(March 25, 2013) Well, that last 20 lbs that seemed so easy to lose 2.5-3 years ago was also pretty easy to gain back. Working on getting back down to 165 lbs. Focusing on eating healthy foods & running again. It's been a lot harder for me to maintain or lose weight since I went gluten free a bit over a year ago, but I think I've finally figured out how to work around that. I had the most success when I was consistently blogging on here & was really involved with the SparkPeople community, ...

(March 25, 2013) Well, that last 20 lbs that seemed so easy to lose 2.5-3 years ago was also pretty easy to gain back. Working on getting back down to 165 lbs. Focusing on eating healthy foods & running again. It's been a lot harder for me to maintain or lose weight since I went gluten free a bit over a year ago, but I think I've finally figured out how to work around that. I had the most success when I was consistently blogging on here & was really involved with the SparkPeople community, so I'd like to try that again.

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Achievements, Goals, Stumbles (i.e., My Journey):

09/08/07 Started SP, aim for 1 lb/week--no exercise (245 lbs)

02/06/08 Met 1st weight loss goal! (220 lbs)
07/01/08 Started maintaining, 40 lbs lost!! (~204 lbs)
09/08/08 1 year Sparkversary (~204 lbs)
10/30/08 Defended dissertation/received PhD (~210 lbs)

07/01/09 Moved to CA, started new job (~205 lbs)
09/08/09 2 year Sparkversary (~205 lbs)

02/05/10 Recommitted to SP, aim for 1.5 lbs/week (214 lbs)
03/08/10 Started C25K
03/17/10 Started wearing a size Large!!
03/20/10 Met 2nd weight loss goal! ONEderland!! (198 lbs)
04/03/10 Santa Anita Derby Day 5K (walk) (53:36)
04/06/10 50 lbs lost!! (194 lbs); fit into tight size 14 jeans!!
05/10/10 C25K Graduate!!!
05/16/10 First 5K race!! Santa Monica Classic 5K (run) (36:48)
05/22/10 Size 12 jeans!!!
05/29/10 Met final weight loss goal!! 60 lbs lost! (185 lbs)
06/01/10 New scale
06/02/10 Size Medium tops!!!
06/05/10 Below driver's license weight!! (179.6 lbs)
06/12/10 First date in ~8-9 years!!
06/16/10 DGOTD!!! Thanks DONE Girls!!!
06/16/10 Size 10 jeans!!
06/26/10 175 lbs!!
07/10/10 New 5K PR! Pasadena City College 5K (run) (35:32)
07/18/10 30% lost from highest weight: 171.5 (171.2 lbs)
07/19/10 170 lbs!!
09/02/10 164.8 lbs!!! DONE!!!
09/08/10 3 year Sparkversary (168.6 lbs)
Started maintaining, 80 lbs lost!! (~165-170 lbs)

06/06/11 Gained back 5 lbs (in a week): 175
08/30/11 Gained back 5 lbs (in a week): 180
11/30/11 Gained back 5 lbs (in a week): 185

02/25/12 Gained back 5 lbs (in a week): 190
03/02/12 Started weighing daily again
05/28/12 Gained back 5 lbs (in a week): 195
07/01/12 190 lbs!!
08/11/12 185 lbs!!
09/01/12 Awesome 80's 5K (run/walk) (45:15.3)

01/19/13 Moved to Santa Barbara for new job
04/18/13 Whole30 Day 1!

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Previous Intro's:
(March 2, 2012) Title: Riding the weight roller coaster I like roller coasters, I really do, but this is getting old. I've been slowly gaining back the weight I lost in 2010 probably since around April/May 2011. This tends to happen when I start focusing on work again & neglect myself. After careful analysis (read: I glanced at my weight chart from the past 4.5 years), I can easily conclude that I lose weight/maintain my weight loss when I track my weight daily & gain weight when I don't--I'm guessing this is because it keeps me mindful of my food intake (I also looked at my chart for tracking food, it doesn't actually correlate well with my weight--apparently, if I track my food daily without tracking my weight daily I gain weight, but if I track my weight daily without tracking my food I either lose weight or maintain). So, that's the plan: to track my weight daily (& to continue tracking my food & exercise). I want to lose the 20 lbs I've gained back in the past 10 months & then maintain at 170 lbs.

(September 2, 2010) Title: Maintaining again... Here I go updating my title & intro text again. I have just reached my new maintenance range (160-165 lbs) after 7 months of dedicated Sparking. I've lost 50 lbs over those 7 months, bringing my total weight loss to 80 lbs over the past 3 years. Maintaining does not mean going back to old (bad habits), it means (for me) continuing the new good habits in a more relaxed way. I've been experimenting with not tracking my food for the past 2 months (somewhat stressful for an obsessive tracker) and will continue in this manner: adjusting what I eat depending on the scale, how my clothing fits, how I feel, how my runs are, etc. I'm incorporating more strength training into my routine with a pilates + strength training class twice a week in addition to my cardio (running & walking--actually mainly walking). Basically, I'm just going to be living life & enjoying my new body & what it can do.

(June 1, 2010) Title: A Moving Target. My title used to be "Moving past maintenance", see below for why. I've updated it because I think my new title more accurately represents my journey from now on. I reached the final weight loss goal I had set for myself in 2007 at the end of May (185 lbs). Woohoo!!! However, I am still carrying a lot of unhealthy abdominal fat and some extra weight in the hips & thighs as well, so I'm lowering my weigh loss goal. I'm not sure what my "ideal" weight is (my guess is ~160-165 lbs), but I'm just hoping that I'll know it when I see it, so I'm taking this 5 lbs at a time.

(February 2010) Title: Moving past maintenance. I started on SparkPeople in Sept. 2007 when my doctor recommended the site. I was looking for a website that allowed me to take a healthy approach to weight loss and not become obsessive about it; SparkPeople was perfect for that. I approached my 2nd minigoal (I had 3 goals, each approx. 20 lbs apart), but then moved into a maintenance phase as I defended my PhD and moved on to a new job across the country (successfully maintained a ~40 lbs weight loss for 1.5 years, go me!!). Now that I'm settled out here I'd like to continue what I started and reach my final weight loss goal.
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I'm a DONE girl:

I'm DONE being the fat girl.
I'm DONE with being the pretty girl who is photogenic from the shoulders up.
I'm DONE with plus sizes.
I'm DONE with Spanx!!
I'm DONE with being scared of ONEderland because of my former eating disorder.
I'm DONE with cover-ups at the beach.
I'm DONE with year-round long pants--bring on the shorts!
I'm DONE with worrying about taking up too much space on an airplane.
I'm DONE being asked if I'm on a diet when I turn down unhealthy food.
I'm DONE with making excuses.
I'm DONE with putting work first.
I'm DONE with telling myself I can't do it.

I am so, so DONE!!!

DONE girls Springing into Summer Challenge 2010
Bahama Mamas Team!!
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Read More About BRILLIANTAQUA (Updated April 27)

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