NYR: 2009 Update, and 2010 Goals

[jedibuttercup]

It's been fifty-four weeks today since I decided to lose weight last year. In that time, I lost more than seventy pounds (a full third of my bodyweight) and learned a lot about healthy eating, exercise, and their effects on my mood, energy levels, and motivation. I haven't been this happy in a decade.

There are other RL factors involved, of course. And while Weight Watchers Online provided me the framework that led to my success, I'm not necessarily going to endorse it over any other healthy method of weight loss; it was just the one I used as my measuring tool. It helped me pick low-calorie healthy foods (and I'm not talking gimmicky stuff, I mean actual tasty fruits, veggies, meats, etc.) and keep a handle on my fitness, but it pointed the way-- it didn't force me to do anything. Consistency-- repeating the new habits long enough for them to stick-- and support from friends and family were what made it really work for me.

I'm 5'9", and started January 2009 at a weight of 224.4 lbs (102 kg). I wore a size 18 dress, a size 38DD bra, double-Q pantyhose, and hadn't been able to wear any of my rings for years. Today, I weigh 151 lbs (68.5 kg); I wear a size 4 dress, a size 32C bra, size B pantyhose, and my rings all fit again; and I had to take two links out of my watch!

Interestingly, I'm starting to get the opposite criticism from family: when I told my mom what size I wear now, she accused me of risking anorexia. Um, no; I knew no-one in my family was ever really athletic, which was always part of my problem, but my mom's learning curve on the subject of what exercise can do for you is apparently even steeper than mine. Compared to what I was eating in the middle of the actual weight-loss phase, I eat like a horse now-- 38 points per day on the WW plan, in the ballpark of 2,000 calories per day, or about 200 more than the DRV for my gender and age-- and I just don't gain weight. My weight has stuck between 149 and 153 pounds since the end of September, solidly in the middle of the recommended zone for my height (135-169 pounds).

The problem, from Mom's perspective, is that last time I weighed ~150 pounds was in high school, and I was a size 10! So to her, size 4 means "terminally skinny". I have to admit, I was kind of shocked by the down-size too, but it's made shopping for clothes a lot of fun. It's all the exercise, I'm sure; I've been doing two to three hours of high-impact elliptical every week, with about another hour of stretching all added together.

Keeping up the exercise schedule is going to be the real challenge for me, going forward. I mean, for more than a decade the most exercise I was getting was "get up and walk from the couch to the computer desk", or "walk around the grocery store". All that exercise eats up a lot of time! So, to that end, I've decided my 2010 NYR goal is going to be fitness-- and making sure my weight stays where it is, no swings either direction.

A measuring tool I've seen recommended along those lines is the President's Challenge; it looks do-able, I think. Also, running a 5K at some point during the year-- I'm not quite up to that distance yet on the elliptical, but I should be by my birthday in March. Anyone have any other recommendations?
~

Comments

[hjcallipygian.livejournal.com]

Congratulations! That is totally awesome and definitely something to be proud of.

One of my best friends works in the mental health field in eating disorders, and I feel quite confident that you would get a 100% clean bill of health from her. Sounds like you have your head on completely right.

Again, congrats! That's awesome.

[mgsmurf.livejournal.com]

I think I've told you before that weight maintainence is easier than weight loss. And if you keep up on weight exercises, you keep up on muscle mass, which helps to burn more calories. Training for a 5K race sounds like a great plan. You might want to add outdoor running (when it gets warm enough). I've found running outside can be much harder for me than a machine.

I wouldn't be worried about the size 4. Sounds like you're eating plenty, and not going crazy with exercise. I was surprised to find at my lowest recent weight I wore a size 4 (I'm now a size 6), since at a lower weight in highschool I wore a size 10. My guess is that women's clothing sizes have gotten bigger. Makes sense to me as a way to boost the ego of the average American woman that she still wears a size 12 or 14 (which may have been a 16 to 18) a decade ago.

[tamrinm.livejournal.com]

Congrats! You are a huge inspiration!

[izhilzha.livejournal.com]

Wow, congrats!

I am struggling to keep any sort of exercise regimen going. My issue is not weight (genetics and a marginally-hyper thyroid mean I have to make sure I eat enough to keep weight on), but fitness--when I get out of breath going up the stairs at church, I know it's been too long since I did regular running or even walking. :(

You encourage me to plot ways to keep going, thank you!

