I Lost Weight: Christy Caby Started Counting Calories And Lost 95 Pounds

Got a success story of your own? Send it to us at [e-mail] and you could be featured on the site!

Name: Christy Caby
Age: 26
Height: 5'10"
Before Weight: 264

How I Gained It: Food was plentiful in my house growing up. My parents never encouraged exercise or portion control. We were allowed to eat freely and snack often while watching lots of TV and playing video games. I was a size 14 by junior high. After my parents divorced, my mom got down to a size 6 and tried to force my sister and me to exercise and eat healthy with her. I wasn't ready. Whenever I got away from her and was out of the house or in my room, I binged. I'll never forget the day in high school when I was a size 20 and noticed that my butt was hanging off of the sides of my chair, while thinner girls had room to spare. I couldn't shop in the trendy stores. It was hard to find something anywhere that fit an overweight, tall person. I fatigued easily when it came to attempting exercise. I went as high as a size 26. I was just plain miserable.

Breaking Point: I started my weight loss journey the day my son was born. (I actually got up to 295 pounds when I was pregnant, but didn't count that as my heaviest weight. I consider it 264, which was unaffected by pregnancy weight, in July 2010.) I started counting the calories in the hospital food. I did not want my son to grow up to learn my bad habits with overeating and being plain lazy. I started out with my son in mind and what I had to do to be the best mom I could be to him.

How I Lost It: After I lost my first 20 pounds by counting calories, I was still on maternity leave and started going for walks. Once I started to notice changes in my body, I began focusing on weight loss for me as well. I wanted to lose weight to feel better, be healthier and look better for myself and my husband.

I have focused on counting my calories and exercise on SparkPeople.com and getting in as much exercise as time allows. I have adjusted my schedule to where I wake up before my husband and son to get my workout in. I love that time to myself. That person on the couch who hated the thought of getting outside and working out or going for a hike now loves exercise. I feel sluggish in the mornings now if I miss my workout for some reason. Recently I have started focusing on not just my calories, but nutritional content. I want to make sure that I am fueling my body properly for running.

I wasn't always good at tracking my calories and exercise, but I have definitely learned to get better at doing so. I love setting goals with Spark, and checking my different goals and exercise minutes every day. I am a competitive person, and I can't stand to not reach a goal. It has helped to push me to keep going at times, when I didn't always want to. I have also made several amazing Spark friends, whom I check in with daily. I love that I have been able to meet these wonderful people and have their support in my journey, and to give them support in theirs.

It hasn't been easy, especially since my husband is not as dedicated to nutrition and exercise as I have become. He's 6'6" and about 350 pounds. He hasn't fully jumped on board with my healthy lifestyle, but has never tried to sabotage me. If he wants to eat junk, he does it away from me and never offers me any. I appreciate that he is supportive of me, and mindful of what we feed our son.

I have definitely had setbacks, and have reverted back to binge eating after bad day or getting frustrated in my journey. But all in all, I'm amazed that I am in a size 8 and closing in on a 6. I can shop at any store and find clothes that I love and look great on me. I feel so much better and have so much more endurance. I can work out much longer and do more intense workouts than I have ever done in my life. I am actually running, when I never thought I could ever be a runner. I love hiking now, when before I would cry when my mom would make me go on a hike with her in my teen years. A year ago, there was no way I could have done jumping jacks (with full intensity and correct form) for a solid minute. I would have given up and keeled over. Knowing that my endurance and stamina are so strong gives me an amazing sense of accomplishment.

Current Weight: 169 pounds

The Huffington Post publishes photographs as they are submitted to us by our readers.

