100 lbs lost!

It is offical… I am down 100 lbs since I started getting in shape on October 16th. Nothing fancy. No magic medicine. No surgery. Just diet and exercise.

I know… How BORING. When I told people my plan of loosing at least 100 lbs in a year they all laughed…except my husband who was super supportive and joined in on January 1st and is now down 60 lbs himself.

So how did I do it? I started SLOW. I made changes in my diet first. Small changes. I switched to lower carb options of the foods I already loved. I used my CGM to monitor how differnt foods/combos of foods changed my blood sugars. My goal…Stay in my goal range 100% of the time. I also started logging my foods to see how much I was actually eating in a day. Everything that went in my mouth was logged. Then I started making changes to stay in my calorie range (based off my BMR from a weight loss clinic test where I breathe into a tube on a machine first thing in the morning. It is weird, but gives you a lot of good information if you are looking into loosing weight with diet and exercise). I am still keeping a food log. I started with MYNETDIARY and just switched to MYFITNESSPAL since it syncs with my garmin watch about a month ago or so.

The next change was adding in exercise to get myself from “couch potato” to “hot tamale”. I started simple by going for a walk around the building I work in one lap before work and one lap at lunch. It is a fast 5-10 min walk. Then I moved to 2 laps and eventually 3 laps. I finally joined the gym again so I can get in a longer walk before work when it is still dark out and get access to the pool for my triathlon training. I am now up to walking 2-4 miles a day depending on how much time I have every morning. Starting Monday I will be adding in evening workouts (Monday, Wednesday and some Fridays) of swimming laps and (Tuesdays and Thursdays) riding the exercise bike. I am also still training for my Everest base camp trek so I hike on Saturdays and to help with my triathlon training I do brick workouts (bike then run or in my case, walk fast) on Sundays.

It may sound like a lot but it really isn’t that bad. My walks are 30-60 min in the mornings. Swims are 30 min and the bike is 30-60 min. Hiking depends on where I am going and how far and how steep. My Sunday brick workouts are about an hour. It depends on how much time I have and what we have going on. I meal prep on Sunday afternoons/evenings. No problems with grabbing fast food, take out or a frozen pizza because I’m tired. All the prep is already done and in most cases Dinner is in the crock pot ready to go or fridge just needing a quick zap in the microwave.

It is really all about making small changes one at a time so the changes stick. I didn’t change my diet slashing calories while adding in a boot camp workout at the same time. I eased in. I made changes in my diet to be healthier and make better choices while slowly adding in more activity. Now I can run up the stairs without getting winded (unless I just got home from a ride. I’m not winded. I just have trouble getting my legs to move that way). I am off insulin and 2 pills for my diabeetes. My A1C levels are almost in the “normal” range. Seriously, I am off by 0.1. I told my MD I am aiming to be in the normal range and I was bummed that I missed it by 0.1 but she insists that my results are amazing concidering where I was just over 6 months ago.

I am not at my goal yet, but I have had to purchase all new clothes. I didn’t want to, but there was no avoiding it. Armpit holes on tops and dresses sag to my waist. The crotch on my pants is at my knees and if I put it where it goes the waist of my pants is to my armpits. My first workout with pants that actually fit and are not tucked into my bra was amazing. I got 2 more packs so I have enough pants to last me a week. I have to admit, when the pants came and I took them out of the package and I saw how small they were I really didn’t think they would fit.

Lets talk about the struggle of getting your jeans on. When I started I could not get the size 28 jeans zipped. I tried everything. It was a struggle to get them up and I broke a sweat trying. Peeling them off as an exhausted hot, sweaty mess was no picnic either. I needed to find some jeans that fit me so I pulled out the stack of Levis I got in Summer last year for $7 each. I got every size from 28 (the largest they made) to a 14 (my goal). I started with the 28. It was WAY too big. So I tossed it in my “donation” bin in my room along with the 26 since the 28 was so big and tried the 24. It was also WAY too big so I tossed it and the 22 in the bin and grabbed the 20. The 20 would not even stay up so it got binned. I went for the 18. It was comfortable but a little loose. I tried the 16. It fit but was a little tight. I felt like Goldilocks. I decided to just go with the 18’s. They got binned after the 2nd wear because they would not stay up even after washing and drying. I’m happy to say my 16s are now comfortable and I have my eye on the 14s. I’m so close! I can get them on, but they are just not super comfortable yet. I’m thinking when I get to my goal I may actually fit a 10 or 12 if they have stretch in them to go over my calves. I don’t think I have been that small since I was in Jr. High.

So that’s my progress post. I have added a side by side photo so you can see what a difference 100 lbs makes.

Set goals. Make a plan and stick to it editing as needed.