[wildecate.livejournal.com]

I am SO proud of you. It's amazing how people's attitudes swing so violently. I was also the same weight as you until I had Dan and then it all dropped off quickly and has stayed off. I am now a size 12, so I haven't done as well as you but pleased that I managed to keep the weight off. I still get people saying to me that they think I'm "too thin".

I was going to suggest that you run the Race for Life but then realised that you are in the US - d'oh! Best of luck with whatever you decide to do. Remember running on an elliptical is v different to road running. Make sure you get proper shoes, take it easy and well done!

[sulien.livejournal.com]

If you want to run a 5k, the best way to train is to actually start running. Run on a treadmill two days of the week and do the eliptical the other days you normally exercise and then move the running outside when the weather is better. As I learned the hard way myself, the best way to train for running is to run.

Also, congratulations on managing to live a good, healthy lifestyle and sticking with your goals! Lean muscle is much more dense than fat and takes up far less volume than the same weight of fat, so it's no surprise you're now a size 4 instead of a size 10. I know you know this, but you might want to point that out to your Mom and link her to a few websites that explain it or even get her a book on the subject.

Inspiring!

[pronker]

Marvelous news, and thank goodness for mp3 players when exercising. Makes the time fly.

[jedibuttercup]

Thank you!

I really, really love food; part of all of this has been training myself to find delicious things that fill me up but don't clog the body. The size thing has been very whoa, but I feel really good, so I'm not worried. =)

[jedibuttercup]

I'd agree with you about the sizes-- except for the fact that I still had decade-old size ten jeans that did, in fact, fit when I was borrowing new-ish size ten dresses to fill out my wardrobe in the middle of the weight-loss period. I've mostly only had to actually buy new since I shrank under a size 8; everything else was legacy clothing except for underwear. (Thank God, or I'd have been totally strapped for cash trying to keep up with myself).

You're probably right about running outside; but I'm not going to be able to until it starts staying light out until at least 7pm again, so sometime around my birthday. I used to walk with a partner when I was first starting out, but she kind of stopped about three months in, and I don't want to go out by myself in the dark. I figure if I'm consistently doing 5K on the elliptical on a high difficulty rating by that point, I'll be able to concentrate more on the actual mechanics of the running, not on trying to make the whole distance without dying. =)

[jedibuttercup]

Thank you! =)

[jedibuttercup]

Thank you, and you're welcome!

The time commitment is the worst part of keeping the regimen going for me, but fortunately I have the elliptical parked in front of the TV so it's easier to keep on task during TV season. The last few weeks, I've been watching a lot of old DVDs. =)

I'm hoping to talk my previous walking partner into going out with me again when the weather gets warmer-- I'd be able to run circles around her now, but at least neither of us would be out on the track alone.

[jedibuttercup]

Thank you! Yeah, it was amazing how at work everyone was "oh, you're doing so well, keep it up" until I got down to about a size 10, and then suddenly they didn't want to hear about my successes any more, and started pushing fatty snacks at me again. =)

We do a "Relay for Life" thing in June here; I've walked it a couple of times in the past, so I'm looking forward to running it this year. It's not an official race type thing, though, so I'll be investigating options for that.

[jedibuttercup]

I do own an elliptical-- I've had it for years, I just never used it until last spring-- but not a treadmill, and I can't yet afford to buy one or get a gym membership. Maybe by March; I hope.

It should be getting light enough by then to do the outdoor route, too. I used to walk with a partner last year, before she more or less gave up on it; maybe I can talk her into going out with me again this year.

I countered Mom's complaint last week by just pulling my shirt up and saying, "See? Poke that. Muscle. Not skin and bones. I'm perfectly okay." That seemed to work all right. =)

Re: Inspiring!

[jedibuttercup]

Thank you!

For me, putting on a DVD in front of the elliptical works wonders. But yeah; when I start running outside I'll load up the mp3 player. I don't think I could do it if I didn't have a way to distract myself.

