Keeping It Off

Last year I lost 23kgs.

It wasn't easy by any stretch of the imagination and even now 11 months later I still catch my breath when I see "Fat Jo" pictures and compare to where I am now!

The Numbers

I weighed 115 kgs when I started on May 26th 2016, I am 160 cm short so this is where BMI says you are "Morbidly obese"...Sigh...That first weigh-in was soul destroying because I knew it was bad but I didn't realise at the time that it was 'That bad'... The shock of this couple with my health issues made me realise that I needed to do something and I needed to do it now! My mind was made up that I did not want to live like that anymore and this is the mindset I relied on to get me through the six months that followed.

In my first month of diet and exercise I lost 4 kgs and I was pumped! It was going into winter so the mornings were super cold but I was determined to see it through so I kept going... By the end of July I had lost a total of 10 kgs and I felt good! Between August and November I lost another 13 kgs and I was so pleased with myself!!! In total I dropped 4 dress sizes and halved my waist during what I now call, "The First Campaign".

Maintenance

I went into the Christmas Season a very happy woman with a new wardrobe and a spring in my step! I had become a street power-walker / runner in the warmer months and I kept this up while away for the Christmas break. I also decided to cut myself some slack on the diet front and enjoy food as I had had a restricted 6 months diet wise. 

I ate. I drank. I was merry.

On January 6, I went on the scale and it read 93.3 kgs - This was a pleasant surprise to me as I was really not methodical in my approach during the festive season so I was quite please that the damage was limited to 1.3 kgs! (Happy dance). The challenged I faced in the first quarter of the year is that I moved house some way away from my gym and I travelled quite a bit for work so exercise never really happened (not proud of that honest). 

Diet wise, I remained slack from the Christmas period and this was worse when away from home as I was having to eat out quite a lot... I was sure this would be the beginning of the "decline" back to that 115 kgs and I have to say I was really stressed out and yet at the same time inactive...The mindset of steel that got me through the first campaign seems to elude me now.

There are certain lifestyle choices I made during the first campaign that carried me through and have resulted in me keeping the weight off - Removal of sugar from my diet is one, whole grams over processed grains is another, drinking water and herbal teas, no starch at night, portion control, low salt and more all contributed to my overall diet being reasonably healthy though there were several "contraband" items like wine and spirit coolers that got in there more often than not.

Today I weighed myself and I am 92 kgs, testimony that I have after 4 months I have been able to maintain healthy eating habits that have enabled me to keep the whole 23 kgs off!

The Second Campaign

I am still considered "obese" based on my BMI rating which means I still have some work to do before my weight loss is down to a healthy level. I am gearing up (mentally) for another May kick off to "the second campaign"  with the same goal, to lose another 22 kgs to reach my goal weight of 70 kgs by Christmas. This will require a combination of clean eating and exercise as it took last time, the difference is that I have already achieved this and recently so I have confidence I can do it and motivation to do it.

I will feed back monthly so you can track my progress with me...