It has been a while again since I posted. Today, I want to talk about my weight loss journey so far, how I plateaued, orthopedic issues and how I think I am bouncing back. Hopefully...
My peak weight in my life was 136.5 kg (301 lb.). That was terrible but, I never really looked in the mirror and dislike how I looked. I truly was in Peace with my body.
Every year, I had physicals and my results have never been bad till 2023. The test results were bad and the doctors gave a stern warning. This was in May 2023 but, I could not get my act together for a while after that. Then, as most of you know I found this young Korean Band I fell in love with and got inspired by them but, today, I am not going to talk about that.
I had seen someone post about putting together a Weight Loss Buddy Team and without even thinking I said, I was in. This was end of August in 2023. We had formed this WhatsApp group and at first we were sharing all our menus for every meal and weighing in on Mondays. This group worked for a while but, then some people started not reporting, self-sabotaging themselves and discouraging the rest of us. So, 5 of us decided to form a new group and stick with it.
This group has helped tremendously because, I am competitive and also, I do not like to bee seen as a failure by others. I know, it is petty but, that's how I am wired. By the end of 2023 I had done really well, turned my health around and the doctors were pleased.
The group disintegrated by early January. The youngest lady in the group reached her target, I was the second best and the rest yoyoed due to personal issues.
When I was left to my own devices in 2024, I have lost about 14 pounds during the whole year. My mojo was nowhere to be found. Yet, I kept my eating in check, kept using the app to count calories most days and at least not gain weight. Plateau big time.
In November last year, I decided to start seeing a dietician but that was also the time when Uncle came to visit me for over a month so, I really could not keep myself in check very well. I went to see an orthopedist regarding my plantar fasciitis problems but, he found out that my knees were in bad shape. It turned out that I will need a knee replacement surgery in a few years. He gave me some exercises to strengthen my muscles.
This devastated me for a couple of weeks. The fact that I was getting old hit me big time. I still want to travel, walk thousands of steps and see new places. How was I gonna do that? However, this also was a big wake up call to go back to being serious about weight loss.
I have decided to visualize my progress and that was the best decision. I will show you my Excel sheet below. The numbers are in kgs. This motivates me a ton, because I can clearly see how much I have accomplished and how much more I can push myself.
The light blue section is normal weight for me. Yellow signifies being overweight. The orange sections are levels of obesity. You can see that, I was morbidly obese when I started. However, now I am only three kgs. away from being just obese (Class I). This is about 7 more pounds. Seeing the huge dark orange section I was able to cross out is the best thing I look at every day.
I do not know how much more I can safely and realistically lose but, getting to even the lower end of Class I obesity will be huge.
Just wanted to write about all this. Hope, everyone is doing fine. As the Spring approaches, let's get excited about what we would like to accomplish this year. Peace!
