Forgive the long-windedness of this post. I wrote it in one of my blogs, and really couldn't cut it down. I promise that most of my entries won't be as long as the first couple.

I decided late last year that I would be very aggressive and proactive about losing weight this year. Its just something that has been long overdue anyway.

I really let myself go over the years. Packed on 70+ pounds. 70 POUNDS!!! Can you believe that? I've never been a small woman by any means, but 70 pounds is a LOT of weight.

I'm 5' 9" and I was weighing in at 241.6 pounds. At the point where most women's clothing just didn't fit me right, even the 'big women's' sizes. So I just started wearing men's pants. Yeah, really styling there. Ok, granted I do a lot of welding, metal work, out in the garage, that type of thing... but to reach a point that is the norm for how I dress? Ouch. I used to be very flamboyant in how I dressed as an everyday occurence. As the pounds added themselves, that became less and less. Got to the point where I was looking downright dowdy.

Physically, I was getting winded going up a flight of stairs, getting heartburn all the time, knees started to hurt. Worst of all, I was getting very unhappy in life. No energy to do anything, no desire for anything. No sex drive. Kinda hard to get in the mood when you don't feel sexy. Gets downright depressing when your stomach gets in the way when you are tying your freaking shoes!!

I tried and failed several programs over the past few years:

Atkins worked great during the initial stages, but as soon as I started to introduce carbs back in, the weight came back and brought friends.

Joined Curves for almost 2 years, lost weight, but got burned out on the workout because, frankly, its boring as hell. Hit plateau, gave up.

Tried the Weight Watchers method, multiple types of 'diet pills' out there... nothing really worked that well. Or it would start to take off weight, and then I'd end up self-destructing on it somehow.

January 2007 I started taking belly dancing classes. Incredible workout! Even started collecting belly dance DVDs to supplement the classes by a home workout. Started making it a goal to do something at least 3 days a week. Later in 07 I also added a martial arts class to the mix. Ok, on the good side, I was starting to get some tone happening under the fat (my joke about this was that I was like a steel bar wrapped in Nerf), but on the bad side the fat wasn't coming off, and now my left knee started to hurt. Part of that was probably due to dancing barefoot. On a wood floor that's ok when your feet aren't getting damp from perspiration, but trying to do a pirouette when you have been at it for a while... well, it just torques your knee and starts to make it hurt. Especially carting around an extra 70 pounds and trying to do this stuff.

I admit my eating habits were horrible. No portion control, eating lots of bad stuff, etc. Drinking too much alcohol, etc.

Something had to give somewhere. Unfortunately it was my waistline. I had become a 'fat chick'. I hated having my picture taken because I'd look at it and really see how bad I was looking. If I had to have my picture taken I'd try to hide behind other people (usually my husband), or since I'm the one with the camera usually, I'd take the pictures and avoid getting in the sights of other cameras.

The only time this didn't work too well was at car shows. I don't know how many pictures of my chunky ass at pinstripers' panel jams are out there... honestly, I don't WANT to know. To date only one has made it in to a magazine, and luckily I'm sitting behind a table and it is hard to tell what my weight is like.

Needless to say, I started getting desperate.

I noticed a few of the ladies at work had started shrinking. One was quite drastic. I finally worked up the nerve to ask her what she was doing. Turns out she was going to this doctor out here in Walnut Creek who only focuses on weight loss. Found out the other 'shrinking' women were going to or had gone to him as well. This doctor was also an advertiser in one of our magazines. Usually when I look at the ads it is with a jaded eye, but here I had 4 'before and after' cases right in front of me! I started asking them all questions. A lot of questions. They all had nothing but good things to say about him and the program, so I decided to talk to my husband about going to this doctor.

My husband, bless his heart. He was nothing but supportive when I told him what I had been thinking. Told me that if this is what I needed to do, then do it, and I didn't need to cook 'special' for him, that he'd eat what I cooked for my diet. Yeah, I do most of the cooking in the house.

So, I made my appointment for January 31, 2008. Figured I don't make New Year's resolutions, beginning of February would be just fine for starting on the new diet.

