More than Just Pounds

Before you read about how I lost my weight, go ahead and read My Body Story if you haven't had already, which will tell you how I gained my weight to begin with.

I didn't change anything about my diet in 2019 but I started hiking.  Through hiking alone, I lost my first 15 pounds.  Now, I wasn't eating enough at the time, which had evidently slowed my metabolism down enormously.  I had just assumed I couldn't lose any more weight because of menopause from my hysterectomy that I had several years before.  After I lost the first 15 pounds through hiking, it all stopped, despite continued occasional hiking and I was stuck at 185 pounds for almost 2 years.

Then, I decided to not only up the exercise by hiking more and starting weight training once a week but I also joined WW at the end of May 2022.  I honestly assumed that we had to eat all our points - dailies and weeklies - before the week was up, so I did just that.  I was so full that I literally crammed food in and thought for sure there is no way this is going to work.  Imagine my surprise when I lost 2 pounds that first week and then continued to lose and by 12 weeks I was down, not only pounds but also dramatically went from a size 18 to a 6 on bottom and a 2X to a M/L on top!  I had a cheeseburger and fries or other fast food meal once a week every week and I ate 4 meals, every 3-4 hours every day.  I believe this all helped to fire up my metabolism and increase my calorie burn and BMR (basal metabolic rate).  I was also building muscle slowly through weight training once a week and I had increased my hiking to some weeks going 4-5 times!

WW changed their plan from Personal Points to a new plan in November 2022 and it really knocked me off my game and I ended up stopping counting points and turning to counting calories and macros instead.  I also upped my weight training to 3 days a week during that same time.  I went on to put on more muscle than I've ever had in my life and losing fat simultaneously, which was visible in the progress pics I kept.  Through January and February alone of this year, I was able to reduce my back fat significantly.  I felt like I was done and needed a break and have been maintaining my weight until this past week when I made the decision to continue my journey until June.  My goal is hopefully to see a reduction in abdominal fat as I finish up my journey and then focus on maintaining.