Ooh, and I'll have to see if I can rip some books-on-CD, too. *begins plotting*

[calicokat.livejournal.com]

Congratulations! I'm working on dropping about 40 pounds...27 to go. I think people always commenting on how I looked so skinny and maybe anorexic was how I got up to 160.5 in the first place... :\

I'll root for your fitness routine! Hopefully I can follow your example. :O

[flingslass.livejournal.com]

Well done, I wish I was as dedicated as you!
Remember that Marilyn Monroe was a very sexy size 14! The average Australian women is a size 14 (http://www.onlineconversion.com/clothing_womens.htm) (online converter added) Actually you are a size 8 here!

As to running, start off slow. Most of your training could be done inside and once a week go for a jog and gradually build up. This is from when I was training.
I've heard c25k is a good program to follow as a lj friend has done it. Just remember to listen to your body, if it hurts, DON'T push through! You could do more damage.

links
http://www.time-to-run.com/beginners/easytips.htm
http://www.runnersworld.co.uk/racing/six-week-beginner-5k-schedule/67.html

[beatrice_otter]

Woohoo! Keep up the good work!

If it helps your mother, the trend for womens' clothing is for the sizes to get bigger. So, chances are a size four is actually a slightly larger size than it would have been 15 years ago.

[hjcallipygian.livejournal.com]

Ah. I'm the opposite. I'm that guy who forgets to eat if it's not in a schedule. Now that I'm married, I eat regularly, and I've gained a little weight, but since I love exercise I doubt I'll ever get too overweight.

Have you tried the eating slowly trick?

[jedibuttercup]

I tend to be a fast eater, especially when eating alone; ADHD, etc. But I've learned to take a light plate, devour it, do something else distracting for fifteen or twenty minutes, then if still hungry go back for something else. Having lots of filler foods like mini wheat bagels and boxes of raisins and 94% fatfree popcorn and low-fat yogurt cups and the like around, helps with that too.

I just love food! But after working diligently at it all year I'm starting to be fond of exercise, too. It's just the ADHD thing means I have to have something else to pay attention to while doing it, such as tv or music, or I get crazy bored.

[jedibuttercup]

Thank you, and I'll root for you, too!

[jedibuttercup]

Not surprised about the size difference. Would that mean that size 0 American models would be like a 4 there? Now that is too skinny, for the height most of them are.

When I started the weight loss thing last year I could barely do 10 minutes on the elliptical on the easiest setting. Now I'm up in the medium-difficult range and doing 50 minutes every other day. I expect some soreness swapping running/walking days into that program, but I'll build up slow there, too. =) Thanks for the links!

[jedibuttercup]

Thanks!

The funny part is, though, that on the way down I was wearing a mix of new/borrowed size 10-ish clothing, and clothing of that size that I'd actually owned fifteen years ago, and: same, which Mom was well aware of, since some of the new/borrowed clothing was hers. =) I'm definitely several inches smaller around than I used to be.

[syredronning.livejournal.com]

AWESOME! Congratulations!

I've managed 22 pounds loss from April to December, which leaves me with 99 kg and 30 kg to go. I also did a lot of exercise and I agree, that gives a great body shape and sizes went down rather quickly :)

A question - I had (have?) quite a hard time to get over some mental adjustment problems - aka, an "I am fat" setting in my brain. I felt like I was "vanishing" so I couldn't go too fast. Did you ever feel like hitting a mental road block like that?

Congratulations again and thumbs up for the running :)

[jedibuttercup]

Congrats to you too! And good luck on your forward progress!

Until I got down to about a size 10, I didn't have any mental blocks about it; I'd been size 10/12 all through high school and college, and I guess it kind of settled as 'default'. When I was up over 200 lbs. I banged my hips on things all the time, &etc., like I still subconsciously expected myself to be smaller.

Once I started shrinking further, though, it got to where I was obsessively checking my weight every morning to make sure I hadn't hit my target yet. I wouldn't stop-- I had told everyone I would be a certain weight by my brother's wedding in August, and by god I was going to live up to that-- but I felt weirdly tiny to myself, and I still do. When I switched over to Maintenance at my goal weight and still kept losing, I did get a little panicky about it, but I've found a good balance now. Ice cream after every workout: whee! I could probably lose another 15 lbs. and still be healthy, but I really, really don't want to.

[syredronning.livejournal.com]

Interesting, thanks for sharing your thoughts.

I was so settled in my maximum weight that I now feel quite slim already at times, with still 18kg more than my long-time set point of 82kg. Guess I need to readjust my mental landscape some more.

Good luck with keeping your weight! :)