25 Apr
TWLC2 Success Story: Aims
Readers, meet Aims. If you’re part of the Facebook group you may know her as Aims Ca. She is a really inspiring success story from TWLC2 and I’m so happy she was willing to share her story here. I think a rewards chart that broke down my goals and paired them with rewards (not just weight goals, but fitness and nutrition goals as well) is something that would work very well for me! First, let’s read her story, and then you can see the amazing results she has achieved! She lost 16.63% of her body weight, or 58 lbs during the course of TWLC2.
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I hit my perfect adult weight according to the charts and graphs in 8th grade. By high school graduation I was closing in on 200 lbs. I continued to gain weight until I exceeded 400 lbs in July of 2011. Only twice did I really try to diet and I lost a few pounds but they came back on over time. Last year I decided that I was not living the life I wanted. I did nothing on weekends because I needed to sleep. I was miserable and my work was suffering. I decided that it was time. It is not that I did not know what I needed to do. I have a degree in Human Nutrition (Yeah, that is embarrassing to admit.)
I read a couple of books Food: The Good Girl’s Drug: How to Stop Using Food to Control Your Feelings bySunny Sea Gold and The Small Change Diet: 10 Steps to a Thinner, Healthier You by Keri Gans . I started to apply the principles in these books and cleaned out the kitchen. This was not a diet this is a lifestyle change. I found mynetdiary.com and started logging what I ate. I like the calculators in mynetdiary and the recipe builder. Logging intake has been critical to me. If I have a bad food day I log it. If I eat it I log it. I have to be honest and accountable to myself at the end of the day. I started making a salad everyday for lunch. (I fill up 2 relish trays every Sunday with chopped vegetables). I have a job in the food industry so I have to taste products throughout the day.
I bought a basic treadmill that would handle my weight and started walking. It took me a few weeks to be able to walk a mile in 35 minutes. I got a Fitbit. I love my Fitbit it is with me 24/7. I needed an activity gauge so I know I am getting enough movement in my day. My days are variable at work so I can walk 2,000 to 10,000 steps depending on the day. I am trying to hit 10,000 steps a day. During TWLC2 I walked 227 miles on the treadmill.
I was on a secret mission for the first 4 months and no one really noticed or commented. I had been stalking That Wife and knew another TWLC was going to start. I decided that I would join to get some motivation and to boost my accountability. I joined twitter and facebook to have more interactions. This was key to my continued success. I had lost just over 50 lbs when TWLC2 started and hoped to knock off another 50 during it. Well I managed to do slightly better with a 58lb loss. I am not even halfway done with my weight loss but TWLC2 helped with that first 100.
By December the secret mission part was over and I had to admit to working on losing weight. I was surprised by the mental part of the journey at this point it was good to have the TWLC facebook group and twitter to see that others were struggling too. Knowing this was a long project I started a 101 in 1001 list setup to follow on this journey. I also decided on some big rewards that should be part of the 101. I have a chart with rewards for hitting goals. I included every 10% of what I want to lose, every 100 miles on the treadmill, every million fitbit steps, and every stone lost (14 lbs.). I have found that moving ping pong balls from the need to lose to have lost jar is pretty rewarding.
I have gone through a lot of pants sizes from 32 to 20. The Salvation Army is loving my donations, which includes 14 garbage bags so far. I am limiting my pants to 2-3 pairs in a size but that adds up to a lot of laundry. My size 4x lab coast would not snap last July now it overlaps about 8 inches.
I am grateful that I have a support system online and IRL that is there for me when I hit a rough spot. I know that this first 100 was hard in the getting started and committing but easy in the shock to the system. The next 100 will be harder and the last 50 or so will be killer. I do not know where my happy weight will be, but I will be much healthier and I am already happier.
It was great to run up and down the soccer field with my friends kids at Easter. Last year we walked around the block and I was dying. I am looking forward to TWLC3.
In her lab coat that previously wouldn’t even snap around her!
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Thanks so much Aims! I feel really inspired by your story and I know others will as well. Will you guys leave her some love down below? Three cheers for Aims!
I’m still waiting for some people to respond to my email asking for permission to show their photos from TWLC2. Once I have those I can assemble a post showing you the phenomenal progress that a half dozen women made from October to April of this past year. I have even higher hopes for this next round! (I weighed in at 155.8 this week, hooray!)
I'm a farm-raised almost-crunchy stroller-pushing picture-taking lifestyle-blog-writing gastronomy-obsessed divine-seeking thrift-store-combing cheese-inhaling pavement-pounding laughter-sprinkling lover of individuality and taking chances.
Wow! What incredible progress-the difference is striking. Best wishes for your continued success Aims!
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1Wooo!! Congrats! Keep on rockin!
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2I’m so impressed by your commitment, Aims! I loved watching you challenge yourself to get those Fitbit steps in and using Twitter for accountability. I know you’ll rock out during TWLC3, as well, but beware! I’m in it to win it!
