xX_PhoenixRising_Xx wrote: »

I’m Kristy, I'm 42 and from New Zealand, married for 18 years and have 4 kids – 17, 15 and 12 (twins). 2 girls, 2 boys and if you ask me if my g/b twins are identical, I will tell you yes (why do people always ask?)

By day, I am a fearless Technical Writer, braving the realm of a male-dominated engineering company and translating their stick-figures, mutterings and wild gesticulations into payments compliance for the end product in various world-wide markets. By night (and early morning) I kick *kitten* in my own home (garage) gym. I am a qualified Personal Trainer, but that doesn’t pay the bills - hence the muttering engineers, it’s a living – but I love knowing what I’m doing in training myself and my teenage son. Hubby is also qualified, so we usually train together.

That Weight Thing
It’s a long story, that involves being overweight since childhood, super-morbidly obese in my 20s and early 30s, and being diagnosed with both Binge Eating Disorder and Anorexia (while I was still ‘overweight’ on the scale).

Quite a few years back I turned down weight loss surgery, decided to lose weight on my own, and lost 160+ lbs. Then, after maintaining for a few years, it crept back on, about 100 lbs of it. I hadn’t dealt with *why* I got to be so heavy. That took addressing my ED’s, a lot of therapy, being banned from tracking my food, and redeveloping my relationship with food before I could look at losing weight again in a healthy way. That’s what I’m doing now.

Health
I did quite a bit of damage to my body when I lost a lot of weight the first time. Mostly from under-eating (which I didn’t realise at the time) and also from fainting a few times. The past 7 years I have been diagnosed with Thoracic Outlet Syndrome, Chronic Pain and severe migraines. It has been very limiting, and I hate being limited. I’ve seen so many doctors, specialists and alternative therapists that it’s a running joke – most of them don’t have a clue how to fix me. Recently we think I have Myofascial Pain Syndrome, and treatment for that has allowed me to be pain-free a lot more than usual. So I’m feeling pretty great!

2021
My goal for each month is to finish it lighter than I started, and for this year I’m working on making changes to my body through weight-lifting, regular cardio and a moderate calorie deficit. I’d like to look something like I did at my lowest weight, but without the active ED.

The Past Few Months
My weight has been bouncing up and down the same few kg, but I am regularly lifting weights *and* I now fit into a pair of pants that have been sitting in my drawer that never fit me before. My smaller t-shirts are also feeling looser on me. And I can fit into some of them.

I need to remember that even though the scale might not move, it's a lying *kitten* and sometimes other changes are happening. Which doesn't mean that I can't tighten up my logging, but I also need to be kind to myself and accept that losing weight in my 40's is a *kitten* compared to my 30's!

podperson1 wrote: »

Hi all,

Wow, it's so impressive to see how much everyone has lost over the past month - what an awesome team

So, hasn't been too bad a weekend. Have stuck to my calories and am trying to make the effort to meal plan more. Had a nommy dinner tonight of veggie haggis, scrambled eggs, and mushroom (you can't beat brinner - ie breakfast for dinner lol! Anyone else getting the Scrubs reference?)
Exercise has not been as good - had a bit of a 'bad head day' yesterday, where my mental health was playing up a lot. Managed not to binge on junk food but the exercise was sadly a step too far. I shall try and focus on the positive not the negative though, as my therapist keeps telling me!