8 months and goal reached! Short girl did it!

Reached my goal! I am 37 years old and 5 feet 1.5 inches. Three years after my son was born, I still had not lost the excess weight I gained when I got pregnant. My son turned 3 last summer and I just didn't have the energy to play with him, so I signed up for MFP last August (2013). I had tried to lose weight many times before, but I finally "figured it out" this time. Just used MFP and counted calories mainly, but also have done Jillian Michaels DVD's a few times a week. I still eat chocolate and pizza, but I keep it all within my calories. Tips I learned: the secret to weight loss is commitment. Commitment is #1. You just say "if not now, when?" and just do this thing, and don't give up. It will take MONTHS or YEARS, not WEEKS, o.k.? if you stay around MFP long enough, you'll figure out the details about what to eat, how to log stuff, what exercise to do and how much etc., but the only thing that will get you through in the end is just perseverance, commitment. Also don't eat back all the exercise calories MFP suggests - their estimates are way too high. Get one of those heart rate monitors everyone seems to use or do what I did - search around other websites to get estimates for calories burned for certain exercises for people of your weight, and log THAT and eat THAT back. Finally, short girls, don't be afraid to eat at 1200 if http://scoobysworkshop.com/accurate-calorie-calculator/ tells you that that is what you should do! Everybody here says "you'll die at 1200" and maybe that is true if you are average or tall. But us short girls - check out scooby's calorie calculator and use it regularly. The chihuahua should not eat the same as the great Dane.

Here is me 2 summers ago, at about 150 lbs.


during my weight loss, around November:


today, April 24, at my goal. I weigh 114, which is 3 lbs less than I did when I was in high school, and am in much better shape than I was then!