I made it! 166 lbs to 135 lbs (5'6" female) - with pics

Pandapotato · December 2014

Holy smokes, you look like you went from 35 years old to 24 or something! You look fantastic! (And your running times are encouraging--- I ran a lot last year and got down to about 10 min/miles and figure that was just my speed.... how great that you cut so much down on your 5k time!

Sabine_Stroehm · December 2014

Perfect!

firstsip · December 2014

I love posts of women who advocate eating more, focusing on fitness, etc. You looked great at 145 and definitely look great now.

Would you mind sharing your measurements, if you took any throughout the process?

libbydoodle11 · December 2014

You have achieved so much!!! Your stats are very inspiring, great work!

Bretto · December 2014

Great job on your success. I am 5'7" and my starting weight this round (Sept 2014 was 174) with my highest weight ever being 180 (2013). These last 3 months have been hard,, but I am now down to 157. I too have a goal weight of 135. I do agree with you, I could be happy at 140 or 145, but at 135 I feel amazing. I am trying to do it the healthy way.

I have acouple questions for you. I will be ramping up my half-ironman train starting at the end of December. I am really concerned I will not be able to lose while doing endurance training. (15 hrs a week with one really long 4-6 hr workout). Did you notice anything when you were doing your longer trainings? Did you watch you carbs on your long workouts or not worry about it.

MoHousdon · December 2014

firstsip wrote: »

I love posts of women who advocate eating more, focusing on fitness, etc. You looked great at 145 and definitely look great now.

Would you mind sharing your measurements, if you took any throughout the process?

↑ This and I'm hovering between 135 and 131 and I don't look as good as you did at 145! I've gotten a lot of criticism for counting calories and working out from some people so it's hard to stay positive. You and I are about the same size (height and build) so it's extremely encouraging to know that I can get in great shape without having to lose a bunch of weight, not that I want, or need to.

Thank you so much for sharing your story and for the awesome visuals to go along with it! Keep up the great work.

arussell134 · December 2014

Pandapotato wrote: »

Holy smokes, you look like you went from 35 years old to 24 or something! You look fantastic! (And your running times are encouraging--- I ran a lot last year and got down to about 10 min/miles and figure that was just my speed.... how great that you cut so much down on your 5k time!

I have something to add on this thought... I think a lot of the reason I was stuck at 10 minutes per mile is because it's how I thought of myself. "I'm just a slow runner." "I just want to finish." As part of my weight loss journey, I've challenged myself to think better and bigger things for myself. My new goal is to break a 25 minute 5K. And when I get there, I suppose I'll set a new goal. Good luck!

arussell134 · December 2014

firstsip wrote: »

I love posts of women who advocate eating more, focusing on fitness, etc. You looked great at 145 and definitely look great now.

Would you mind sharing your measurements, if you took any throughout the process?

You know I am *HORRIBLE* at taking measurements! lol I do believe my waist was a 36" when I started and is now right around 29". I know I lost a ton of inches around my hips and thighs too. I *am* one of those people that ends up with a thigh gap when I'm at my smallest - and I'm pretty well there now. (Not making ANY statement about thigh gap vs/ no thigh gap b/c I know that's a heated issue - it just happens to be a visual change I've noticed on my body over the months to know I've lost serious inches).

I went from my size 12's being too tight to now getting too small for size 8's. I bet I'm right around a size 6 at this point.

arussell134 · December 2014

MoHousdon wrote: »

firstsip wrote: »

I love posts of women who advocate eating more, focusing on fitness, etc. You looked great at 145 and definitely look great now.

Would you mind sharing your measurements, if you took any throughout the process?

↑ This and I'm hovering between 135 and 131 and I don't look as good as you did at 145! I've gotten a lot of criticism for counting calories and working out from some people so it's hard to stay positive. You and I are about the same size (height and build) so it's extremely encouraging to know that I can get in great shape without having to lose a bunch of weight, not that I want, or need to.

Thank you so much for sharing your story and for the awesome visuals to go along with it! Keep up the great work.

I have been told I have a naturally athletic build. I have broader shoulders and my body responds really well & quickly to strength training. It could be just the way I carry my weight.

If you ever go to mybodygallery.com it reinforces the idea that you can have several people at the same height/weight and they look very different. Every's personal best is different.