Check out more of our inspiring weight loss stories below:

Loading Slideshow

• River BEFORE

  <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/05/17/i-lost-weight-river-jack_n_3163443.html" target="_blank">Read River's story here.</a>

• River AFTER

  <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/05/17/i-lost-weight-river-jack_n_3163443.html" target="_blank">Read River's story here.</a>

• Victoria BEFORE

  <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/05/15/i-lost-weight-victoria-york_n_3155351.html" target="_blank">Read Victoria's story here.</a>

• Victoria AFTER

  <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/05/15/i-lost-weight-victoria-york_n_3155351.html" target="_blank">Read Victoria's story here.</a>

• Mary BEFORE

  <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/05/13/i-lost-weight-mary-riddle_n_3155621.html" target="_blank">Read Mary's story here.</a>

• Mary AFTER

  <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/05/13/i-lost-weight-mary-riddle_n_3155621.html" target="_blank">Read Mary's story here.</a>

• Kristina BEFORE

  <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/05/10/i-lost-weight-kristina-davis_n_3139651.html" target="_blank">Read Kristina's story here.</a>

• Kristina AFTER

  <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/05/10/i-lost-weight-kristina-davis_n_3139651.html" target="_blank">Read Kristina's story here.</a>

• Theresa BEFORE

  <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/05/08/i-lost-weight-theresa-borawski_n_3061234.html" target="_blank">Read Theresa's story here.</a>

• Theresa AFTER

  <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/05/08/i-lost-weight-theresa-borawski_n_3061234.html" target="_blank">Read Theresa's story here.</a>

• Christian BEFORE

  <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/05/06/i-lost-weight-christian-anthony_n_3056324.html" target="_blank">Read Christian's story here.</a>

• Christian AFTER

  <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/05/06/i-lost-weight-christian-anthony_n_3056324.html" target="_blank">Read Christian's story here.</a>

• Katey BEFORE

  <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/04/29/i-lost-weight-katey-dyck_n_2973114.html" target="_blank">Read Katey's story here.</a>

• Katey AFTER

  <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/04/29/i-lost-weight-katey-dyck_n_2973114.html" target="_blank">Read Katey's story here.</a>

• Tom BEFORE

  <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/tom-w-watson/weight-loss-success_b_3117782.html" target="_blank">Read Tom's story here.</a>

• Tom AFTER

  <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/tom-w-watson/weight-loss-success_b_3117782.html" target="_blank">Read Tom's story here.</a>

• Mandi BEFORE

  <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/04/26/i-lost-weight-mandi-toan_n_2972936.html" target="_blank">Read Mandi's story here.</a>

• Mandi AFTER

  <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/04/26/i-lost-weight-mandi-toan_n_2972936.html" target="_blank">Read Mandi's story here.</a>

• Crystal BEFORE

  <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/04/22/i-lost-weight-crystal-english_n_2956353.html" target="_blank">Read Crystal's story here.</a>

• Crystal AFTER

  <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/04/22/i-lost-weight-crystal-english_n_2956353.html" target="_blank">Read Crystal's story here.</a>

• Leah BEFORE

  <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/04/19/i-lost-weight-leah-smith_n_2916032.html" target="_blank">Read Leah's story here.</a>

• Leah AFTER

  <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/04/19/i-lost-weight-leah-smith_n_2916032.html" target="_blank">Read Leah's story here.</a>

• Vanessa BEFORE

  <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/04/24/i-lost-weight-vanessa-rabb_n_2972663.html" target="_blank">Read Vanessa's story here.</a>

• Vanessa AFTER

  <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/04/24/i-lost-weight-vanessa-rabb_n_2972663.html" target="_blank">Read Vanessa's story here.</a>

• Teresa BEFORE

  <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/04/17/i-lost-weight-teresa-kidd_n_2907724.html" target="_blank">Read Teresa's story here.</a>

• Teresa AFTER

  <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/04/17/i-lost-weight-teresa-kidd_n_2907724.html" target="_blank">Read Teresa's story here.</a>

• Jenalee BEFORE

  <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/04/15/i-lost-weight-jenalee-hill_n_2902874.html" target="_blank">Read Jenalee's story here.</a>

