Tracking all the things!

[Meanderthal]

Alright, I've been tracking my weight, measurements, and calorie intake since last summer. I figured, why not make it public? This is to help me with confidence and accountability. I also just thought it'd be nice to show a concrete example of what someone's numbers look like as they change.

History

I'm female, 5'3". I sit on my butt all day in an office for 40 hours week.

At my heaviest, I was ~145 lb. I yo-yo'd back and forth between 135-145 lb since as long as I can remember going on crash diets and running for hours.

Last summer, I started tracking my calorie intake and taking body measurements and progress pics rather than just rely on the scale. I also finally started strength training for the first time in bodyweight exercises. I started making small habit tweaks. I learned to appreciate gradual and moderate progress.

Here's one picture of me around 135-140. This is me now at 120. I currently strength train 3x a week, do 30 min cardio sessions 3x a week, and walk everywhere I can. I have been doing bodyweight things and primarily focused on losing fat. As of yesterday, I got some adjustable dumbbells and will start incorporating those. I could drink more water, and my sleeping habits suck, but I am working on that.

Goals

Short term goal: Shed my "last few pounds" and get to 113lb, ideally by the end of March.

• Yes, 113 lb sounds low, but I'm a short person and very much skinnyfat. I want a solid base for when I switch focus to strength and muscle gain.
• I'm going to evaluate my progress pics once in mid-Feb and once again in mid-March. I may or may not adjust my goals depending on what I see, because I know scale weight is not everything.
• I do not intend to go below 1400 calories/day (per weekly avg).

Long term goal: Get hella strong. I've been weak all my life and I'm textbook skinnyfat. I don't have specific goal numbers yet, but I'll come up with that later when I'm ready to finally shift gears.

Tracking my numbers here.

Note: I only started recording June 2015, but I had been dieting for several months beforehand. I just didn't write anything down.

TODOs:

• I finally got some adjustable dumbbells! Gaining strength and muscle is a long term goal, so I will start training and log my lift numbers once I experiment and figure out what those actually are.
• Maybe post progress pics? I do have them, but they need to be edited together.

[Foo]

Good luck on getting as strong as possible.  You're going to be putting on some muscle with a good anabolic routine, and I know I'm probably not telling you anything new when I say that "Form follows function."  Essentially, if your training is going where you want, then your body will follow.  You can always readjust and evaluate later, but when you first get into strength training...some really amazing things can happen quickly.  You sound like you have a good understanding of how diet and sleep affect you, but it can't be overstated on how much of a difference these two things can make.

 

Solid plan and progress so far. I'm wishing you the best on your journey!

[Meanderthal]

Thank you! Those are solid pieces advice. I appreciate it.

[Meanderthal]

Weekly progress report (lbs and inches):

 

Date        Weight (weekly avg)    Waist    Hips    Chest    Thigh    Calf        Calories (weekly avg)
    
1/23/15    118.97                         26.5      34.75   31.25    20         13.875   1480
    
1/16/16    120.28                         26.875  35        31.25    20         13.75     1454

 

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I also started doing some dumbbell work, but still working on figuring out how much weight feels good for me. I'm a lot weaker than I thought.