Old and busted: the 190s. New hotness: Getting out of the 190s.
 

Thought I'd take it upon myself, since the old thread was getting too big.

I've been really frustrated with this decade. But after a long, HARD sleep last night, I woke up this morning to an overnight loss of almost 2 lbs. No wonder I was so tired! That brings me to 196.4 today. If it keeps, then I'm right around the halfway mark for this decade. I can't wait to change my ticker tomorrow if the scale stays here.

Yay!!! HelloNurse! love seeing you here now that we have a brand new thread :)

Posting to bookmark the new thread, hi guys :wave:

I weigh 190 ish or something. I just started also.

193.3 but now that I know what my issue has been, I'm hoping to be out really soon!

It's always good when you figure out what needs to be fixed to make the next step down. Makes you feel smrt.

That's actually one of the things I wasn't expecting when I started. I figured that once I found something that worked, I would just do exactly that same thing for a year and I would reach my goal. But every few months, I have to change my strategy and rethink what I'm doing. I guess in a way it keeps me from getting too bored, but I wish that I didn't have to keep guessing at what to do.

Hi guys!

I'm hopeful to not be around long. Hit onderland on Christmas Day, now down to 190.8 as of this am.

Lotsakids, your signature is exactly what I'm fighting. My scale is even moving and I'm fighting it because I don't feel any different. Not stronger after 1 month of lifting, not faster after 3 months of running, not thinner after lots of weight loss. It's hard to stay motivated, but that's why I'm here.

Hi all

I know I'm below 190 but you guys are where I get my support and this thread will rock just like the old one.

HelloNurse, are you inside my head ?! I started last March and had an almost straight line weight loss, 5kg a month, doing the same thing each time, until January started. I'm on the last 10kg to target, chosen on the basis of BMI - as still overweight but not much. Can I get through these last kilos ? It's so much harder than the last 50!! I had a great whoosh over Christmas (a real shock) but now am battling big time. And I know I have the weight to lose as I can see the fat areas still and do not feel I am at the 'end' yet.

I am doing more exercise, and really enjoying it. A balance of cardio and weights, tipped in favour of cadio as I want to run a 10k race in May. I have reduced the calories but not by too much. And then I realised I am constipated - so I hoping that is a cause for the plateau and I can blast through it :p

But in the meantime, I am losing, although very slowly so I shall just keep on doing what I am doing and try to avoid the old stinkin' thinking. I have come this far, I just maybe need to accept the end will be slower.

It's making me think about what target weight is, and of course about maintenance. I've never been the size I am now as an adult so this is all very unfamiliar territory to me. I still cannot quite believe I can go into a shop and have a choice of what to buy, nor do I have to look at the largest sizes all the time.

Hello Everyone,
197.6 this morning. I can harrdly believe it!
I started in sept and am using myfittnesspal. It has really helped me. However I am having a hard time eating enough. Yesterday I was at 950 calories.

Hey everyone!! I read through the posts on the old thread and then saw the link to this one...

Llilith...I couldn't see the bathing suit, what's the link? I want to appreciate it in all its vixen red glory!

TooWicky and CrazyCatWoman, both in the 180s!! Amazing!! I've missed a lot while I was lounging around in the 200s thread! And Appmom, so close to the 180s, congrats!!

Well done scarletmeshell!!

I had a busy week this week but I am STILL keeping up my exercise regime of going every day. I normally go on weekends too so I guess I will run to 34 consecutive days if Sunday is my last in the streak! I also completed the squat challenge although it was for a lot less than Llilith's squat challenge - HOW many were you doing every day?! Very impressed!! The most I did was 60, which was for today

Well done and keep going everyone!!

HelloNurse - Thanks for the new thread. Congrats on your latest loss!

TooWicky - I felt the same way about that photo essay. I sat in stunned, sad silence after I viewed it. And it helped me put it into perspective too. I'm you checked it out, and I think it's good for people to see really. So happy for you that you are in the 180s!!

Crazycatwoman - 10k wow, you go girl. And you are in the 180s too. Rock on with your bad self.

lotsakids - omg your toilet froze? that's terrible. So many parts of the country are having a tough winter!

Tiffany189 - Welcome! :D

Jennybutler - Here's the link: http://www.modcloth.com/shop/onepiec...-red-plus-size I can't wait for it to arrive!! So excited. That's great you did 60 squats! Today is day 21, and it is 180 squats. I'm scared. But I'm gonna break them down thru the day to 45 x 4. :) I can totally tell they are making a difference, which is really motivating!

