Exciting 30 Day Shred Results w/ Pics!

Ok, I guess I'll begin with my weight history. I was a skinny kid up until the 3rd grade when I started getting a little chubby and remained overweight all through high school. I didn't play any sports and was very inactive. I started losing weight my first year of college because I walked to all of my classes and was constantly on the go. I also became a vegetarian for 2 years and pretty much lived off of snack foods like popcorn and reduced fat Cheez-Its. My average weight in my early twenties was around 110-120 and my lowest weight was 105 (WAY too skinny)! I slowly started gaining weight again in my mid to late twenties because I never exercised and ate whatever I wanted. I didn't become unhappy with my weight until a couple of years ago, but I was too lazy to do anything about it. I reached my highest weight (190) in July of 2011 and decided that I HAD to do something! That's when I discovered MFP.

When I first joined MFP, I felt very overwhelmed with the amount of weight I needed to lose and I really thought there was no way I'd be able to do it. I also thought that in order to lose weight I needed to pretty much starve myself which explains my earliest food entries when I was only eating 900 or so calories a day. Luckily, I made friends through the message boards and started soaking up all of the info I could. I realized that I really could do this and started feeling less overwhelmed the more I learned.

At the time I joined, I had recently gotten married and quit my job, so I was a housewife and living a very sedentary lifestyle. I started out by walking at the park and on my treadmill and consumed around 1200 calories/day and did not eat back my exercise calories. I also bought the 30DS, but I didn't do it consistently at all. Then, I got a job at the Subaru plant building engines at the end of August, so I went from being sedentary to active. My job is very physically demanding and I stopped exercising outside of work. I swing 30 lb crankshafts and engine heads around and move at top speed 8-10 hrs/day so I considered that my exercise up until just recently. I consumed 1200-1400 calories/day with an occasional cheat day. I lost 1-2 lbs/week for most of that time, sometimes 3 lbs/week.

As I got closer to my goal weight I realized that I was going to have to put forth a little more effort to get the toned look I wanted. That's when I decided to do the 30DS consistently. At first I was worried that I would be too tired to do the shred on top of working sometimes 60 hrs/week, but it's actually helped me feel more energetic at work. I started adding on 40 minutes of cardio, power walking on the treadmill, so I work out for an hour or so a day now.

Everyone is different and some things work for some and not for others, but here is my advice. Don't think of this as "being on a diet." My mantra has been "everything in moderation." I still eat fast food. I still eat junk food. I still drink beer. I just control my portions now and make sure that I stay under my calorie goal. I log everything that I eat! I also pre-plan my food every day through the week and stick to it. I very rarely go over my calories unintentionally (maybe a few days the entire 8 months) because I'm very dedicated and I refuse to make excuses. My diary is open to the public and it helps me stay accountable. I know that doesn't work for everyone, but it's helped me a lot. I've been working on eating more protein and fiber, and more fruits and vegetables (although if you're looking at my diary today and tomorrow, I really need to go grocery shopping, lol). I've also started eating back some of my exercise calories and so far, so good.

That's about all I can think of right now. I'm sure there's a lot more I'll think of and I can add more later. Good luck to all of you and if you have any more questions, ask away! Thank you all for the wonderful comments. I really appreciate it!