Ready to finally commit to this again & looking for accountability partners.

jessieleah
jessieleah Posts: 204 Member
in Getting Started
I've struggled with my weight all of my life.
Between 2012-2014 I finally had my huge success and dropped over 100 lbs and got into the best shape of my life. I went from 235 lbs to 128 lbs at my lowest at 5'5". I was working out 5x a week - I could do pull-ups and push-ups and run 5Ks.

I got on anti-depressants in 2017 and everything fell apart. The pills didn't make me magically gain weight, but they did strip me of all will power when it came to desserts/sweet stuff. I ended up gaining back quite a bit of weight while I completely fell off the exercise wagon.

Cue August 2017 - I was back to 170 lbs. I finally got myself kind of under control, and I've spent the past TWO YEARS bouncing around from 155-175 lbs, trying to commit to losing weight again and failing. I keep trying to use the same methods I used last time around, but I just haven't been able to stick with it long term.

I've been logging with MFP on/off for that entire time, but have not participated in the community aspect at all. So I'd like to reacquaint myself to y'all, add some friends and get social!

Current stats: F/30/5'5"/170 lbs.

I'm going on a 4 day/3 night hike at the end of October, so I'm currently trying to slowly create a workout routine for the next month to get me in a LITTLE bit better shape for said hike. Right now it's looking like I'll be doing upper body and core exercises today since my legs are on DAY THREE of pretty ridiculous DOMS. :p

I would love to hear y'all's stories and hopefully find some people to add!

Replies

  • kyle0404
    kyle0404 Posts: 33 Member
    Judging by your past success with weight loss I'm sure you'll have no problem getting back to where you want to be. I can definitely relate on the temptation of sweets, its always been the biggest struggle for me. For your upcoming home I recommend working in a lot of stairs and hills, those work your legs much different than other exercises and in the past I've been destroyed on a long hike because of it. Feel free to add me, maybe we can help keep each other off the sweets.
  • steveko89
    steveko89 Posts: 2,223 Member
    M/30/6'1"/173 lbs

    Overweight adolescent despite being decently active (baseball, basketball, grew up on 5 acres). Lost 25-30 lbs down to an actual healthy weight of 165ish at age 17, stayed in that ballpark through college. Graduated and my first real job involved quite a bit of travel with a coworker who was not at all conscious about his weight. gained at least 20 lbs in 3 months. Started doing P90X when on the road, found MFP a few months later (May of 2012) and I've been here ever since. I lost that initial weight quickly, and got down to as low as 159 before getting married in 2013. Crept back up to the 170s by 2015 and took up weightlifting as I realized I needed to work on body composition instead of just weight loss to ultimately look the way I want. Depending on measurements, I've traded about 6 lbs of fat for almost 15 of muscle in the four years since I started lifting. Finally starting to look like I could maybe belong in a Marvel movie, which, as a huge nerd, has been my aim.
  • jessieleah
    jessieleah Posts: 204 Member
    Kyle: I plan to go on a few shorter day hikes with a weighted pack (~10-15 lbs) with plenty uphill ahead of time. Hopefully that will help a bit. This will be our fourth year doing it, so I'm not a complete stranger to multi-day hikes, but I can definitely say it was a lot easier the first year when I was in really good shape (and ~40 lbs lighter)! I sent you a request. Maybe you'll motivate me to keep working out as well!

    Steve: Dang that's awesome. I can relate to the coworker thing. I spent 3.5 years (Feb 2016 thru June of 2019) working at a coffee shop/bakery/restaurant with plenty of temptations and coworkers that were not good influences. Obviously I can't blame them, but my will power waned tremendously in that time. I also originally started working out in 2013 with P90X. My (now) husband introduced me to it and I did it religiously for nearly 2 years before graduating onto other workouts. Despite all that, I felt like I was chasing the white rabbit in terms of how I looked. Even at my fittest & lowest weight, I still felt like I wasn't good enough - so I'm hoping this time around I can workout for gains in the way of performance & lose the weight for my health and not focus so much of my energy on my appearance. Congratulations on your transformation! That's really inspiring. I know I won't get where I want unless I put in the work, but I've been too lazy for too long now!
  • kyle0404
    kyle0404 Posts: 33 Member
    jessieleah wrote: »
    Kyle: I plan to go on a few shorter day hikes with a weighted pack (~10-15 lbs) with plenty uphill ahead of time. Hopefully that will help a bit. This will be our fourth year doing it, so I'm not a complete stranger to multi-day hikes, but I can definitely say it was a lot easier the first year when I was in really good shape (and ~40 lbs lighter)! I sent you a request. Maybe you'll motivate me to keep working out as well!

    Steve: Dang that's awesome. I can relate to the coworker thing. I spent 3.5 years (Feb 2016 thru June of 2019) working at a coffee shop/bakery/restaurant with plenty of temptations and coworkers that were not good influences. Obviously I can't blame them, but my will power waned tremendously in that time. I also originally started working out in 2013 with P90X. My (now) husband introduced me to it and I did it religiously for nearly 2 years before graduating onto other workouts. Despite all that, I felt like I was chasing the white rabbit in terms of how I looked. Even at my fittest & lowest weight, I still felt like I wasn't good enough - so I'm hoping this time around I can workout for gains in the way of performance & lose the weight for my health and not focus so much of my energy on my appearance. Congratulations on your transformation! That's really inspiring. I know I won't get where I want unless I put in the work, but I've been too lazy for too long now!

    The hiking, especially with the weighted pack should be a good tool in losing weight. Adding a pack recruits a lot more muscles than normal walking, and therefore burns more calories. In my experience diet has the biggest impact on body composition, but workouts tend to bring more satisfaction and help motivation.
  • starbound2001
    starbound2001 Posts: 22 Member
    edited September 2019
    Hey, I’ve struggled with weight since I was a teenager. It’s been out of control lately due to two difficult pregnancies. I restarted my efforts in August. 15 down so far, but I still have a ways to go.

    I use an Apple Watch as motivation to exercise. That works well for me.

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