165 days on MFP, down 60 pounds with progress pictures.

WHOOO HOOOO!! Great job!! Education is def the key to your success. You knew you had a problem and instead of quitting you went out and decided to see how you can change it.

You are Awesome!!!

I downloaded the My Fitness Pal app on my phone in February of 2011 and never even signed on once until a doctor's appointment in October 2011 made me realize that although I had Hashimoto's disease and yes it had made me gain weight, that I was using it as a crutch. I was using it to justify my lack of physical activity and poor food choices. I started doing Zumba 4 x's a week and various exercise DVD's was eating at a low calorie diet of 1200 and eating back exercise calories. Doing that I lost 50 pounds until February 2012 when I stalled out and even gained back 7 of those 50. I took a look at my eating habits, nothing had changed so I did some research in the forums and learned about "starvation mode", I know, I know people fight all day long on here about whether or not it exists or not, but the point is who cares whether or not it does. My body decided it didn't want to lose anymore. So after reading a few posts by a guy named Helloitsdan I decided to try to up my caloric intake, I upped it to 1700 at first and 8 more pounds before I stalled again, this time I actually fully followed his advice and have started losing again. I eat 2295 calories a day and do not eat back exercise calories unless my activity during the day brings me below my BMR. This morning I hit 60 pounds lost! I'm ecstatic! 6 months since I've started my journey to a healthier me and I'm halfway to my first goal weight! I hope to start heavy lifting this fall but I am VERY thankful for this app and all of the support on the website!