I had a cool NSV yesterday. Hubby and I were out and I saw my reflection in a glass window. I just stopped and stared. I was stunned. My legs aren't touching like they used to… they are two separate legs instead of one LOL. He caught me staring and said "yeah, you look way different huh? I lost you in the store the other day and looked right past you cause I didn't recognize your shape". WOW YAYAYAYA. He loves my shape however it is, but it was really cool that he told me that.

Llilith, your post made me tear up. What a great NSV.

Appmom, I've sunk myself so many times because I didn't see progress it was a reminder to me!

Today I was down to 192.8! My goal is a hundred pound loss by my birthday in June, I think I'm going to make it!!

193.6 Just ready to be in 180s!

Llilith, gratz on your NSV of no longer having a unileg :lol: I've got two separate legs now, too, it's awesome!

Would like to say hello to some threadmates I haven't seen before or haven't seen in a while : Appmom, DrivenByAmbition, Tiffany189 onward and downward : :goodluck:

CrazyCatWoman, I am getting somewhat close to my goal weight. I set mine in the middle of the BMI Overweight zone for my height. I remember being that weight and I feel I looked completely fine at it. I am concerned that weight loss will slow down the closer I get not only to goal weight but to a Normal BMI weight in general (although I personally am not aiming to be in the Normal range.) I'm keenly watching what you are experiencing and wondering if something similar will be happening to me soon-ish. Definitely keep us posted.

I did get a peek at the 180s, but I did bounce back up this morning. I won't be moving to the next thread until I'm solidly in the 180s.

I am on day five of no soda (just trying it out.) I do feel better and my face skin looks slightly better.

I go to the same grocery store every week, and one of the employees stopped me and said he was going to have to start calling me the disappearing woman.

I had an awkward encounter with someone who hadn't seen me since I lost all my weight. I ran into a fellow football mom from the football season before last (our sons used to play on the same team.) She seemed very disconcerted with my weight loss. She told me she had to do a double take to make sure I was who she thought I was. I know it can be almost upsetting for some people to see a friend look so completely different :( I instinctively apologized for looking so different, which makes no sense, but I was trying to put her at ease. I immediately rattled off my current weight in pounds which helped, because it is a borderline obese number and mentally, at least, people immediately realize you are not emaciated when they are faced with an actual number. It was one of those thankfully less-common encounters when friends are upset/unhappy you have lost weight. I understand where they are coming from, and I understand how the shock of seeing me makes them blurt out things they would normally not say out loud, but that doesn't make hearing, "But you were beautiful, BEFORE!" any easier -.- I may have stood out before because I was a morbidly obese lady who took great care with her hair and makeup and appearance which is uncommon in this small town I live in. Now I have apparently started to join the ranks of almost normal sized women where I am just one of the masses looks-wise, no longer special. I wish I could let the world know that personally, I had no issue with feeling ugly when I weighed so much more. My losing weight was not and is not a repudiation of the beauty of obese women. I rocked what I had then, and I rock what I got now. My main motivator to lose weight was health.

Lilith I love your swimsuit! I also love what you said yesterday that you refuse to be apologetic in the beach. Good for you!:carrot:

TooWicky, love the insights!

A friend emailed me that some other friends were concerned about all the weight I've lost. They thought I was ill. I am moving into to the overweight that everyone around me is, no longer the fattest woman in the room. That tends to make people uncomfortable. I am in no way thin but not huge anymore. We've all known people who were as fat or fatter than us that lost weight. I would actually avoid them, because of my own feelings of failure that they were losing and I wasn't. I am not proud of that attitude but I think owning it will help me to stay on track.

I have another friend that had weight loss surgery, she looks marvelous but I went out to lunch with her (when I was my heaviest!) and she went on and on about how much people eat and how they just don't "get it." She had the full gastric bypass because she didn't get it and was sitting there judging those who hadn't had the surgery.

Those of us who were very obese (and because of my short self will be for another 20 pounds) walk a fine line at all times. Our bodies know just how to get back up there and it is a constant daily battle to make right choices. It can be easy to look at our sisters who haven't made choices to change yet with a bit of pride but the minute I start feeling that way I know I'm headed down the wrong path. I have kept to the path because my body said no more, with diabetes and a host of other problems that the doctor called metabolic syndrome my body turned on me. Everyone who tackles obesity has to find that thing that changes them, hopefully I've found mine.

Down to 192.6 today!!

