Down 40 lbs in 100 days :) I found the secret! Shhhh.... don't tell anyone!

Today I logged 100 days on MFP and a total of 40 lbs lost. I'm 38 years old and am not targeting a specific weight - just to be healthy and happier in my own skin. When I started, I did have fantasies of loosing 120+ but I don't think that's realistic anymore because that may not be a reflection of me actually being healthy.

I'm down from a size 24 pants to 18 and down from 3x tops to 1X. I'm feeling much more confident and am ecstatic at the progress. I'm not a super model- never going to be- but I'm still over the moon at where I'm at and where I'm going. In a few more weeks I'll be the lightest I've been in 20 years. I have never ever been thin. 180 at age 16 and yo-yo'd between 230 and 280 since I was 18.

Here's my secret..... lean in close..... as cheesy as it sounds.... the thing I'm doing is...is... I'm being honest with myself about what I'm eating and I'm logging it. Insert fireworks and a parade here. No- seriously- that's the secret. That is the "magic pill". I know, I know- there are a million posts that say this exact same thing but I never really was honest with myself enough to truly log before. And I didn't think it mattered THAT much. Oh it matters! I can't possibly eat at a deficit or exercise to get to a deficit if I don't know what I'm actually taking in.




Sure there's a lot of things that are going into the overall progress- but that being honest part is the key. For example, I can't tell you how many times I used to post something like "burned 29 calories walking at a moderate pace" on my updates so I could come in under goal. When i realized what it meant to me, that I was lying to myself about how I really did, then I stopped. Yes, there are bad days- but those are going to happen.



Here's what I am doing right now:

1400 cal goal, 35% carbs, 35% protein, 30% fat. This is working very well for me and helps me to make better choices about how I can spend the last few cals of the day. I needed that level of specifics so it would be harder to derail myself.

When I started I weighed everything I ate. Once I got better about understanding what a cup or 8 oz of something looked like, my dining out logging became much more realistic. When I don't know, I either weigh it or if we are out I over estimate a bit. I know there is room for improvement here but everything goes in the log- vodka, lifesavers, tuna... everything. I don't log water though.

I am weaning myself off of snacking all day every day. I still have things at my desk to munch on but it's deliberate and logged.

I weigh myself every day but only log the losses. I'm human so the weight will go up and down and stall a bit but I LOVE seeing the numbers on the scale. It's great motivation for me!

I started working towards getting more physically active so I can eat a bit more and live more. By that I mean, if I want to be able to eat a bit more at dinner that night I need to have the calories to spend on it so I best get up and get moving so I have them. I also want to do some fun things like hiking and races and to do that I can't be a couch potato. Note the FitBit in the pics

I set a log term goal of doing an 8k obstacle race in October. I'm already signed up. I think it will be a lot of fun and a good challenge. It's been highly motivating and helps to give me something else to focus on besides the scale. No false expectations about being a super athlete- I'm just going to do the best I can and get really really muddy.



I learn. I've learned so much about food, myself, the impact of my choices - and I'm still learning. To me, this means I can sustain a healthier lifestyle long term because I will have learned how to do it. I'm not going to loose weight only to go back to the bad habits that got me there to begin with.

But foremost, I'm honest to myself and work on the mental as much as the food and physical aspects.