Progress!! 28.5 pounds down + inches (with pictures)

I'm not quite yet down to my final weight and if I'm honest, I've been eating a tiny bit over or under lately rather than consistently just right so I'm hoping that posting this will help me reaffirm my commitment to the last 12 pounds (or so).

So, here I am. 28.5 pounds down from when I started on MFP. And this is the story of how I become overweight.

A few years ago, I graduated from university and started seeing my husband. I gained about 10-20 pounds of fat. I stopped swimming everyday. I stopped biking as far, or as intensely. And I started eating my husband's cooking, and started adapting his portion sizes. So I got up to about 145, just barely into the overweight category for my height, but definitely overweight for my slight frame.

Then, in 2010, I started gaining weight incredibly quickly. Entirely in my abdomen. I looked pregnant, and felt it too, with heartburn and some other *ahem* stomach related issues. I went from doctor to doctor and got no help until I saw a naturopathic doctor who actually touched my rock hard pregnant looking stomach. After ruling out pregnancy or a molar pregnancy, she immediately called her doctor friend at the Fertility Clinic where the doctor had an ultrasound machine in his office. This is when he diagnosed me with an ovarian tumor. A huge one. He called the head gynecological oncologist at our cancer clinic, and she bumped another surgery to get me in just a couple of days later. Before surgery, I weighed 165 pounds. Between the football sized and shaped tumor and the liquid that had filled my abdomen, all the material they removed took me back to about 135 pounds, none of it muscle. I was lucky, it wasn't cancerous and aside from losing an ovary, a fallopian tube and my appendix, I was fine.

I really didn't have a good sense of a healthy weight or body composition but I looked kind of skinny fat (though not exactly super skinny), so I decided I needed to gain weight and used this as an excuse to over-eat. I should have tried to gain lean muscle mass, but I just didn't know and I didn't take the time to figure it out. (and to be a little more generous with myself, I was recovering from a major surgery so I wasn't allowed to do much more than lie around). Instead, I used it as an excuse to eat oh so many perogies! Then I decided to try strength training without counting calories. I was afraid of dieting because I'd watched so many people I loved yo yo diet throughout their whole lives. I went back up to 165 without the tumor this time.

About 4 months after surgery, we got to go ahead to start trying for a baby. I was pregnant by 6 months post-surgery, and weighed 165 pounds at my first midwife appointment. With everything we'd been through we were terrified to have me exercise, so I ate a decent diet and walked lots. I gained an average amount during pregnancy (average is about 25 pounds; I gained 30), going up to about 195.

I gave birth to my awesome baby girl last December. I'm not sure what I weighed right after that, but I started working out as soon as I could. I started running and joined one hell of a mommy bootcamp. These things can be a little soft, but I was running and working out with women who were doing marathons 6 months after birth. About six months after giving birth, I stepped on the scale and saw I was at 165. I was pretty happy with that, given that it was my pre-pregnancy weight. But 2 months later, I stepped on it again, and I was still there. It hadn't moved a bit. The women I was working out with commented that I must be changing in composition because they could see a difference. However, I was stunned and terrified that I was doomed to be overweight forever.

Instead of giving up, I decided to do something I swore I'd never do. Weigh myself regularly and start counting calories. Turns out it was exactly what I needed.

Pre-pregnancy weight: 165

Highest pregnancy weight: 195

Starting MFP:
Weight: 165
Waist: 32.5
Hips: 41

Today:
Weight: 136.5
Waist: 28
Hips: 37

Post-pregnancy (this is cheating a little because it's such an unflattering photo and I'm a little bit swollen from the medication still)



At 165, the weekend before I started MFP (bridesmaid at my brother's wedding)



At about 165, just before the wedding:



Today at 136.5 (photo shoot with my husband):



Again, today, at 136.5 - same vest as before, but it's a bit loose. I had my hands in the pockets so you can't see my shape very well. I love this photo. I feel so much like myself in it. I'm outside with my awesome dog, I'm with my daughter and husband (not pictured). I just love it.



So - here's to the next 10... maybe a bit more, but we'll see how I feel when I get to 125.