That first appointment was when I found out that I had weighed in at 241.6 pounds, with a positively obscene 47% body fat. BMI of 35.7, which is considered obese. Ouch! I thought it was only in the 220s... that was a real eye opener. They have this great machine there, its a scale, but it also calculates your body fat, water, lean body mass of each limb and the trunk... so there it all was in black & white, no way to lie to myself about it anymore. Part of me wanted to cry, but I didn't. I got myself in to this mess, now it was time to get serious about getting out of it.

Since the beginning of February I've been going to see this doctor once a week for my weigh in. It really helps to have that motivation, to see the scale go down every week. And it HAS gone down. Every week. I've lost 65 pounds so far. Have about another 10 to go weight-wise, and a lot of muscle building to get myself back in to 'fighting trim'. I looked really good as a size 10-12 and that's my goal again. The body shape will be a bit different, as my exercise focus is on dance this time around, as opposed to weight lifting I did in college, but that's ok. Dancers look great.

I did not take any 'before' pics, but I am sure I can find a few to really illustrate just how bad it got. If I can I will post them here.

Next post I'll answer the questions on the sticky post. And I'll post more about what I eat, and my weekly exercise.

I'm looking forward to reading all about your eating and exercise!

Congratulations on your success so far, and I can't wait to see you lose the last 10!

Another long-winded one

Physical Activity in my Early Years :

Besides the normal run around like a maniac with my friends when I was a kid (you know, back in the Dark Ages before Playstation & Cable when all after school entertainment was OUTSIDE and kept us active unless it rained), and rollerskating, I took ballet from age 5 to 11. Wasn't the 'take it for hours every day' type but the 'once a week' type that lots of little girls do. I wasn't particularly that good at it. Even tried to take up dancing again as a teen, again, wasn't particularly good at it. Seems I had trouble keeping up with the choreography.

In high school and the early years of college I was pretty diligent about working out. Even when I didn't have to have Phys. Ed. classes in my Jr. and Sr. years in high school, I still took weight lifting. It was the one thing I enjoyed. I never liked sports (ok, now I love NASCAR but that's pure spectatorship), so doing any of those was out. I sure as hell wasn't going to take the dance classes at school, especially since I couldn't stand about 75% of the girls that took that class. Turned out I really enjoyed weightlifting. Wasn't particularly big, but I had enough muscle to me that kept people from fucking with me... something I found very important after the 2 years of pure hell that everybody refers to as Jr. High.

The weight lifting continued through the early part of college while I was at the junior college getting my general education out of the way before going to art school. Wasn't 'thin', but still looked pretty good. Still a little intimidating according to some. That came in handy a couple times, especially when I had to scare the crap out of groupies that went too far in groping my boyfriend at the time, who was the front man of a band.

Unfortunately when I started going to art school, that is when the regular workouts ceased. Tried a few times to get back in to it, but it was hard to do without a workout partner (what can I say, following boyfriends were duds in that respect), then getting a job in my last semester of school and going full time immediately after graduating, plus getting a wedding planned (that last semester was CRAZY!)... working out just got pushed to the wayside.

And so the weight started to creep up.

Recent Years:

My first weight related breakdown happened a few years ago when I was looking at some pictures my husband had taken at a car show. Noticed this rather chunky redhead in the background. Then I realized it was me. I freaked. I knew I had gained a few... but I didn't realize it was that bad!

That's when I started Curves. Now, for what it is, Curves is an interesting place. And if that's all somebody is going to do, its better than nothing. Its a circuit training place, where you spend 30 seconds at each station, alternating between an exercise station and a platform where you walk in place to keep the heart rate up. Overall, I liked it. Things that turned me off about it were the heavy Christian overtones, the lack of variety in music, and the lack of variety in the workout itself. Plus I got tired of bitter old broads passing judgement on me for my tattoos. So I stopped going, and didn't find something else to replace it.

January 2007 I was talking to a friend of mine about taking some form of dance class together so we could start getting in shape. She had just had the gastric bypass surgery the year before and needed to find something to help with toning up. We decided to give the belly dancing classes a try.

I don't know what you all know about belly dancing, but it is an incredible workout! First couple times I could barely walk the next day because my hips, thighs, butt and abs were so sore. But I was HOOKED! So much so that I started researching and buying different DVDs so I could practice at home. I even started getting up earlier so I could work out in the morning before going to work. Anybody that knows me knows that is not normal... I'm a night person who shuns morning like a vampire. I took the beginning class through a couple 6 week cycles, then joined the intermediate class until just this January. I stopped going because I realized that while I was learning more about choreography, I was missing the heavy duty workout we'd get doing the drills in the beginning class. That and the class wasn't really going in a direction I wanted to go anymore.

