Before/Current Picture...

Thank you to everyone who has commented on my progress lately. It's really encouraging for me to know that people are reading and are being inspired by what I've done. So many people are inspirations for me, so it's nice to inspire even one person.

Someone asked me about my height... I am short, 5'4". You wouldn't think that someone who is 5'4" and weighs 290 pounds would be able to fit into a size 24 women's jeans and a 2x shirt. But, for some reason, I am so much heavier on the scale than people think when they look at me. When I started working with my trainer and he weighed me for the first time and I was 400 pounds, he couldn't believe it. He said that he never would have thought that I was over 350. He says that it's most likely because I have a lot of muscle. But, I know I still have a lot of fat, too!

According to medical charts, for my height, my "healthy" weight range should be between 108 and 145 pounds. Yeah right! According to my trainer's fancy scale, I am carrying 133 pounds of muscle and 7 pounds of bone. That means that at 0% body fat, I would still weigh 140... the higher end of that "healthy" weight range. A healthy body fat percentage for women my age is 21%-33%. So, it's possible that I can weigh 200 pounds at the end of all this, and have 30% body fat, which is healthy. I think I'd look pretty good then! Of course I won't know until I get there. :)

I didn't mean to go off on a tangent... I was just trying to say that I can't really go by the medical weight charts for my height because my body composition doesn't seem to be in line with the "average" person's.

On to a progress pic!