My Journey From 337 to 187

June 2005
Somewhere around 300+

Thanksgiving 2006
337 pounds

Christmas 2006
337 pounds

March 2007
317 pounds

As you can see, it was obviously time for a change. I couldn't breathe when I walked, my left hip and back hurt, I struggled to do simple things. Stairs? Forget it! I do event photography at work and it was a real struggle having to do sports photography; I didn't fit in the stadium seating in the gym!

I took the month of January off work to take care of my mother-in-law who had broken her leg in December. I ate my own cooking for three meals a day and lost 25 pounds. hahaha Actually, having to cook for someone with a lot of health restrictions meant that I was cooking healthier meals. I went back to work in February and the weight started to creep back on.

Before I knew it, I'd regained 5 pounds. I had no idea what I was doing wrong. Then I heard about the Weight Watchers at work program. A group was starting where I work, so I joined in April 2007. That's when I found out exactly what I was doing wrong!

Weight Watchers has absolutely given me my life back.

July 2007 278 pounds	August 2007 269 pounds	September 2007 256 pounds
September 2007 In January 2007, I wore size 30 jeans (very tight) and 3X (tight) shirts. My shoe size was Men's 11. Today, I can get into size 20 jeans (tight) and 2X (loose) or smaller shirts. My shoe size is Women's 11. I still have a long way to go, but I'm taking it one day at a time and one weigh-in at a time!

October 13, 2007

I'm struggling a bit in my journey right now. I don't know if it's a loss of momentum or just mentally "getting out of the game" but I've found it much harder to make the best food choices. I am still journaling, but not quite as strictly as I have been, not weighing and measuring every bite, not tracking every single thing I eat.

I had an unexpected maintain this past week at weigh-in (Week 26 on the chart below), and that may have contributed to the struggle I find myself in at this time, I don't know. Either way, this journey has suddenly become very difficult for me.

Another thing I'm struggling with is the inability to exercise due to my hip. It is so frustrating to have lost so much from where I was physically a month and a half ago when I was able to swim 35 laps at a time and do 5+ miles on the recumbent bike. One potentially good thing is that I start physical therapy in a couple of days. I hope it helps my hip so I can at least walk without pain....

Yes, I know the October pic is a really weird, unflattering angle. But they're size 20 jeans and a new top! AND you can see my points tracker bracelet, too. I love my points tracker bracelet! (Get your own tracker bracelet on eBay.)

October 2007
251 pounds

November 2007
244 pounds

November 5, 2007

I am happy to report that my mental state has improved considerably since my struggle in mid-October in spite of my one pound gain in Week 29 (only the second gain in my journey so far). I'm back to weighing and measuring everything, journaling like I should be, and I feel re-energized going into the holidays. That doesn't mean I'll be perfect this holiday season by any means! It just means that I've gotten my second wind and I'm ready to keep going in my journey and learning along the way.

Physical therapy has given me hope that I'll be able to walk again without pain and that has done more for me in the past couple of weeks than anything else. I will be able to exercise again! Regain the muscle tone I've lost! Burn more calories! YAY!

November 28, 2007

Today, I earned my 75lb anchor and magnet! I just had to commemorate the occasion with a pic, even though it is still two weeks before my next scheduled website pic. It was a rough week with me having a front tooth crumble when I was flossing, and stress at work, and then my son and his fiancee were in a wreck in my old Nissan 240SX. He had to be cut out of the car but they are both okay other than some bruises and soreness, thank God. I truly did not expect to earn my 75lb anchor this week because I knew I still had four pounds to lose, and Monday was such an off-plan day what with me running around to the dentist and the doctor and then spending five hours in the ER... but still! My body let go of the two pounds I'd gained and then two more in order for me to hit this huge milestone! I am still amazed that I actually made it this far!

My next goal is to lose five pounds by the end of the year. That will bring my overall weight loss to 100 pounds since January 2007. (It still seems strange to type that because before my weigh-in this morning, I still had nine pounds to go!)

