I started my weight loss journey in mid-May of 2002 weighing 244 pounds
as a 5'6" inch 38 year old woman.  I thought of Victoria's Secret models
as being a different species than me.  I put getting to 190 - the weight
I was before my second (of three pregnancies) as a reasonable goal.

I started by getting exercise regular.  I committed to working out 3 or
5 times a week for at least 1/2 an hour.  It took me a 12 week session
of "personal fitness program" at the Y to get there.  Sometimes I never
got dressed for the day because I was going to workout before I did
anything and it'd take me until 6 pm to finish procrastinating and go
get my workout done!

But three months of pressing forward and I was getting pretty normal
about exercise.  I wanted to be able to think of exercise the way I
think of brushing my teeth: I never say, "I don't have time today" or "I
don't want to get my mouth all frothy"... I just do it.  I reached that
goal: over time exercise has gone from "must do" to "miss it too much to
quit".  Put another way, now instead of "having" to exercise I "get" to
exercise.

But at the beginning of September, 2002 I had only lost 5 pounds, going
from 244 to 239.  It was time to address diet.  I *thought* I ate
healthy.  I probably did in that I didn't have any obvious junk food
habits or binging problems.  I just ate too much.  Really too much.  I
had no idea what normal portions were.  I also had pretty screwy ideas
about macronutrient ratios.

I read Mistress Krista and Body for Life and the Zone Diet and the
Glycemic Index diet books and pieced together an eating plan borrowing
heavily from all of them.  I also logged at www.fitday.com and worked on
bringing macronutrient ratios more into balance.  In practice this meant
examining every carb that was wondering near my mouth for fiber or
phytonutrients.  If it didn't have them then it didn't fit in my carb
calorie budget.

I also had to plan to get protein in my snacks.  I found that carbs
would always magically appear whenever I was hungry, but protein only
showed up if I preplanned and put it there.

I continued exercising, but brought it up a notch by doing my first
"Body for Life" twelve week challenge.  Now I did three twenty minute
"high intensity interval training" routines a week and three intensive
weight-lifting routines a week.

Fat started to fall off my in sheets.  I lost five pounds a month every
month for the next 8 months.  I never went hungry, I didn't need
willpower, it just worked like magic, this whole "eat less and exercise
more" thing.

I did a few more Body for Life challenges in 2003 but the fat loss
started to slow.  I concentrated more on powerlifting during this time
and made steady progress... sometimes regaining over vacations but then
losing again in the next month.

In late 2003 I started running to try to build back my endurance.  In
2004 I astounded myself by running a few races.  I was slow, I was fat,
but I was having fun.

In 2005 I ramped it up a notch by deciding to train for a triathlon.  I
stopped doing as much weightlifting (now I do a total body workout twice
a week with Nautilus) and started swimming and cycling in addition to
running.  I find my old joints can't handle any single activity five or
six times a week, but I can do each of them twice a week.

And my weight has started plummeting again.  I'm down 12 pounds in the
past 8 weeks.

So now I'm at my original hard to believe goal: I lost 80 pounds and
went from 42% body fat to 23% body fat.  I'm not exactly in shape to do
athletic pursuits like road races and triathlons, but I'm in pretty darn
good shape for a 40 year old mother of three with a sedentary job.

I'm also convinced that my body will continue to improve.  The longer I
act like a slender person the more my body resembles one.

I need to cut this short so I won't go into how much my family and
(surprisingly) career have improved, but I will close by saying that I
was wearing a tight size 22 this time three years ago.  Now I'm wearing
a loose size 12.  Change was slow, but it was real.

Gwendal
244/164.5/165
42%/23%/23%