Day 365, 67lbs and the journey to Onederland

So today is officially day 365! And what a journey it has been.

I started a year ago at 265lbs, miserable and ill. I read in the Metro that someone downloaded a calorie counting app and lost 6 stone with it so I thought that it couldn’t hurt and maybe I’d lose a bit of weight. So I put all my food in, tried to do a little more exercise and the weight started coming off. I started building up a nice network of lovely people on here and it just all seemed quite simple. Yes there have been some difficult times. I really hurt my back in May last year and that limited what I could do for a while, and again in the Autumn. I’ve had some lady issues that are still somewhat unresolved but aside from these hiccups, it hasn’t been too bad. Obviously Christmas was a bit of a challenge (and then my birthday in January) but I decided to not let it get to me and yes I didn’t lose any weight from pretty much the beginning of December to the middle of Feb but I was happy with it because it’s real life. There are going to be times when life just gets on top of you and you’ve just got to get on with it.
Some of the things I have achieved this year I never thought would be possible. I started the C25K programme and went running with a friend 3 nights a week until my back got the better of me. I lost SIXTY SEVEN pounds. 67! That’s more than I could have dreamed of. Instead of forcing myself into horribly restrictive size 18’s – because I refused to cross the big 2-0 and buy a size 20 or above – I’m now wearing comfy falling down 16’s and 14’s. I’ve built a little gym in my house. A gym! I’ve met some lovely people on here that I hope stick with MFP (and me!) for a long time to come.

I’ve also picked up a few things on the way. Diets don’t work. I’ve logged in every day for the past year and the amount of ‘friends’ I had that tried to eat 500 calories a day or to eat only a minute amount of carbs or sugar or fat that have miraculously disappeared is hardly surprising. If you have been eating 2500 calories of crap a day, don’t go down to 1000 ‘clean’ calories because you will just give up . Yes low carb/cal/fat/sugar and clean diets work for people but they very rarely work as a first effort and that’s why people get disheartened and bury their sorrows in a bucket of chicken.

HOWEVER. It’s totally do-able. If anyone is thinking ‘oh I can’t stick to my calories’ or ‘oh the scales haven’t moved’ – so what? Rome wasn’t built in a day, slowly slowly catchy monkey, good things come to those who wait, all that crap, it’s over used but it’s true. Be honest with yourself, be honest with your friends and even if the scales don’t move much for a while they will do and you getting up and walking an extra 20 minutes to work a day might not seem much but it’ll be so good for you in the long run that the short term doesn’t matter.

As for goals for the next 365 days – keep at it. I’ve still got a fair bit of weight to lose (though how much will be decided when I feel right) and a lot of toning and fitness to do. My main goal this year is to complete C25K. My dad and I have started again and I really want to achieve it. I really want to tone up my arms and stomach and to be fitter, even if I’m not much lighter. I’d like to lose another 30lbs or so but that’s less important to me right now.

Thanks for reading my ramblings. Now for the fun part.







As you can see, I think my biggest issue is going to be my belly so if anyone has any tips on how they managed to shrink and tone theirs that’d be great. And no comments starting with ‘Mine looked like that after I had my baby too’ – no baby, just fat!