The red sweater I'm wearing? It's a size 16/18/XL and was actually too small for me when I bought it back in September. I'm also wearing the same belt (even though you can't see it) as in the previous pic; however, it's too big for me now! I could really use another hole that's just a bit tighter because the belt is doing nothing for holding up my pants at this point.

November 28, 2007
242 pounds - 75lb anchor earned!

January 2008
232 pounds - 100lbs lost in 1 year!

January 16, 2008

I made my ultimate goal of losing 100 pounds in 1 year! I didn't take a pic to celebrate the occasion because we were on Christmas vacation in the Great Smoky Mountains and I've been super-busy ever since then, but I thought it would be a good time to do a regular update pic.

I'm able to walk a lot better than I had been, so I'm starting to move more. That's a very good thing! Now if I could only get back in the swing of going to the gym and swimming in the mornings... that's my next goal.

If you haven't done so lately, you should check out the Weight Loss Tracker Bracelets on eBay. She has more designs all the time, and she has charms to track water and fruits/veggies now! I personally own a total of four bracelets and assorted charms now and I'll probably be ordering more in the future! They're a great way to quickly track your food and water intake when you don't have a chance to journal everything immediately. If you do place an order, tell her tessler sent you! :)

March 19, 2008 Wow, February flew by and I wasn't making much progress in my weight loss journey, so I didn't take an updated picture until now. I started counseling in February and it made a HUGE difference to me in my weight loss journey. You know what? It's okay that I've lost 115 pounds (unofficially) and 95 pounds (officially). It's really okay that I'm a mere two pounds away from being simply OVERWEIGHT and no longer OBESE. Wow. That's huge. And it's okay that I'm only five pounds away from my goal of officially losing 100 pounds in one year. But you know what? Even if I don't make that goal in the timeframe I have established for myself (I have one month to lose those five pounds), then it'll still be okay. You know why? Because it will in no way diminish what I have accomplished to date: Getting healthier and losing over 100 pounds. The only person who can take that accomplishment away from me is... me.		March 2008 222 pounds
March 2007 317 pounds	March 2008 222 pounds	Side by Side: 2007 to 2008 What a difference a year makes! When I saw these two pictures that were taken one year apart side by side, I cried. I still tear up even now looking at them. I remember that girl from 2007 and how sad and scared she was all the time because of her weight and my heart aches for her. Thank God for Weight Watchers. So what are YOU waiting for?

April 4, 2008

I did it.

I OFFICIALLY lost 100 pounds in Weight Watchers on April 2, 2008.

Wow.

This pic was taken during my "100 pounds lost" celebration at my WW meeting on April 9 (thanks for the pic, Marcia!). Because our WW at Work meeting was an early, short meeting on April 2, there were only a few people there to celebrate my 100.5 pound loss with me when I weighed. My leader surprised me by contacting everyone in our current group as well as several people from previous groups and asked them to be there and stay for the meeting on April 9 to celebrate my achievement. It was an awesome time of celebration for a huge milestone in my weight loss journey. Thank you, Burton, for doing that for me. You're the best. :)

April 2008
217 pounds - OFFICIALLY
100 pounds lost in 51 weeks!

June 2008
211 pounds

June 20, 2008

My weight loss has slowed since I hit my 100 pounds in April. Part of it was losing my drive to follow the plan and part of it was my body adjusting to the huge loss I've had in the past year and a half (126 pounds total to date). I had played with the same two or three pounds for a couple of months, gaining and then losing them. In the past few weeks, however, my losses have taken off once again and I'm back on track. Next stop: ONEderland (199)!

I have a lot of people telling me that I don't need to lose any more weight. At first, I enjoyed hearing stuff like that because it meant that people thought I looked "normal." As in, a normal weight. After hearing it over and over again, though, it starts getting old. "Oh, you look so wonderful! You really don't need to lose any more weight!" "I hope you aren't planning on losing any more weight; you look wonderful just as you are!" "Are you still losing? You look so good, I just don't see where you have any more weight to lose!" My weight loss journey is my own. I just want to be a healthy weight for my height. Yes, I know I have lost a lot of weight and I look so much better than I did a year ago. BUT... I still have 27 pounds to go to get to the HIGHEST "normal BMI" weight for my height. And even then I might still lose a few more pounds. It just depends on how I feel when I get there.

