7 Years - A Lifetime of Knowledge

Seven years ago my oldest daughter graduated from high school and I hated how I looked in the pictures. I was disgusted with myself.

I'd successfully lost 70 pounds a few years before but it all came back, plus some. I knew I was doing something wrong but I didn't know what. And I just wanted to learn how to stop gaining weight.

Not lose weight.

Stop gaining.

Sad.

I found MyFitnessPal while Googling various ways to lose. I downloaded the app, starting counting calories and like magic the weight started coming off.

But I'd been here before. I knew I could lose weight. I just didn't know how to keep it off.

Turns out that this is a lifetime commitment. Who knew! I always thought that once the weight was off I could go back to my old eating habits. Not. True.

I joined a gym and started lifting weights and fell in love with weightlifting.

I lived on the forums here, soaking up all of the information that the veterans were willing to dish out. I learned to stay away from fad diets. I learned that I can eat what I want as long as I can make it fit in my day. That was the epiphany moment for me and is the reason that I have been able to stick to this eating plan for so long.

In the seven years that I've been on MFP, counting calories, I've had a full hip replacement and my thyroid removed. Both times I hopped back on my eating plan as soon as I was cleared. After my hip replacement I was back in the gym 2 weeks post op (cleared by the Dr) and after my thyroid removal I was in the gym two days later.

I refused to let one bad day make me quit. I just started again the next day.

After awhile I realized that this was a long, long journey, so I sat back and enjoyed it.

I went from a night-owl to being in the gym by 6am four days a week.

I'm not saying you have to do everything I did. I'm saying find what works for you and DON'T GIVE UP.

The pictures of me in the pink are from June 2017-December 2018. The picture of me in the blue was about a month after I started counting calories (July 2012). I don't know how much weight I had lost because I was scared to get on the scale. The picture of me in the black was last week on my 51st birthday.

If I can do this, you can do it. I promise!