Who Is Sunny?

Hi! I’m a 58 year old gal (as of 9/16/09 LOL) with a lot of weight to lose, but all the desire in the world. My starting weight was 197.5. (eta: my actual starting weight was 201, in Dec., 2008. I just mentally blocked that out until 8/1/09. LOL!) Started Prevention Magazine’s Flat Belly Diet April 18, 2009. It starts with a 4 day Jump Start, and I lost 5 lb. in those 4 days, and then another pound to make it six pounds in five days. But after that, I decided I was only going to weigh in weekly, on Fridays. I eventually started a category here to log all of that, but dropped it when it was clear this was a life plan, I could stick to it, and didn't need to publicly do it that way.

About 3 weeks in, I changed to the South Beach (low carb, healthy carbs) diet. I've been on it ever since, and the results speak for themselves. (as does the daily dancing I do as my sole form of exercise.)I try to keep to 1,200 calories a day during this weight loss phase. Once I get to maintenance (which should be sometime in February, 2010), we'll see what i do about calories.

This much I know: I have an addictive personality. I inherited it. When menopause hit (ok, peri-menopause), I started drinking, because I just loved the way I felt from a nice glass or two of wine at the end of the day. The glasses just kept getting bigger. Then, about 2 years ago, the kidney stones started. I had kidney stone surgery, and kept getting more stones because I didn’t keep the water drinking up and didn’t give up the alcohol (I had uric acid stones, so any alcohol was a big no no), etc. Last summer, my 2nd grandson was born, and 2 days later I had the worst kidney stone attack I EVER had. Spent hours in the E.R., and the 2 stones they found were huge and were going to need to be surgically removed. AGAIN. I felt like such an idiot. So from that day, July 5, 2008…I stopped ALL ALCOHOL. Not a single, solitary drop since. I thought it would be harder (stopping) than it was; the memory of that last ER visit, the pain, crying outside the Cat scan room, in a wheelchair, with my husband, because the pain was so great…was all the motivation I needed to give up booze forever.

Problem was, about 6 months later, for the FIRST time in my life, I fell in love with chocolate. What an idiot! So any weight I might have lost from stopping the booze, ended up staying because of the new chocolate addiction. Finally, I just got sick of it all. I knew it all had to end. I have a great husband, two great daughters, two adorable grandsons, a great job…what the hell was I doing throwing it all away being so overweight? I was struggling on my blood pressure med, and I knew I was facing an early grave if I didn’t get my act together. So I researched, and fell upon the FBD from Prevention Magazine. Basically, it’s the Mediterrean Diet (which my heart and my doctor love), but with a stronger emphasis on MUFA (mono-unsaturated fatty acids)…the GOOD fats/oils for your body. And this time, failure is NOT an option. THIS TIME, I’m going to addict myself, willingly, to healthy living.

So that’s my story up to date. You can call me Sunny. I firmly believe I have plenty of sunshine years left!

eta: Here’s a gutsy “before” photo of me, taking the morning I started this journey, on 4/18/09. 197.5 doesn’t go very far on a frame that stretches to reach 5 ft. 2 inches. It is EMBARRASSING….but I’m owning up to who I am / what I’ve made of myself. After all, I won’t be able to reach my goals if I don’t accept what got me to the starting point. Plus, any time I need some additional motivation, all I have to do now is come here, look at THIS photo, and voila! Motivation up the wazoo.

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STARTING / BEFORE PHOTOS:

These two pictures are me,

on my starting date, which was

4/18/09.

197.5 ugh!

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TWENTY POUNDS LOST (7 weeks, 2 days from start):

This is me, at my ‘20 lbs. lost!’ day,

6/8/09

Better. Definitely, definitely better!

(different top, but shorts are the same. Notice that they are skin tight at above the knees above, not so much on this photo. hehehehehe)

OK, here's my updates at SIXTY pounds lost, in November, 2009!