To all my supporters: You have been AWESOME during my journey and I thank you. Your support has made a huge diference in my journey. All the times I wanted to give up, I kept going because I knew you were watching me from the sidelines and cheering me on. Thank you for being there for me. Now I have one more favor to ask: When you tell me how terrific I look and how proud you are of me, please don't add on that phrase, "but you don't need to lose any more weight." Thank you from the bottom of my heart!

July 23, 2008

I'm continuing my march to goal one pound at a time! I still can't believe I'm wearing size 16 jeans--straight leg, no less!--and large tops (pictured). Yay!

This month's Weight loss journey lessons included a very interesting one on changing sizes. The whole changing clothing sizes is a no-brainer, right? I mean, your body gets smaller, you get smaller clothes. I was really surprised when my shoe size changed last year, but after thinking about it, it made sense to me. Everything shrinks--including your feet--when you lose weight. What I did not know but learned this month was that your bite can also change! Who knew?? I started having problems with a tooth that is a crown over a root canal. I would wake up in the morning and my mouth would ache, especially on the top right. After about a week of this, I started having pain whenever I would chew. This progressed after a week or so to horrible pain every time my mouth closed. I thought I had a popcorn hull caught under my crown, or--worst case--that I had a cavity in the tooth remnant and I was about to lose the whole tooth. When it reached the point that I couldn't chew even soft foods on the left side without excruciating pain on the right side, I called the dentist. The hygenist commented on my weight loss as she was doing x-rays and exclaimed over the amount of weight I'd lost so far. Then when the dentist came in, he complimented me as well, then said, "You don't actually have a problem with that tooth other than your bite changing." He went on to explain that as a result of my weight loss, my bite had changed. I was grinding my teeth at night in order to try to correct my bite, and that's why the problem tooth started getting sore. All it took was a few minutes with a grinder on that crown, and I could close my mouth without pain again! Yay! I could eat again! YAY! And that's the weight loss journey lesson for July.

July 2008
205 pounds

September 2008
198 pounds

September 10, 2008 - Onederland!

That's right, folks. The first digit of my weight became a 1 back in August, also known on the WW message boards as Onederland! Yay! Next stop for me: Goal. As of right now, I have 14 pounds left to lose. That's all. Fourteen pounds. I think I can do that. :)

What a blessing to have my life back!

October 25, 2008

Keith and I went to Waffle House to grab a quick bite for lunch and I had a mini-breakdown while we were there. My mental state lately hasn't been the best. I've been resenting the fact that I have to track/weigh/measure every bite I eat and account for it. I have to make healthier choices and limit my portion sizes. I can't eat what I want when I want; I have to plan for special treats. That just pisses off my inner two year old who wants to faceplant into a sheet cake and eat all the frosting followed by the cake with a chaser of double chocolate ice cream smothered in hot fudge. I have had this smoldering frustration in the back of my mind for the past few weeks and it's been bad enough that I've had to physically remove myself from situations where there is sheet cake and fried chicken, and that makes me sad.

So anyway, back to Waffle House. I'm resentfully squeezing fresh lemon wedges in lieu of dressing over my plain grilled chicken salad ("resentfully" because what I really wanted was a chocolate chip double waffle smothered in butter and syrup with a double side of hashbrowns and a large wedge of chocolate pie for dessert) and the dingdang lemon squirted juice all over my shirt and the napkin in my lap. I'm annoyed and brushing angrily at my shirt and I look down at the napkin in my lap and think, 'Well, it's a good thing that was there, or I'd have lemon juice all over my jeans, too. *grumble*gripe*' That's when it hit me, and I just stopped and looked down.

There was a six-inch gap between my stomach and the edge of the table.

