39 lbs Lost...Goal Attained in 5 Months

Only been here on MFP for a short time, but boy has it been effective!! I had been unhappy with the weight I'd gained over the past few years -- primarily due to menopause, not-so-clean eating and not-a-minute of physical exercise. And so I woke up on January 2nd with a drastic plan to change my attitude. My goal was to lose about 30 lbs and get back into all the size 10 (from size 14) clothes still hanging in the back of my closet.

I promised myself that just for the month of January I would eliminate all processed sugar, all dairy, all wheat products, and all adult beverages; no exercise yet. I fanatically logged every bite on MFP and went so far as to make my own paleo breakfast bars. Didn't weigh myself for 4 weeks. Five weeks later, I had lost 11 pounds and that was incentive enough to craft a larger plan.

For the month of February, I stayed off of all grains, dairy and processed sugar products but added back 1-2 glasses of wine, only on days that I also exercised. A good amount of my pre-lifestyle-change calories came from alcohol: I think eliminating beer had a significant impact. I also began my relationship with Jillian Michaels. Started 30 Day Shred on 2/12 and by the end on 3/18 had lost another 8 lbs, including 4 inches from my waist and 2 inches from my hips. Now I'm hooked.

In March, I added oatmeal and dairy back into my diet. And when I completed 30DS, I went right into JM's Ripped in 30. At the completion of RI30 at the beginning of May, I was down another 10 lbs, another 2 inches from my waist and another inch from my hips. According to Fat2Fit calculators, my body fat was down to 25% from 39%.

Keeping to the same eating plan, in May I started JM's Killer Abs hoping to tone-up the core. I occasionally also added 20-30 minutes of cardio on the elliptical. By the time I finished Killer Abs at the end of June, I had lost another 8 lbs and additional inches. Through all of this I was aiming for about 1350-1400 calories/day. My diary is open, but the calculations will look a bit off as I have now upped my goals in maintenance. We've been pretty good about adopting a "clean eating" diet and almost never eat out, so keeping to healthy, low-sodium foods has not been a challenge.

I didn't take "before" pics because when I started I didn't truly believe that there would be a happy ending. So below are a couple of the only pictures I allowed to be taken during the summer of 2012. And then there is a picture of me today, wearing the size 14 pants from last summer.

Final tally: from 1/2/2013 to 6/29//2013:
SW: 175 lbs
CW: 136 lbs
Waist: 36.5 " down to 29"
Hips: 42" down to 37"
Body Fat est.: 39% down to 23.5%

Clothing : At the start -- US size 14 . And now the size 6s are a little loose.

[img]http://i1363.photobucket.com/albums/r717/geralynhoerauf/Weight Loss/P10103622_zps1d8ae648.jpg[/img] [img]http://i1363.photobucket.com/albums/r717/geralynhoerauf/Weight Loss/P10101482_zps62d415b2.jpg[/img]
Summer of 2012 - probably 175lbs

[img]http://i1363.photobucket.com/albums/r717/geralynhoerauf/Weight Loss/IMG_20130707_163011_731_zpsd21b3556.jpg[/img]
July 4th 2013, 136 lbs. A little smaller than I was in high school!