C-section Mom of 2 - My progress over the past couple years (lots of pics)

I've been debating for awhile about when to post in here. Should I do it when I hit 130 lbs? Should I wait until I'm happy with my body composition? The list goes on and on. I've posted progress threads in the past, so I think that's what I'll go with; This is a progress thread. Why progress and not a Success? Because, I'm constantly setting new goals and I'm still pretty far from where I want to be body composition wise. I am, however, pretty happy with what the scale says.



Highest adult weight: 260 lbs
Weight when I started using MFP: 218 lbs
Current Trend weight*: 127.8 lbs
This mornings scale reading: 126.9 lbs
Lowest recent scale reading: 126 lbs

I lost some weight on my own before joining MFP. I was way over restrictive and couldn't sustain it. If I remember correctly I gained about 20 lbs of the around 60 lbs I had lost the year prior to joining MFP back. I didn't make lifestyle changes. It was more of a short term term diet that I had put myself on. I was able to keep it up for about 6 months before I couldn't take it anymore. Kept the weight off for about 2-3 months and then started gaining some back. I, thankfully, caught myself before I had undone it all.

I found MFP in Nov of 2012, but didn't start actually using it until March 13, 2013 when I was back up to 218 lbs. I set up MFP with a goal to lose 2 lbs a week, but I think I lasted all of a week with that goal before changing it to 1 lb a week. I started lurking in the forums and found lots of useful information. I'll post some of the threads that I consider to be useful down at the bottom of this post.

I was gifted a Fitbit Zip at the end of April by my husband. He knew I was looking at them and wanted one; he didn't know which one so he grabbed a zip because it came in bright pink. I started using that to monitor my activity and allowed it to make adjustments to my calorie goals here. Boy was I surprised to find that I was so lazy that even with MFP set to Sedentary, Fitbit was taking away calories and working out was just bringing my adjustment to 0 (meaning I was meeting the calorie burn MFP expected of a Sedentary person with my stats). By September, I had enough data from my food logs and Fitbit to determine that the Zip was underestimating my activity level by about 200 calories per day on average.

I bought a HRM for my workouts shortly after getting the Fitbit. I used this for any activity that wasn't walking and logged it in MFP with the correct start time/duration (start time is something required when logging activities when a Fitbit is connected to MFP).

Around June, I ended up purchasing a food scale so that I could be more accurate with my food logging. This was an eye opener and I started weighing all foods I made at home (still do). The best part is it required less clean up than measuring cups.

By September of that year, I had lost about 48 lbs from my start on MFP and about 90 from my highest weight. I had to stop at this point though, because I became pregnant with my second son.

Fast forward to now. My youngest was born at the end of May 2014. I went back to using MFP just as I had before pregnancy a few weeks after he was born. I wasn't able to start exercising until September (recovery from 2nd c-section), but I did start up about mid-September. The only major changes I've made is that as of Feb this year I am using the Fitbit Surge (no longer using Zip & HRM) and I joined a gym.

My favorite thing about the tools I have been using to help me with this process is that I don't have to cut out my favorite foods. Sure I have to watch my portion sizes, but that's where a food scale and my food log come in. I don't feel horribly restricted which makes it easier than what I was trying to do before using MFP (not that it's completely easy, it's not, but it is easier now that I'm not restricting myself to a small selection of foods).

*This is what I get from trendweight.com; a site that smooths out my scale fluctuations to show me what is happening with my weight.

After my first son was born (260 lbs):




2013:




My second pregnancy:


2 weeks Post-Partum(in the 190's):


And current:





I'm still working on losing a few more pounds before I either move to trying recomp, just maintaining or trying a bulk/cut. I haven't really decided where I want to go next just yet.


Helpful threads:
Logging Accurately Step by Step Guide
A Guide to Get You Started on Your Path to Sexypants