It’s taken me a little longer
than usual to post my monthly report but this month I got to spend the holiday
weekend with my family and I enjoyed every minute of it, so my post had to wait
a few days.
On September 1, 2011, I saved my
own life. I’d already made the decision
to make changes that would lead to a healthier, longer life but on that
Thursday last year I took the first steps on my journey. On that day I stepped on the scale and
weighed 384.4 lbs. That will be the last
time that I ever see a number that big.
On that day in September, I did
something simple, I started counting calories.
I was downright militant when it came to logging everything. Everything that went into my mouth was
logged. To make sure that I knew exactly
what those calories were, I weighed and measured anything that I made myself
(and still do today) and didn’t go to any restaurant that didn’t have their
nutritional information available.
I quickly learned that we as
Americans have no real sense of what a single serving is. I learned that smaller portions can be
satisfying. I learned not to eat just
for the sake of eating. I learned that
it really isn’t that hard to eat better if you just pay attention. I know I’m oversimplifying but for me there
really was no secret formula. It really
was a better diet and exercise. I hate
not being able to divulge some big secret when people ask how I’ve been
successful in my weight loss.
On September 1, 2012, I stepped
on the scale and weighed 231.2 lbs. In
one year, I’ve lost 153.2 lbs. I’m down
158.8 from my high weight of 390 back in June of 2011. I haven’t gotten on the scale since getting
home from my brothers’ house so that number may be a bit higher but I don’t
indulge like I did over the weekend very often so I know I will see that number
again. I still don’t know what my goal
weight is but I do have a size goal.
This weekend, I bought a pair of size 12 khakis from Eddie Bauer. When I can do that in any store, maybe I’ll
switch to maintenance calories.
I’ve always taken the BMI weight
ranges with a grain of salt. I’m a 6’
tall woman with a large frame. At 390
lbs, I wore a size 26. At 231, I’m wearing
12s. I’ve never looked like I weigh as
much as I do (a good and a bad thing).
According to the BMI ranges, the highest weight that I can be and be
healthy is 184 lbs. So in order to just
barely be healthy, I would need to lose 50 more lbs. To me that seems unreasonable. I think I may just be happy with being
overweight which is just 10 lbs away.
Recently, a lot of people have
told me that I don’t need to lose anymore weight; that I look good the way I
am. I truly appreciate the sentiment and
I know it’s probably more psychological than anything else but I think I have a
ways to go. Maybe not, cause nobody
knows what I look like naked but me. I’m
not expecting a six pack but I would like to get to the point that everything
doesn’t jiggle (I have a LOT of toning to do).
I’m a lot closer today than I ever have been and one day soon I’ll get
there.
