8 months in, 40 pounds down, GOAL MET!

I started back here at MFP (for the umpteenth time) almost eight months ago. Today, when I stepped on the scale, I saw the initial goal weight I'd set for myself.

In this time, I've lost:

• 40 pounds
• 7.6 points on the BMI index
• 17 percentage points of body fat
• 4 clothing sizes
• 7 inches from my waist and 8 from my hips
• 2 band sizes and a cup size
• A lifetime of bad habits around stress eating, emotional eating, and food shaming

I've also gained:

• The knowledge to stay within my calories, pretty much regardless of what life throws at me. CICO works, folks!
• The strength to eat my favourite foods in moderation -- one square of delicious chocolate at a time
• A bunch of new exercise habits, including running -- yep, I went from a couch potato to someone who just signed up for my first 5k coming up this fall!
• A bunch of cute new clothes in smaller sizes
• Healthy habits for life!

It's just the first time my goal weight has shown up on the scale, so I expect it'll take another couple of weeks of fluctuation before it stays put. Also, this is just the top end of my target 5lb goal range, so I am planning to slowly transition into maintenance. I'm not going anywhere: I plan to keep logging and tracking as I look to find maintenance, and set new fitness and other goals for myself.

For what it's worth, here are some of the things that have worked for me:

• Using this site! Not just logging and tracking food, but also participating in the communities, forums, groups and adding other like-minded friends for support.
• Using my geek tendencies to turn weight loss into nothing more than a math problem. By creating spreadsheets and crunching the numbers, I was able to stay on track by gaining a sense of control.
• Eating all my favourite foods, only in moderation. I had chocolate almost every day while losing weight. I drank craft beer. I ate rich home cooking. I didn't deprive myself of anything I liked. If I wanted it, I worked it into my calories and I simply ate it in smaller portions.
• Setting realistic goals. 40 pounds over 8 months may not seem very fast to people. It's just over a pound a week, more in the initial weeks, less since then, averaging about 0.75lbs/week in the past couple of months. But it was the right pace for me. Going any faster would have meant depriving myself.
• Using a food scale at home. Not only did it help me stay accurate with logging food I eat at home, but it also helped me vastly improve my visual estimation skills for when I eat at restaurants or other places.
• Using the TDEE method. No fiddling with trying to work out how many exercise calories to eat back. I just picked a number that was roughly 20% lower than my observed average TDEE (from my spreadsheet) and stuck to that.
• Pre-logging my week. On Sundays, I take a few minutes to sit down and pre-log what I expect to eat during the upcoming week. I then use that to make my grocery list. Cuts down on food waste, and makes my life a zillion times easier. Sure, sometimes things change, and I just roll with it. But pre-logging helps me stay on track.
• Working up to the exercise gradually. I've never been athletic, and I always viewed exercise as a chore. So I didn't put pressure on myself at first to exercise, telling myself that 90% of weight loss is in the kitchen, not the gym. As I started losing the weight and feeling better, I found myself actually *wanting* to move more and be more active, so I added things in.
• Not sweating the small stuff. Went over 'cause it was a special occasion? Whatever. Saw a gain this week? Fluctuations happen; weight loss isn't linear. I learned to trust the process, and ultimately, it worked.

For the record, my stats are: 5'1", 35 years old, SW 155, GW 115

Here's a sort of before-and-after photo. I say sort of, because the "before" was about six weeks into my weight loss -- I failed to take a proper before photo when I started in October, maybe because I didn't really believe that this time would be the time I'd actually stick with it...? Who knows. Anyway, I never wore the cycling jeans in the photo, because I bought them last fall and by the time the cycling season came around in the spring, they were way too big on me. (Anyone want to buy a pair of cycling jeans, ticket still attached, size 10? PM me.)