Milestones and Tracking Your Progress

Going from being morbidly obese with a BMI of 48 and being 132 kgs to losing 70 kgs and having a BMI in the normal range there have been a few milestones on the way down. I really recommend you take pictures at certain intervals so you can really see how much and how quickly your body is changing. I took pictures the day before my gastric bypass surgery and then every month or so thereafter.

Initially, the difference in the photos was astounding and really helped me to see how and where my body was changing. I stood in the same place in my bedroom every time to make sure the pictures were comparable. It’s a good idea to take photos facing forwards, to the side and from the back to really appreciate it from every angle. I used the app Instaframe to put the photos side by side to get the full impact of the difference. There’s a selection of these up in my gallery just click the link at the top to have a look.

There were a couple of milestones that I really looked forward to while I was getting closer towards my goal weight. The first was cracking a new 10 kg bracket. I really liked getting a new number on the front of my weight and the most exciting ones were getting under 100kgs and then getting into the 60’s – the bracket of my goal weight.

The other thing I really looked forward to was dropping down through the BMI classifications. Going from morbidly obese to obese to overweight and then to normal was pretty great. You have actually never seen someone more excited to be classed as ‘obese’ and then ‘overweight’ as when I got there.

In terms of tracking my weight I noted it down once a week to keep track of the general trend and so I could see what was happening. I don’t think it’s a good idea to track it any more often than that because it does vary up and down a bit in the week. If I had a stall and my weight just wouldn’t budge for a week or two I wouldn’t weigh myself daily because it drove me insane and I got a bit obsessive about it so I put some rules in place to manage the mental stress around it. Once my weight started moving again I could quite happily weigh myself daily again.

I have to admit to still weighing myself daily but its on the proviso I don’t stress about it too much if it’s not doing what I want or expect. I’m going to try and wean it down to once a week at some point in the future but I don’t think I’m ready to let go of that daily affirmation yet. I think my head is still catching up and I need that daily reminder that this is where I’m at. I take quite a measured and controlled approach to things in my life (control freak you could say!) and this has now translated over to how I look after myself in this way. This is something I need to keep in consideration and watch though because it could turn into unhealthy behaviour if I let it get away on me.

Now that I’ve met my goal weight my new way of tracking my progress and continued success will be through fitness goals and seeing how much my body can achieve and keeping myself in the weight range of a couple of kilos where I feel most comfortable. I love challenging myself with fitness goals now and find I get really motivated when I have a running event lined up to train towards. This naturally helps to maintain my weight and I think is one of the key factors in long-term maintenance.

Have you had bariatric surgery or lost weight another way? What things did you look forward to crossing off your list on the way down? Let me know in the comments below I’m interested to see what milestones in particular got you excited on your journey.