1000 days, 130+ pounds lost (w/ too many pics!)

I'm sorry in advance because this is (as always...) longer than I anticipated. But writing and sharing on these milestones helps me so much, to assess where I've been and where I want to be. I also know how much reading these helped me during those first, especially difficult months. So thanks for humoring me

In June of 2011, I decided to join the YMCA a couple miles from work and start going there on my lunch hour. I’m not sure why I made that choice. There wasn't a health crisis or an ultimatum. I just signed up, not really sure where I was heading.

And then because I knew that exercise would be meaningless without quantifying what I was eating, I found MyFitnessPal and joined.

But to set up MyFitnessPal, you had to input your weight. I had a ballpark idea of what I weighed, but still, when I stepped on that scale in my new gym’s locker room, my heart sank. 308.5.

I’m no good at math, but I knew I’d need to lose about 100 pounds to even get out of the obese BMI category. 100 pounds just to be overweight! The uphill was so steep and so long I might as well have been at the base of the Himalayas. And I've been seen them in person; I know how tall they are.

It’s overwhelming knowing how many steps you have to take to get to where you ought to be, want to be, hope to be.

So I stopped looking at the finish line. Instead I looked around me and right ahead. I told MFP my weight goal was 275. I could do that, right? After all, you summit a mountain step by step. Losing 33.5 pounds was my first step.

That day, I put this up on my wall at work:



I figured something is better than nothing, and even if I only managed to lose 10 pounds and get a little fitter, I’d be happy with my efforts in a year. June of 2012 was coming whether I made a change or not, so I might as well do something.

This is how I looked before MyFitnessPal:


I had a cool life and I did cool things.


I have the best family a girl could ask for.


But, though I ate well most of the time, I ate too much, and too often mindlessly. I didn't move nearly as much as one should. And this limited my enjoyment of my life.

I couldn't go biking with my husband more than a couple miles without wanting to give up.
I didn't want to go swimming at the beach because I couldn't stand being in a bathing suit.
I didn't like going out in the summer because I didn't feel comfortable in skirts and a tank top.
I wasn't advancing in my career because I lacked the confidence to strive ahead.
I declined invitations to visit old friends because I didn't want them to see how big I’d gotten.
I avoided the camera, resulting in woefully few pictures of me with my son during his first years.

One of my favorite poems is by Mary Oliver, and it ends like this:


This strikes me deep. I was not wasting my life – it was still well-lived – but I wanted my life to be wonderfully-lived. It's too fleeting and too magical to let pass by, under-involved, under-enjoyed.

So I logged onto MyFitnessPal on June 11, 2011, and never stopped. My ground rules: Diet is an ugly word. Make no changes I cannot stick with forever. Treats now avoid binges later. I set out to live the healthiest life I could enjoy.

I made better food choices. I kept cooking amazing meals, but I ate proper portions, cut unnecessary calories, and upped my vegetables. I learned a lot - how important it is for me to pre-log my food, that a bad donut/French fry/cookie is seldom worth it, but a GREAT one usually is, that a food scale to weigh portions means less peanut butter than I thought but more chocolate chips.

I also learned to love exercise. I started off doing light weights with a trainer and slaving on the elliptical. Eventually I gained the confidence to go to group exercise classes, where exercise was fun and social. The gym became a regular part of my routine, something I made time for instead of excuses. I went even when I didn't feel like it - fake it till you make it. Because that is who I wanted to become: someone who made her health a priority. And guess what? It worked. I still have lackluster days, but exercise is something I enjoy, even crave, 95% of the time. There is an enormous sense of accomplishment that comes from lifting more than I could last week, or running 10 miles so blissed out and full of life that I'm stunned I spent 33 years *not* running.

Remember that huge mountain I was looking at before I even got out of the obese BMI category?

Well, it wasn't all that bad reaching that summit. It’s so cliche, but the journey matters so much more than the destination. Your life is not on pause until you reach your goal weight; it’s in motion. Challenges and rewards are always right in front of you, waiting to be grabbed.

On my son’s second birthday, I cried when I saw the scale read 208.5 - overweight, no longer obese. A week before that, I ran my first race, a 7k. I was my gym’s member of the month. I wasn't at my goal yet, but I felt on top of the world. I was unstoppable, because the gears were in motion; the habits solidified. I was living like a healthy person, and the weight fell off like clockwork.



As the snow melted and winter became spring, I came alive along with the leaves on the trees.

Biking:


Camping and hiking:


The results, right in front of my face, so overwhelming I couldn’t believe I had done it.


I hit my goal weight in September of 2012, just 15 months after I started. At 5’11”, I’m now a HEALTHY BMI, and my weight is around 174-178.

But that wasn't the end. You see, if you start out thinking that there is going to be an “end date” to your efforts, you’re going to be sorely disappointed. There is no end. I've been maintaining since September 2012, continuing to apply the choices I made 2.5 years ago. And because I only made changes I could stick with for a lifetime, it’s been easy. No diets to go off of. No adjusting to “real” food because I eat what I've eaten since the beginning…just with a bit more leeway and more Days of Indulgence.

When I logged onto MFP this morning as I always do, this is what I saw:


This is me today; I took this selfie just for you.


And this is what I've been up to lately.

Hiking places that look like Mars:


Running a half marathon with my bestie:


Realizing you can have outdoor fun in Minnesota winters:


Giving the boys in the weight room a run for their money:


This is who I am, where I am, and where I’m headed:


Now, when I look back, I realize weight loss wasn't actually the goal. It was just the side-effect of a series of changes, big and small, that allow me to live my life to the fullest. I didn't struggle to lose 130+ pounds. Instead, I committed to choices that simply wouldn't support 308.5 pounds. My life doesn't have room for that weight anymore. It can’t hold me back. There are adventures to be had.

Hiking up that mountain started with small steps. Over 1,000 days, they add up. You might stumble back a bit, but keep on going. Trust me, the view from the top is worth it.

*This* is what I plan to do with my life, wild and precious.

(For more on me, specifics on what I did while losing, and other musings, see my blog: http://www.myfitnesspal.com/blog/ShannonMpls )