WHAT A DIFFERENCE A YEAR MAKES!! (+ photos)

Hi, I figured today would be a good day to tell my story. I’m 48 yrs old and as for as long as I can remember I have been overweight. During my 18 years of grade school, I took dance classes and played field hockey through high school, but you would not have called me athletic. I didn’t really like exercising and being that I was asthmatic; it made things even more difficult. I did, however love food and had a pretty good appetite. By the age of 25 or so, I realized that I was considered obese for my medium-sized, 5’ 2” frame.

I guess you could say I tried them all… any new-fangled diet out there, I’ve tried it. I’d do great in the beginning, following the program (food or exercise, or both) and lose weight, sometimes the 20 out of 30 lbs I needed to - whatever it may be. Then, I’d start getting compliments, feeling better but at the same time also got tired of paying for the weigh-in visits or THEIR food, etc… So, I’d say hey I can do this myself and would stop all together... and you guessed it: I had learned NOTHING during this experience along the way and ended up gaining it all back + 10 lbs!! So again, I felt like a failure and hesitated to try again, for a long time. So the yo-yo dieting continued for years… never EVER reaching my final goal and eventually, putting it all back on until I was now about 60 lbs overweight.

Last year on 5-17-11, my husband’s co-worker was told by his Dr that he HAD no choice but to lose weight or his health is in jeopardy and he suggested MyFitnessPal. Joe showed me the iPhone app and was excited to try it. Of course, isn’t that the day I just had lots of Chinese food for lunch!! You can all imagine that was fun to add up!! LOL Talk about rude awakenings! That is when I said well, here goes: it’s NOW OR NEVER!!

Who knew how much that day would change my life?? My friend Naomi and her husband Ken decided to join MFP about 4 or 5 days later, so we all did this together. In the beginning, weight loss was steady and about 2 lbs a week but it did slow down. I had my good & bad weeks but tried to stay positive throughout, even through the plateaus. I dined at restaurants less and tried to find healthy alternatives to the foods I loved. And, I always tried to fit in any strong cravings that I had like lobster, ice cream and fried clams! It’s all about variety to me and not getting bored. I have also come to like running & exercising especially the way I feel afterwards and the results it’s given me. BTW: they have all met their goals and I am so proud of them! :bigsmile:

According to the healthy side of the BMI chart, I do still have about 12-15 lbs or so to lose, but I’m about 7 tenths from being in the healthy range!!! My focus now will be to gain some muscle, lowering my body fat % and becoming a better runner by controlling my breathing. I recently ran my first 5K race and beat my own personal time, which to me was huge! At this time last year, I could only run literally 30 sec at a time without having to stop.

So, some of you may ask: what is different about mfp? Why do you think you’ll get to your goal and keep it off this time? You know why? Because I swear somewhere, early on I realized that I am not going to think DIET, this is my lifestyle change, a permanent one! Not a temporary program but a change for the better - for a healthier, happier ME! This is the first time I have my goal in sight and if it takes me another year I will reach it!!

And I do feel so much better – health/energy/attitude-wise and I actually look forward to clothes shopping now! I’ve dropped 5-6 pants sizes (depending on the designer). I’ve made some great friends on here and want to personally thank my bestie Naomi :happy: and ALL of you that have supported me along the way with your good advice and kind, supportive comments! It really helps to have a cheering section and you have ALL been my inspiration! I also wish all of you the best of luck in your own personal journeys… because if I can do it, YOU can do it!!! Dani :drinker:

I’ve attached some before and after photos – a work in progress: