Weight Loss Challenge - revelations

It was almost exactly one year ago since my parent's sixtieth wedding anniversary and the taking of the picture that made me gasp with dismay. It became a major inspiration to lose some weight. The second inspiration came in August, when my son got engaged. I already knew my waist measurement was over the danger line for women, so something should be done, but I was lacking in motivation until those two events occurred.

When I began my weight loss challenge, I had actually already come down a bit from my highest weight of 156. That was after a road trip featuring much snacking in the car. I just about fell over when I saw that number on the scale. When I officially began the challenge, I weighed about 150 - still far too much for my body type (I'm small boned and about 5'4" tall).

That's about what I weighed when this picture was taken.


UGH! Clearly, something had to be done!

It's been a slow process to get down to what I weigh now, about 132. I didn't moderate my diet as much as I should have (see previous posts about cola), but I did do some - salads for lunch, eating at regular intervals, cutting out extra sugar in my coffee and cutting back on salt and white bread and potatoes.

The only cost incurred was $40 for a used treadmill, the old fashioned kind that operates solely on the user's muscles for power. That gave me quite a workout! And I shovelled snow. But mostly, I walked. And walked. And walked.

Timewise, going for a walk of about 15,000 steps takes about two hours. But 10,000 steps (usually the number recommended) takes about an hour. I would do an hour on the treadmill. This was actually less time-consuming than going to a gym or exercise class, because there's no travel time involved. Healthier for the environment, too.

The other thing that helped was consistency. Now that my kids are adults, I can find an hour a day to devote to myself. When my kids were little and I was writing? Not so much. I don't know that I would have been so successful without that opportunity for consistency.

So, I've lost about 25 pounds, give or take, from last August to today. And here's how I look in the same outfit (because I wanted a more equal comparison). I had to take it in about 6 inches altogether.



And here's another picture, in a top that was too tight for me to wear last year, and jeans I never could have squeezed into. I've lost over five inches around my waist, which is where I put on weight. Totally apple shaped am I.



Does this mean I can relax now and not exercise quite so much? Not yet! The challenge began in August and it'll end the first day of August. My original goal was, I see when I look back, 125 pounds. Somewhere along the line it morphed to 130. If I can make that, I'll be as thrilled as I was when I bought my outfit for my son's wedding. Size 10.