So I stopped going to that class, and joined a cardio belly dance class. This class is INCREDIBLE! I call it the "I swear I drop a pound every time I take this class" class. Layla the instructor knows how to work us hard. And even though she claims it is for all levels, I often find myself glad I took the other class for a year, so I can keep up!

That class is on summer break, so I am taking a 'Total Fitness boot camp' class in the same time slot. Woooeee!!! Talk about a crazy workout! The instructor, I'd describe her as somebody who is a cross between a cheerleader and a drill sergeant. Good class though.

Then there's the Mixed Martial Arts class I started last June. Decided after the place I work at was broken in to downstairs while somebody was working upstairs (on a Saturday), I felt pretty vulnerable and wanted some self defense skills. This is another incredible class. Had to stop after the end of last year until a month ago because of my knee, but after taking the weight off, its a lot easier to do without screwing it up.

I've also decided to add weight training in to the mix, just enough to build up a little more muscle in the glutes, tighten up the 'bat wings' on my upper arms, build the pecs up a little more, overall strenghtening.

Current workout schedule is something like this:

Monday evening: Martial Arts
Tuesday morning: DVD
Wednesday evening: Cardio Bellydance (Total Fitness through Sept)
Thursday: DVD or rest
Friday: DVD
Saturday: DVD or rest
Sunday: rest or weights

The main goal is 3-5 days a week working out anywhere from 45 minutes to a couple hours.

I like mixing it up like that. I have several DVDs that I can choose from, so the rotation keeps me from getting bored. We're constantly learning new things in martial arts, and the cardio class is too intense to get bored on.

Thanks to the InBody 520, a 'scale' that also measures body fat, BMI, etc. I have been getting a printout every month or so to keep track of my progress. Here's the breakdown:

The start 01/31/08
Weight: 241.6 lbs
BMI: 35.7
% Body Fat: 47

03/21/08
Weight: 215.8 lbs
BMI: 31.9
% Body Fat: 44

04/11/08
Weight: 209.4 lbs
BMI: 30.9
% Body Fat: 41.7

05/30/08
Weight: 190.3 lbs
BMI: 28.1
% Body Fat: 36.1

07/04/08
Weight: 178.6 lbs
BMI: 26.4
% Body Fat: 32.7

08/01/08
Weight: 173.5 lbs
BMI: 25.6
% Body Fat: 31.4

08/15/08
Weight: 171.5 lbs
BMI: 25.3
% Body Fat: 29.2

08/29/08
Weight: 168.0 lbs
BMI: 24.8
% Body Fat: 28.6

According to the printouts the 'normal range' BMI for my age and height is 18.5 - 25, so in that respect I don't have too far to go. The 'goal weight' is really a guideline, and I'll probably adjust it when I get there. That depends on how much more toning I want to do and how far want to get the body fat content down.

During the first couple months I was having weeks where I'd lose 5-6 pounds, then lose a pound, then 3, then 2... now its down to the final 10 and its going 1.5 at a time. A little frustrating only because I am getting impatient, but at least the scale keeps going in the right direction.

(added 08/01/08) Ok, so I got the printout this morning. Looks like July was my plateau month. Ah well, since I'm close to my 'goal' weight, its not too surprising. I'm now to the point where I'm more focused on getting the body fat content down rather than the overall weight... 165 is just the goal to hit that starting point. Who knows? I may even go down further.

(added 08/15/08) Yeah, this is 2 weeks later instead of monthly, but seeing as I'm close to 'goal', I thought I'd add it. Not a huge move in weight, but I've dropped down 2% on body fat, and I know I've added muscle.

Hey, why not? This could be fun!

Note: This is a bit 'belated' since I started this in February and just joined here a few days ago.

1. What is your current height and weight?
5'9". When I started this weight loss I was at 241.6. As of the weighing on 7/18/08 I am at 175.7.

2. If you were at an ideal weight now, what would that weight be?
I am guessing 165 according to the BMI, but when I get there I may change my mind.

