Small success... but a long journey

Okay so I just have to say it! I am (FINALLY) back down to my prepregnancy weight! :happy: My daughter turned 1 on Nov. 20, and today I stepped on the scale and saw that I was back down to my weight before I got pregnant with her. Yea! So it's not that big of a victory... it took a year, and I'm still way overweight (and was even before I had her) but I've bounced around alot during my pregnancy and this year after, so to me it's huge.

I initially lost weight during the first trimester of my pregnancy, only to gain it all back and then some due to bed rest in the last trimester. I was at 168 after delivery and lost down to about 160 in the first couple of months during breastfeeding. But then Alycia got colic, and the stresses of raising two kids got to me. I got depressed, ate and slept very irregularly, and found myself at a whopping 178 about 6 months ago! (that was my all-time high). I felt very unhealthy, tired, stressed, and to top it all off my husband then left me. I stopped eating for awhile and lost alot of weight. Over the last 3 months my husband and I have reconciled, and I have gone through some serious health issues that kicked my butt into gear. I thought, either I could sit around in sorrow and pity that I was depressed, have high bp and constant joint pain, be on alot of meds, and think "God, I feel like I'm 50!" or I could stop living in denial about my weight and do something about it. So I started a diet recommended to lower blood pressure-with planned meals weighing in at about 1350 cals daily and having some fast food and sweets built in it worked great and I dropped 7 lbs. before starting MFP. That finally brought me out of the obese category. In the 3 weeks since I started MFP, I am now down 5 lbs. And my total weight loss has been 20 lbs.!!!!

My next goal is to get down to 145, which will finally bring me out of the overweight range and into healthy weight. Will reassess my goals after that, because I'd like to have some wiggle room in that healthy category... but for now I feel good, and ready to continue this path toward health.:drinker: