Crispy's WW Story

Me at the Muppet Fountain in Walt Disney World - 09/2007. Damn I'm cute! :)

Update - March 2008 - Yup, here I am, still maintaining my weight. I tend to hover between 196 and 198 nowadays. It's all good. I read a study a couple weeks ago that said people who maintain their weightloss for 2 years have HALF the risk of regaining their weight than "newer" losers. I thought, "Hey - that's me!!" Cool.

And then there's my bodyfat. I was tested in October 2006 and was 50% fat. (Crispy = NOT lean meat!) Then in January 2008 I was just under 40% fat. My weight didn't change in that time, but I lost fat. Meaning I gained muscle! Yay! In fact, doing all the math, I gained about 20 lbs of muscle and lost 20 lbs of fat in those 15 months. Double cool.

Anyway, what I said below still holds. I've learned a lot. My body has continued to change. I feel better and better about knowing I have made lifelong changes. I'm not the same person I was, even when I first hit 100 lbs gone. And that's good.

And if you're interested, the NSV Page gets updated more regularly than anything else anymore.

Update - 7/23/2006 - Well, it's been another year since my last update - how about that?! I'm still alive and kicking. :) Haven't lost anything since last September or so, but I have maintained my 100 lb weightloss since then. And I think that is a pretty damn huge victory in and of itself. Lots of reasons, but I have to say, on the whole, I'm glad I've taken this pause of sorts. In the past year with no weightloss, I've:

Had my head catch up with the changes in my body
Learned how much I can eat and still maintain, heh heh
Watched my body continue to change, even while the numbers didn't -- things have tightened up
Been incredibly happy and had some big life changes
Enjoyed wearing the same clothes for longer than 3 weeks, hee hee...
Given my body a much-needed break from the stress of losing
Really practiced the whole "this is for life" business - I know now that I can do this forever

It's all good and I'm happy. I'm ready to start losing and get another 30 to 50 lbs off, too. But I've had a great year of learning about my new body, too. I won't call it a "plateau" because it was very self-induced in many ways, but my advice to you - don't be in such a rush to reach some magical number on the scale that you don't stop to appreciate what you've got at every step.

Me at Mt. Rushmore in June 2006

DC Cherry Bomb Get Together - April 2005
See more peeps from the WW boards I've met here!

Update 7/9/2005 - I'm sneaking up on 100 lbs gone, and, you know, it's been an interesting process past two years plus. It's amazing to me to see the person I've become / am becoming. She's someone who *likes* to workout (Ha - who'd'a ever thunk?!) and who likes to eat healthy things. Yes, when I started, I did spend alot time trying to figure out how to fit more Slim-A-Bears into my points. Over time, I've really come to learn about nutrition and care about what I'm actually eating. It took time and it was a process, though.

I started because I wanted to take care of my health, and I'm think I'm finally eating in a way that shows that. I originally started WW by trading the 100% crap that I was eating for smaller portions of still mostly junk. Lots of SF/FF crap. Eventually, I started to trade in the SF/FF crap for decent foods. I traded in "needing" a dessert everyday for needing fruits and veggies. Now, Core is here for WW, and the whole point of Core is to eat healthy and avoid the junk. Truthfully, I wouldn't have been able to do Core when I first started. That's not where my head was. I still don't do Core because I don't like the whole list idea of it. BUT!!! I really value that WW is making an effort to get us to eat healthier overall and worry about the content of our food beyond the calories, fat and fiber. Saw a great quote:

Enjoy your food, but feed the athlete you want to become

Yeah, that's it. Feed my body what it needs. What a totally novel concept to an ex-300 lb woman... :)

In the beginning... So, I had actually been a normal-sized child. About the time I turned 11 or 12, I started to gain and I've been overweight ever since. I was just moderately overweight through high school, hitting about 180 and size 16 by graduation. Then in college the freshmen 15 turned into the four-year 50 (or more!). I was wearing a 20/22 by then.

I lived in Japan after that, where I maintained my weight thanks to lots of biking around town. When I came back and went to grad school, my weight went up again. By the time I graduated there and moved back to Colorado to teach, I was around 270 and wearing anywhere from 22-26, depending on manufacturer. I maintained there then for 5 years.

I then came to work with my brother. And we ate out. Alot. And instead of teaching, which involved quite a bit of movement, I now sit all day. So, in about 7 months, I'd gained another 30 pounds and was over the 300 pound mark.

That was about the time that I realized it was time to stop and get to a normal weight. Type II diabetes is in my family as is heart disease, high blood pressure and the like. My doctor in Colorado had wanted me to do the Gastric Bypass Surgery and I'd thought about it. After doing some research, though - WHOA!! No way. Way, way, too scary. And I knew that truly, I had never really honestly tried to lose weight on my own.

A couple teacher friends of mine had had success on WW and it was what my doctor had tried to get me to do first, so I went. And I stayed. And I am so thankful and happy!! This is a great life change - I am learning what is a normal portion and what is actually healthy and what isn't and how to fit in those oh-so-delicious-and-oh-so-bad-for-you foods, too. I can live like this and lose weight!

Here I am pre-WW at my peak weight - in DisneyWorld. Yeah! That is my best friend in the whole world there. We've been friends since 3rd grade and she has always liked me as I am. She is an awesome support! And above - that's me down about 99 lbs, in my new kick ass seude jacket.

OK, test time, can you pick the 300 pounder out of the crowd? This is with my best bud again and her mom and "dad" - the picture was taken by Nic's daughter, the occupant of the stroller.
And if you'd like to see the Most Unflattering Picture of Me Ever Taken, then take a deep breath, gather your courage and Click here!
OK, Ok, in all fairness, this photo... may give that other one a run for its money.
Epcot!

Here is one with my bike, which is named Pegasus, who is quite the expert on racing triathlons by now. Don't tell him, but I'm seriously thinking of buying a road/racing bike for next year. Poor guy. This is summer 2004, and I'm down like 48 lbs or so here.

Here are the most current pictures.

Thanks for visiting - more pictures always coming as the pounds come off!

Crispy's WW Story

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