A few months ago, I read this article on CNN, and it rang true for me for the most part.

“People who are obese live with obese people. They find obese friends. Most (patients) don’t recognize how bad a lifestyle they have, how self-defeating a lifestyle is. They think that culture’s normal.”

As human beings we have a difficult time with change, Walz continues. So when someone we love alters his or her lifestyle, we have a problem dealing with it — even if that transformation is positive.

“Deliberately or not, the family, the friends, the other people who are part of that individual’s culture will resist the change,” Walz says. “(They) will try to change them back to what the culture tolerates.”

Luckily, I have not found this to be true for my friends. Hardly any of my friends are overweight, though, and they have been very encouraging. I never feel like they are trying to sabotage me nor have I felt any jealousy from them. But then, they already have what I want.

Today, I told my mom about how I am now at 74.7 kg, so under 75 kg (down another 0.4 kg from yesterday), and she told me not to get too skinny because she doesn’t think I am built to be real skinny. I remember getting these comments when I lost weight in 2005/06 (when my lowest weight was 73.3 kg, just a little under my current weight).

I do agree with her that I am not built to be skinny. I have a curvy figure – and I am not using curvy as an euphemism for fat – I mean, I am pear-shaped and I like the fact that I am.

But people, I am also not aiming for a goal weight of 60 kg. I do think that 65 kg is a realistic weight for me, at a height of 170 cm. I am currently still overweight at a BMI of 25.85, and I am definitely not too thin yet. I still have plenty of weight to lose from my tummy, butt, thighs and my upper arms. If I decide that I am happy with my figure at 68 kg, I am not going to force myself to lose another 3 kg just for the sake of weighing 65 kg. If I notice that my body is resisting losing another 3 kg, I won’t torture myself. I do want to be a healthy weight though, with a little buffer. And it may be my vanity talking, but I do want to weigh under 70 kg.

My mom mentioned how slim my face has gotten, and she is right that it has, but I don’t think that it’s too slim, and I also know that my face is one of the last spots I gain weight in so it only makes sense that it would be one of the first spots for me to lose weight in.

I still have about 10 kg to lose, and I don’t think that is overdoing it. I am actually eating a lot. I am working out a good amount but not too much. I eat back the calories I burn during exercise. I am not starving myself or denying myself anything. I don’t feel unhealthy or have a lack of energy. In fact, it’s quite the opposite. And my body is still readily shedding the pounds, it’s not resisting the weight loss and holding on to the weight. I am doing this the right way. It is sustainable, healthy, and consistent. So I won’t stop. I’m not at my goal yet. I don’t think I am getting too caught up in this weight loss thing, and I am not aiming for an unhealthy or unrealistic goal weight. I am doing great and I am doing the right thing.

I explained this to my mom, and I think it reassured her a little.

How do people in your surroundings react to your weight loss? Do they support you? Have they expressed worry that you might be losing too much weight?

My last weigh-in was a particularly frustrating one. I had been down 0.5 kg on Tuesday – completely undeserved really after the Saturday I’d had, consuming roughly three times my daily calories in food and alcohol – but I had lost 0.5 kg. Wednesday, I was up 0.5 kg from Tuesday, putting me at the exact same weight as the week before. So I logged it. Thursday, I was down 0.4 kg again. Worst timing ever, right?

I also realized that I had had some food that was quite high in sodium on Monday and Tuesday, and I knew that Wednesday’s high was probably due to water retention. I decided to stay away from sodium for this entire week, from Wednesday to my next weigh-in on Wednesday to keep this from happening again. I do think I am quite prone to gaining weight when I eat sodium-rich food so I usually avoid eating out and ready-made meals for 2–3 days before my weigh-in.

I have to admit that I weigh myself nearly every day. I only log Wednesdays but I weigh myself almost daily, and some days even twice, in the morning and evening. I think that as long as I don’t go mental over it, it’s okay, and it gives me a good idea of how my body is working, how it reacts to exercise and certain foods. But of course, this week was incredibly frustrating.

Friday, I was down even more from Thursday, and today, I was down a whopping 1.5 kg (3.3 lbs) from only three (!) days ago. I always log Wednesdays but I decided to make an exception this time and log today’s weight as well. I know that I am risking a gain between today and Wednesday or staying the same (especially with TOM due next week), but seeing this morning’s weight on the scale gave me such a boost.

I am 75.1 kg now – only 0.2 kg from my next mini goal of weighing under 75 kg which I really hope to reach either this upcoming Wednesday or the Wednesday after that, at which point I will have less than 10 kg left to lose.

