Nine months in

On the 7th of December, it was nine months ago that I started tracking on MyFitnessPal. I'd flirted with it as a weight loss scheme before, but always in conjunction with other things, usually with Weightwatchers points or my brief stint with Slimming World. This time, I kept things simple, using calorie counting alone. No points, no syns, no paleo, just 1200 calories a day, with additional allowance for exercise. I linked mfp to Runkeeper, so the apps keep track of each other. They each know my weight and can see what I've logged on either one, be it food or exercise. I like that. It automatically updates the info on one app when I input it to the other.

My fitness app section of my phone. They are all linked to Google Fit and keep track of each other. Surely I should be more worried about the Big Brother-iness of all this??? But I love it :-)

The result of keeping things simple has been success. By tracking every single mouthful, remembering that everything has a calorific value, even down to the DFM* and coffee, I've lost weight consistently. Almost every week, my weight has dropped to the point where I now look as if i don't have a weight problem, I'm still a bit chunky of thigh, and generous of arse, but within the parameters of the standard fashion industry. Dare I say, I look normal. Phew, I never would have thought this time last year that I'd be saying that so soon. It genuinely is down to tracking everything and trying like crazy to stay within allowance. I haven't made excuses this time around, or gone over my calories deliberately, telling myself that I'll make them up tomorrow. I either earn the extras for a treat, like my massive birthday feast last month, or I don't eat it. That simple. I won't always be able to be that strict with myself, I know that. Once I get to goal, I'll need to learn to relax a little. But for now, this works for me.

I had a tiny melt down between Sunday and yesterday because I had my first unexplained gain. I've gained twice previously, each by half a pound, and each as I was expecting my period. This time, it's not that time of the month, and it was just over a pound. Eek! Panic stations! What did i do wrong??? Not a damn thing. It's just what happens. And so long as I don't get all distracted by the fact that I didn't like the numbers on the scales for one Sunday out of forty ,I'll just keep doing what I'm doing, and have a loss this week. It took me to talk to my Facebook chums to get a sensible head on my shoulders. Many sage things were muttered in my cyber shell-like, and I particularly liked being reminded that those mortals out in the world, who aren't watching their weight, have fluctuations too. That's life. Our bodies aren't robotic, after all. 

Yesterday I ran and earned four hundred calories. I ate half of them. Sunday was an almost entirely exercise free zone, so I stuck to my 1200. Today, I've earned 400, so at most I will aim to eat half of them. If I keep to that plan, I'll know that regardless of the result, I'm doing nothing wrong, neither over nor under eating, and the weight will come off when it needs to. Would I like to be 153lbs by the New Year? Hell yeah! But if I'm not? I'm still a weight loss success this year. I'm healthier and happier with my body (droopy tits, loose skinned, bad kneed article that it is!) than I've been for twenty years. I have the support of my partner and family, as well as friends, both actual and virtual, and in general, I'm having a ball. Not to mention, it's nearly Christmas.

What's not to love?

*DFM - Dark Fizzy Master i.e. diet cola