15 months and 85 pounds (LONG with lots of pics)

So, I'm not completely at my goal weight yet, but thought I would go ahead and share anyway.

When I met my husband, I was 160 pounds and wore a size 13/14. I went out dancing all the time, and rode horses almost daily. As we dated, I became less and less active, just not making time for the horses, and since he can't dance, we spent our time doing other things. (And when I say he can't dance, I mean saying he has 2 left feet would be a compliment.) After getting married, two miscarriages, having a baby, and the rest of life, my weight got out of control. I remember thinking "I'll never let myself get to 200 pounds." When that happened, it was 225, and then 250, and 275. As I closed in on 275 - at my heaviest I was 272 and a size 26W - I began thinking that I really was going to end up being 300 pounds in the future. It was so depressing.

I spent a lot of time thinking about how I needed to lose the weight and how I was going to figure out a way to do it "tomorrow." The only problem was "tomorrow" never really came. As things became increasingly difficult to do, it became more and more apparent that instead of doing something tomorrow, I needed to do it now. Something in my head changed, although I can't begin to say exactly what the cause of it was, and I was truly ready to start losing this weight.

I decided that I wanted to hire a personal trainer to help me at least get started with an exercise program. After looking around, and doing some research, I finally found someone I thought I wanted to work with. I sat down, typed an email, and promptly deleted it. After repeating the writing and deleting routine for a couple weeks, I finally sent the email. I heard back, scheduled my first session, and haven't looked back since. That was the last week of October 2013.



This was me in July of 2011. I'm guessing I was somewhere around 250 here, but it's the last picture I could find of me prior to beginning my weight loss journey.

While working out with the trainer, I discovered kettle bells, and haven't looked back. I LOVE them! We didn't start out using them in my first session, it actually took about a month before I ever touched one, but I was hooked immediately. Early on, there was also lots of work with the TRX and body weight exercises, and plenty of walking.

I changed my diet. I stopped drinking soft drinks and started drinking water. I still needed a caffeine fix, so I switched to iced tea with stevia. As a family, we stopped eating out almost every night and started cooking at home. Meals included lean meats, lots of fish, lots of veggies, and whole grains. I would still have the occasional treat, but I wasn't eating cookies and candy multiple times a day any longer.



Three and a half months in, and I was 50 pounds lighter! I was exercising regularly, eating a much healthier diet, and already feeling significantly better.



In March, I was able to strict press a 20 kg kettle bell! It was tough to do, but it was such an awesome feeling! I had set my sights on being able to complete the Iron Maiden challenge. In order to do so, I would have to work towards a 24 kg press, along with a 24 kg pistol, and a 24 kg weighted pull up. There's still lots of work to be done.

I was determined to get the 24kg press over the summer. Unfortunately, that led to me pushing myself to hard and creating some shoulder issues. Luckily, it just meant lots of rest and some cortisone injections - one in each shoulder over a span of 2-3 months. I was lucky things responded, and hadn't actually torn anything, as originally thought. Despite the forced rest, I was still able to walk, and did what I could with a modified workout plan.



At the end of April 2014 I had lost another 14 pounds, for a total of 64 lost. I was sleeping better. In fact, everyone was sleeping better because I no longer snored so loud that it kept everyone else awake. My doctor was thrilled with my progress.



Come July of last year, my husband and I went on vacation to Colorado. We hiked almost every day we were there, averaging 7-8 miles per day across a lot more challenging terrain than what we were used to in Indiana. Most days, by the end of the hike he was asking me to slow down and wait on him! It had been years since anything like that had happened.

At this point, I had lost somewhere around 75 pounds and was really struggling with sticking to "the plan". I wasn't logging accurately, and often times going over my calorie goal for the day. I began gaining and losing the same 4-5 pounds over and over again. I became extremely frustrated and started wondering if I should just give up. I finally decided that maybe I just needed to maintain the status quo for a while and then get back to business after a few weeks.



The end of October rolled around and I had officially been at this weight loss thing for a year. I was 80 pounds lighter and had lost just under 12% body fat. The total number of inches I had lost was just over 50, and my dress size had went from a 26W to a 16. I was now off of several of the medications my doctor had put me on in the past.



By Thanksgiving, I felt like I was finally making some forward progress again, instead of playing catch-up from the shoulder injuries over the summer. I had a PR while doing Turkish get ups, able to do them with a 24 kg bell on both the left and right side. I also was able to press the 20 kg bell again, for the first time since injuring my shoulders. After talking with my trainer, we decided to add deadlifts into my program. The very first day we worked on them, I was able to pull body weight, which at the time was 195 lb.



In the last 2 months, I've steadily increased my max, and easily pulled 240 on the 16th of this month. I know I can do more, and continue to work towards finding out just what the max is that I can actually pull.



Then, this past week, after months of work, I was finally able to do my first pistol squat. I accomplished it with a 12 kg kettle bell, so that means I am half-way to the goal of doing one with a 24 kg bell. Of course, along with increasing the weight I am using, I need to continue to improve my range of motion, but it will get there.

To date, I have lost 86 pounds, have dropped an additional dress size (now a 14), and am doing things in the gym I never thought I could possibly ever do had you asked me at the beginning of all this. In the last couple months, I have also taken up running and recently was able to run 5k for the first time ever.

My goal weight, at least for now is 160, so I still have another 26 pounds to lose. Next week, when I meet with the trainer, we will be doing measurements again and I am anxious to see where my body fat is at. I am thinking more and more that once I hit 160, I may still feel as if I have more work to do, depending upon where my body fat level ends up, and how I look.

I still plan on continuing to work towards the Iron Maiden. I want to go to a Strongfirst kettle bell weekend and become a certified SFG instructor. In April I am going to be participating in the Tactical Strength Challenge. I have a 5k race on the schedule for this Spring. After talking some more with my trainer, it looks like we may be adding the bench press and some barbell squats into my program. I really have developed a love for lifting, and want to see just how strong I can get.

So, that's pretty much it. Where I started, and how I got to where I am. I have had several people close to me say what an inspiration I have been to them over the last several months, and quite honestly I just find it funny that anyone would find me inspiring. I'm just doing what I feel I need to do to be the best me. In the meantime, if that can inspire someone else along the way, that's awesome too!