almost 300lbs. I think that is amazing. This shows me that my body really is healthy except for the excess weight. And gives me great hope for carrying a child in the future.

4 months ago, my weight was 313, now it is 288

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that's 25lbs! and about 8% of my weight. (Not as much as I would have liked or felt I deserve for the amount of effort I'm putting in, but it is what it is.)

4 months ago, my resting heart rate was 86, and now it is only 69! That used to be the 8th percentile and is now the 55th percentile and went from well below average to average also.

They have me do a 3 minute step test to check my cardiovascular capacity, and this has improved beyond my expectations. They have me go up and down on a tall step for 3 min to get my heart rate up and then check my heart rate after one minute to see how well I can recover from the activity. 4 months ago, after one minute my heart rate was still 133 beats per minute which was well below average and in the 18th percentile. Now after a minute, it was only 98 bpm and now is above average and I'm in the 74th percentile!

My lower body strength has gone from the 11th percentile which was well below average to the 86th percentile which is well above average. This statistic was especially exciting. Must be all that walking!

And here are the measurements. In four months, I've lost:
0.75 inches from neck
2.5 inches from shoulders
2 inches from chest
5 inches from waist
2.75 inches from hip
My waist to hip ratio has gone from 0.89 to 0.84
1.75 inches from thigh
0.5 inches from calf
1.25 inches from arm
0.25 inches from forearm

A grand total of 16.5 inches!

I feel good, really good. I love that I have energy to do my daily chores and not every little task seems so strenuous anymore.