TooWicky - YAY for saying goodbye the the unileg! :)

I love love what you said here: "My losing weight was not and is not a repudiation of the beauty of obese women. I rocked what I had then, and I rock what I got now. My main motivator to lose weight was health."


What an amazing and powerful statement. It really speaks to me because sometimes when I am so happy about my progress and feeling a little vain now (cause I'm hot dammit!), I feel like I'm betraying my old self somehow. Like I'm buying into society's prejudices by finally being able to feel pretty. There were plenty of times when I felt pretty at my higher weights. But, I think the beauty radiates more from within now, because I simply feel GOOD and healthy. :-)

scarlemeshell - Thanks! I love that suit too and I am really excited to wear it.

lotsakids - Wow really? Its ironic that they were concerned about your health, when you've done so much to improve it! How is your other friend who had gastric bypass? I hope she 'gets it' now, because that is what it will take to keep the weight off long term. I think GP is just another 'tool' to help us get on track, like the phentermine. It will help in the short term, but won't stick unless you DO it yourself too. I'm so excited to still be losing after going off the phentermine. :-)

As far as your friend judging, I'm happy to say that I haven't done that. It would be easy to sit on my high chair after this progress and say "I did it, anyone can!. Why haven't you done it yet?" But I am keenly aware of how hard it is, and I feel like the planets have aligned for me finally to help me succeed. Seriously, it's a combination of many things - medication (thyroid, anti depressant, blood sugar meds, phen for the first 6 months) and environment. When I was very fat, I was married to a man who was quite negative and verbally abusive, and I was very unhealthy. I hadn't sought out a doctor who could really "get it" and help me. So I know that it isn't just something you wake up and decide to do one day, at least for me. I'm grateful that all the pieces are in place now for me to get healthy. I do wish it happened before I was older though. I'm going to be 46 this month, and I feel prettier and healthier than I have in 25 years.

I GOT TO MOVE MY TICKER TODAY, after 3 weeks bouncing between 191.8 and 195!! Today, I am 190 - one more goal met now on to the next one. :-) 185 squats today too… crazy.

Llilith, I don't know that she gets it yet. We both have a friend who has not one but two GB surgeries and still struggles with the amount she eats. My friend is competitive and I think that is what motivates her so maybe that will be enough to keep her going. She really looks amazing now and it was really hard not to be jealous of her when I saw her. She has had all kinds of issues with the surgery though so I'm glad I'm not going there, though had I access to insurance that would pay for it I'm sure I would have considered it.

I have never been nor will ever be someone that judges others about their wieght. I have one friend that has had her own weight stuggles and is very supportive. Another friend that has lost wieght and has never once acknowleged my wieght loss but tells me what I need to be doing all the time. I just have to accept her how she is.

Wow, such a lot of great insightful posts these last couple days from TooWicky, lotsakids and Llilith, it's really great to read what you all have to say, it's really made me think, and all this time I've been going too. Sometimes I'm thinking something and don't quite know how to put it into words but then I read your posts and often you've gone through the same thing or you've said something that's really hit home, and you've hit exactly on what I was thinking and said it always so eloquently and often humorously too - so, thank you to everyone whose posts I have read, you are all very inspiring!!

Llilith - love love love the bathing suit, it's such a hot color and a great shape too, I think you'll look fabulous in it!!! And well done on the squats!! And, I think I forgot to congratulate you on still losing after phentermine - proof that it IS possible despite what people think, as long as you work hard which is 200% what you have done, well done!!!

I completed my January exercise challenge today, this is what I did each day of January....

1. Gym workout
2. Pilates class and 20 minute cycle
3. Gym workout
4. Bodypump class
5. Gym workout
6. Gym workout
7. Pilates class
8. 30 mins of weights at the gym
9. Pilates class
10. Gym workout
11. Bodypump class
12. Gym workout
13. Yoga class
14. Pilates class
15. Gym workout
16. Pilates class
17. Gym workout
18. Bodypump Class
19. Gym workout
20. Family bike ride (2 hours) and 30 mins arm weights at the gym
21. Pilates class
22. Gym workout
23. Pilates class
24. Gym workout
25. Bodypump class
26. Gym workout
27. Yoga class
28. Pilates class
29. Gym workout
30. Bodypump class
31. Yoga class

Woop! I made it!! Next month I'm going to keep going at least 4 times a week and I thought I might give up coffee for February too and just drink water and green tea. I'm not a big coffee drinker so it's a bit of a cheat but I guess I will miss it if I can't have it. I also weighed today and I lost 1.5lbs since Monday!! I think I was retaining water so that's why it was a small loss from last week on Monday but I'm super happy to finish the month this way! I hoped to lose a couple more pounds this month when I started but now I'm here I'm very pleased with losing 7.7lbs altogether!!

