So it's been two years...

Here I am again... a little over two years later.  I don't know what made me think to even look at this blog again, since I pretty much forgot I had it.  But I'm glad I did.  I read back over my old posts and realized I've come a long way since I started writing in January 2010.  It's crazy how time passes and how much can change over time!

In the beginning, created this blog anonymously... I mean, I came up with a separate account and log-in and everything.  I never had any followers (and still don't), but I never really made an attempt to tell others about my blog either.  I think I secretly wanted to get my story out there, but didn't actually want anyone to know it was me because I was embarrassed. In my very first post {here}, I laid it all out.  I had NEVER discussed anything weight-related with anyone.  I kept everything to myself, and was embarrassed if the topic ever came up.  To some extent, I am still that way a little.  But I have become much more open about my weight, fitness, eating, and such.  But back to my first post. I wanted some sort of "baseline" that I could chart my progress from.  Well I'm sure glad I wrote down those stats of mine.  Because now I can look at those and see how far I have come, even though I still have a long way to go.  So today, I want to take those stats again and compare.  Here's the comparison...

 January 1, 2010
-I was 24 years old
-My RealAge was 29.4 years
-I was 5'9" tall
-My BMI was 40.5 (30 or greater is obese)
-I wore a size 22
-I weighed 274 lbs 
My goal weight (way down the road) was 155 lbs

May 15, 2013
-I am 27 years old
-My RealAge is 24.7 years
-I am still 5'9" tall :)
-My BMI is 32.8
-I wear a size 14-16
-As of last Sunday, I weighed 222.4 (but at one point last week I was down to 218.0)
-My goal is still pretty much the same... 155-160 lbs. That is considered in the "Healthy" range on a BMI chart

So there it is.  Pretty awesome, right?  In 3 years, my "Real Age" has gone down 4.7 years, my BMI has gone down 7.7 points, my pants have gone down 3-4 sizes, and I've lost about 51.6 pounds.  I could put myself down and say that's not much for 3 years of work, but I'm not going to do that... because it's better than nothing and a step in the right direction!

Remember Me??

Has it really been almost a year since I've written on this blog?? That's embarrassing. But it sure has been a trip down memory lane reading through some of my old posts. And it's been pretty good motivation also.

In the past year, I have not really lost any weight. If I did, I have gained enough back so that it didn't make a dent! As of my last post dated 5/22/2010, I weighed 249.2 pounds. As of this morning (on my personal bathroom scale), I weighed 255 pounds even. Ugh... but at least I'm in the same general area, and I didn't gain all my weight back or anything, right??

Last year I was in a really good place to focus on my weight loss. But then I moved, and things got thrown off. I signed up for a boot camp-style exercise class over the summer, which was really good. I didn't love it at the time, but looking back on it, I realized that I did things that I thought I was not capable of, which has allowed me to push myself in my workouts now. I have been doing Weight Watchers off and on, but I want to get started on that again. For several months I got really into cardio kickboxing, which I loved! But then the scheduling of it all didn't really work for me, so I just canceled my membership last week.

So what am I doing now?? Since I canceled my kickboxing class, I realize that I need to be doing something on my own time. Last week I started the Couch to 5k program and am going strong! I have gone running/walking 5 out of the last 7 days and hope to keep it up. I have also been lifting weights, really focusing on my arms to try and tone them up.

I really want to get back in the swing of things! Here are my goals for this week:
-Couch to 5k 5-6 days per week
-sign up for a 5k this summer
-find a W.W. meeting I can attend regularly

Weigh-In #19

Today on the scale I was 1.2 pounds down. It's not much, but any negative numbers are better than positive numbers in this case! My grand total is now at 25.2 pounds.

In the meeting this morning I received my 25 pound charm. I'm hoping next week I will finally hit my 10% mark! It's been weeks coming, but I really hope I will get it.

Starting in a few weeks I will be taking an exercise class. I have heard that everyone in the class has to run 1.5 miles at the beginning of each class. There is NO CHANCE I can run that! So I will be getting out starting this week and running to hopefully build myself up to that. The problem is that I pretty much hate running. I would much rather do other types of exercise, and I am not motivated at all to run. But I guess knowing that I will have to run for this class is good enough motivation!

Weigh-In #18

Finally... I lost weight this week! I was starting to get really frustrated after gaining 2 weeks in a row. This week I took it easy. I still exercised occasionally, but not like I was doing last week. So today on the scale I lost 2.6 pounds! Now in total I have lost 24.0 pounds.

I'm getting pretty nervous about this summer. I will be spending the whole summer with my family and won't be so much in control of what I eat as I am now. I also just signed up for a boot camp exercise class. I have a feeling it will be pretty intense, so I hope it doesn't throw me off like last week and make me gain weight. Well, I guess even if that does happen it will even out after a while and be for my benefit.

Anyway, I am getting close to several milestones. Hopefully next week I will meet my 25 pound mark. Also, 27 pounds will be my 10% goal, so I'm hoping to meet that really soon also!

I love it when I lose weight each week because it recharges me and really motivates me to keep going for the next week!

A Compliment

One of my coworkers today noticed I was losing weight! When she and I talk we are usually sitting down and today she saw me standing, so I'm sure things looked a little different. She asked what I had been doing and I just said I was eating better and exercising more... which is true. I don't know why I didn't say I was doing Weight Watchers, probably just because I don't know her really well and didn't want to get into it. But anyway, it made me feel good that she noticed!

Weigh-In #17

Ugh... once again I had a plus number this week. Why?? I was fully expecting to lose weight this week. I exercised with more intensity than I have before, hoping to make up for my .8 gain last Saturday.

Today is Thursday, but I weighed in today because I have other plans on Saturday morning. So I had a few things going against me: I was wearing different clothes, it was the end of the day instead of the beginning, and it had only been 5 days since my last weigh-in. But I was still disappointed. This week I gained 0.4 pounds, bringing my total to 21.4 pounds lost.

I brought up my frustrations in the meeting, and one of the other members told me that I probably have been working out too hard and my muscles are retaining water. I need to slow down and let my body recover. So I'll give that a try for this next week!

Today was my 16th meeting so I got my 16-week charm! Also on Wednesday this week I put on my belt and it was too big! I had to use a kitchen knife to make a new hole just so I could cinch it a little tighter! So that made me feel great. Even though I may not be losing pounds I know I am losing inches.

Weigh-In #16

I had such high hopes for today... I can honestly say I was excited to weigh in! After losing 4 pounds last week, I realized I only had to lose 4.2 more to reach my 10% goal, and I knew it was possible to lose that in one week.

With that in mind, I exercised six days this week and tracked everything I ate. I did use my 35 extra points this week, which I don't usually do, but I stayed within my points the rest of the week. I even got up this morning and exercised before I went to my meeting, which I have never done before!

Well this morning I stepped on the scale and gained 0.8 pounds. WHAT?!?!? I was shocked! I overheard some ladies at my meeting saying that if you exercise before weighing in, the scale will usually show a gain in pounds. I wish I knew that! I was proud of myself that I got up to exercise this morning and then it ended up hurting my number on the scale!

So I'm bummed that I didn't reach my 10% today, but I'm fully expecting a big number in a week. Next week I will hopefully get two awards: one for my 10% and one for attending 16 meetings. So far, I have lost 21.8 pounds in 16 weeks.

Here's to a good week!

**Oh, and one small victory this week: I wore a dress this week that I haven't worn for a while. Last time I wore it I was so uncomfortable because the sleeves were way too tight. This time I didn't even feel like I had to pull at the sleeves the whole day because they fit comfortably!