A tiny success story compared to others here, but still an important step for me!

Hi all,

As the title says, this is a VERY small (tiny) success compared with what some of you are achieving, but it it as an important one for me.

Having weighed 68 kg (10st 10lb or 150lb) when I met my husband in 1998 (at 5'11" or 180cm this put me in the lower part of the normal range according to the bmi), I gained weight steadily through my early forties, probably weighing in the mid-high 70s when we married in 2002. At the end of 2011 I bought bathroom scales and discovered that I had hit an alarming 90kg (14st 2lb or 198lb). In Spring 2012, I lost between just over 9kg, reaching a low of 80.3kg (12st 9lb or 177lb) and then stopped tracking my weight.

By the middle of last year, I was back up to the mid 80s and the nurse at the surgery said she thought I ought to lose a bit of weight (part of the NHS anti-obesity push I guess, s she had never said anything to me before, even when I weight a lot more!). I thought I was eating pretty healthily, but at the end of September I decided I need to look more carefully at what I was eating, and in particular how much, and found myfitnesspal. On 30.09.14, when I started, I weighed in at 85kg. I am aiming for between 75 and 77kg (aroung 12st or 168lb): I would like to be able to get on the scales, dressed but without shoes (as in the doctor's surgery) and consistently weigh under 80kg.

I still have those last pesky 4kg to go, but today, probably for the first time in over ten years, I weighed in at under 79 kg (admittedly 78.9, but still!). Next week I shall be back at work and picking up swimming and walking again: I really hope to be down to 77kg before I turn 51 next month.

Myfitnesspal has been a real help. I also subscribed to the Guardian's recipe/diet suggestions service for a while back in 2012, which made me think hard about portion sizes, but I like the way that mfp lets me say what I actually eat rather than suggesting what I might eat. The exercise section also made me think about what I actually do, and in the autumn I worked out that I walk 1.8 miles a day as part of getting to and from work. I have also been trying to swim 1km several times each week (but not over Christmas).

These success stories are so inspiring. I wanted to share my small step too!