Have a great weekend y'all!!

PS - TooWicky - "Unileg" - hahahahhahahahaha!!! I lost mine too, lololol so funny!!

Jenny!! Great job on working out every day in January. I work out 6 days a week giving myself Sunday's off. Not nearly as exciting a workout as yours, mine is with Leslie Sansone or the treadmill. I love walking outside and can't wait (as I watch yet another snowstorm outside) until it is nice enough to go walking out there again! I do some other things but mostly spur of the moment (hey I should run up and down the stairs a couple of times) things. The only thing I count is my walk. 128 miles so far into 2014! I'm doing the 1000 mile challenge.

Congratulations Llilith, jennybutler357, lotsakids on your losses :carrot: jenny, also WOW at your fitness report for January!! Amazing dedication

scarletmeshell, I completely agree about accepting friends as they are, at whatever weight they are. One of the other moms brought home-baked cookies to our daughters' Girl Scout meeting last night. All the moms were standing in a big group when she came around with her Tupperware container and offered each of us one or more cookies. I was the only one who refused, but they are aware I am dieting and unfortunately that late in the day, I didn't have the calories to spare and indulge. The gal who got two cookies before I refused some is def morbidly obese and she kind of gave me the side-eye when I passed on the cookies after she didn't. I wanted to send her a telepathic message that I think she's awesome and beautiful and to feel free to live her life as she sees fit.

I got a new scale! It looks like a technological marvel from the future compared to our old ancient current scale. The old and new scales weigh within a ½ lbs of each other, so that's a relief. The old scale works fine, but my husband and I have been ninja-ing and stealing and silently restealing it from each other for 10 months, lol, it's been scale wars! I weigh in the master bath, which I've sort of taken over, and he weighs in the basement bathroom where he gets ready. Now we each have our own scale.

I also got a kitchen scale for the first time ever. I would like to transition a bit from easy-to-count-calories, prepackaged, prepared foods to fresh foods I make myself. I hope the scale will help me determine calories of ingredients. Wish me luck I'm a pretty terrible cook, but I'm getting burnt out on my "diet food" and need some variety.

My weight has been slightly up from my peek at 180-something. This morning I weighed in at 190½. I have made an adjustment in calories upward (adding 100 calories per day to be 1500 calories/day) and am trying that out. I have been losing weight at a rate of 2 lbs/week and would like to slow that down to 1 lbs/week as I am in the home stretch toward goal and also starting fitness/exercise for the first time. These adjustments are an experiment that I plan on trying for 2-3 weeks to see if my weight stalls, increases, or drops.

Jenny! You are my hero!

Donna, I love to walk too. The weather is bad here. I need to to something inside at home. I like to go to the mall and walk but right now it is to bad to even get there.

TooWicky, I am thinking about getting a new scale. I like the one I have but sometimes it doesn't want to wake up and work!

What is everyone doing for Super Bowl?

Hi everyone

Interesting what everyone is writing about their responses to others..... I think I don't pay much attention to what other look like, nor what they eat as I have been too focused on myself and my loathing of taking the extra cookie in the past. Now I am left with the feeling of 'how on earth did I ever get to be so huge' and am investing a lot of energy into trying to accept myself. I love the new me, but connecting her to the old me is hard. But I was the same about the drinking alcoholic me after I had been in recovery for a while! So reading about everyone else's compassion is really interesting and helpful.

My weight has dropped a bit thanks to, erm, a bit of a clearance of constipation. I' m now at 181lbs but won't change the ticker yet.

My rate of weightloss now is weird. Maybe due to constipation, maybe due to my body not getting enough calories (a friend suggested that but I am not so sure) and maybe due to muscular toning. Now, I have decided to take a few days off from the gym, and yesterday I felt fantastically relaxed. But I am looking forward to getting going again tomorrow morning. I ran 10 laps of an indoor running track on Thursday - my longest continuous run ever so that felt great. It's too snowy and cold to run outside at the moment here.

Have a great superbowl day . not that I have any clue what that entails!

Love this thread! Everyone's so supportive and insightful :D Congrats to everyone for their efforts so far!

