My Turn To Write a Success Story. With Pics...

Yay, my turn to write a success story. I am not all the way there yet, but I have two great milestones to share. As of yesterday, I am in Onederland, and I am just shy of 100 lbs lost.
I was a healthy weight when I was a child and remained so until my mid twenties. The problem was that I was never physically active and I always had poor eating habits. I hated all sports and physical activity and loved to read and eat chips and chocolate bars. Then to top it off, I smoked two packs of cigarettes a day! In my mid twenties, my bad habits started to catch up with me and I went from 145 to 200 by the time I was 30. I moved from Alberta to BC and my job went from semi active (waitress) to sedentary (liquor store clerk/manager). I tried a few diets. Slimfast, Cybergenics, etc. I would lose 40 or 50 lbs and gain them right back, plus some, because I hated eating such small meals, giving up treats, taking horsepill vitamins, I hated exercising and it seemed so complicated.. Then we moved to the suburbs and I never walked or biked anymore and took the car everywhere. Then, in 2007,  I quit smoking. Within 3 months, I went from 250 to 295lbs! Then the diet roller coaster REALLY began. I yoyo'd from there to 250 and back for the next 6 years. I would watch the Biggest Loser, go to the pool swimming, go down 20lbs and then lose interest. In 2012, I got down to 240, then had a few bad days, thought I'd messed up everything and then went right back up to 280. My health was fine and I was happy enough, so my weight didn't even seem like much of an issue. I have no pictures from then unless I'm hiding behind something.
Then the last straw came at our local fair last August. My husband and I were standing in line to go on the Ferris Wheel and when we got to the end of the line, the carny looked all embarrassed and said we had to wait until more people "our size" got on, to "balance it out." Of course, there were no other overweight people around for miles, just then. Just a bunch of skinny teenagers with their cotton candy looking at us and wondering what the hold up was. So they get on and then more skinny kids come and stand in line... And everyone's looking at us wondering why we can't get on.... me standing there with my bag of greasy donut holes, waiting for more chubby folks to come along... and bang....Revelation time.
 #1. There was NO way I was getting on any ride where a 280lb person overbalances it and...
#2. I had had ENOUGH. 

I bought a pool membership again and started going to Aquafit classes and lost 10lbs by the end of September. Then I saw a cellphone commercial that showed the My Fitness Pal App. I came here and checked it out and started my first challenge. Holiday Weapons of Mass Reduction. I met some great, supportive people and lost 30 more lbs. I read other people's success stories and looked at their diaries and I learned a lot. You do not have to starve. You do not have to give up your favourite foods. You do not have to live on a treadmill. What I did have to do was this:  I kept myself accountable and I kept a weekly average calorie deficit. Pretty simple after all. Here I am in October at 270.


In early December at 250:



In late March at 210:



Yesterday before a Mötley Crüe concert at 198:





I posted the post below on Facebook yesterday. a few of my friends and family have started going to the gym and eating better, so they like to monitor my progress. Again, this keeps me accountable:

Another milestone today! Onederland! And, within a few days, I will have lost a total of 100lbs. I like to post these little milestones on here, because you guys keep me accountable and I look forward to meeting my goals and being able to talk about them with my friends and family. My next goal, (about 2 or 3 months from now) is 175, which will give me a BMI of "healthy weight". I also would like to run a real 5k (outside in a race, not just on a treadmill). After that, it's just a matter of increasing my fitness level and maintaining it. I think I can meet these goals, because I have found the proper tools. People are always asking me lately what I am doing and some people have looked at me oddly when I say, "eating healthy and exercising". I have even been told to "go see my doctor, because THAT doesn't work." Some people have a tendency to over complicate weightloss. If you create a calorie deficit, you will lose weight. Period. Despite what all the fad diet promoters say: it doesn't matter what you eat, or when you eat it. Atkins, Slimfast, Visalus, Intermittent Fasting, Paleo, the Twinkie Diet, whatever... They ALL "can" work, but you have to ask yourself... Is it sustainable for the rest of  my life? Likely the only thing that MOST  people find sustainable is what works for me: 
1. Eat healthy food whenever possible, whole grains, lean meats, lots of fruits and vegetables,  low fat dairy, drink lots of water. 
2. Exercise enough to create a caloric deficit so you can eat enough to be satisfied AND so you can be fit and healthy. 
3.Lift weights so you do not lose muscle mass, especially when you are eating less than you are burning.
4. Do not deny yourself treats. A chocolate bar, a night a the movies, a piece of birthday cake can all be fit in with a bit of planning. Think of having a caloric deficit over the space of the week, if you want. Have a cheat day. Enjoy. 
5. Count calories and journal your food. Use an app like MFP. It works. Make friends on there, play fitness challenges and learn from the members' success stories. 
6. Make yourself accountable to others, because you are. You never know who you are inspiring.:) 
7.  Use the right tools: get a gym membership, or a treadmill, a heart rate monitor, join a fitness class, buy a pool pass. Buy GOOD food, not McDonalds dollar menu crap.  Or all of the above! If you think it's too expensive to be healthy, try being sick and see what that costs.