Kelly's World

At first I was extremely hesitant to upload this photo. Women are usually so secretive about their weights, you’d be hard pressed to get the information from them. Today I’m doing the extreme opposite. I’m sharing this information with the world. Tough, very tough.

I’m in the process of losing weight (you can read more about it here). Towards the end of last year I weighed myself, and got a reality check. I was the fattest I’ve ever been, and extremely unhappy about it. Rather than sit on the couch and scream “woe is me”, I did something about it.

I’d tried dieting before, but never really stuck to them because I’d never had that true motivation behind me. But the day I weighed in and saw my weight, and knew it was keeping me from achieving my goals, was the day I found my inspiration.

3 months later I’m now down 10kg. During the 3 months I’ve had periods where I’ve allowed myself to be indulgent – Christmas, New Years etc.But for the majority of the time I’ve maintained a healthy diet and exercised regularly.

This morning I cracked the 80kg mark. I’m extremely ecastatic, but the hard work isn’t over. I still have another 10kg to go before I begin the hard task of maintaining my weight. Putting my weight as the photo of the day for me today was tough, but I don’t think I could have it any other way. This was a major milestone for me, and I’m celebrating my achievement by sharing it with you all. Most importantly, I intend on NEVER, EVER getting this way again. Ever.

Thanks for looking.

**I should also probably mention the quality of the photo was never considered today. It was a quick happy snap from my iphone**

Back in September 2009, I was pretty fat. I was at the heaviest I’ve ever been my entire life, and definitely wasn’t happy with it. I resolved to lose some weight, another friend was interested in doing the same, and thus the 5% challenge was born. We would race to lose 5% of our body weight. Whoever lost had to buy the other one lunch; a small victory for sacrificing all the sweet fatty foods.

My friend, Kim, won the first one. We had a small break, about 2 weeks, and decided to resume for another 5% which I then won. Now we’ve just begun our third round after a month long break over Christmas. Every time we start a new challenge, we have to lose any weight put on between challenges before continuing on to lose another 5%.

We’re only into the 3rd week of our next 5%, and so far I’ve not only lost the weight I put on over Christmas, but also another 1.2kg. It has brought me down a total of 10kg since starting the challenge back in September, and at the same time I’ve cracked the 80kg mark. I can’t remember how long it’s been since I weighed less than 80kg; at least two years. I’m not done yet though, my goal weight is to be less than 70kg. The lightest I can recall being was 75kg a few years ago when I was doing personal training once a week, and I was starting to really like my appearance back then. I still could have lost more, but I was happy.

When I get down to the 70kg mark, I know it’s not going to be the actual number on the scales that will concern me then. Really, 70kg is just an estimate. I have to factor in that I will be a lot more toned and have bigger muscles, which in turn will make me heavier. At the end of the day, I just want to be able to look in the mirror and be proud. Seeing that I have lost 10kg as of this morning, I was able to look in the mirror and feel a sense of pride for the first time in a long time. My butt is smaller, my arms less flabby,and my belly is shrinking.

The best part about this whole process is that I haven’t resorted to “quick fix” weight loss. I have been watching everything I eat, cut out sweets (of which I am a BIG fan), and rarely eat potato. I give myself a treat every now and then of course, just so I don’t have the urge to binge. I exercise, and I drink a lot of water. I can hold my head up high, because I’m doing this the right way.

So in conclusion, I feel I need to issue a warning. Kim, you’re currently beating me in this 5% challenge, but watch out. I’m feeling more inspired than ever.