First of all, Lotsakids, I love the idea of stinkin' thinkin'. That's a good way of putting it.

TooWicky, I know this was a few days ago, but that's really interesting about your friend being disconcerted by your weight loss. This might sound completely AWFUL and I hope you all will forgive me for this. My mother, who I adore, has struggled with her weight her entire life. Even when I was very small, she'd complain about being fat and ugly and I'd of course say she was beautiful, because what child doesn't think their mother is beautiful? She was never morbidly obese, but definitely in the obese category as I grew up, minus about a year in the mid 90s when she was taking fen phen (I was about 10 years old). When I got married in 2010, she finally found whatever worked for her because she wanted to look good at the wedding, lost a good amount of weight, and has kept it off now for a bit over 3 years. She's still probably a little overweight, but has definitely gone down. I know it's much healthier for her this way and am very pleased that she's happier with her looks and that she's eating better now (she used to not eat, not eat, not eat, then binge on ice cream or cheese or something, now she actually eats fruit and veggies and protein and stuff EVERY DAY!). However, I will admit to you all... I miss how she looked before. Would never ever EVER tell her this, but I only see her once a year because we live far apart and it's still kind of jarring every time. My entire life she looked a certain way and I loved how she looked, now she looks like a different person. Her face seems gaunt. I know it's not, it's just so different than it was- she's not under weight or anything. I'm quite certain that I've never projected anything other than happiness for her weight loss, and I am very happy about it because I want her to be happy and (more importantly) healthy.

Anyway, I am down 1 more pound this week. 193. That's a loss of 27 pounds so far. Only one person has commented on my weight loss, and that was the parent of a child I work with back at the beginning of December when I was down about 15 pounds. My clothes all still fit. My pants have definitely gotten looser and I've had to tighten my belt by many notches (used to be on the first hole, now I only have 1 hole left), and I noticed that one zip up jacket I wear is quite baggy, but everything else fits okay still. It's actually fine with me that I've only gotten 1 comment, because comments about my weight make me feel really awkward! But I do find it interesting. I realize that when a person has a substantial amount to lose, they have to lose quite a bit at first to make a visual difference, but I kinda thought it would happen by now! I want to lose 70 pounds and am only 8 pounds away from being half way there.

I wonder if part of it is how I carry my weight. Many people carry their weight in a visually appealing way. I am not one of them, seriously. My face fattens up very easily and my facial structure is just naturally round. Even when I weighed about 100, my face was still round and I started getting a double chin at about 110 pounds. Even as a 100 pound 19 year old who was half a percentage point away from being in the underweight category according to the BMI calculator (no eating disorders or anything, don't worry- I spent a lot of time working out and lifting weights), I had a fat roll around my belly, the same as a lot of other women that weigh say 50 pounds more than that. Part of this may be because of my PCOS and even as a teen I carried most of my weight around my belly, so at 100 pounds what little fat I had was stored there! Heck, even now, my legs and arms are pretty darned skinny and my butt isn't especially big, either. For my height, I also have very long legs but a short torso, so all my belly fat is crammed into a small vertical space.

In any case, what I'm getting at is that I think maybe people look at faces and bellies when they're mentally forming (unconsciously or not) how large someone is, and both of those areas are the places I tend to accumulate fat easily and carry it in a not so nice looking way.

Hope this doesn't seem too negative. I've long accepted that I'll never be a gorgeous lady or anything, it's just not in the cards. My husband loves me and I'm taking care of myself, that's what matters to me as far as looks go.

HuggerBunny, oh I know what you mean :( It's like the person they knew and cared about went *poof* and someone else is standing in their place! It does take some people some time to come to terms with the new me. My current circle of friends and neighbors only ever knew me as morbidly obese, so my current form is pretty shocking. Likewise, they mean a lot to me, and I would never want to make them feel bad about "missing" me, which is what they mean when I see that involuntary look of lamentation on their faces.

