My Journey - 6 months - 5 stone!
MandyMoos1978
Posts: 79 Member
I am not usually one to blow my own trumpet. I have some very supportive friends on here and after becoming very honest on my profile they encouraged me to put my story on here for everyone to read! So here goes!
I am a 33 yr old teacher who lives in Manchester and I have a huge change to my lifestyle!
I have always been big, probably a size 22+ for most of my adult life. My size ballooned when I started earning my own money and was able to spend it on crap on the way home from uni. I tried to stop it by not taking money out with me but that was short lived. To my parents I was just eating the meals put in front of me but I was secretly eating in my room. I would regularly eat whole tubs of pringles along with a tub of a creamy dip followed by chocolate bars or cakes.
When I met my husband to be in 2002 we were both overweight. My hubby was put on a VLCD by his doctor and was monitored by a hospital team weekly. He did really well and it encouraged me to lose weight too and I did a little. But when he stopped the diet he got no support and as his weight went back on, so did mine and more so!
When we moved in together in 2006 and got engaged we were determined to lose weight for our wedding, but as that got pushed back due to my fiance's uni and work commitments it seemed to go by the wayside.
When the wedding was booked and my dress was chosen I was a size 28+ and I decided enough was enough and I began to slowly lose weight. I did not weigh myself then but my dress fittings showed me that what I was doing was progress. In the end I lost about 6 inches off my dress and myself!
Our wedding was amazing and we enjoyed every minute, we also enjoyed every minute of our honeymoon and the months that followed - a little too much so. By the end of 2011 I was back up to where I began before the wedding and I was not happy. So we both decided 2012 was the year of change!
I started my journey on 15th January 2012 and weighed 21st 3lb, I have currently (as of 27th July 2012) lost 4st 12lb and am very proud of my progress.
I joined MFP to help me control my calorie intake and to learn how to eat the right things. It has also been an amazing support to me over the time I have been on here so far!
The pictures of me and my husband at my brother's wedding were the motivation I needed for what I am doing. On the day I did not think I looked so bad and people would tell me I looked great but when I look at the pictures I did not see that.
My husband is an inspiration to me. He is back on the VLCD and is being supported much better by a pharmacy and we have a plan for the future and are supporting each other!
So how have I lost almost 5 stone since January? Lots of people have asked me that! Well as I was almost 300lbs when I started the weight came off quickly with some small changes. The first of these changes was to make my portions smaller. As I was cooking for one (my husband was on shakes) it was easy to weigh food and monitor my portions. I also bought smaller plates! My new portions looked big on the small plates and so I tricked myself to think I was still eating bigger portions when really I was eating less.
The next change was becoming more active. I started small with walking to bus stops further away and building it into my daily routine. My hubby also wanted to become more active and help speed up his own weight loss. We joined a local NHS walking group. They met every Saturday afternoon at a reservoir and we would spend around 2 hours walking round lovely scenery. We really got into it and would spend lots of weekends walking with the group and then expanding to do our own walks. We climbed Mam Tor in March and it was a huge achievement. It is not the tallest of hills but we climbed to the top and enjoyed a lovely healthy picnic at the top!
One of the biggest changes was joining the gym. If you had told me a year ago I would be going to the gym 3 times a week I would have laughed very loud! My hubby persuaded me to go and have the induction and reluctantly I went and now I have not looked back! I started with just simple workouts for 30 mins and now do over an hour and have built in weights too!
My absolute best change I made was joining MFP in May. I can't remember how I came to find it, I think I was looking for a calorie counter! I have made some excellent friends and they are very supportive. I controversially do not eat back my exercise calories, it is working for me at the moment as I have a lot of fat to burn off and it seems to be working for now but I know I will need to continue to make changes to my lifestyle to reach my ultimate goal!
I know pride is a deadly sin but I feel very proud of what my husband and I have achieved and I am loving all the victories on the scales and off them too!
When I finally reach the 5 stone mark I will update my aims and goals!
Please feel free to comment and tell me your success story! Sorry for boring you with mine!
I want to thank a few of my very supportive MFP's - WaterBunnie, Bozzalozza, Marie047, Comet_Wow, ChristineDiet, Kathanthus, Mojox2003, Chellybailey and there are many many more! Too many to name! Thank you and I hope we can continue to support and encourage each other! xxx
I am a 33 yr old teacher who lives in Manchester and I have a huge change to my lifestyle!
I have always been big, probably a size 22+ for most of my adult life. My size ballooned when I started earning my own money and was able to spend it on crap on the way home from uni. I tried to stop it by not taking money out with me but that was short lived. To my parents I was just eating the meals put in front of me but I was secretly eating in my room. I would regularly eat whole tubs of pringles along with a tub of a creamy dip followed by chocolate bars or cakes.
When I met my husband to be in 2002 we were both overweight. My hubby was put on a VLCD by his doctor and was monitored by a hospital team weekly. He did really well and it encouraged me to lose weight too and I did a little. But when he stopped the diet he got no support and as his weight went back on, so did mine and more so!
When we moved in together in 2006 and got engaged we were determined to lose weight for our wedding, but as that got pushed back due to my fiance's uni and work commitments it seemed to go by the wayside.
When the wedding was booked and my dress was chosen I was a size 28+ and I decided enough was enough and I began to slowly lose weight. I did not weigh myself then but my dress fittings showed me that what I was doing was progress. In the end I lost about 6 inches off my dress and myself!
