16 years and 100lbs

Today I was going through some paperwork and I found my weight watchers meeting card dated back to October 1996, my lowest recorded weight on that card was 14 stone 10lbs (206lbs).

This basically equates to me having gained 100lbs in 16 years!! I was shocked and disgusted when I worked out the numbers and of course I thought about 'what if?' what if I had stuck to the plan back then, where would I be now.... I always watch weight loss shows and think 'how did you get that big and not notice it happening?' That is exactly what happened to me, I knew it was happening, but never really faced up to it, it was a few lbs here a few lbs there - until now. I will no longer think that when I watch those shows.

I know I have another weight watchers meeting card but I can't find it at the moment, but know that I wasn't as light as this card.

I did weigh in this Monday and had a gain :( After my big loss last week I decided to give myself a little treat, but in the process got carried away! As a result I gained 3.4lbs taking me back up to 269.4lbs. This week I have been trying to eat as clean as possible, but haven't really been tracking as such, I started to find that even though I was tracking, I wasn't being 100% honest with myself and an odd bit of food here and there wouldn't get tracked. So I decided this week I would see if I could do it on my own and focusing on portion control instead.. I've also stopped weighing daily, as I found that if I saw a loss I would let myself have a treat and also if I saw a gain I would say 'what the heck' and eat everything and anything. I do plan to still weigh in once a week and that will still be on a Monday.

I have updated my weight loss goals/rewards page, I don't have a printout with the 305lbs on as I recorded it myself on a spreadsheet, the closest record I have is my weight watchers card from last year, showing my starting weight of 300.6lbs on Jul 6 2011. 

 

I was doing weekly updates based on my weight when I joined ww online in January 2012, but have decided to document my losses from my highest weight, as this is more accurate then having two running totals. So my next goal is to lose a total of 40lbs which will be a weigh in of 265lbs. I am hoping to try and reach that very soon, I have family coming to visit and a trip to Disneyland planned, but I don't plan to use it as an excuse to eat all the time, but I do plan to allow myself a few treats and there will be lots and lots of walking at Disney. Plus I have two 5ks planned for next week!

In other news I have now gone 81 days without drinking any soda :) It has been easier than I thought too. I am thinking that when I reach 100 days, I may try cutting something else out of my diet - just not sure what yet. Soda was an obvious choice and something I wont miss and don't need, at the moment I can't think of anything else - any suggestions please let me know.

Yesterday my medal and bib display boards arrived from Running On The Wall and they are now proudly displayed in my office/gym, I have the bib from The Color Run I did this year and the Dani Ryan Holmes-Kirk virtual 5K, and the medal is from the 5k. I look forward to adding many more medals and bibs in the next few years.

Updated photos

I finally got round to taking some new photos today to help document my weight loss. I no longer have a full length mirror so had to get Dave to take them, but tried to stay in the same pose as the others, and wearing the same tshirt.

I am 39lbs lighter in these photos than the ones I took in 2011 which can be found on my weight loss photos page.
I think it's good to document your progress with photos as well as numbers as sometimes the scales don't budge and everything else does :)

Just a reminder if you haven't entered my Peanut Butter & Co. giveaway you have 6 more days to enter.

Have a great weekend everyone xxx

Week 39

Woo Hoo - my week back on track was awesome and the scales were super awesome I lost 6.8lbs this week, that's the most I've ever lost in one week!! This takes my total loss to 26.2lbs (must remember to transfer some pebbles in my jars!) and I am now 3lbs away from reaching my first major goal which is losing 10% of my starting body weight.

I wish I was still attending meetings as I would have got some weight watchers bling I believe for reaching 25lbs lost.

The little stars certainly bring a smile to my face :)

So what did I do different this week? Well first of all I have had gains the last two weeks, so that makes up for part of the big loss this week. I promised to work out 4 days this week and I did that plus went for some long walks. I used my exercise bike twice and I also did boot camp one day, and also did my first ever kettle bell workout which I loved (even though I think I lost about 5 gallons of sweat whilst doing it!), and the day after and for the following few days I ached so bad in places I never knew I had muscles!! I plan to try and do it twice this week and hope to ache a lot less.