• Jenalee AFTER

  <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/04/15/i-lost-weight-jenalee-hill_n_2902874.html" target="_blank">Read Jenalee's story here.</a>

• Donesha BEFORE

  <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/04/10/i-lost-weight-donesha-bolden_n_2862429.html" target="_blank">Read Donesha's story here.</a>

• Donesha AFTER

  <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/04/10/i-lost-weight-donesha-bolden_n_2862429.html" target="_blank">Read Donesha's story here.</a>

• Melody BEFORE

  <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/04/08/i-lost-weight-melody-regnary_n_2823091.html" target="_blank">Read Melody's story here.</a>

• Melody AFTER

  <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/04/08/i-lost-weight-melody-regnary_n_2823091.html" target="_blank">Read Melody's story here.</a>

• Courtney BEFORE

  <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/04/05/i-lost-weight-courtney-dyer_n_2819602.html" target="_blank">Read Courtney's story here.</a>

• Courtney AFTER

  <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/04/05/i-lost-weight-courtney-dyer_n_2819602.html" target="_blank">Read Courtney's story here.</a>

• Stephen BEFORE

  <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/04/01/i-lost-weight-stephen-mariani_n_2813514.html" target="_blank">Read Stephen's story here.</a>

• Stephen AFTER

  <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/04/01/i-lost-weight-stephen-mariani_n_2813514.html" target="_blank">Read Stephen's story here.</a>

• Robin BEFORE

  <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/robin-hoffman/weight-loss-success_b_2910620.html" target="_blank">Read Robin's story here.</a>

• Robin AFTER

  <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/robin-hoffman/weight-loss-success_b_2910620.html" target="_blank">Read Robin's story here.</a>

• Benjamin BEFORE

  <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/04/03/i-lost-weight-benjamin-gerhardt_n_2819453.html" target="_blank">Read Benjamin's story here.</a>

• Benjamin AFTER

  <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/04/03/i-lost-weight-benjamin-gerhardt_n_2819453.html" target="_blank">Read Benjamin's story here.</a>

• Janne BEFORE

  <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/03/27/i-lost-weight-janne-mcneill_n_2916306.html" target="_blank">Read Janne's story here.</a>

• Janne AFTER

  <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/03/27/i-lost-weight-janne-mcneill_n_2916306.html" target="_blank">Read Janne's story here.</a>

• Brittney BEFORE

  <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/03/22/i-lost-weight-brittney-s-wheeler_n_2792300.html" target="_blank">Read Brittney's story here.</a>

• Brittney AFTER

  <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/03/22/i-lost-weight-brittney-s-wheeler_n_2792300.html" target="_blank">Read Brittney's story here.</a>

• Megan BEFORE

  <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/03/25/i-lost-weight-megan-cooper_n_2813268.html" target="_blank">Read Megan's story here.</a>

• Megan AFTER

  <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/03/25/i-lost-weight-megan-cooper_n_2813268.html" target="_blank">Read Megan's story here.</a>

• Clara BEFORE

  <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/03/18/i-lost-weight-clara-osborn_n_2765912.html" target="_blank">Read Clara's story here.</a>

• Clara AFTER

  <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/03/18/i-lost-weight-clara-osborn_n_2765912.html" target="_blank">Read Clara's story here.</a>

• Lee BEFORE

  <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/03/15/i-lost-weight-dr-lee-coleman-jr_n_2765622.html" target="_blank">Read Lee's story here.</a>

• Lee AFTER

  <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/03/15/i-lost-weight-dr-lee-coleman-jr_n_2765622.html" target="_blank">Read Lee's story here.</a>

• Debbie BEFORE

  <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/03/20/i-lost-weight-debbie-lazinsky_n_2768877.html" target="_blank">Read Debbie's story here.</a>

For more on weight loss, click here.

