Mother's Day and One Year on MFP - Take 2

Photo issue the first time...hopefully this works this time!

OK, so here is my little success story:

Heading into May of last year, I had realized that despite my consistent working out, I had let the "winter hibernation-thing" get the best of me and had gained what I initially thought was 15lbs. Being that I am on the taller-side for women, at 5'8", 15lbs. is kind of easy to hide and it didn't overly show but I was beginning to really feel it in my workouts and was all of a sudden experiencing sore shins, some knee pain, etc. I realized that it was time to get a handle back into my eating and remembered something from my "App-a-Day" calendar from 2012; a little app called MFP that said it was for fitness and logging. The idea of something so convenient on my phone was quite appealing, so on May 1st, I signed up!

The first week was all over the place and quite the eye-opener in terms of how many calories were in things! After the second week I basically had it figured out and sometime early on bought a kitchen scale (and still use it to this day). For those who are curious, I did the 2-lbs.-a-week thing and was set at 1200 calories. For someone who loves food, this was challenging! I made it manageable by moving more each day so on top of my workouts, I would make sure to take the dog on an extra walk...anything to get me a few more calories! :bigsmile:

So from May 1st to end of July, I went from 159lbs. to 133lbs. for a total loss of 26lbs! Guess I had a little more than 15lbs to lose However, I did notice that as the summer progressed and into the Fall of 2012, that 133lbs. was too lean for me, especially my face and upper body (my xiphoid process was really sticking out and it was not attractive!). Through maintenance and the natural winter-hibernation that comes with living in Canada, I purposely added a few pounds and am now happily in the 136-138 range, which is 1) easy to maintain and 2) I don't get people telling me how "tired" I look!

So here is the side-by-side of Mother's Day 2012 (essentially 160lbs) and Mother's Day 2013 (137lbs):



And another comparing my back from July 2012 versus Feb. 2013 (and I don't heavy lift per se, but I do at least 3 HIIT-type classes a week, along with some Les Mills classes (namely BodyCombat (2x per week); BodyPump (1x per week) and CXWORX (1x per week) and new this Spring, a little dabbling in running (1 to 2x per week)):



And finally a picture taken at a Gala event my hubby and I went to in Feb.:



Thanks to all my MFP supporters out there! You have helped me tremendously during this past year and I look forward to what Year 2 brings! Maintaining control was my motto from the beginning and I think it still accurately describes my journey today.