No longer obese!

With my BMI sitting at 29.8, I am technically now OVERWEIGHT...not OBESE!

YAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I haven't been "only overweight" since college. A friend dug up some photos of me from 10-11 years ago and I was so FAT in those pictures. I thought I was skinnier back then...nope, I wasn't. I'm the slimmest I've been in many years. I'm still fat, but not VERY fat. YAY!

A downward trend...again?

They say when you bust a plateau you drop a lot of weight in a short period of time. I dropped 2 lbs overnight; I've been eating more but I have also changed my workout to incorporate more strength training and a bit less cardio. I have some weak areas (mostly upper body) that I've really been focusing on recently.

Hoping this isn't just a fluke...time will tell...I'm very nearly no longer officially obese and I'm excited about that!

The water seems to be gone....

I've dropped some weight, I'm sure most of it was water....so the water appears to be gone though my fingers are still a little puffy and stiff so I'm still retaining some.

I believe it's due to a medication prescribed by my doctor for the acne caused by the weight loss. The medication is called spironolactone and since it also acts as a diuretic I'm guessing it dehydrated me and caused me to retain water. Another unpleasant side effect of it is it causes constipation. I waited a week after running out to refill my prescription and if you do that, you get to experience those unpleasant side effects all over again.

I'm guessing that didn't help the plateau.

I've also changed my workout routine; I had been using the elliptical nearly every day for many months, and when I became too busy at work to go to the gym at lunchtime I would do the 30 Day Shred video. Now when I go to the gym I change it up, using the stair stepper, treadmill for HIIT, stationary bicycle, etc. I've also increased the weights on my strength training, as I noticed I could no longer "work myself sore" with the weights I was lifting. Now I AM sore!

I have also increased the calories I'm eating; I noticed that I was averaging between 1200-1300 calories a day, a side effect of being "too busy" to eat. I am gradually ramping up my caloric intake back to a reasonable level. 1200-1300 is not enough for a woman my size.

Retaining water! Ugh!

I ran out of one of my medications (for the acne caused by losing weight) and one of its side effects was dehydration. Since I ran out a few days ago, I've gained 2 lbs of water weight; I know it's water weight because my fingers are stiff and a ring I wear on my right hand is tight when it is normally pretty loose. I've been drinking lots of water to try to flush it out but so far, nothing. I am refilling that prescription today and hopefully that extra water should GO AWAY!

I've been so good with workouts, going to the gym, my diet, etc. It's FRUSTRATING.

One thing I've noticed....

At my peak weight, I popped Zantacs like they were M&Ms. I used to wake up in the middle of the night with horrifying heartburn. The pain was excruciating. I'd go through a bottle of that stuff every 2 weeks.

Now?

I haven't taken one in I don't know how long. I don't get heartburn anymore!

A photo, finally...

...but since it's me in my pajama bottoms and bra, I won't post it directly here.

It's a side-by-side comparison of me at 245 lbs and again at 189.6 lbs.

You can click HERE for it; be warned, I'm scantily clad. However, I figured if I was going to take photos, I needed to be 100% honest. These photos are mostly for my own comparisons but they're some of the only ones I have of my journey, so I've pasted smiley faces over my own face to maintain my privacy.

Be kind!

I see...180s!

Weighed in at 189.6 this morning!

YES!!!!!!!!!!!!

I haven't seen the 180s since I was in college, and I graduated from college almost 12 years ago. I am the THINNEST I've been in 12 years. How cool is THAT?

Body measurements, then and now

I didn't measure myself at the very beginning and I am kicking myself for that, but...

On 08/20/2008, my stats were 41/42/49.

Today, they are 34/32.5/40.5.

WOW!

Slow but steady downward progress....

Slowly but surely the scale is moving down again, and the measurements I took this morning indicate that I am still losing inches...I think this plateau may be busted. I hope so. I've been varying my workouts and trying to not pay so much attention to what I eat. I had a couple of "cheat days" where I took no notice of what I ate and just ate what I wanted. Maybe it "shocked" my metabolism. Who knows. 191.2 lbs this morning!

That's a total loss of 65.4 lbs so far. WOO HOO!

...or maybe not?

I was very diligent with my food and exercise over the weekend and weighed in at 192 lbs this morning. I've never seen the scale that low. We'll see if I can keep this up!

I have to accept it...this is a plateau.

I have been stuck in the mid-190s for a while now. It's so immensely frustrating. If anyone has any plateau-busting tips I'd appreciate it! I've already changed up my workout. Thanks!