3. At what weight would you like to be at four months from now?
At least down to 165 since that is the 'goal' weight.

4. Why do you want to lose weight?
Plain and simple? Vanity. I'd like to be virtuous and say its for my health, or even MOSTLY for my health. But no. I got tired of looking like a slug. I looked pretty good in college thanks to a lot of weight lifting & working out. I want to look good again.

5. Do you want to lose weight for a specific life event such as wedding or reunion? If so, when is that event?
Not really, but I am turing 40 in October. Be nice to be slim & sexy at 40.

6. What obstacles could get between you and your weight loss goals?
My own self-destructive behavior. Been pretty good about it lately, but I have to watch out for it creeping back.

7. Why do you think that you now have a weight problem?
When I began this? Oh, let's see... things like my stomach getting in my way when I was tying my shoes, not fitting my clothes, getting depressed every time I went clothes shopping, getting winded walking up a flight of stairs, knees hurting, persistent heartburn and knowing I looked like a lump, which really takes a chunk out of the ol' self esteem.

8. What lifestyle changes do you think would help you lose weight?
Exercise. Portion control. Eating foods that are not packed with empty calories, fats and carbs that have no purpose but packing on the lard.

9. Have you lost weight in the past? If so, what has worked in the past to help you lose weight?
Atkins, South Beach, Metabolife, various & sundry other diet pills, Curves.

10. Why do you believe that you did not lose weight or you gained the weight back?
The diet pills were making me psycho after a while. And while they did help a bit in losing weight, as soon as I stopped them, back came the weight. Atkins worked in the initial phase but as soon as carbs started getting reintroduced the weight came back. South Beach was kinda boring because I really didn't understand the difference between it and Atkins (I have a better understanding now). Boredom. I think boredom and burnout were the biggest enemies too. Especially seeing so little loss for so much work, then getting discouraged and giving up because I was bored and burned out.

11. What, if anything, has not worked for you in the past in helping you to lose weight? Why do you think it did not work?
If anything, I'd have to say I am my own worst enemy. Even though I 'wanted' to lose weight, I always had that 'this won't work, either' mentality which is of course a self-fulfilling prophecy.

12. Would you try writing down all food and drink consumed for a given period of time?
I do to a certain extent, or at least keep track of how much of each type of food I eat. Counting the calories and accounting for everything I put in my mouth is the next step.

13. Do you cook at home often? If so, what do you cook?
I cook a lot more now than I did six months ago. I cook most of the meals. I'm actually a pretty decent cook. Had hit a point where I hated cooking a while back but now I'm liking it again.

14. How often do you go out to eat? Where do you go?
Not as much as I used to. Maybe once a week. There's no one specific place.

15. What are your three favorite foods?
Steak, hot & sour soup, guacomole

16. What are your three favorite restaurants?
Benihana, Tahoe Joe's (they make a killer prime rib and their ribeye is just as good), El Tapatio (one of the best Mexican places out here IMO. I sure miss them)

17. What are three things you can do differently when it comes to food?
What I've been doing. Cut out all the prepackaged meal crap. really nixed the intake of breads, pastas, rice, grains for now, but have had the occasional SMALL bit of rice or pasta or a few chips. PORTION CONTROL!!! I believe that is a key as well. Making sure most (90%) of what I eat is nutritious and low in the fat & carbs. Or reasonably so.

18. If you woke up tomorrow and your body was exactly the way you want it, what would be different?
I'd have shed the remaining excess weight. Don't know what that means in numbers on the scale, but my body fat % would be down to maybe 22-25%, waist would be about 3" smaller, the jiggly bits all over the body would be tightened up, and I'd have some good muscle definition in the abs, arms, and a nice firm butt. Symmetry, overall.

19. Do you eat when you are not hungry?
Not anymore, but I used to eat when bored.

20. Do you binge eat (large amounts at a time)?
I have, but I don't anymore.

21. Do you hide your food or eat in secret?
No

22. Do you eat when you are sad, nervous, or depressed?
Oh, I've done the occasional 'chocolate when sad' thing, but its not been a habit.

23. Do you eat as a reward?
Yes, but it has to be something extra special. When I hit my 'halfway' point we went to Benihana to celebrate. It had also been a hellish couple months at work so it was a reward for surviving that. When I hit 50 lbs down, I wanted pancakes. There's a diner down the street from us that makes the best pancakes. Ever. Managed to only eat one, but it was so tasty.

