Progress Photos: I've lost 51 pounds so far! 8 Months Weightloss Progress!

byn (63)in #health • 7 years ago (edited)

The photos are all mine, from my facebook page FitspirationOver40

This year has been the year of making sustainable changes (Sustainable being the challenging part for me, since I always want to go to extremes... but since I can't maintain that long term, I'm challenging myself to make my changes and habits sustainable!).

It has also been a year of working on my attitude and my emotional mental health as much as my physical health. I'm still a work in progress, but... here is my progress thus far and I must say, I'm feeling so much better BOTH emotionally and physically!

My first monthly update post :) HAPPY DANCE I'VE LOST 51 POUNDS int he last 8 months!!! HOLY BEANS!!! (Only 2 of those pounds are from this month, mainly because of Thanksgiving YUM!)

**My debilitating depression from earlier in the month finally lifted. It was somewhat sudden and has pretty much went away for the time being (wheeee bipolar!) but I'm okay with that. I'll take the break!

If you're trying to change your physical self: TAKE PHOTOS OF YOUR PROGRESS! It still always surprises me when I take new photos and see the changes. Hell, I have found myself worried that my scale has broken when I see numbers below 200! (Started at 243.5 early April and hit 192.2 this morning)

I don't have a lot of wrinkles/lines, but what I did have appear to be getting better (they basically appeared as I lost weight and I thought they were just going to be part of the deal now, but they seem to be getting better) My brows themselves seem to be filling in, too??? I keep noticing changes that I never expected and don't know if I can attribute that to the fasciablaster and increased blood flow to my face.

Regardless, I'm still thrilled with my progress and feeling so relieved at the lack of loose skin as my weight drops! I was seriously concerned that after gaining so much weight and then being well into my 40's (okay so I'm 46) that I'd have sagging skin to contend with. I don't know if it's solely because of the fasciablaster, the fact that I'm not doing a crash diet (losing super fast) or if it's just really good genes, but whatever it is, I'll take it!!!

My belly is definitely losing more slowly than anything else (my legs lost their fat first and look better than they EVER have) but its all moving along!

How am I doing it?

I don't "diet" but I do track calories every day. Some months I pay close attention to macros, sometimes I lower carbs, sometimes I only make sure I stay under 1800 calories a day. That calorie goal may change in the future as I lose weight, but I'd much rather just add in exercise instead of taking away calories right now. We'll see. For now I'm happy to see the scale continue to move down gradually.

I usually do some sort of intermittent fasting and eat somewhere between the hours of noon and 9:00pm, but I don't stress it too much. That just helps me kick the night time snacking and not stress about the fact that I don't like to eat in the mornings :)

I use the fasciablaster usually about once a week, sometimes twice a week, but still only hitting the full body once a week, total (some days I do the lower half one day and then the upper half another day in the same week, but rarely do I manage to find time to hit any one part more than once a week now.)

I exercise... but pretty minimally. I have a monthly fitness challenge group on facebook and last month I did an 'exercise of the day" and sometimes that is the ONLY thing I managed to get done, especially when my depression hit, but in general, I guess I'm just generally lazy. I'm really trying to work on that, though! I want to be more active, sure, but I also want to be stronger. One of my goals for 2018 is to be able to do pull ups without help!

You can see one of my workout stations here in my bedroom: The yoga mat for floor work as well as one of my kettlebells.

Here is our main workout station. My husband built these stall bars for me (and the pull up/dip station) and we found an excellent deal on battle ropes (my FAVORITE workout) and resistance bands. He and I made our own TRX style straps as well.

I keep little 'workout stations" throughout my house. I have kettlebells in my bathroom-sauna-blasting room and use them for when I'm blasting and do a few squats or other KB exercises when I get up to use the bathroom. I have a yoga mat and another kb by my bed that I use for doing a set of something or yoga type stuff here and there throughout the day. I have resistance bands, stall bars, a battle-rope and a DIY sandbag for workouts in the living room that I stop and use to do a set of something whenever I go to the kitchen. I might not be very organized, but I get moving a little bit throughout the day which works better for me.

I'll probably post on this topic as I reach new goals and such. This month I'm challenging myself to do planks every day and work with the battleropes in one form or another each day.

Other posts of mine that you may be interested in:

My #introduceyourself post