I am also only 2.9 kg from a BMI under 25. My current BMI is 25.99. You have no idea what it means to see that 25. I am so close to being normal weight now, it seems almost unreal.

It has been about 2 1/2 weeks since I went off the Metformin and having a small gain of 0.3 kg the first week off meds, and no change the second week had me a little disheartened. I know that I am much healthier now than I was in August last year but I will not know for sure whether I have kicked the insulin resistance until August when I take an oral glucose tolerance test (OGTT) to check my insulin levels.

Until then, I am pretty much relying on my ability to lose weight without Metformin as an indicator of my health. Today’s weigh-in showed me that I can lose weight, and a decent amount of it too, without the Metformin, and I feel so much more confident now that I will be able to keep this up and reach my goal weight.

It was 12C outside so I wore capri running pants and a t-shirt for my run. It was so nice not to have to bundle up for this run. It really felt like it was spring for the first time this year. Let’s just hope it sticks around. I wouldn’t mind if we were done with snow and ice until November or December.

I really like this picture. Sometimes I need to see a picture of myself to see how much my body has changed. I feel like I actually look like a runner now. I never did before. I still want to slim down a bit more but I’m quite happy with where I am already.

On my run, I met another runner who made me wonder if he was running in an alternate universe, being that he was dressed up for temperatures roughly 10-20 degrees colder than it was. He was wearing a long-sleeved shirt, pants, gloves, and a hat. All I could think was, how is he not dying bundled up like that when running in 12C weather?

I ran a route that I hadn’t run in a while, though I realize now that it’s actually probably the best of all the routes I have run so far as it’s almost completely flat and longer than others. The lovely scenery is another plus. Such a shame though that there are no lights along the road so I can only run it while it’s light out – a problem everywhere in this area as soon as you leave the town.

I stopped to take pictures a few times along the way because it was too beautiful not to. I will have plenty of serious runs with no breaks in the evenings when it is too dark to take pictures anyway. I still ran a pretty good pace during the running interval and I am positive that my running will benefit immensely from the strength workouts I did during the 30 Day Shred. I should definitely keep up the strength workouts to work on my posture and pace. I think I will manage a sub 35 5k pretty soon.

It was so beautiful today, and I cannot wait for when it is light out again in the evenings. Should be as soon as next month when we switch to summer time. I am looking forward to running outside the town again and discovering more running routes this year.

It was definitely a great run. Aside from the other runner, I also met a Nordic walking group. A few weeks ago, I met a running group while going to the grocery store, so there seem to be a few runners in the area. I prefer running by myself, but I always get terribly excited when I see other runners here.

With the cold weather, snow and ice, there has been very little running in my life ever since that 10k in early December. While there were probably a few days that I could have gone for a run and didn’t, I do miss it. A couple of weeks ago, during the cold spell, I decided that it had been long enough since my last run. It was cold at -10C but it was also a gorgeous, sunny winter day. I just went for a short run of about 3 km, and it was tough on my lungs, but I also enjoyed it.

There is something about running along these snow-covered fields under a bright blue sky.

On Wednesday, as I was doing the 30 Day Shred – it was Day 29 – I felt like I could not work out in front of the TV another minute. I stopped my workout after Circuit 1, and decided that was it for the 30 Day Shred. I will write about my experience with the 30 Day Shred in another post. To make up for it, I went for a run. I just grabbed my running jacket, my key, and went out for a short run. I ran about two rounds (2 km) in 15 minutes and it felt so good. It was good to be running again, and that was when I decided that I needed to get into a running routine again.

Running according to a training plan takes up a lot of time as you run 3–4 times a week, but I really miss it. I enjoy working up to a certain time or distance. I enjoy being outside. I enjoy moving.

The past few days have been a lot milder and it feels like spring is in the air. I hope that the weather will get warmer soon, and that we won’t be getting any more snow. I have decided to start running regularly again, probably following the same 10k running plan I followed in the fall. I have definitely lost some of my fitness in the past two months, at least in terms of running. I can still run 4–5 km at a time though, so Jane Wake’s running plan seems a good starting point. I would love to run another 10k race in the spring so what better time to start than now?

I know, they were fantastic. They fit me so well. But no more. I currently own three pairs of jeans that fit me, and the magic jeans have become my least favorite. Why you ask?

Yup, that’s the same pair of jeans and they’ve gotten so big! I only lost about 7 kg since I bought them, but those 7 kg made a huge difference. One of my biggest pet peeves is when jeans don’t fit well, so I will be replacing them soon.

Non-scale victory? I’d say so!