24. Do you eat while watching TV or using the computer?
Yes to both. Bad habit I know. I tend to eat at my desk at work, and I eat dinner while watching tv. I'm not shoveling in the food like I used to, and I'm a lot more mindful of what and how much. Ideally I'd eat at the table, but I don't. I don't foresee changing that habit either.

25. What do you normally eat for a meal?
Breakfast: Cottage cheese with nuts & dried fruit, or yogurt (weight watchers 6 oz. or plain nonfat with a touch of honey, cinnamon, and cloves) with the nuts & dried fruit, or a hard boiled egg and a small piece of fruit.

Lunch: Salad with a good dose of protein in it (chicken or steak, or...) with my own salad dressings (Low fat, low carb, high flavor), or leftovers from dinner the night before.

Dinner: meat & veggies. Very rarely a little rice if I make some for my husband.

(Yeah, its a lot healthier than 6 months ago)

26. What type of snacks do you eat?
A piece of fruit, or some veggies, or a piece of lowfat string cheese, or some nuts, or a low carb protein bar.

27. In terms of exercise, what, if anything, are you currently doing?
Martial arts plus belly dancing or total fitness, exercise DVDs. Recently started working with weights again too.

28. Where do you go for exercise? A local public gym? School/work gym? Home?
The rec center has the classes I take. The rest of it I do at home. I have a weight bench and free weights.

29. What, if anything, are your three favorite types of exercise?
Belly Dance is probably my absolute favorite. Its very fluid, sensual, and you have to have good muscle control to make it look fluid, sensual and graceful. Best core workout there is. Martial Arts. Another excellent workout, my favorite has to be escrima though. Weight lifting.

30. What is your daily/weekly/monthly/yearly motivation to move towards your goals?
I go in to my doc to be weighed every Friday morning, so its always a goal to have the scale move downward.

31. Do you have rewards for certain goals?
The ultimate goal is going to be clothes shopping to showcase the new bod.

Skinny Cow ice cream ROCKS! Fudge bar is only 100 calories and not many grams of fat... but they are sooooo good!

Hi Phoenyx, congrats on your weightloss so far! That's so awesome. You're doing great, keep it up!

V

Thanks, V.

Went to my Total Fitness class last night. My ass was duly kicked. Where DOES that woman get her energy? She teaches this class after teaching ballet all day, and she still runs us ragged. Put fuzzy pink ears, sunglasses and a pair of blue flip flops on her, she'd be the Energizer Bunny! Great workout though.

Woke up with a hellish headache this morning. Dug out one of my accupressure books and worked on the pressure points recommended for headache and neck tension. Helped a lot. Bummer is I was hoping to do some weights this morning. Ah well...

Tomorrow is my weekly weigh-in... here's to hoping I've dropped a couple more!

Well, CRAP!

Went in for the weekly weigh-in, and the numbers are the exact same as last week!

A freaking plateau! AAAAAARGH!!!! I'm working out, eating the right stuff and not too much, drinking my water... what the fuck?

Or it could just be TOM. Damn you, TOM!!! (I like that acronym by the way... hadn't seen it before joining here)

Decided to up the ante a bit with the workouts and started incorporating weights into the routine this week. Had to dust off the weight bench in the back room, but managed a couple good weight sessions this week. Figured that would help in getting rid of the jiggly bits.

I have a new analogy for what my body is doing right now. When I first started belly dancing last January and started toning up, but not losing any fat, I observed that my body is like a steel bar wrapped in Nerf padding. That was before the weight started coming off and the skin hadn't started becoming loose. So now, while I look ok in clothing, I noticed that when I was laying down on the weight bench there was this saggy, jiggly mass hanging off my thigh/hip area. Of course the toned muscled areas are sticking through this. This is more like somebody stuck a steel bar into a half deflated balloon filled with jell-o. Blech! Ah well, thank goodness for Spanx in the meantime to keep things looking smooth under the skirts.

I hope next Friday's weigh-in isn't as irritating as this one.

I really, REALLY need to get my butt toned back up. I know there's some solid muscle, but the loose skin and remaining fat is making my ass look saggy! EEWWWW!!!

Well, time to figure out how to keep the scale going down. Damn this last 10 just doesn't want to go. And its not really about the numbers, I just want to get down another pants size and not have this jiggly shit all over me.

