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ReneeH20 ReneeH20 is offline
Senior Member
Posts: 2,291
Finally Hit GOAL - 110 pounds in 17 months
Posted by ReneeH20
Posted Tue, May-24-16
Female 69.8 in
Plan: Dr. Westman
Stats: 280/170/170
BF:
Progress: 100%
Default Finally Hit GOAL - 110 pounds in 17 months

I did it! I finally hit goal. This is a super sweet moment as the last 10 pounds have taken 4 months. Overall, it has taken 17 months for me to reach goal.

I have not always been obese. I tended to be on the 5-10 pounds overweight growing up and in my young 20's. I gained about 20 pounds with my kids and then some more as I was a young working mom who had kids 16 months apart. In 2001, I joined Weight Watchers and lost 35 pounds. I maintained that for 5 years. Nine years ago, in my late 30's something changed. I even remember going to my doctor to complain about feeling tired all the time, etc. She just told me I was getting to be a certain age. Yeah, thanks for that.

That's when I started gaining weight. I would try diets off and on and just end up gaining more weight. I worked out with a trainer, but didn't see much results. I started running...didn't really enjoy it, but lost 15 pounds only to gain it all back. I pretty much kept up the exercise consistently and followed the low fat dietary guidelines and I kept gaining. 115 pounds!

In 2014, I decided it was my year to get healthy. I was getting to the point where I was not healing from injuries (too much inflammation in my body), I could hardly do normal tasks like carrying the laundry basket up to the second level of my house and even worse I was having difficulty ice skating (which I love). I couldn't sleep. I had headaches all the time. I knew I had to do something to feel better. I tried an exercise program, worked it hard, lost 10 pounds that month. Gained it all back in two weeks. I knew exercise alone wasn't going to do it. Tried some carb cycling diets. I did okay for the first 21 days, but the second 21 days made me binge uncontrollable.

If anything, I was getting worse and by November of 2014, I was a whopping 280 pounds. That's when I heard an ad on the radio for my doctor - Dr. L. I went to hear her speak. She was an OB/GYN that was once overweight herself. She was frustrated in not being able to be a good example for her patients. She lost 80 pounds herself. She explained that the Standard American Diet (SAD) with all it's sugar and grains was making us fat. Worse yet, we had been lied to and told that low fat diets would make us lose weight.

I signed up to start seeing Dr. L and she put me on Dr. Eric Westman's Low Carbohydrate Ketogenic Diet aka Page 4. Dr. L had me commit to 90 days - no cheating. She wanted me to change my palette from sweet to spicy/savory. I had to keep a food journal in My Fitness Pal and review with her every two weeks. This helped to set me up for success.

Dr. L also did a number of medical tests. I was pre-diabetic, was deficient in vitamin D, anemic, had tons of inflammation in my body, and had insomnia. I also snored. I had headaches every morning and often suffered from foggy brain. All of that cleared up within 4 months of starting this way of eating.

After 90 days, I lost over 10% of my body weight and stopped seeing Dr L every other week and went to monthly visits. I got worried that I would fall off the wagon as I needed more support than Dr. L could give. That's when I found these forums and started a journal. I used my journal to work out all the mental stuff involved with weight loss and making dietary changes. I do believe that weight loss is 85% mental. I continued to log all my food and see Dr. L monthly.

A couple months later I joined the Daily Weigh-in thread. It kept me accountable and gave me support. I read a lot of threads and journals here. I adapted the mindset of the most successful individuals here - NO CHEATS. I did really well with that except for one ice cream cheat 16 months in. So not perfect. I feel so great on this way of eating (WOE) that I plan to eat this way for the rest of my life. I also will continue to stay active doing yoga, skating, and very light weight lifting.



First photo is of me in August 2014. I weighed close to 280. Second photo is of me at the half was mark in June 2015. I had lost 55 pounds and weighed 225. The last is May 2016 at goal - 170 pounds.

In Jan 2016, I had lost 100 pounds. The last 10 took 4 months to come off. Patience and persistence pays off.

I started at a size 20 pant with 2XL shirt. My goal was to be a 12 and not have an X in my shirt size. I now wear a 10 pant and medium shirt.



These are the two Dexascans my doctor took. One at 280 pounds and one at about a 100 pounds lighter. The yellow is fat and the pink is muscle. Blue is bone. Dr. L said that it is not unusual to lost 25% of muscle during weight loss, because the body does not need to carry around as much weight. I only lost 13% of my muscle because I was consistently exercising. While exercise was not a necessity for the weight loss, Dr. L did stress that it is necessary for good health especially as we get older.

So there you go. Special thanks to all those who have been a support and to those who have been a good example.
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  #2  
by thud123 on Tue, May-24-16, 19:46
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Excellent write up Renee. We love you and Thanks!!!
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