PHOTO ONLY SUCCESS STORIES!

Always hustling. I still have a ways to go but I’ll keep grinding until I get there.

Impressive!!! Great job! May I ask what type of training you did and eating?

YoureAWalnut wrote: »

bonitathompson1 wrote: »

Impressive!!! Great job! May I ask what type of training you did and eating?

YoureAWalnut wrote: »

I have a free gym at work so I try to go on my lunch break most days. I do weight lifting, mostly lower body (squats, deadlifts, leg press, leg extension each 100-150 lbs) and some upper body but alot lighter(20-50 lbs). Try to do 10-15 minutes of cardio as a warm up to lifting 3X a week with 2X a week of either just cardio (run, stairmaster) for 30-45 min or some HIIT dumbbell workout. I do try to do some pushups and situps (on the inverted sit up bench) every time I was in the gym, only 3 sets of 5-10. Other than that I referee soccer games as a side job so I get a fair amount of steps/cardio on those days (+20K steps).

As far as eating, I had a MFP goal of 1500-1800 depending on how active I am. On workdays, I eat a lighter breakfast of coffee+protein and either fruit, oatmeal, or a protein shake and have a salad every workday for lunch with lots of diced veggies added. Typically eat pasta, meat+veggies, or some kinda stirfry for dinner.
On weekends I eat more, eggs and bacon for breakfast and big dinners. At first I was completely ruining all my workweek progress by overeating on the weekends but tracking consistently helped me realize that and be more mindful with my weekend eating. I started eating lighter lunches to compensate for my indulgent weekend dinners.

Made it to my first goal weight 30 days ahead of schedule!! I wanted to be under 230 before our New Orleans vacation in March!! I shared my updated photos with a coworker who hadn’t seen me since I retired on January 31, 2018. He could not believe it!!

SW: 288
CW: 229.4



The photo below is two weeks before retirement (left) and now (right)!!

BrownSugar174 wrote: »

Made it to my first goal weight 30 days ahead of schedule!! I wanted to be under 230 before our New Orleans vacation in March!! I shared my updated photos with a coworker who hadn’t seen me since I retired on January 31, 2018. He could not believe it!!

SW: 288
CW: 229.4



The photo below is two weeks before retirement (left) and now (right)!!

Yaaaas! Nice job. You are GLOWING! Have a great trip. Bet you feel great too!

becoming_the_best_me wrote: »

Same gorgeous smile!! You look fantastic!! Nice job!😍🔥

@bonitathompson1
Long post alert😂😂, I started my weight loss journey 6 months after I retired (1/31/2018). I say my start weight was 288...but that was actually on 6/1/18 so I’m sure I weighed more but was too scared to get on the scale when I retired😬. For six months after I retired we were a cross between snowbirds (driving back and forth between Indiana and Georgia as we packed, moved and unpacked).

I started my journey when I joined the gym. At that time I had never heard of MyFitnessPal. The gym wasn’t foreign to me because I’d spent 25+ years as a federal law enforcement officer and we were required to maintain a level of fitness...we had yearly physicals, bloodwork and annual fitness assessments (ages based). Because I am a large framed woman I could carry the weight (or so I thought😬). I was a defensive tactics and firearms instructor and loved everything about the adrenaline my career.

Then I retired. I was ready to retire both mentally, professionally and financially but...my body’s ability to function without the adrenaline became more and more apparent as the first six months passed.

For me I needed to start with working on my cardio vascular and muscular endurance. I knew if I didn’t choose to start with that piece of the puzzle FIRST...and simply cut my caloric intake...I would loose weight BUT I would also 1) loose the motivation to workout because the scale was showing me what I wanted to see..weight loss and 2) loose an opportunity to tone my body as I was loosing weight (which can create more flab). Many people cut the calories...loose weight...then start working out...then get discouraged when they see the scale going up (because music weighs more).

From 6/1/18 to 3/18/19 (9 months) I lost 17 pounds which is about 1/2 pound a week. My goal from the beginning was 1/2 pound to 1 pound a week. I was working out 1-2 times a week.

Here’s what was holding me back...my hubby and I...newly retired in the south...we were eating out 3-5 times a week. On 3/18/19 we decided to reduce that to 1-2 times a month. We started cooking everything at home, meal prepping and packing our lunch/snacks/water in a cooler and taking it with us.

From 3/18/19 to 10/30/19 (7 1/2 months) before I learned of MFP I lost 22.8 pounds. During this period of time I started working out 5 times a week...60 minutes on the elliptical machine five days a week, a 15 minute weight workout 3 times a week and riding my bike on Saturday or Sunday mornings between 10-15 miles. While the time frame was shorter...and the weight loss was almost 6 pounds more...it was the changes in the toning of my body that really blew my mind🤯.

When I changed my eating habits I decided to allow my body to tell me when I didn’t need to eat a particular food rather than cutting it out in the beginning. This is why I really don’t see my journey as a “diet” but a lifestyle. Our eating falls more in line with the Mediterranean style of eating but the few times we eat out I will have whatever I want...until my body says “stop right there girl friend!”😂😂. That’s what happened when I ate a FiveGuys burger. My stomach was like WHAT THE HELL GIRL! So I knew that was not a good thing for me to eat ever again.

When I joined MFP it was like the icing on the cake for me mentally🥰. Conversing with like minded people like yourself who are all on the same journey has provided me with an outlet which has strengthened the mental part of this journey for me. This has been an absolutely wonderful experience because I feel like my mental relationship with food has completely changed...for me this is mental..the ability to persist...the ability to stay motivated in my journey...for the rest of my life is mental. We can still have what we want..control how much of it we eat or abstain from a certain food for a period of time...and have a wonderful journey in the process.