Since then, it seems that my whole life has changed. I’ve already written a lot about everything that has changed since last summer in my review of 2011, so I will not repeat everything again, but I want to focus on my experience with MyFitnessPal instead.

I remember hearing about MyFitnessPal from other weight loss bloggers and as I was really unhappy with Weight Watchers at this point, I decided to give it a go. I installed the MyFitnessPal app on my iPhone and signed up.

I kept my Weight Watchers online membership for the remainder of August but then canceled it, and never looked back. I spent so much money on Weight Watchers for over a year and a half, and in the end, I weighed more than I did when I signed up. Don’t get me wrong, I am not blaming Weight Watchers for this, I know I would have lost weight if I’d actually stuck to the program, but it just wasn’t working for me anymore.

At first, MyFitnessPal was a bit daunting for me. I was annoyed with the huge amount of (duplicate) database entries and the fact that searching for ‘banana’ would not bring up a plain banana as the first result but a banana smoothie. I also had to enter a lot of foods that I eat seeing as the app (and website) is not available in German or very popular here, so German foods are hard to find in the database. But, once I got past that, I loved it.

MyFitnessPal is a simple but fantastic tool for tracking calories and macro nutrients, allowing you to lose weight healthily without doing a diet. (By the way, I do think that this is also possible with Weight Watchers.) In my opinion, that is the best way to lose weight and keep it off in the long run. I am so glad not to be on a diet, no foods are off limits for me, I just make sure that the majority of my calorie intake is made up of healthy food.

I think MyFitnessPal so easy to use, I love having a website and an app to enter food (something that I was missing with WW seeing as they took until December 2011 to come out with an iPhone app in Germany), and I love the support network that it comes with. I have met a bunch of great people on MyFitnessPal who support me every day, and even a couple of good friends.

I think that without them, I would not have done as well, as they keep me accountable day in and day out. I know that I have made huge progress in exercising will power but I do think that there have been a few moments that I probably would have eaten a few things if I hadn’t known that I’d have to log them and answer for them later. Of course, always provided that I log honestly and don’t leave off anything, but honesty to myself and others is a prerequisite for losing weight, in my opinion.

Six months ago, I doubted that I would ever make it this far. I didn’t really see myself weighing quite a bit under 80 kg, well, because I had never managed to get there on any of the other attempts since I first lost weight in 2005/06. I didn’t think I’d be running 10 km any time soon. And I would have never dreamed of becoming a person who would go out for a run in -9C. In a way, I have changed so much in the past six months. But I am still me. I did this.

After six months of logging at MyFitnessPal, I have lost 20.7 kg (45.6 lbs). My BMI has gone from 33.7 (obese) to 26.54 (overweight), and I only have another 4.5 kg to lose before I am no longer overweight. I have dropped a couple of sizes and I have become so much fitter and stronger, working out 4–5 times a week on average. I am a much happier person now than I was in August, I feel a lot more comfortable in my body and more self-confident. I am more active and a lot healthier. I am not giving MyFitnessPal credit for that, as I did this, so I think I deserve the credit for my weight loss – but I do think that MyFitnessPal is a great tool that made it all possible. I don’t think I would have done as well without it.

At a company meeting a couple of months ago, the CEO of my company brought up an idea. The wife of our janitor is a cook, and she offered to cook for us for lunch. Like a very small cafeteria, there would be two meals to choose from every day against a fee to cover her costs. The CEO also suggested that the company would cover part of the cost. It sounded like a great idea … for most people.
For me, giving someone else control over my meals is not an option. When you know what a difference a tablespoon of butter or olive oil make, you want to know exactly what is in the meal you are having every day for lunch.

And while this woman may be a professional cook, she is also an older woman from small town Bavaria. If you know traditional Bavarian food, you know that it wouldn’t be your first choice when trying to lose weight. I have my doubts that her meals would really be that healthy. I do think that for some of my co-workers (especially the guys) who live on a pizza, doner, and chicken diet, it would be a huge improvement. But for someone like me who is already very aware of what they are eating, it wouldn’t be that much of a beneit. I’d rather keep control over what I eat, knowing the exact ingredients and nutritional value of my meals.

Even though in the past few weeks, I have been slacking off a little with cooking lunch meals for work, and have bought microwave dinners at the grocery store a little too frequently, I still make good choices, always aware of the nutrition facts and choosing the healthier microwave dinner over another.

During the company meeting, I felt a little odd. I felt like the CEO was talking about me. Despite how open I am about my weight loss, when someone asks me about it, I noticed that it is still a sensitive topic for me. When someone talks about poor nutrition or unhealthy food, I feel like they are talking about me. It makes no sense because for the past six months, my diet has probably been better than that of most of my co-workers but in the end, I am the one who is overweight. My co-workers may eat crap all day, but they are skinny. I know that often people mistake skinny for healthy.