I just got home from the carnival themed party at my work where I was assigned to be the surprise fortune teller. I got a surprise of my own over a week ago when I was told that I wouldn't be reading tarot cards (which I don't even know anyway) because that might make some of our more religious employees very uncomfortable (I live in the bible belt.) I was totally okay with that decision because I definitely want everyone at maximum comfort level and enjoying themselves. So anyway, I thought my fortune telling gig was cancelled, but I was informed a couple of days ago that I was BACK ON and that I would be sort of a gag fortune teller reading a Magic 8 Ball, lololol, amg! So I felt a lot of pressure to ham it up, tell one liners and zingers, make funny comments, ad lib, you name it to make the gag fortune reading entertaining. Beforehand I made a quick sign to play off the Magic 8 Ball that said, "MADAME ZORGA'S FORTUNES - 4 WORDS OR LESS." I had like 20 people watching me every time I "read" a fortune!! It was mega embarrassing, but, psht, I delivered and had them laughing even though inside I was thinking Get-Me-Outta-Here. The point of this long story is that I posed for a lot of pictures and got pictures taken of me and I didn't even care! I have avoided the camera for 16 years *tears* I'm so happy to be rejoining the world, even if it's as my Madame Zorga alter ego :belly: I changed my profile pic to my fortune teller personae in celebration.

TooWicky, you seem very caring!

Glad to hear your fortune telling gig went well, even if it was kind of stressful :D Love your outfit!!

TooWicky! Love your Madame Zorga picture!
I am down a pound this week. I wish it was more.
I have a fun NSV. Jenny has inspired me. I am really bad at not exercising. But Jenny worked out every day. Surely I can do better.
I am taking an online Roman Archetecture course. I spend a lot of time watching lectures and taking notes. So I decided to put that time to good use. I have an exercise bike that is just the pedal part. You can put it on the floor and pedal with your feet or on a table and pedal witht your hands. I set myselp up and pedaled with my feet. I stopped when I had to take notes but I hope to work up to being able to write and pedal at the same time. My daughter thought the specticle of all of this very funny and our dog didn't know what to make of it. I am sore today which lets me know I am on the right track. I intend to pedal myself all around my vitual tour of ancient Roma!

errrrgggghhhh... way up today. 195.8!!! Yesterday it was 192.8. I know some of it is super bowl, not drinking enough water bloat and um... well other things but 4 pounds since Saturday?

Whine over, back to work... drinking a lot and hoping for all kinds of movement! :)

Hey everyone!!

Lotsakids - love the idea of 1000 miles over the year, you're doing great to have passed the 100 mark already, especially with snow storms outside - I'm sure you'll hit your target easily - good luck!!

Thanks scarletmeshell for saying I inspired you, that is very touching!! Your course and cycling tour of Rome sounds great - getting your mind and body in shape at the same time - I love it!!! I may have let y'all down as I didn't go to the gym on Saturday, although yesterday I did, but I did also start a new challenge as well as not drinking coffee - inspired by Llilith's hundreds of squats I decided to do 50 on Saturday and add 5 extra each day so by the end of the month I'll be doing about 180 I think - yikes!!

Hi HuggerBunny - doing great!! And it's interesting to read about your mom, I had the same thing happen with a friend when I was younger and I wondered at the time if it was jealousy and I felt bad for it but I guess it was a little of both. Anyways, I'm glad to hear she's kept the weight off long term - I like hearing success stories like that, it gives me a lot of hope that it's possible!

TooWicky - I love your costume and your act sounds amazing!!

Down a pound today from Friday!! Starting my 'February Weight Challenge' today - I'm aiming for a 7 pound loss from Friday's 194 which will take me into the 180s - argghhh! I can't believe I'm writing these numbers!!

Congratz scarletmeshell , CrazyCatWoman, HuggerBunny, and jennybutler357 on your recent weight loss :cheer:

lotsakids, hang in there, that gain sounds definitely like water retention so give it a few days to clear out. It always takes me 2 to 3 days of straight mega water consumption to clear out water retention. Chinese food is the usual culprit with me.

HuggerBunny, people started to notice I had lost weight at 25 lbs. Really close friends maybe a bit sooner than that. I predict you will start to get a whole lot of comments in the next 10 lbs! I'm trying to think back... I think people were not really noticing I had lost weight because, well, I know this sounds wacko, but I expected to lose weight in my stomach first because it was the biggest part of me (I was/am apple shaped.) But instead, I lost it all over equally. I was the same shape and proportion, just slightly smaller all over. Most people just saw that I was the same overall shape and didn't notice I had lost weight early on. At 25 lbs. lost, my shape finally started to change a little (less in the middle proportionally speaking.) After that, everyone started to notice!

My weekly weigh-in was this morning (190 lbs,) and I was ½ lbs up from the lowest weight I saw during the week (the infamous 189½ lbs.) However, I was ½ lbs down from last week's Monday weigh-in (190½ lbs.) So barely a loss, but still an "official" loss - I'm not complaining.

