Last year I tore some cartilage in my right hip and was told by the hip surgeon that he would monitor it for six months. If it healed by itself (it had already been ongoing for three months by then) then all was well, but if it didn't heal then I would need hip surgery before my 28th birthday (I turned 28 three weeks ago!). He said that the best chance of healing would come from losing weight without exercising (I was on crutches and was supposed to not put weight on it) and that every 10kg I lost would increase my chance of healing significantly. I was almost about 100kg by then! On my frame and height that's pretty big.

So I spent three months on a ketogenic diet and exercising 6 days a week (walking, lifting and yoga). I lost 10kg in the first three weeks and then worked on maintaining it for the last 9 weeks so that I could increase my carb intake slowly. I wasn't supposed to exercise but apparently it worked because my hip finally started healing and now six months later I have almost full hip movement again :) It still twinges when I have to stretch my legs to keep up with walking in pace with someone else but walking and running alone isn't a problem.

Now that the fun holiday things are over (Christmas, New Years, my birthday!), I'd like to get back into the swing of things and lower my carbs again, as well as re-introduce an exercise routine. I think joining Jeni's CandidMommy dietbet challenge will help! Also, I watch Jeni's videos and find that she's an inspiration and a huge role model with her sense of humor and ability to just deal with life :)

Anyway! The challenge doesn't start until Monday but I was curious to weigh in (haven't weighed myself in three months) and I'm at 90kg. The 4% of bodyweight should make my goal for this next 4 weeks: 86.4kg. I don't have a digital scale so the .something part is hard to see but hopefully I can still participate! If I can succeed in this challenge I'll probably use the winnings to buy a better scale.. the other 10% of the winnings will go as a donation to my local animal shelter :)

Looking forward to getting to know some people on here too!