Healthy Living in Connecticut Blog

I heard this comment again today and it made me crazy thinking about it.

"Don't lose any more weight or you'll waste away…"

"And Won!" was our team name from the beginning of the challenge and we had that goal in mind. My teammate Janet Perusse and I won the Northwest CT Fitness Commitment Challenge! It was a long battle this fall, but we came out on top!

Janet really worked hard and lost an incredible 16 pounds during the challenge. Of course, my goal wasn't about weight loss but rather to lower my body fat percentage. We both reached our goals!

Losing weight is one thing, but many people forget about the maintenance after losing weight. So many dieters end up gaining the weight as they go back to old habits and eating the wrong foods. I'm proud to say that since early December of 2012, I've been maintaining the same weight of about 212 pounds.

Yes, it's gone up a few pounds every now and then, but it basically is in the same range. It's been quite a journey losing the weight. I wasn't prepared for all the talk about my weight loss from people around town. It's died down now as everyone is used to me at this weight, but every once in a while I'll run into someone that didn't know I lost weight and of course they're usually amazed at the transformation.

I've been working hard, so I knew the numbers would be down when my personal trainer checked my body fat percentage. In my quest for a tighter belly, my trainer wants my body fat percentage lower… the only way to tighten without a tummy tuck.

I did the calculations based on the measurements and it came out to be 13.95 percent! The last time my trainer checked me, it was 15.03. This means, I'm getting much closer to my goal.

I went to see my doctor today for a scheduled appointment. He likes for me to check in every 6 months or so. The nurse went through the usual checklist of conditions, all of which I answered with "no" (diabetes, aches, pains, etc.). She checked my weight and it's in the same range.

The best part of the appointment was when the nurse took my blood pressure. About two and a half years ago, I was prehypertensive, on the verge of going on medication. As you might recall, I told my doctor I wanted to hold off on medication to see if losing weight would bring my blood pressure back to normal.