Recuperating and Another Milestone Reached

Location: Avon Park, FL (High 77, Low 57)

This has been a really quiet week. Harry and I are both pretty lucky in that we very rarely get sick even with a cold. But the bug going around this park was a tough one and laid us both low for more than a week. Although we both have felt much better this week, we still had some congestion and a lingering cough, so we have stayed pretty close to home, other than going for our daily walk. We haven’t even been running! Today we are both feeling pretty much back to normal, so we are going to start back up with a short run tomorrow.

The one exciting event of this past week was when I hit another milestone on my weightloss journey – 60 pounds lost since October 2012.

That is my official count, although I am really heading toward 80 pounds lost since my heaviest weight. This picture was taken in May 2010. Anyone who has been reading my blog since 2010 may recall that I had appendicitis in September of that year. Although not a weightloss program that I would recommend, I did lose about 15 pounds while I was sick and managed to keep them off!

I’ve had my ups and downs over the past three and a half years, but overall, counting calories using an app on my phone has proven to be a successful way for me to lose weight. The periods of time when I’ve gotten off track and stopped losing have also been the times when I stopped counting calories. I have discovered that what really works for me is to continue eating the kinds of foods I enjoy, but measuring out portions and staying within a certain calorie range. Getting a Fitbit Charge this past September has also helped a lot. Being able to see how many calories I am burning on a daily basis has helped me to make sense of the calories I am taking in and relate the two numbers in a more concrete way. I looked back at my history on the Fitbit as I was writing this blog. For the most part I tend to burn 1800 – 2300 calories per day. Looking back at my calorie logs, I have been pretty successful at keeping my food intake usually between 1200 – 1400 calories per day. Now that I have a better idea of how many calories I am burning on a given day, I know that if I am going to have a bigger meal or eat some dessert, I need to plan in another walk or some other way of burning more calories that day.

Of course, Amazon was a great kickstarter this past fall to get my weight loss going again. I was burning so many calories walking all those miles each day that I could eat a much more relaxed diet each day and I was still way under in calories all the time. I was really consistently losing a pound and a half to two pounds a week. I was concerned when I left Amazon in December that I might start gaining but that has not happened. I’ve lost almost 7 pounds since we finished the season, so the weight is going at a much slower rate, but I’m still losing!

Progress!!

The picture to the left was taken on November 16th.

 

 

This one on the right was taken just this week.  Similar outfit, but the jean shorts are two sizes smaller.

 

 

 

 

It remains to be seen whether I really have gotten a system going that I can maintain over the long term, but I am feeling good and definitely more confident than I have every been. One of these days I might actually donate those bags of old clothes that I have been holding onto - just in case!