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Aims Ca Reply:
April 25th, 2012 at 9:01 pm
Thanks! I was thinking of you today I am thinking I should use my fitbit miles on our walk across the country. Treadmill miles I am almost to humoldt lake east of Reno. But fitbit miles put me east of ParkCity Utah.
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Lydia Reply:
April 26th, 2012 at 10:47 am
I totally need to update my trip log! Thanks for the reminder!
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Go Aims! You are a real inspiration - congratulations on your loss so far, and I hope to see the final photos sometime!
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4Oh wow! I love Aims and I have to say she has been inspiring and motivational for me just through my short interactions with her on twitter, facebook and fitbit. I was so happy to read this to get to know more about her and her journey! She is truly an amazing woman, with such life and a great sense of humor. I’m so happy she is joining us for TWLC 3!
Aims - you are amazing! Keep it up!
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Aims Ca Reply:
April 25th, 2012 at 9:03 pm
Thank for your sweet words, you have motivated me many nights. If Laura can do this and go to school, I can go hit the treadmill.
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Incredible!! Congratulations!
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6WOW! Fantastic job so far! This is so inspirational as I have about 150 lbs to lose. It seems so overwhelming when I think about it, but I like your idea of doing it in increments to make it more manageable. I really like the ping pong ball idea, too!
The lab coat picture is so awesome. You have to be so proud of what you have accomplished so far!
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Aims Ca Reply:
April 25th, 2012 at 8:45 pm
Thanks I am glad I took the lab coat one wish I had a before with it.
I ordered lots of ping pong balls amazon has them by the gross. I have them in apothecary jars for lbs and miles walked. Each month I resent the miles walked one it is nice to move balls over every night. Hitting 300 tonight on the treadmill.
I have a pile of river rocks on my desk one for each stone I have lost it is a good reminder of how far I have gotten.
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Awesome job! You are doing so well!!
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8Wonderful story! This is so inspiring!
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9Congratulations! You rock!
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10Congratulations!!
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11Aims, this is incredible! Way to go! Congratulations
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12Wow!! Great job, Aims!! Keep going girl!! I believe in you!!!
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13Bravo! Bravo! Such a big difference, Aims!
So proud of all the hard work you have put into this. You have done phenomenal and are going to rock TWLC3 as well! Great job, my friend! So glad we are getting back to the fitbit challenges again.
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Aims Ca Reply:
April 25th, 2012 at 9:05 pm
Thanks for getting me moving in December and keeping me going. Fitbit challenges really help me.
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I am so incredibly impressed. WOW!! While her total pounds lost (100lbs) is of course very impressive - I am just in awe of all of her habit changes. Increasing her walking, changing her food, charting, rewarding - these all SOUND like good ideas, we’ve all thought of them, but few of us actually have the discipline to incorporate all of these healthy habits. Wow, wow, wow!! She is the winner, right?! SOooooo impressed! Way to go Aims!
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Jenna Reply:
April 25th, 2012 at 11:44 am
The winner actually lost close to 30% of her body weight! It’s very impressive.
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Aims Ca Reply:
April 25th, 2012 at 9:07 pm
I am excited to see the winner.
I am glad to share what has worked for me. It is small changes over time.
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Awesome! I’m so happy for Aims and everyone making these commitments.
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16Just a thought-you should watermark these photos. Shady weight loss drug companies steal before and after weight loss photos like this all the time to use as fake promotions on their shady websites!
She looks great though!
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Jenna Reply:
April 25th, 2012 at 1:13 pm
No way? That’s so gross of them!
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Incredible! Thanks for sharing.
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18Wow Aims! You are making so much progress and you are a motivation for me to start on my journey. Keep up the hard work.
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CaAims Reply:
April 26th, 2012 at 4:18 pm
It really is worth it. Start with small changes, it is an ironman with the training time to do it right and go the distance. I am only 40% done with the losing phase. Maintaining and living are still to come.
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Thanks for all the comments. I am excited to see the winners.
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20Wow! amazing job!
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21Congratulations!!
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22Great story of self-discipline!
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23Excellent! Keep it up! You are doing great!!
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24Yay, Aims!!
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25Congrats, Aims! You look incredible- here’s to the next 100!
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26You are AMAZING! You are STRONG! Thanks for being a GREAT example of making positive changes on a day-by-day basis and sticking with it.
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27Congrats! I totally relate to your four-month “stealth mission.” I find when I decide to really accomplish something, I keep my mouth shut (for once) and get moving. But so glad you found a community of support at the time when you needed it, too!
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CaAims Reply:
April 26th, 2012 at 4:20 pm
The Facebook group is great, seriously use it!!’ I have new friends just from TWLC.
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Aims! Such wonderful work! Rock on!!
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