I am working on my last ten, and have jiggle issues too. I have been on a plateau for nearly three months. I have changed my fitness routine and have been achieving non-scale victories. My measurements are decreasing, so I can only assume I'm putting on some muscle which is offsetting what I am burning off.

I completely understand the fixation and frustration with the numbers decreasing on the scale when the progress needed isn't necessarily to be reflected there. Damn the scale mentality.

Your analogy about your body being a steel bar wrapped in Nerf made me laugh. I always tell people I have a ripped six pack, just need to get rid of the keg smothering it first.

Six pack smothered by a keg... that's great!

I'm only fixated on the number on the scale as a point of reference. That may be where the weight LOSS part stops, but the true work will be still in effect. That is getting the body back in shape, losing more of the body fat. I think I'd like to shoot for 20%, maybe a bit less. Depends on how I feel & look at that point. Its kinda a pants size thing too... I was a size 9/10 up thru my first few years of college, then started gaining weight when I stopped lifting weights. That would probably be a good goal to ultimately get to. I don't know how I'd look as anything smaller, because I've never been down smaller than a 9 as a teen or adult.

So Thursday night I did end up working out, instead of in the morning when I had a killer headache. Did some strength training with the weights I have at home.

Friday and Saturday mornings I did my Belly Dance work outs, Sunday back to weights. Monday night is my martial arts class, and I'll probably rest on Tuesday to prepare for my Wednesday ass-whipping, erm, total fitness boot camp class.

Kinda cool doing the weights again. I forgot how much I used to enjoy it.

Hmmm, not nearly as sore this morning as I thought I would be with the weight workout from Sunday. I had increased the weight and the reps... maybe I should increase a bit more? Only thing I don't like about the weights I have at home is the collars on the barbell and the two dumbells that came with the set for the bench screw on, not clip on. Takes a lot of time to get them off, put on more weight, then put them back on. I need to figure out another way to keep the weights secure as I use them without breaking my rhythm.

Speaking of rhythm... disco is great to work out too. Didn't appreciate it as a kid when it first came out, but now its just silly enough to not be distracting when working out.

I need to remember to get up and move around more at work. I'm parked in front of a computer most of the time... which I'm sure also aided in my gaining weight. Gotta remember to get up and stretch out periodically.

I'm parked in front of a computer a lot myself. It is a sedentary job. I work dayshift in an Accounting office for an evil big-box-mart in addition to tutoring during the academic year on my campus. I find myself making a lot of trips out of the office for paperwork during the day. I used to efficiently get as much done as I could at once. I say screw that. I try to convince myself I am not mastering the art of slacking, but actually trying to burn more calories by taking one item at a time with me to accomplish. Oh yes, I even make separate trips for the two garbage cans at this point. Yes, I know I am pathetic.

I could never work out to disco, ugh. I will stick with my metal for jogging.

I think disco kinda grows on you after a while... you know, like mold.

I love metal... its great to have it blasting if I'm out in the garage working on de-rusting my Buick, or if I'm welding. Haven't done it in a while, but its great for blacksmithing too.

Good martial arts class tonight. Had a screaming headache when I got there, but was able to loosen it up a bit before class thanks to some stretching and the application of acupressure. Wish my husband would take this class with me so I'd have a male I could spar against. Most of the women are way too tentative or conservative in throwing their punches, and that makes me do the same. The few times I've been able to spar with one of the men in the class were great! Ah well, I have him talked in to taking a Silat workshop with me in a few weeks, maybe he'll like it enough to join me in the class.

Tomorrow is either a rest day or I'll do a low impact belly dance DVD... maybe work on the slow isolations that require a lot of muscle control. Maybe take some time after work to start practicing the sword dancing again.

bleh... I should have worked out this morning instead of taking a rest day. Muscles in the traps and neck are all stiff & sore, leading to a headache of epic proportions. Ah well, I'll have to do it when I get home.

I got brave last night and posted some 'before' and 'current in progress' pictures in that forum. Never took any deliberately, these are just shots from the past several months, but the one from last halloween really illustrates how round my face got. Well, the rest of me was pretty round too.

Rethinking the body fat percentage thing... I discovered 15% is what athletes tend to be at. I think I'll go for somewhere between 20% and 25%.