I am still tracking using my fitness pal, and I tracked 100% this week, and only went over my calories one day this week, which was due to a pumpkin cupcake (which was very disappointing indeed as it didn't taste that nice). I think I ate around 70% clean this week and even tried a new food. I ate tofu for the first time, I coated it in honey and breadcrumbs and baked it and it was really good. Actually I tried another new food this week Trader Joes harvest grains blend which I got in my foodie penpals box and they were so so good. I've decided to finally cut cow's milk out of my diet, I've had an allergic reaction to it for many years, but still keep having it, this week I worked on cutting it out and other than a small amount in some foods (where it is listed at the end of the ingredients) I have done pretty well, and my eczema is definitely a lot better for it - and my stomach too, so that may also have helped with the weight loss. I thought I would miss cheese, but I bought a vegetarian substitute which is great on pizza, and also some goats cheese which I don't appear to react to.

Here are my 'my fitness pal' stats for last week.

 

I'm hoping to have another great week this week, but know that I can't expect big numbers two weeks in a row, but am aiming for a loss.

Have a great week everyone
Sarah x

Week 36

Only 98 sleeps till Christmas :) I know you are loving my little updates each week.

I actually have quite a few countdowns on my phone:

37 sleeps till Lisa, Paige and Ebbie come to visit

39 sleeps until Lisa, Julia and I take part in the Dirty Girl run

40 sleeps until Dave, Lisa, Paige, Ebbie and I take part in the virtual 'run the hood' zombie dash

42 sleeps until Lisa, Paige, Ebbie and I go to Disneyland

61 sleeps until Dave and I take part in the 10k Awesome 80's run

73 sleeps until Dave and I fly to England for a visit

and 303 sleeps until Comic Con

As you can tell I love my countdowns, also it's been 50 days today since I drank soda :)

Talking of soda, since giving it up I have had no caffeine as the tea I drink is caffeine free, over the weekend I bought a Keurig brewer and I've been drinking a lot of iced tea and regular tea, it dawned on me this morning that this is the reason I haven't been sleeping well the last few nights, I've been awake at 4am each morning, clearly my body needs to adjust to the caffeine intake again.

So week 36, it was an OK week, here are the stats from my fitness pal

Yes Thursday I ate lots, although it wasn't as bad as I expected, I decided to order pizza, garlic bread and wings, normally I would eat the lot but this time I only had two slices of pizza and half the garlic bread, so that's a major improvement for me. I would say I ate 60% clean this week, I do need to work on trying harder with that, as I know the more clean I eat the better I feel and the more energy I have.

This week I worked out  four days. Monday I took the dogs on a 2.76 mile walk, it was a lot warmer than I expected, so was a tough walk. Wednesday I cycled 8 miles on my exercise bike, Friday I did 40 mins on my wii fit, and Sunday I took part  virtually in the Dani Ryan Holmes-Kirk birthday 5k with Dave which we completed in 58 mins. I think the thing I need to focus on the most is drinking more water, as I've been slacking on that.

So the numbers for this week, just a small loss of 0.4lbs this week, but it's heading in the right direction and my total loss is now at 23lbs :) I would like to try and lose 2lbs this week to hit 25lbs next week.

Thanks for reading my blog and have a great week everyone

Sarah x

Week 35

Hey everyone, hope you all had a great weekend. Only 15 weeks and it will be Christmas Eve :) I've already started thinking of my list of things for my letter to Santa.

I had another great week this week, I think I could soon be saying this new clean eating is becoming a habit :) I have been soda free for 42 days today and no longer miss it at all :) I have been eating clean for 6 weeks now, and only had one small gain (0.6lbs) in that time, and I have managed to go out for meals and to other events without feeling compromised.

The numbers for this week, I ended being 958 net calories under my weekly goal, I felt like I ate a lot this week so was surprised that I was under by so many. I ate a lot less fat this week also, but a lot more carbs. I had a few candy bars, so that is the cause of some of those carbs. I would say I ate clean 60% of the time this week. Need to work on the candy, doesn't help I bought a pack of 20 curly wurlys online!!

 This week I worked out 4 times, I used my wii fit, my exercise bike and one day I decided to take the dogs on a 5k walk, all was good, then I realized I had a rather steep hill to climb to get back to my house, I have walked up this hill before but both times I stopped two or three times on the way up. This time I walked up it without stopping, clearly this was pushing my body to its limits as my heart rate monitor shows! I now have a nice measurement to use as a guide, so hopefully next time I walk up it I will see an improvement.

On to the scales, this week I lost 2.2lbs taking my total loss to 22.6lbs and I am now in the 260's which is super exciting, and I am now 6.6lbs away from reaching my 10% lost goal. I also have 6 weeks to lose 19.6lbs to reach my 250lbs goal, which was my original plan, but as I mentioned previously I may move the goal date to my birthday instead.

Hope everyone has a great week and thanks for reading my blog