What a Difference a Year Makes

I rarely do blog posts about things not related to quilting or sewing so please forgive me today and indulge me as I bask in a little selfish glory.

One year ago today I began a journey, one I have set out on many times in my lifetime but this time I kept on going. I started counting calories............you probably know that in this modern day there is an app for that sort of thing, my son put me on to it.

So I downloaded My Fitness Pal onto my phone. I wasn't keen to do the boring calculation bit but the app is so helpful and even has a barcode reader to zap many, many products.
A few weeks in and a friend put me onto the Hairy Dieters books and their style of cooking really suited me, I bought all three of their books.
I started walking, just neighbourhood stuff but helped by another app, Accupedo, which syncs with My Fitness Pal.
As the weather deteriorated so did my walking zeal.

But the pounds began to drop off, I set little mini targets, I reached them, I set more, I survived Christmas without gaining an ounce.

When I had lost a whole stone (14lbs) I had dropped a clothes size.

For Christmas, my family bought me a fancy Garmin fitness band that I have worn every day since - it recently recorded that I had walked 1.5 million (yes, million!!) steps, since Christmas Day including my poor weather weeks at the beginning of the year.

When my daughter and family moved in for 5 months, she joined in and dropped over 20 lbs helpfully releasing some of her old clothes to me as I continued to move down the sizes.

Husband has now joined in (encouraged by a little advice from the doc) and he too is losing well.

I have learned a good bit about food and come to the conclusion that pastry is possibly the biggest evil, we don't eat so much pasta as we did, I now weigh up (excuse the pun) whether some "naughty" food is worth the cals.

As I approached the one year point my progress had slowed, so to achieve my goal in time I had a wee extra push this last couple of weeks and I am very happy to reveal that I have lost 51.5 pounds which is just over 3 1/2 stones, or 23.3 kilos (my goal was 50) I have dropped 3 dress sizes.

As well as learning about food I have been surprised by the psychological reactions/behaviour (?) I have experienced when shopping for clothes, not really believing that my new size will in fact fit. I slowly realised that I could shop pretty much anywhere I want.

So to conclude, I decided to write this personal post for two reasons. Firstly, to blow my own trumpet and secondly, I realised that I might just inspire one person out there who might have given up trying. I almost had, I had convinced myself that at 62 it would be almost impossible to lose weight.
It's not, and you can!!
The journey will continue but this time, there is no going back.