XPOST: After 15 Months, 4 Days, and 245lbs Lost.... I am in ONDERLAND!! (w/ pic)

Ok, so if you heard some crazy person "wooohooooo-ing" and celebrating this morning.... it was probably ME yelling all the way from Central PA!!! Why? Because as the title of my post states, 15 months and 4 days (who's counting??) after starting my journey to a healthier, happier, life - I am in "ONDERLAND" at 199.2 lbs after losing EXACTLY 245 lbs.

As you  may or may not know, I've been going CRAZY over the scale and have really been struggling to get it to move for awhile now. On Wednesday, I decided to pull myself together, try to get really strict again with the eating, and I gave the scale batteries to my husband so I would stop the obsessive weighing. Although my eating was not perfect for those 4 days... it just goes to show that tightening up is important because I finally got to where I wanted to be!

I cannot be happier today. I do realize that it is just a "number on the scale" but it really does mean a lot to me. When I started, I never thought I would actually get here. This is the weight I was at about 10 1/2 years ago and it was my heaviest weight in high school. When I got a physical for the upcoming basketball season and I saw "200" on the scale, it scared me into losing 30 lbs down to 170 which is where I was at when I graduated. When I started college, the emotional eating went out of control and I ended up 444.2 lbs.

I never want to go back to that life. Things are so much better now. While I will say that losing weight doesn't guarantee happiness in a person's life.... it really made my great life as close to perfect as it could possibly be. I am so grateful to have this second chance - I really hope that I don't blow it. I will NEVER say "X amount of lbs gone forever" because I know better.... I know just how easy it is to start gaining, head down a dark path, and live in a scary place called denial.

Where do I go from here? Well, I'm going to continue to try and be strict with my diet. If I fall off that wagon, so to speak, then I'm just going to get back up and try again. I'd still like to hit the high end of a "normal BMI" at 174ish lbs however, we'll see how that goes! I'm going to do the BodPod testing to get an idea of what my body fat % is and then reassess. I would be happy if I spent the rest of my life at this weight; however, I do want to be as healthy as possible - especially since I'd like to start a family in the next couple of years!

I'm hoping to meet my goal of finishing the Couch25k app by the end of this week (end of Feb.) I have already ran one day of Week 9 for 30 minutes and it was exciting! I hope to run my first 5K in mid-April! I NEVER in a million years thought I would be able to finish the app when I started it 3 months ago!

So, I know I just posted a before and "during" photo the other day and I'm being a bit of an attention ***** - but here is another! I bought this dress - a size 12 - over the weekend and to celebrate this BIG scale victory, I'm wearing it at work today. I feel like I could take over the world LOL!!

BEFORE - 444 lbs!

"DURING" - 199.2 lbs

ive been waiting for this post!  congratulations Nikke!

how do you make 199 look like 149 ?  really now!  good grief! 

THANK YOU!!!

lol... it's this particular dress... for some reason it does something for me... makes me look more svelte than I really am... I never want to take it off!!!!! haha

I'm also about 5'10" - that helps lol!

Nikke, what are your walking and jogging speeds as far as the Cto5K ?  I've been looking up on the internet and I see a lot of people walking at my jog speed and running like 6 mph!   but I'm wondering if these are lifelong athletes who weigh 120 lbs, know what I mean?  Not people recovering from severe morbid obesity. 

I walk at 3.2  and job at 4.1

anyone else's input would also be welcome.

Hi Lisa!

I don't do the Couch to 5k program but I do run.  My normal speed is about 3.5 to 4 mph for walking and 5 mph running but I have been working my way up to that over about 4 or 5 months.  I started running around 4.5 mph and walking at 3 to 3.5. 

Sometimes I push myself to do 5.5 for a minute or two during my intervals and I heard that's a good way to increase speed. Whatever speed you are going, you are still running! That is the most important part.

I walk at a 3.5 and I run at a 5.5. I think A LOT of it depends on your height. Sometimes I look over at the other women at the gym and they look like they are running much faster than I am.... yet their machine says they are going at 4.5 MPH. I'm sure it has to do with them having shorter legs... because it looks like they are working much harder to keep up with a slower pace! SO, I think it all depends on the person, really? I'm not an expert though!

Good point.  You're probably right about the leg height theory. Thanks for sharing, Skinny Beans!  ;)

I commented on your post in the other forum but wanted to say here again that I'm so happy for you and it really does blow my mind that you lost a friggin large FOOTBALL player's worth of weight in 15 months!!! You lost more than most of the people on lightweights board ever weighed! LOL

You are awesome!!!!!! Mark this day down and remember it. It's a huge milestone.

THANK YOUUUUUU!!!! It's hard to imagine at this point carrying that much weight around... but I did it for a long time. I really really really hope I never go back there!

I just can't with your before pics.  That does not even REMOTELY look like you!  I don't even words now.  Congrats!!  :D

Jen