35" waist!!!!

I still have a pretty decent way to go, but today, i hit a mark i had been wanting to hit for a very long time. after having my second baby (2/2012) i was 240lbs. it was hard for me to accept, and honestly, i fooled myself pretty good for a long time. i always tried to stay somewhat active, but i also had a high tendency to get injured or sick so it was always hard to maintain anything on a regular basis. i tried fad diets and gave up quickly and never ever counted calories but would get really frustrated when my activity levels weren't resulting in weight loss. last may i was hit by a van in bicycle accident and injured my shoulder. i learned a lot during that time, but also got scared off of getting on a bike anytime soon. anyway, the bike accident led to me not having a means of transportation as our family has only one car, and the option was buy a second car or me quit my job and become a stay at home mom. we chose the latter and it scared me to think that my weight problem may become truly uncontrollable if i didn't find a way to stay active. my daughter started 1st grade in sept and i was at home with the little guy during the day. a friend invited me to join a walking/running group that met 3x a week. i decided to join, but on the condition that i was a walker only and had no interest in running, i'd had a horrible experience trying to force myself to become a runner a few years prior that resulted in stress fractures in both feet. so i got out my stroller and started walking with some ladies 3.5-4 miles 3x a week! one of our friends would challenge us to run a few sprints and i'd get caught up in the competition and sprint with them. it was fun, it was challenging and it was depressing, we could barely make it past two houses before gassing out. we continued doing that for about a month. as the weeks went by we would try to push ourselves a little further. one day, we decided to slow down to an easy jog and see how far we could run. we completed 3 miles without stopping!!!! huge accomplishment. from that day on we switched our runkeeper to run instead of walk. that was oct., our average pace was 18 min miles, but we were so excited to not be walkers anymore by november we had decided to train for a half marathon. why? who knows, just because we believed we could i guess. so we started training for the next few months and in March i completed my first half marathon! i also ran my first 5k jan 1st and finished in 37:52, that was exciting. my half marathon time was 3 hrs exactly which was my goal. during that entire time i did not count calories and i did not lose a single pound. i lost a few inches, but not much although people did mention having seen some recomp going on. i ran a second half a month after my first with hills added and improved my time by 8:30 minutes! the day before my half i agreed to a weight loss challenge my family and started counting calories the day after my run, april 28th. since i've started calorie counting i've learned so much about my eating habits and the reasons why i never lost any weight. as much as i convinced myself i was eating healthy, i truly wasn't. and it wasn't just bad food, it was high calorie content and high volume even with healthier foods. since i've become focused on calorie counting i've learned to choose foods i know are more filling and satisfying and have therefor left a lot of high cal foods far behind me. my main priority though is to be within my calorie budget and if i choose to have something that is not nutritionally dense, then i do so knowing i will have to cut back on other things for the day. its worked quite well for me and i have far less splurges. plus, i've truly enjoyed my diet as it is. i'm not a super sweets kind of person, i'll pick something savory over something sweet every time. and luckily for me, a lot of healthy food is savory so i'm constantly satisfied with my meals. i've learned to slow down while i'm eating too. savor each bite, that way, even if it seems like i didn't have much to eat i enjoyed it as much if not much more than i ever did when i was eating like a fat person. some of my favorite foods are beef jerky and avocados. and you better believe i enjoy those two things far more often than i ever have before. so my tummy is a happy place now as the weather has gotten hotter (i live in the california valley, its hooooooot here) i have had to move my workouts indoors. so i barely run anymore. instead i got into spin class!!! first time on a bike since my accident, love it!!! without the threat of moving cars its a lot of fun! and i'm also doing R.I.P.P.E.D. twice a week and pilates once a week. to solve the car issue, which is still were it was last summer i now get up at 430am and do the 5 am classes at the gym. let me tell you, i've never been so energized and productive in my life! i'm loving the way i feel, i'm loving my food, and i'm loving the results i'm finally seeing. so, what are those results? well:
i'm 5'8.5"
October 5th (started running)
weight:240
waist: 40"
hips: 49"
pants size: very tight 18
US Navy Body Fat Calculator put me at 48% body fat




May 10 (using MFP for 12 days)
weight: 231
waist: 38"
hips: 46.5"
pants size: comfortable 18
US Navy BFC: 43%




Today June 23
weight: 216!!!!
waist: 35"!!!!
hips: 46.5
pants size: loose 16!!!!!
US Navy BFC: 41%

i am so proud of myself. i'm technically showing up as obese still, but i feel like a fit athletic person, and that will be reflected soon enough. i've finally reached the stage of having people actually notice and comment on how my body is changing. i'm having people notice my muscles! i feel good about myself, and i enjoy seeing the changes in my body. my kids are being inspired to get out and move and my husband is also on the weight loss and workout bandwagon as well, although not very enthusiastically. its inspiring to hear my daughter say that she wants to be like me and ask me to show her how to do pushups and sit ups and jumping jacks. its exciting to do sit ups! and i'm sooooo close to doing a real push up.

the 35" waist is significant because that's the threshold the drs always have for higher risk of heart disease and other weight related problems. it the first significant marker that i'm on a healthier path than ever before. i'm still not sure what my goal weight is. my lowest weight ever was 155 and it was kind of a fluke of being an overly stressed college student with three jobs and an ulcer. i'm not worried about it though. i'm going to continue to eat well and workout hard and see where it takes me. i can already run half marathons and keep up with the skinny girls in my classes so i'm not too concerned about it for now.

ETA progress pics

bonus pics:
first half completed


wearing a dress that finally fit well