This company meeting happened in November, and I think my attitude has changed a litte since then. I realized that it is far more likely that the CEO was not referring to me when he mentioned unhealthy eating habits. But I sometimes worry that people cannot see past my appearance or will always remember me for how I ate during my first six months working there. Because, let’s face it, my diet was not good at all for a while.

Another thought I had with regard to this idea is to wonder if it is within the CEO’s right to suggest that a lot of his employees have a poor diet and that we eat more healthily. Of course he has an interest in our health, and many of us would benefit from this, but at the same time it is each person’s private business what they put into their mouth. Do you think he was overstepping boundaries?

How do you handle lunches at work? Do you have a cafeteria you eat at or do you bring your own lunch to work?

I realized that this had happened before. I also realized that the other time this had happened, I was out grocery shopping with the same friend as this time. I do think that part of it was that we went to a store I usually do not shop at as it is not possible to get to with a car, a much larger store with a much bigger selection of candy & co. Another reason was that I spent a lot more time browsing the shelves, usually I will not spend that much time on grocery shopping as I often get it done during my lunch break or right after work.

But I also think that there was something else to it. My friend bought a lot of snack type food for herself and her family, and I think part of me thought that if it’s okay for her to buy this type of food, it it okay for me do to the same. Like her buying chips, candy, etc. gave me permission to buy candy as well.

It’s much easier to say no when you are by yourself or everyone around you is also saying no. It’s so much harder to say no to the candy isle, when the person you are shopping with is saying “yes, yes, yes!”

I also think that in some weird, twisted way, I bought the snacks to show her that I was still allowing myself to eat everything, that I was eating normally and not depriving myself. Proof that I was still having “fun,” that I was no different from her or others. I think that I don’t like standing out as the one eating or buying “diet food” in the company of others.
I know this friend since May, so she has been one of the people who has noticed (and commented on) my weight loss the most. She recently made an off-handed comment that she’d prefer to lose weight slowly but in a sustainable way. As if that is not what I am doing.

For me, recognizing this pattern was huge. I think that it’s essential to recognize the reasons for a habit if you want to change it. And the fact that I made this realization shows me that I am making progress.

I first got the 30 Day Shred DVD in 2008 or 2009. I did it on and off for a few times but I never went further than Level 1. This winter, I rediscovered the workout and as boring as it can be, I really appreciate it for what it is: a demanding full-body workout that is done within 25 minutes.

About a week ago, after doing the 30 Day Shred for three days in a row, I decided that I would give doing it for 30 days straight a shot.

I knew that it would be demanding, seeing how I also wanted to run two times a week, and would have Zumba and belly dance classes starting up in February. Yes, belly dance. More on that in a different post.

Today, I am 11 days into the 30 Day Shred, and I can definitely feel an improvement, especially in strength. The cardio intervals were never too much of a struggle for me being that I run and do Zumba already, but the strength and abs intervals, oh my!

I did Level 1 for ten days and I could feel it getting easier and easier with every workout. Yesterday, I started Level 2. I had never done it before, and I really enjoyed it, though I struggled with all the plank exercises. But it is definitely a whole new challenge compared to Level 1.

Between the 30 Day Shred, and a run, a swim, and Zumba, I think this week was my most active week since I started this new lifestyle in August. I definitely felt the exhaustion after Thursday, which was my most active day, so I took a rest day on Friday.

I know how important rest is, and that was the one thing bugging me about the 30 Day Shred. When I decided to take a rest day on Friday, after ten days of Level 1, I also decided to do the same after finishing Level 2. While I love a challenge and know how good it is for me, both physically and mentally, I don’t want to overdo it or risk injury.

After Christmas, I had struggled with exercising regularly a little, especially with running in the winter weather, so I think this was just what I needed. I feel so much better when I exercise and I know that it is so good for my body too. I love how it only takes 25 minutes for me to get in a fully satisfying workout that consists of both cardio and strength training. It seems little time for a full-body workout.

Yesterday I even got up at 7:30am (on a Saturday!) to go for a swim. I never thought I would choose a workout over sleep, and I like this new me. It was so nice to be back home at 10:30 and have already gotten in a workout. I did the 30 Day Shred a couple hours later and then enjoyed the rest of my Saturday without having to worry about when to fit in the time for a workout.

Have you ever done the 30 Day Shred? Do you enjoy it? Which level is your favorite?