I sat there and stared at that gap, and then I started to cry. Keith wanted to know what was wrong. It took me awhile to be able to tell him, but I was finally able to say, "Remember when I used to have to struggle to fit in this booth and the table cut into my stomach and I couldn't breathe when I sat here?" That was all I had to say. He knew. And I cried.

And now I'm not quite so resentful that I have to make the healthier choices, that I can't allow myself to faceplant into a sheet cake, or eat a pint of ice cream every night like I used to, or eat half a cheesecake in one sitting like I have been known to do. There is a reason that I weigh and measure my food and control my portion sizes. Yeah, it's hard. Yeah, it's frustrating. Yeah, I get tired of doing it every day.

But the alternative is unthinkable. I've been there once, have the t-shirt, and I never want to go back there again.

October 2008
195.5 pounds

December 2008 187 pounds - GOAL! Posing with a "before pic" poster I had made	December 18, 2008 I officially reached GOAL in Weight Watchers today!! These pics were taken during my WW meeting on December 18, the day I reached my WW Goal weight. I have officially lost 130 pounds in WW in 88 weeks and unofficially lost a total of 150 pounds in about 102 weeks. What a celebration we had at my WW meeting that night! It was a very special night and I want to thank Burton, my first WW leader; Helen, my second WW leader; and Beth, my current WW leader for all of their support all along my journey. Sometimes words are so inadequate to truly express what you feel. This is one of those times. (And silly me didn't bring a camera, so all these pics are from various camera phones!) See below for my regular December 2008 pics and blah-blah-blah.
Burton, my first WW leader and WW Sister-of-My-Heart, my inspiration		Burton, me, and Helen, one of the sweetest and most energetic WW leaders ever

December 26, 2008
186 pounds - Goal!

December 26, 2008

Things I have learned in the past two years of attempting to lose weight:

This really is a lifestyle change, not just a diet that I can come off of now that I'm at goal. I am going to have to eat in this controlled manner for the rest of my life if I have any hope of keeping the weight off. And that is not a bad thing.
It takes time to take the weight off in a healthy way. I am very glad that I didn't impose artificial or unattainable timed goals on myself.
There will always be something that I can do better because I am not perfect, nor am I perfectly on plan every single day. And that is okay as long as I am striving to do my best at any given moment.
Working food treats into my plan is not cheating, it is necessary both for my mental health and my continued success. After all, how boring would life be without chocolate and cheesecake and pumpkin pie?
I did not get to be 150 pounds overweight by having a healthy relationship with food. The mental journey to a healthy weight is just as important as the physical journey and should not be neglected.
I am worth the time, effort and money required to make changes in my life and get healthy.
One bad day, one bad meal, one bad choice, does NOT give me an excuse to waste the rest of the week with poor food choices.
One bad weigh-in, one unexpected gain, does not give me an excuse to throw away all of my hard work to date and eat as much of whatever as I want.
The scale is just one measure of my success. I will not let it control my mood or convince me that I am a failure, because I am not. I can no more control how my body lets go of the weight than I can control the seasons or the tides.
I can never give myself permission to quit. After all, what do I have to gain by quitting except even more weight?

I would like to thank the WW 100+ Pounds to Lose message board for their collective wisdom and tough love offered on a daily basis to those who are struggling along this journey. There are many wise women and men who have "been there, done that" and continue to find their way through life to goal and beyond. Thank you all!
You can find links to individual websites of many of the 100+ boardies here on the www.ww100board.com website.

I should have pulled my sweater
down a bit so it wasn't all wrinkly.

Lookit that! I have an actual waist!
Happy much?

Christmas 2006 - 337 pounds
What a difference two short years can make!

February 5, 2009
I officially reached LIFETIME in Weight Watchers today!!

This pic was taken during my WW meeting on February 5, the day I reached Lifetime status in WW. I have officially maintained my weight for six weeks, and now I can attend WW meetings for free for the rest of my life as long as I weigh in at least once a month at no more than two pounds over or two pounds under my selected goal weight of 188.

I hit 100 pounds gone on Burton's scale, Goal on Helen's scale, and now Lifetime on Beth's scale. I believe in spreading the love around!