My turn!

My story:
I joined My Fitness Pal towards the end of January, 2012 - I had enough of hating myself and literally feeding that hate. I am/was an emotional eater. Bored - food, celebrating - food, depressed - food, you get the idea.I hated how I looked, I hated shopping in the fat people clothing section, I hated people LOOKING at me with their judgmental eyes. I never felt good about who I was, what I was doing, you know the story, right? Whole lot of hating. Heck, even my marriage sucked because I spent the last few years convincing my husband he didn't possibly love me, or find me attractive - I know *I* sure didn't so how could he?! He endured it, God bless his stubborn heart. This year I finally got over wishing the weight would just go away, and feeling sorry for myself.

I started with committing to an hour walk per day- using "dog walking" as my crutch so people wouldn't know I was trying to lose weight. That was a difficult challenge. My poor legs didn't know what happened to them, all they knew was I was making them hurt and my feet stopped speaking to me civilly for a good month. Then I bought them my first pair of "real sneakers." They forgave me, haha. The leg pains gradually stopped as my walking continued, my endurance increased- and I found myself able to trot up and down the stairs in my house within the first 6 weeks (OooOoo!)

After the sneakers, hubby picked me up a proper scale that I continue to use daily, then came the FitBit Ultra which is now a permanent part of my daily morning routine - then came the real fun. My hour long walks increased from a 3 mile distance to a 4 mile distance, and by the end of my second month on my weight loss journey I hit my first ever 6 mile walk/20k steps. It took me a week to hit that again, but I did.

My walks these days lean more towards the 7-10mile distances averaging a peppy pace of 3.7mph. I am working on scale #2, new sneakers #2, I have even signed up for my first ever walking competition next weekend- ok maybe that sounds lame, but what could it possibly hurt?

I have been lucky and able to work with a dietitian who corrected some of my mistakes, emphasized the good choices I had been making, and has been giving me all kinds of information that has definitely opened up my eyes on everything from Fad Diets, to processed vs natural foods and anything that is even remotely related to eating! She has been a terrific sounding board for my successes, failures, and worries/questions. (Anyone who has that option available should take it!)

My food choices I started making myself. First rule: never say no. I'm allowed to have whatever I want to whenever I want to - as long as I remember there are consequences to my choices. If I want to hit the Chinese buffet - then I can, just means the next few days are going to be working towards getting rid of all that bad food ;-) If I want some cake, then have some! Just a smaller piece than I normally used to take and if I make it myself use healthier substitutes in the ingredients!

Exercise and eating back most of THOSE calories has been the best discovery for me. The more I work out, the more i can eat. Who wouldn't want that kind of "diet?" LOL! And no, this isn't a diet. Diets fail. This is a lifestyle change. I don't see me eating any differently 10 years from now except perhaps more variety in the recipes I make! This is a forever and ever thing, not a "17 day" or "6 week" ordeal.

My Starting Weight was 355lbs. Yep. Big ole fatty butt.
End of 2nd month I weighed 310lbs. (45 lost that fast?!)
Today, at the end of the 4th month I weigh 282. (another 28lbs gone!)

I posted a pic with side by sides of all 3 dates, I do not see any significant changes yet but I DO notice there is a space between my calves, and I can actually see where my head and neck begin now =P Truthfully I was hoping for a more significant appearance difference, but then perhaps I just am a poor judge of my own picture.

Anyway- 73lbs later, here I am. Ill post a new pic in 4 months, maybe there will be a difference even *I* can see by then ;-)

Thanks for listening to me babbling!!

Robin