One Year on MFP – LONG!

First off, I have to say that there are no before/after photos. I apologize to people who prefer visuals, but I am not a person who puts photos of myself on the internet. I am 43, mother of two, and a teacher. I am 5’7” and I started my journey at 169 pounds. By mid-January (six months) I had reached the top of my goal range, and since then I have stayed between 130-134. I went from a size 10-12 to a size 2-4.

My weight has yo-yoed up and down since my mid-teens. In college I did Nutrisystem and got below 140, only to gain it all back in a few months. In 1996, I lost over 50 pounds and again got below 140 for a very short time. After having two children, in 2007 I used the Weight Watchers system (never went to meetings) to track food and again was briefly below 140. During these weight loss periods, I was quite disciplined with eating for several months at a time, and I did cardio exercise – mostly treadmill/walking. However, I always saw it as a “diet” and I never really changed my feeling about myself as a non-athlete/physically active person.

Last summer, I decided I was done. My doctor recommended that I lose about 20 pounds, but more than that, I really felt that I needed to change the way I approached eating and exercise for the rest of my life. MFP was exactly what I needed to help me stick to a new approach. My husband and I started together with the settings for losing 1 pound per week. At that time I only paid attention to the total calories – I never looked at macros. From the beginning I spent time browsing the forums, especially the Success Stories. I found them inspirational and learned some great tips. When I started, I was a teacher on summer break. I had a lot of time to exercise – mostly walking on the treadmill and doing Wii Just Dance. As I approached late August and returning to work (at a new school), I started to feel nervous about how I was going to continue my healthy lifestyle with my “normal” ultra-busy schedule as a working-teacher-mom. That was when I first posted and reached out to the MFP community. I immediately found a small network of other teachers who gave me support, advice, and the confidence I needed to make it work. Along the way I have added some other amazingly supportive friends. I don’t do Facebook or other social media, but my MFP friends have become an important part of my daily routine and have absolutely made it possible for me to write this post today.

I continued with cardio workouts, and my husband and I became quite adamant about fitting in our weekly bike ride along the beach, even when the weather was chilly (for L.A.) and windy. We missed fewer than 8 weekends in the past year! In November I started weekly sessions with a personal trainer with the explicit goal of learning how to strengthen my muscles independently. I initially bought three sessions, added three more, and have been following his routines 3-4 times a week since January. I have more muscle than I have ever had in my life! I have gotten multiple compliments on my arm muscles. I went from not being able to do any “real” pushups to doing 3 sets of 17 (I add one rep per set each month so by the end of the year, I will be at 22!). I started with five pound weights and am now using 12 pound weights for my lifting. With the exception of my lower butt/upper thighs, I am pretty satisfied with how toned my body looks (yes, I do squats to work on that other area).

This summer I have used my “free” time to go back to yoga and work on my flexibility as well as strength. I also started taking a weekly Zumba class at a local rec center. I don’t know if I’ll be able to continue this in the fall, but I’m going to try. I have also been walking and biking places that I normally drive and suggesting walks/hikes with friends rather than just a meal or coffee. Unlike a lot of other success stories, I can’t say that I have completed 5Ks or rounds of Insanity. I think my fitness success is not related to what I CAN do but to what I am CHOOSING to do. I have truly become a more active person who feels better (both physically and mentally) when I build some movement into my day. I admire people who run and work out at gyms, but that’s not who I am. However, I definitely have more confidence about trying new physical activities. With my class on an outdoor ed. field trip, I had no issues with climbing a rock wall and kayaking for the first time in at least 10 years. I am hoping to try other new activities, including roller blading and paddle boarding.

As for eating, I can honestly say that maintenance has been much harder for me than losing the weight. I am still coming to terms with scale fluctuations, although I have gotten much better about not letting high readings upset me. I weigh once a week and will continue that for a while, as I still harbor some fear that I will somehow screw this all up and gain the weight back. It is mentally challenging to adjust to the idea that I will always have to think about food and make choices. I don’t eat “clean” but I do prepare most of my food, including lunches for work every day. I now pay attention to protein and try to have at least 25% of my daily calories from protein. I also try to watch sodium in prepared foods. I drink at least 8 cups of water each day, usually between 10-12. My “couldn’t have done it without you” foods are egg whites, plain nonfat Greek yogurt, apples, sandwich slims, Bob’s quick-cooking oats, Sargento ultra-slim cheese, and Dreyer’s Light ice cream! I also couldn’t have done it without skinnytaste.com – so many of the recipes I found were from that website!

One of the biggest keys to my success is PLANNING. I plan the week’s dinners ahead of time and shop for the ingredients. I also plan when I’m going to exercise – I don’t go to bed without knowing approximately when the exercise is going to happen the next day. If I have a social event with eating, I plan how I’m going to fit the calories into my day. I look at restaurant menus ahead of time to make sure I know what some reasonable options will be.

For any of you who are looking for inspiration on your journey, I say “YOU CAN DO IT!” Be willing to try new things and ready to let go of any “I’m not…I can’t…or I will never…” thoughts that you harbor in your mind. Find support – from your family, friends, MFP community, colleagues, ANYONE who will cheer you on, listen to you when you get discouraged, and understand when you make healthy choices. I was so lucky to participate in this journey with my husband, who has had an amazingly successful year of his own, but I also had a lot of friends who were willing to walk, who understood my “no thank yous” and who let me choose the restaurants. My sister made low-cal cookies for my holiday gift; my mom shops at the Lululemon sale rack for me; my children have tried countless new healthy recipes, including lasagna cupcakes and cauliflower crust pizza. I could go on and on…

It’s not easy, but it spirals upward. The more success I had, the easier it got to continue the healthy lifestyle. I am proud of myself, in disbelief about how far I’ve come, and nervous about keeping this lifestyle going, all at the same time. MFP is the greatest, and thanks again to all of my friends and the entire community!