My holidays have flown by and it is only now that Brisbane is experiencing a deluge that I decided to spend some time at the computer downloading and sorting photos from the last 3 months! I have just sorted some photos from our engagement party that took place on 17 December 2011. I was struck by something….. how much things change… how much I have changed in 1 year!
From late June 2010 to early December 2010 I lost over 30kg with 12WBT, taking me from severely obese at BMI 37 to a healthy weight and leading to me winning 1st place as the Overall Top Transformation for 12WBT at the 11 December 2010 Finale Party! I recall being ecstatic about so many things around that time in 2010 – one of them being about being able to shop for size 12 jeans and dresses!!! I recalled the day I could fit into a pair of sass & bide jeans I had selected as my goal jeans for Round 3 2010 and posted “Size 12 with 12WBT“. I was bursting with excitement and somewhat in a state of disbelief when I posted about it on this blog. Then when I went shopping for my the dress to where to that December 2010 finale I was blown away to be purchasing a size 12 Veronika Mayne dress – which I felt fabulous in and was so glad I had gotten dressed up for the finale as I ended up on stage!!
Fast forward 12 months: we had another December finale party in Sydney and the following week David and I had our engagement party.
With limited time before these events I headed off to the shops and instantly fell in love with a dress in the Howard Showers secion at Myers. They only had size 12 or 14. I asked the shop assistant for a 10. She clucked her tongue, rolled her eyes and said words you dream of hearing in that situation “Darling! You are not a size 10 in this, you are a size 8!! Let me find you one at another store!“ I was surprised (I still sometimes pick up the XL or size 18 from the rack!) and said “Hmm could you please see if they have a 10 or the 8, I am not sure I really will be the 8“. She humoured me with another little eye roll (all in good jest, she wasn’t a meanie sales assistant, she was cute!). Off the phone she comes with great news – Marina Mirage store had an 8 & a 10. I headed off down the coast and was ushered into the change room with instructions “Try the 8 on first honey, I doubt you need the 10“. I did. The size 8 fitted and was divine to wear – have to love silk! Mum gave it the big thumbs up, done deal!
I was so busy during December and most of this month that I really had not stopped and taken that in… that I have undergone another 12 months of substantial changes for the better in terms of health, well being and fitness. Yay!
Surprisingly and very interestingly, I have very few photos of me in the dress… very few photos of me at all from the engagement party, Christmas etc. When I was requested to send photos to Woman’s Day recently I contacted the photographer who took some of the photos at the Engagement party and she commented that there were no photos of me where I was not hiding behind groups of people!! Seems those old habits of stealthily avoiding the camera are hard to break. I looked through all the holiday and Christmas photos and same story. I am really disappointed about this. It is something to work on – NOT hiding from the camera so that I have photos as memoirs of wonderful occasions. This is why I have zero photos with my dogs when they were puppies. And very few with friends and family. Such a shame.
The scales moved down another 8 – 10kg during 2011, a small amount relative to the 6 months at the end of 2010 when I first started 12WBT. What has changed enormously are my measurements – they have continued to drop. As has my body fat %, it has decreased as my lean muscle mass increased.
Another reinforcing lesson in how it is NOT all about the scales, they are useful, particularly when you are over BMI 25 and act as an excellent, simple tool to guide getting the excess weight off. Beyond that, once in the healthy weight range then other tools start to become more useful – like body composition studies.
So – in the moments when this perfectionist is tempted to wring her hands and think “Oh no. I really didn’t achieve much in terms of weight loss in 2011” I have to stop and remind myself… I lost a heap of centimetres all over, I increased my muscle mass and decreased my body fat %.
18 months ago I was wearing size 20 / 22 clothes & busting at the seams, refusing to buy larger clothes. Just 12 months ago I was shopping for sizes 12-14, and before that, 18 I now shop for sizes 8 – 10 and have done for at least 6 months now!!
