At this for 5 months...

...and have come so much farther than I ever thought possible!

Today, 5 months into this weight loss venture (January 3 was my official start date, but I go by beginning of each month now), I have hit the 50 pounds lost mark. It might not stick, but for today it is here. My 'tentative goal' starting out was to lose 55.6 pounds. I even thought that goal was a bit lofty to be able to reach in a year's time (well, a year minus 2.5 weeks). I wanted to get there by my 42nd birthday. And here I am 50 pounds down. Just 5.4 pounds from my initial goal. I just didn't realize how easy it would be once I started getting some sleep.

Sleep is everything to me. If I go short on sleep, I am grumpy. I make poor food choices. I ate more to survive the day - food provided me the energy I didn't get from a good night's sleep. And if you are tired, the last thing you want to do is exercise. It's such a vicious circle. Adding into that is once you get to a certain weight, you don't sleep as well so you are compounding the problem.

When I started thinking about this process, I had just come off of nearly 6 years of very poor sleep. Half my pregnancy I couldn't sleep due to restless leg syndrome and then I had an infant, then a toddler, and then a preschooler who couldn't self-soothe. When at 4.5 years old he finally started sleeping normally most nights and on his wakeful nights started to leave me alone, I then couldn't sleep for other reasons. I had those headaches. My head was always spinning/churning and then restless legs. I was a mess. When I started this journey. I was just out of that. I was just starting to sleep and I really didn't know how long it would last. After being plagued for so long with those awful headaches (and it had been building up for years), low energy from a bum thyroid (which had been on the low side probably for years and years), and of course, with all that lack of sleep. I really didn't know how I would manage to lose a bit more than one pound a week.

But fixing my thyroid (and it's still a bit low), getting rid of those headaches with blood pressure medicine (which I'm slowly weaning myself from as I get thinner and fitter), and getting better sleep has made all the difference in the world. Study after study keeps confirming, lack of sleep means people (especially women) pack on the pounds and we are a sleep deprived nation - no wonder we're obese as a nation. We drive everywhere and don't get enough sleep. I can't even blame what we eat, but it's how we run the rest of our lives.

Just Wow! I had this mental idea/thought in my head that was making my weight issue so much bigger than it was. I really thought giving up simple carbs would be near impossible as I was addicted, but man, so far, so good. (Hope I didn't just jinx myself!) I just don't need that crap! My mind also knows that those foods make me feel bad and I've had enough feeling bad to last a lifetime!

I've gotten so much more fit too. Last night I did a routine that used to be a 'max out' workout for me. Now, it's just right - not too hard and not too easy. Since it's a step routine, I can add a riser to my step to make it harder, so I won't outgrow it so fast. 2 months ago HARD. Now, just right. And a lot of my working out in the last month has been gardening which also goes to show, it's good for weightloss and improved fitness!

Keep your fingers crossed that I don't have to put the slice of pizza back tomorrow, but wow is it nice to see just three slices left! Who knows if I'll get there or if I'll go any lower than my 175 goal, but for now, I'm very happy with my progress. 50 pounds in 5 months! Wow! No starvation diet, just lost the simple carbs, and moderate exercise.

And, it's time for measurements again. In those 5 measurement points, I've lost 22.25 inches so far in about 4 months. I didn't have true start measurements, darn it!

Stats for 6/1/11:

Beginning weight: 255.6  Now: 205.4 (a bit more than 50 pounds lost!)
Exercise total hours in 2011: 175
Total miles walked/biked in 2011: 457.5/1000

Measurements:

Beginning chest: 47"  Now: 44" (change since last month: down 1")
Beginning Waist: 43" Now: 36" (change since last month: down 1")
Beginning Hips: 50" Now: 45" (change since last month: down 1")
Beginning Upper Arm: 17.75" Now: 16" (change since last month: down 0")
Beginning Thigh: 30"  Now: 25.5" (change since last month: down 1.5")