Our wedding was amazing and we enjoyed every minute, we also enjoyed every minute of our honeymoon and the months that followed - a little too much so. By the end of 2011 I was back up to where I began before the wedding and I was not happy. So we both decided 2012 was the year of change!
I started my journey on 15th January 2012 and weighed 21st 3lb, I have currently (as of 27th July 2012) lost 4st 12lb and am very proud of my progress.
I joined MFP to help me control my calorie intake and to learn how to eat the right things. It has also been an amazing support to me over the time I have been on here so far!
The pictures of me and my husband at my brother's wedding were the motivation I needed for what I am doing. On the day I did not think I looked so bad and people would tell me I looked great but when I look at the pictures I did not see that.
My husband is an inspiration to me. He is back on the VLCD and is being supported much better by a pharmacy and we have a plan for the future and are supporting each other!
So how have I lost almost 5 stone since January? Lots of people have asked me that! Well as I was almost 300lbs when I started the weight came off quickly with some small changes. The first of these changes was to make my portions smaller. As I was cooking for one (my husband was on shakes) it was easy to weigh food and monitor my portions. I also bought smaller plates! My new portions looked big on the small plates and so I tricked myself to think I was still eating bigger portions when really I was eating less.
The next change was becoming more active. I started small with walking to bus stops further away and building it into my daily routine. My hubby also wanted to become more active and help speed up his own weight loss. We joined a local NHS walking group. They met every Saturday afternoon at a reservoir and we would spend around 2 hours walking round lovely scenery. We really got into it and would spend lots of weekends walking with the group and then expanding to do our own walks. We climbed Mam Tor in March and it was a huge achievement. It is not the tallest of hills but we climbed to the top and enjoyed a lovely healthy picnic at the top!
One of the biggest changes was joining the gym. If you had told me a year ago I would be going to the gym 3 times a week I would have laughed very loud! My hubby persuaded me to go and have the induction and reluctantly I went and now I have not looked back! I started with just simple workouts for 30 mins and now do over an hour and have built in weights too!
My absolute best change I made was joining MFP in May. I can't remember how I came to find it, I think I was looking for a calorie counter! I have made some excellent friends and they are very supportive. I controversially do not eat back my exercise calories, it is working for me at the moment as I have a lot of fat to burn off and it seems to be working for now but I know I will need to continue to make changes to my lifestyle to reach my ultimate goal!
I know pride is a deadly sin but I feel very proud of what my husband and I have achieved and I am loving all the victories on the scales and off them too!
When I finally reach the 5 stone mark I will update my aims and goals!
Please feel free to comment and tell me your success story! Sorry for boring you with mine!
I want to thank a few of my very supportive MFP's - WaterBunnie, Bozzalozza, Marie047, Comet_Wow, ChristineDiet, Kathanthus, Mojox2003, Chellybailey and there are many many more! Too many to name! Thank you and I hope we can continue to support and encourage each other! xxx
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Replies
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wow thats amazing
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Not boring at all! Congratulations, it's so encouraging to hear success stories, especially when you've had setbacks yourself. Well done you 0
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Well done you - it always grieves me to hear how the support from the health service kind of "disappears" once the initial help is given and I think this is where the MFP community can help so much.
I'm much the same as you in the sense that I was a size 28 at my daughter's wedding 8 years ago (sadly, she has since divorced) but I still shudder when I see those photos. I've been big all my life (from age 7 or 8), and it's going to take a lot of hard work to get to a reasonable weight but, thanks to people like you, I am inspired to suceed.
Keep it up - we all need to keep each other going!0 -
:flowerforyou: wow and congratulations indeed, I have been on my diet since May 28th 2012 8.5 weeks and i have lost all but 11lbs, Im a size 18/20 top and 16 bottom, I need to ask a question and i hope i dont affend you in any way and i apologise whole heartley if i do.
As you weight has come off so quickly are you finding you have a lot of loose skin and if so how are you combatting that :blushing: :flowerforyou:0 -
Fantastic. You and your hubby have both done amazing.
I wish you all the best for your future goals
xxxx0 -
Keep up the good work, you're doing amazing well and putting years on the the end of your life! Just think what you'd weigh now if you'd continued your old ways through this year too? Or in 10 years time if you hadn't decided to take a grip of it now?
I've lost 3 stone since 1 March 2012 but need to shake it up a bit now because my body is getting too used to the new regime - despite keeping active and coming in around my weekly nett deficit - but I'll show it who's boss!!0 -
Congratulations on a wonderful achievement! I just started 3 weeks ago, still a long way but MFP is a great place for support and lots of tools as well to help me out. Keep your fingers cross for me :-)
Grace0 -
Oh my Mandy, you just brought a tear to my eye, honestly. You are a true inspiration to many of us here on MFP and it's an honour to be your friend. Your determination and willpower is evident every day. You should be rightly proud of how far you've come in just 6 months.
Here's to the next 6! :flowerforyou:
xx0 -
We've only recently become friends on MFP, as I just joined 6 weeks ago, however you are so kind and supportive, and your progress is inspirational!0
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You are a star and should feel very proud of how far you have come :flowerforyou: dont appologise for that pride - you inspire me everyday to keep going and I am honoured to be your MFP friend x0
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