2012 Review - 84 pounds down (with pics)

2012 has been a very eventful year for me. 

Looking back, I could barely walk a block at the beginning of the year.  My asthma was a constant problem, and my wheezing was known to keep me up at night.  I even broke a chair in January in front of a roomful of my friends (to be fair, it was a cheap chair, poorly assembled, but it was still my gigantic butt that was in the chair at the time that it broke, so it's my bad). 

The chair in question.  Yes, the incident scarred me for life.

My back was constantly sore - I could not stand for more than a minute or walk any distance without severe pain in my back.  I skipped breakfast and lunch, then ate minimal dinners, and was not losing weight in any significant way.  I was depressed and sore and constantly exhausted, and my family feared for my health. 

Since those dark days, and since breaking that chair (!) I started exercising, started paying attention to what I was consuming, began drinking water instead of diet Pepsi, stopped drinking quite so much alcohol, and began tracking my food.  Somewhere during the summer, working out became a daily habit with me (I haven't missed a workout in 31 weeks).  Sometime around then my food cravings stopped, as well (I still enjoy food, but I no longer binge or crave the same things I used to).

I went from working out on the recumbent bike for 7 minutes a day 5 times per week in January to 50 minutes on the elliptical machine, 6 days a week, plus free weights 3 times per week by December.  I have gone from not being able to walk a block without pain to being able to walk 5 km in a stretch with ease.  On Labour Day this fall the Nerd and I even went for a 6 mile walk.  Sure, we were both exhausted by the end and we might have had sunstroke and I was burned red as a lobster, but we did it.  And we could do it again. 

And I have lost weight along the way. 

My official end of the week check has me down 84 pounds from this time last year, for a weight of 249.9 pounds.  That's 25% of my original body weight, and 50% of my weight loss target - - gone.  From this week onwards, I have officially lost more weight than I still have left to lose.  To put these numbers into perspective, Dominique Moceanu weighed less than 84 pounds when she competed at the Olympics in 1996 - - I have officially lost a person's worth of weight (sure, a tiny person, but a person nonetheless). 

My immediate short term goal now is to get down to 237 pounds, for a BMI of 35.  This would put me into Obese Class I (according to the Government of Canada), which is a huge improvement from Obese Class III where I started.  With luck, I should be able to hit this target in about a month or so.  My next major goal will be to reach the 100 pounds lost mark, which should happen in another couple of months.  If things continue to go well, my next objective would be to reach a BMI of 30 (at around 203 pounds), which puts me at merely overweight (instead of obese).  This particular milestone would be a huge one, as I have been obese for about a decade now.  From there, it is a mere hop, skip and a jump to Onederland, or 199 pounds.  This could happen as early as July or August, depending on how well I stick to my program.

So much for the short term and mid term goals.  What are my numbers so far?

I lost 4.5" off my various bits and pieces this month, despite attending 9 (!) social events.  In addition to Christmas dinner with the Nerd's family, there was my firm's festive non-denominational holiday party, lunch out with my assistant, and dinners with friends (3) as well as a wedding, a family get-together, and a Boxing Day party.  Thank god for the elliptical machine, is all I say.  So far I have lost almost 34" off my body compared to when I started, more than the bustline of the average working model.  These inches translate to 3 full dress sizes lost.

 My fasting blood sugars this month have been fantastic.  Well, fantastic for me, anyways.  Not normal, but lower than last month, with 9 normal readings, and 4 normal readings in a row at the beginning of the month:

 The above chart shows my daily fasting blood sugar readings for the past 3 months.  Yellow readings indicate slightly elevated blood sugar (5.6 - 6.9 mmol/L), while green readings are normal (below 5.5 mmol/L).  I don't know what happened in October, but you can see November had some normal readings while December was my best month yet - - my fasting blood sugar average for the month was 5.7 (only slightly elevated), down from 5.8 last month.  Not normal yet, but certainly trending in the right direction. 

I can definitely see changes in my face over time as the weight has come off, as shown in the photographs, above.  While there may not be too much to distinguish between two photos taken one month apart, I can really see changes when comparing this month to last year at this time:

 The only constant between the two photographs is the unruly hair: plus ça change, plus c'est la même chose.  

Whatever I am doing seems to be working, so I my plan is to keep on doing it, consistently, in the coming year.  The Nerd and I are going to add some boxing to our routines, for interest and variety, and I am sure I will have a lot to say about that as I start trying it out.

In summary:

Pounds lost this month: 9.1
Total pounds lost: 84
Pounds still to lose: 82.8
Inches lost this month: 4.5" (33.9" total)
Clothing size: US/Can 20 (plus size 20)
Average fasting blood sugar: 5.7 (down 0.1)
Number of ankles: 0
Number of cankles: 2 (sigh)
Number of clavicles seen: 0 (I remain optimistic that these will appear one day ...)