196.6 this morning. I am pretty happy about this. I have been eating a few more calories and I think that is a good thing.
Jenny, you didn't let us down! You are allowed to skip a day.
HuggerBunny, that is interesting what you said about your mom. I never really thought about how it could take some time to get used to someone that is smaller.
TooWicky, what does Madame Zorga say about our future?
I'm off to pedal around ancient Rome!

Hi All

HuggerBunny - hi there - really interesting what you write. It immediately reminded me of my own experience, 30 years ago when my mother became critically ill and lost a dramatic amount of weight in the space of two weeks. That had a big impact on me, and I now realise that I associated weightloss with illness. It has taken me years to work that one out, and I guess I just so wanted the larger, healthier version of her back I hung onto the association. She did recover, and regained a good amount of weight.

Also, I have had a friend say to me that she is having to get to know the new visual image of me. I am a teacher and have always had a physically large presence in the classroom. And even though my voice is the same, I look so different, people have had to get used to the new me. To hear that was bizarre. To me I am just me, but also I have no concept of what size I am -in my head or in reality!

Scarletmeshell -I love the tour of Roma by stationary bike. I wish I could go somewhere like that on the treadmill!

And yes, MadameZorga, please tell us about our collective futures!

ack!! up another pound. I am not over eating and I am working out. I um... well am kind of stopped up so that may be the problem.

I measured today and have lost 7 inches since last month so I will be patient and drink water.

The one thing I can say in regards to my mom's weight loss is that I'm definitely not jealous :) I'm quite happy for her, it's just kind of hard I guess when someone looks so different. She looked so... soft and cozy before, for lack of a better description. One thing I have been thinking about the past couple of days is how it's a shame that I've always thought my mom was beautiful (in the past and now), but she's made it abundantly clear ever since I was about 11 that she's displeased with my looks and/or weight. Even as a skinny teen, she'd say I looked disgusting if my clothes were too tight in her opinion (mind you, I'm quite modest and have never worn tight or revealing clothing). It seems sad that a daughter can think her mother is beautiful and love how she looks no matter what, but the mother can't think the same thing about her daughter. Part of it may be that we look VERY similar- there's no doubt that we're mother and daughter. She has a very bad body image and thinks she's ugly, sooo...

Anyway, thanks for the thoughts, everyone :D Sorry if I brought the thread down. CrazyCatWoman, it's interesting, isn't it? I'm in my late 20s and have been overweight for about 7 years of my life. I know I'm fat, but I still feel like I always did. Many of the people in my life are people I've met since I gained weight, so of course they've only seen me as a large girl. It's so odd. I can now tighten my belt by several more notches, but of course it doesn't feel any tighter than it did when I wore it a few months ago!

What you (CrazyCatWoman) wrote about your mom is interesting, I think it's a matter of perspective. My father-in-law is overweight and we see him and my mother-in-law 3 or so times a year. Around this time last year, we saw them. My father-in-law had lost weight because he was under stress at work and was at a healthy weight for the first time since I've known him. He probably lost about 30 pounds in a few months (he wasn't obese to start with). My husband and I actually thought he looked great, but my mother-in-law was absolutely losing her mind over it and constantly trying to shovel as much high calorie, high fat food down his throat as possible because she thought he was wasting away. Of course losing weight from stress isn't so good, but it would have been best for his health if he'd kept it off. When the work stress went away, he gained the weight back and looked the same as he always had about 3 months later.

TooWicks, you're probably right about how the fat is being lost. I'll bet it is from all around my body, so it doesn't look as dramatic. I've lost almost 30 pounds, it has to have come off somewhere, you'd think it would be noticeable by now! I will report back if I start getting any comments :) Really, I'm losing weight first of all for health reasons, second because I want to have a baby, and in a very distant third because I'd like to be thinner from an aesthetic point of view. Not really too bothered by it, but it will be a nice side effect.

Anyway, loving this thread! Lotsakids, I'll bet that weight will go away when... things... normalize :) 7 inches down in a month, very impressive!

Scarletmeshell, congrats on the loss :D

Hello Everyone! The scale is stuck. I guess that happens to all of us. I rode my exercise bike for a hour yesterday! I can't eat any less either. Did anyone watche The Biggest Loser last night? It was concerning.

still up just not as up as yesterday. Hopefully I'll figure this thing out. I changed up some of my exercise adding in some strength training. Not sure what to do otherwise, I felt kind of yucky last night so I didn't eat dinner. My blood sugar has been running high this week too. I think I may have to go to the doctor and get my meds adjusted.

lotsakids - It's so great that you've done it without the surgery! It's hard, but man that surgery is intense. I've been recording My 600 Pound Life, and wow - those people go through some pain and struggles to get the weight off. There really is no quick fix, not surgery, not phentermine, just some tools that helps and lots of hard work. Even that surgery doesn't guarantee success unless habits change.