Further more, from September onwards I was unable to train very much so I have maintained this loss with super clean eating and whatever minimal training I could do during rehab and when not in pain! 12WBT works baby!!
Wishing you the same success at smashing your goals in 2012. Make sure you stop and take stock regularly! I have been too busy to do this and I think that was an oversight. A mistake. It is important to take time for yourself, to look at your successes and congratulate yourself. I am very good at recognising progress in others and congratulating them for it. Time to do more of that for me! More time for me, for acknowledging my successes and taking stock of the distance I have travelled in 2012.
xx Ange
This is amazing!! congratulations!!! what an amazing 18months for you!! SIZE 8!!!!!! ahhhh!!!! Really you have done such an amazing job!! i would LOVE to win an award at the finale of 12WBT probably not this round as it is my first but hopefully this year!! =)
I would LOVE your comments on my progress if you would like to follow my blog! i need all the help i can get and it would be amazing to have your oppinion!! http://rachsbodytransformation.blogspot.com/
Hi Rachel! Thanks for dropping by and leaving a comment
Yes – you can smash your goals!! GO hard!
And thank you for your lovely compliments
I would love to follow your blog – is it possible to sign up to receive an email when you post? I have not used blogspot before and do not have an account. I am still relatively new to blogging also… I know how to do the basics on this wordpress blog but have not ventured much further! Your blog looks fab! xx
Ange, your transformation is incredible. You are such a huge inspiration! You write beautifully and I always enjoy reading your posts. I hope that you do take your advice and take more time for yourself to celebrate your successes!
Well done and thanks for keeping me motivated!
Carmel.
Wow. Thank you Carmel for such lovely comments. I am working on that taking more time for me thing. Sometimes I nail it, sometimes less so
Keep at it – go after your goals xx
Great post Ange. As you know I’m battling with the numbers at the moment – and stuck in that vicious cycle of seeing no results, so losing focus and therefore seeing no results etc… But there’s so much I’m doing well – it’s easy to ignore that and think too much about those bloody scales.
Have a great 2012!
Deb
Thanks Deb! Great that you can acknowledge that you are doing well! You most definitely are!!
It *is* a battle no arguments here on that! But, it’s a battle worth fighting. It is tough to break free of that cycle you describe. I find that first you have to get really freakin’ fed up with being in that cycle. You have to decide “This Stops Now” and then dig deep to push through and get things moving toward the next goal. It’s really bloody tough. I am working through that stage at the moment – again. It happens. It’s part of the normal process I believe. We hit points when our focus dwindles and also what we have been doing training & nutritionally stops working as well as when we first started a regime. Not sure what comes first – I think it can be either or. I find mixing it up and trying something new works… some new recipes in my regime, some new training times / sessions. I really think it is unrealistic to think anyone can go full pelt, fully focussed on a goal without having times when the results slow or stop and focus is waning. I think that is normal. My plan currently is to incorporate some new recipes as I am bored with my staple faves. Also, to change my training around and increase the cardio especially now that my hips and back are much improved.
Like you, I have to acknowledge how well I am doing in the epic juggle that is life with work, PhD, family and personal stuff. I have done well to enjoy an extended party season and 6 weeks of leave from work without gaining massive amounts of weight. I have done well to be on very reduced training from Sept to Dec and then to start to build that up again in Jan & Feb. I re-discovered that I can drink alcohol like a fish… like I did when I was 19 years old…. I think my motto over the festive season was “Save Water, Drink Champagne” – hehehe! So that’s been a new challenge – to reign in the party times and knuckle under for the return to work and return to a focus on weight loss. Has been fantastic to test the boundaries and see that I can have some party nights and holiday times and not gain lots of weight! Maintaining is definitely easier than losing… and at the moment that keeps me inspired to push through my next weight loss goal of being under 70kg.
Best of luck! Keep dropping by! xx
Will do. xxxx
awesome job Ange, you look really gorgeous!
Thank you Liz!! xx