102 pounds lost! 484 days on mfp, my progress so far with tons of pics!

ElvenToad wrote: »

Hi everyone!

I officially started on my weight loss journey on myfitnesspal on Feb 28, 2014 weighing in at 268lbs at 5'4. I was wearing a size 22 pants, 2x-3x tops. 16 months later I am 166lbs, size 8 pants, M-L tops. This is a huge milestone for me on my path to my goal weight. HUGE! Like scream from the rooftops huge Feel free to skip down to the photos (the best part right)! as this may be a little long.

I've been overweight/obese since I was a child. I've never been at a healthy weight, never worn clothing that wasn't plus sized. Even in middle school my mom had to make all my clothes because shopping was a nightmare. I am 32 years old now, and I knew it was time for change after a lifetime of horrid eating habits.

My mentality was always that I thought I was too far gone already, and what was the point? I'd rather just sit on the couch and stuff my face, that's easy to do. It was comforting to do. It was all I wanted to do. I would eat massive quantities of food, feel super stuffed, and then get mad that I had to wait to eat more. This was how I lived my life, everyday. That emotional bond I had with food was more important to me than anything. It was my stress reliever, my feel good pick me up, my best friend. I found happiness in food that I was missing in other parts of my life. It was a cycle, I felt trapped, hopeless. I thought dieting was punishment, and that starving myself was the only way to lose weight. I knew food made me happy, but I knew the physical consequences of my eating habits made me miserable. I was desperate for change for a long time, and because of that I felt sorry for myself. I was stuck, it was eat what I want and just keep getting bigger, or eat "diet" food to lose weight. That was always torture for me and I always went back to my old ways.

I was tired of living my life this way. I was exhausted just doing daily chores around the house, my feet hurt if I stood up for more than 10 minutes at a time. I was just miserable. Feb 28th 2014. This day was not like any other day, it was the day I stopped feeling sorry for myself and decided I was going to break free. I didn't know how exactly, but I thought I would try calorie counting and see if that would help me. I actually considered paying for weight watchers that day, after a bit of googling "calorie counting". Weight watchers didn't give me any info without a credit card so I kept going down the list of search results. Myfitnesspal... hmm.. this is free? I signed up, spent the entire day reading the resources, forums, and trying to educate myself on weight loss. I knew nothing about nutrition, never paid attention to calories a day in my life. I made a plan, decided that no matter what I was going to commit to it. I made some friends, found all the nice stickies, I learned a lot.

I went into this process cold turkey, just jumped in head first and stuck to my calorie goal. I wanted to lose weight MORE than I wanted to continue along the path that I was on so I sucked it up so to speak. I put myself on a set eating schedule, that worked really well for me. I learned that it was ok to feel a little hungry between meals and snacks. A few weeks later I bought myself a food scale, and a Fitbit zip. Logged everything to the best of my ability. Bought a nice insulated water bottle, that goes with me everywhere. The weight started coming off! I CAN DO THIS!

Once I got my intake down and felt comfortable with the amount of food I was eating I then started to try new recipes and look for foods that had better macros yet were still tasty and satisfying. Once I found meals and snacks that I knew would be sustainable for me it made things so much easier. I learned that losing weight doesn't have to be torture, you can still eat the foods you enjoy if you eat them in moderation. I still eat out once a week, and I just adjust accordingly. If unplanned foods or treats find their way to me, I just shift my day around to make room for them, or if I don't think they are worth the calories I just don't eat them. I've learned how to balance everything, and I no longer feel emotionally attached to food. Treats are wonderful, I make sure to have one every week but they are not the main staple of my diet anymore.

I am a stay at home mom who works from home, so I made use of my expensive treadmill that I had only used to hang laundry on previously. I started with 10 minutes, then worked my way up to 45. When I got bored of that I bought an elliptical and mixed up my workouts. When I got bored of that I started the Leslie Sansone walk at home videos on youtube. I make sure to get at least 30 minutes of a workout in every single day. Even if that means walking or jogging in place in front of the TV. Whatever gets my heart rate up and makes me sweat. I recently started trying to jog on the treadmill, still working on that. I can however jog in place for 30 minutes now which is by far easier but I'm still proud of that! I bought a barbell and weights, really wanted to get into lifting, but my back doesn't share that desire. (I have a bulged disk and am terrified of hurting myself). I bought resistance bands, and a door anchor. That I *seem* to be ok with but its boring as heck. I've tried a few other things too but I tend to stick with walking/jogging because it doesn't cause me any pain.

My husband has lost 91lbs along with me. Both of our eating habits have dramatically changed. We still order pizza once in a while but we don't order 2 at a time anymore. He just started eating what I cooked, (like he had a choice haha!). He doesn't exercise ever but by diet alone he's down to 189lbs from 280lbs. We're not super active people, we still spend a lot of time playing video games together, but we do take our son to the park most weekends now and go to museums, festivals etc.

My plans now are to continue losing weight, get to a healthy body fat % somewhere around 130lbs. I'm hoping to be there within the next 12 months. Learn how to maintain once I get to goal, and just keep on weighing and logging my food. Being more active and eating healthy feels good. For the first year I had to talk myself into my daily workout.. now I just get up and do it without even giving it much thought. This is a part of me now, there is no going back ever! I feel like I've conquered my disordered eating habits, I don't like that overly stuffed feeling anymore. I can tell the difference between true hunger, and boredom hunger now. I definitely don't think I would have been as successful without my food scale and my fitbit, they are invaluable to me. Calorie counting works! I still have a long way to go but I feel amazing and I'm still in the "overweight" category. I can't even imagine how much more amazing I will feel when I get to the "healthy" category!

I only update my progress pictures with every 5 pounds that I lose so I took a special one just for this post with the extra 2lbs lost Thank you for reading my success story, now for the pictures!

ElvenToad wrote: »

oh my gosh you guys are amazingly supportive, thank you. I feel like I've definitely given myself a wonderful gift. My quality of life has improved ten fold, and I look forward to getting up everyday now. My goal was to lose 100lbs by my 33rd birthday, which is July 10th so I did it!!!! [/]

WOW YOU HAVE INSPIRED ME THANK YOU!!! Ikinda wanted to give up my problem is if i don't see results INSTANTLY i get irritated but YOU GAVE ME A PUSH TODAY