Down and Not Out

So… I did it!  After the pressure, the threats, the pushing, the workouts, and additional assistance from some very wonderful friends, I managed to whittle down from the 160s to 157lbs.   I can hardly sit still as I type this up.

Sometime after my last entry, I got really discouraged.  So much to the point I began getting scattered brain, losing things, and missing appointments.  It was then I stopped worrying about my weight and just stopped nitpicking at my food intake.  I had read how stress influenced the amount of cortisol in the body and made it even more difficult to lose weight.  So I just stopped, and actually worked out less.  There was a period I was doing long distance walking with a friend to keep myself moving, yet I stopped stressing.  I kept trying to find things to do with myself that were entertaining, mainly going out with friends and just trying to relax.  I had been out so often, my mother was beginning to get concern as to whether I had ran away.  And, for sometime, I was beginning to come to terms with the fact that the Navy would not be in my future and that I would have to try to look into other things to do with my life.

It was like that until a few Wednesdays ago (we’ll say around the 6th of March).  My LPO gave me a call and told me that he wanted to get an official taping for me at the station in Orlando.  For those who don’t know, that’s an hour north from where I live, which is a minor convenience compared to an exhausting 3 hour trip to MEPS in Tallahassee.  At that moment, I, literally, dropped everything I was doing at that moment and went with him to Orlando.  When I was weighed, I was 161lbs.  I sighed and grit my teeth as I was taped.  My numbers turned out as follows*:

Neck: 12 inches
Waist: 32 inches
Hips: 39 inches ( my problem area)
 Body Fat Percentage: 31%

Now, for those of you scratching your head wondering what all these numbers mean and whether or not they’re good, the most important number there is my Body Fat Percentage.  The others simply are used, plugged into a fartsy smartsy algorithm, and pop out my BF%.
For the Navy, if one’s BF% is over 33%, then they are considered overweight.  Mine is 31%, so yes, these numbers are very good, considering!

After being taped and given the numbers, I was told as long as I keep those numbers down, I should be good to ship out, and to avoid all the taping nonsense, I would need to be under my max weight.  Which is understandable.  I just have to continue to keep myself active (in an entertaining fashion) for the next month and a half.

I just want to take the time to thank those whose advice and help stirred my closer to my dream.  I appreciate you very much, and I will work even harder to get my weight even lower.  My end goal is 153lbs, that way I’ll have alot of space for water weight and other things.

Keep rooting for me!


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*I lost the original numbers, so these are general estimations.  I'll fix them if I can get the original numbers from my LPO.