From our partners

• 39 Deliciously Unexpected Healthy Avocado Recipes - Greatist
• 8 Great Running Apps To Help You Train For Your Next Race - Shape Magazine
• 6 Reasons To Sleep At Least 7 Hours - Everyday Health

Comments

[Tyler Stocks]

11:34 AM on 08/08/2012

This is an inspirational story. My thoughts on weight loss are this: People emphasize caloric intake, which is not a terrible idea. The main contributor to poor health is found in diets. High levels of carbohydrates, sodium, sugars, food dyes, artificial flavorings, etc are terrible for us. Farms use steroids and harmful chemicals to fatten up livestock and yes when we eat these products, we are a victim. I cannot tell you how it sickens me to think of how companies will put labels such as "health ...." or "healthy choice" or organic when in fact many products are not. Majority of all food products has so much junk in it that nothing is good for you. It is my serious inclination to believe that obesity and our poor diet as Americans contributes to Neurological and Psychiatric disorders. ADD and Autism being two of them of which I have. Fortunately, I hold my own in college with a 3.8gpa but this is another matter. We must do more to make our food healthier.

[americanwoman1]

06:28 AM on 08/08/2012

when I first saw the title of the article, I thought it was Gov Chris Christie of NJ that had lost 95 lbs, I should have known better, lol...........

[babybuda]

07:13 PM on 08/07/2012

"Don't ever think you can't change yourself, God knows your the only one who can!"
- Cher

[Stanwick Eaglesky]

05:08 PM on 08/07/2012

Oh my goodness... by the headline, I thought this story was about Scott Christy. Granted, 95 pounds would only be 1/5 of his weight, and he would be a terrible mother, I'm sure... I can hear him now... "What are you, some kind of idiot?!!"

[Stanwick Eaglesky]

05:10 PM on 08/07/2012

Make that "Chris"... mea culpa.

[Happyhippie1984]

12:20 PM on 08/07/2012

Good luck and thank you so much for sharing. That is very inspirational.

[enigma2]

12:03 PM on 08/07/2012

This is a truly inspiring story, some of the other success stories and accompanying pictures are great also, good going people, I wish all of you much continued success.

[GoodDog0325]

11:58 PM on 08/06/2012

What a fabulous, inspirational story you have! Congratulations and my best wishes for you!

[The Restorer]

09:43 PM on 08/06/2012

Good job Christy. Personally, counting is too much work for me.
I try to stay in the mind set of supporting my immune system, metabolism, and flushing out my filters with plenty of water.
If I can give my body what it wants, it'll take care of the rest.
Kudo's.

[Stanwick Eaglesky]

05:09 PM on 08/07/2012

nice supportive, truthful, comment. :-)

[JGL58]

09:29 PM on 08/06/2012

Chris Christie should drop 95 lbs. Then he would only have two chins instead of five.

[Alluring321]

07:21 PM on 08/06/2012

You look happy before and after, great job!

[Susan Mcmahon]

06:31 PM on 08/06/2012

congratulations you look great you should be very proud of your self it takes alot of will power to do what you did and your son will reap the rewards definetly lets hope for your husbands health he will join in and try to join you because his weight could cause him to die early and miss alot of his sons life tell him to think of that

[greenefluf]

05:29 PM on 08/06/2012

SparkPeople is awesome. There's been several stories lately on Huff that confirm that. It's FREE, and it's easy. No, it's not a magic pill, you still have to do the work. But all the information and support is right there. If you can't lose weight with SparkPeople, you probably won't lose it with any other program either.

[shn525]

02:27 PM on 08/08/2012

Been on there for six years. It's helped me maintain all the weight I lost in the first year (c. 75lb) It great as it's about lifestyle change and scientific fact, fads and quick fixes need not apply.

[louchi11]

05:25 PM on 08/06/2012

Christy you look so pretty.

[red1531]

04:47 PM on 08/06/2012

Chris Cristy needs to follow Christy Caby's lead. However, his target loss needs to be around 200 pounds.

[sussanna88]

03:24 PM on 08/06/2012

Christy, you look great!