1000 mile challenge? That is awesome! I love the idea of the spur of the moment exercises, that's really cool. Stairs are good. I wish we had 'em.

scarletmeshell - I agree. Having lived it, I know just how hard it is so I can't judge either. I do feel sad for people who haven't gotten to the point of getting healthy yet, but I know it's so hard. It took me so long to make up my mind to do it. I have a couple friends and even some family that don't really mention or acknowledge my loss - I'm not sure why, but I guess I'm not doing this for their approval. Yay for 196.6! Rock on with your bad self. :)

jennybutler357 - right back at you! I really love the support on this board... such a great group of people and it's amazing how our stories are all so similar, yet different in enough ways to show us new perspectives. Thanks for your kind words! I'm really excited about the bathing suit... it should be here today. :-) And thank you for what you said about the phentermine! It's harder now, but certainly doable. I'm glad I had the tool to get me started. :-)

WOW! You rocked the exercise in January, and a 7.7 pound loss? Congratulations on sticking with it!!! yay

Toowicky - you are beautiful in your new pic! Love the head wrap and you look so HAPPY and HEALTHY. :) I bet the fortune telling was fun! I have tarot cards and it's pretty complicated for a carnival. The magic 8 ball was probably a way better lighthearted prop. :-) Go Madame Zorga! I'm so happy for you that you could have pictures taken and be comfortable. Rejoin the world - that's a neat way to put it and I can totally relate.

Yay for your new scale! I use my kitchen scale a lot, too. The Loseit app has a think called recipe builder where you can add recipe ingredients and it will give you the total then you divide by servings. That's what I use now so I know exactly what to put down.

I have increased my calories too. 1200 is still my goal, but I don't worry if I get to 1400 or 1500 some days. At some point, we have to transition this to a live-able number for the rest of our lives - lest we end up with a lot to lose again.

And good for you for sending the positive vibe to the other mom at the GS meeting. That was such an awesome thing you said! It's sad that she was probably hearing pretty mean self talk when she saw your healthy choice.

CrazyCatWoman - Say it sister! I totally hear you on reconciling the new me with my old self. It's hard. I don't want to shame myself for where I ended up, but it is easy to do if I am not careful. 181!!! Rock on - that is awesome! Yay for pooping. :D

HuggerBunny - What you said about your mom made me tear up a bit. First, because she had the negative self talk, which probably affected how your weight developed. I know it did for me. My mom was the same way. She was quite thin, but mostly because she starved herself. I'm pretty sure now that she was anorexic at least during some phases of her life. And, it reminded me of my daughter and I the other day. She is 18, and we hugged the other day and she said "you aren't a pillow anymore". I realized that my cushiness was probably comforting in a way, because I was always that way for her whole life. She's been doing a lot of negative self talk about her own weight and I wish I could take back all the times I said I was fat and ugly and just make her know that she is beautiful just the way she is. I tell her all the time, but I think she doesn't believe me.

YAY for 27 pounds gone. That is 108 sticks of butter! I'm sure it is noticable :-) Other people just don't pay as much attention to us as we do to ourselves, I think. Round faces are beautiful too! you can have a round face without being overweight even. :-) Your long legs are a plus, when it comes to appearing thinner too, I bet. Have you considered a new hair style? There are so many cute styles that compliment round faces and you could try something completely new to celebrate your loss so far and maybe feel more beautiful? Feeling beautiful is important! Because we radiate our beauty from the inside. :)

Wow, I wrote a novel up there haha! That will teach me to not check in for several days! I am 189.6 today, that's my first ever peak at 180's. YAY! Learned a tough lesson at the mall the other day. I was starving when I went so I got a bagel dog, and thought how bad can it be? I thought about just eating half but I ate the whole damn thing and later learned it was 500 calories. JEEZ. I had pineapple for dinner to stay within budget LOL. I'm glad this squat challenge is almost over. Yesterday was 225, and I had to break it into about 6 chunks to get it done. Thank goodness today is a rest day!

Llilith!!! you broke into the 180's!!!! Whoo Hoo! I did 50 squats yesterday and my legs hurt today! I can't even imagine 225!!