(If I can later, I'll take current measurements and report back!)

arussell134 · December 2014

Bretto wrote: »

Great job on your success. I am 5'7" and my starting weight this round (Sept 2014 was 174) with my highest weight ever being 180 (2013). These last 3 months have been hard,, but I am now down to 157. I too have a goal weight of 135. I do agree with you, I could be happy at 140 or 145, but at 135 I feel amazing. I am trying to do it the healthy way.

I have acouple questions for you. I will be ramping up my half-ironman train starting at the end of December. I am really concerned I will not be able to lose while doing endurance training. (15 hrs a week with one really long 4-6 hr workout). Did you notice anything when you were doing your longer trainings? Did you watch you carbs on your long workouts or not worry about it.

First off - that's amazing. I've been toying with the idea of a half-ironman myself at some point. You should know, I am firmly ANTI-"low carb" diets for endurance athletes. Maybe this is just my personal experience, but I find my performance is just not good without carbs! I do enjoy pastas, and breads, and the like - I just ate a bit less of them to stay at a deficit. Days where I will do a long run of 8-12 miles I definitely eat more. I'm less concerned with how many extra calories MFP says I can eat and try to go more off of how hungry/full I feel.

you are definitely working out a LOT more than me though - and might want to pose your questions in the food/nutrition section or elsewhere? I think it's a solid enough question that other people may have more expertise on than me. (I've only done half and full marathons - not half-ironmans!). Good luck!

Toria718 · December 2014

im 5'6 also, i have a similar build as you. im hovering at around 187 right now but as soon as i start hovering the weight comes off fairly easily. my blockage is all mental and something i need to work on. its good to see that my goals are realistic, i would love to see myself at a size 6.i was hoping to be around 135 and that size.

arditarose · December 2014

So great to see! You're a couple inches taller than me but at my goal weight. I sometimes need to be reminded what 135 looks like. (I'm only 4 pounds away but sometimes still think I look like I did when I was 165).

heybales · December 2014

Bretto wrote: »

Great job on your success. I am 5'7" and my starting weight this round (Sept 2014 was 174) with my highest weight ever being 180 (2013). These last 3 months have been hard,, but I am now down to 157. I too have a goal weight of 135. I do agree with you, I could be happy at 140 or 145, but at 135 I feel amazing. I am trying to do it the healthy way.

I have acouple questions for you. I will be ramping up my half-ironman train starting at the end of December. I am really concerned I will not be able to lose while doing endurance training. (15 hrs a week with one really long 4-6 hr workout). Did you notice anything when you were doing your longer trainings? Did you watch you carbs on your long workouts or not worry about it.

I'll suggest something that worked great during training for Aug half-ironman, and half-marathon couple months later, interrupted with 80 mile ride in middle.

You are very correct, it is hard to lose, because that frequent intense exercise is a big stress, and diet is a stress, and diet makes recovery take longer, so now even more stressful.
That will mess with weight loss and performance badly.

What I did was set MFP to maintain, logged my exercise with most accurate calorie burn possible (personal calorie burn formula from VO2max test) via Fitbit (to handle rest of the day's variable activity level).
Then the 2 rests days I ate at maintenance, the given goal. Usually rest days followed the hardest workout days, and I needed extra cals during recovery. 2500 cal or less usually.
2 easy workout days with maintenance up to 3000 I left 10% in the green, easy math for deficit. So usually 250-300 deficit.
2 medium workout days up to 4000 I left 15% in the green for deficit. 450-600 deficit.
1 long hard day naturally big fat burn cardio 4000 and over 5000 sometimes, left 20% in the green for that much deficit. 800-1000 deficit.

Worked great. Plenty of energy, got to eat when I really needed it to recovery for workout tomorrow (and made sure 30 min snack was 4:1 carb:prot ratio if workout tomorrow). I also had what might be considered an easy routine. 1 day swimming, 2 days bike ride, 2 days running. Slow jog after swim and after short bike ride, so almost 4 days with some running. Making up for fact I had only 4 weeks run training from nothing for 2 months.

luisalg14 · December 2014

Amazing stuff!

maluchandra · December 2014

Bump

stacibuk · December 2014

arditarose wrote: »

So great to see! You're a couple inches taller than me but at my goal weight. I sometimes need to be reminded what 135 looks like. (I'm only 4 pounds away but sometimes still think I look like I did when I was 165).

Take pics of yourself because everyone carries weight differently.