Featherweights For those with just a few pounds, or trying to lose those last few pounds.

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Old 01-22-2007, 03:16 PM   #1  
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Default Featherweights - what's your story?

As you can see from my registration date I'm new here. I've clocked up a lot of posts because typing stops me from eating! With the exception of the odd blip I'm doing better than ever before and it's 100% down to 3fc and the amazing support here.

One of the things that has really helped me is reading the goal and mini goal stories and the photo albums. However, I'd really like to know (if that's OK by you guys) more about the featherweights because you are in my boat.

Would you mind sharing your stories? I'd like to know how far people have come - are these last few pounds the last few from a much greater weight loss or a few spare that have always been just a few? How long have you been battling with them for? What fab tips can you share? What made you finally decide to get to grips with your weight? How has 3fc helped you? If you've reached goal how has your life changed?

I'm off to Italy in a fortnight with a group of friends who are all reed thin. Whilst it'll stop me missing the other half I know I'm in for a rough ride diet wise. Whilst I am realisitic that your stories won't keep me on plan whilst I'm out there I reckon they'd be invaluable when I come back.

Having re-read the above it seems terribly nosey but I hope you don't mind. Thanks
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Old 01-22-2007, 04:12 PM   #2  
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Who doesn't love talking about themselves?!?!?

This is the second time in my adult life that I've lost weight. The first time occurred when I became pregnant with baby #2 and discovered in my "what to expect when you're expecting" book a sheet of paper from just before pregnancy #1. On that sheet were all of my measurements and goals. I had started a diet and 2 weeks later discovered I was pregnant, so I folded the paper and stuck it in the book. 4 years later and pregnant with #2 and I thought to myself, "wow, I wasn't happy 4 years ago and wanted to change, where am I now?" I looked over all the measurements, and guess what? I was exactly where I had been 4 years earlier. At that moment I made myself resolve to lose weight after baby #2 was born. I had almost a year to prepare myself.

Fast forward...baby #2 is 6 months old and weaned. I can now go on said diet. I did it with a lot of healthy eating and exercise. I went from pregnant weight of 199 down to post pregnant weight of around 165-170 when I started and then went down to 128 in about 6 or 8 months (this was over 11 years ago and my memory is failing!).

I kept my weight between 128-135 for about 2 years. Then I got complacent. I stopped exercising regularly. I rationalized everything "women are supposed to have a little belly fat"....."it's okay to have seconds if I'm still hungry." You get the idea. Suddenly I was at 155. Still 10 pounds less than I was when I got pregnant the first time, so I wasn't too upset.

Then my job got extra stressful and the next thing I knew, my size 8 REALLY didn't fit and size 12 was getting too tight. Time to get back to work!

I started a little over a year ago and did basically the same thing I had done on the previous weight loss journey. I lowered my fat and calories. My doctor said to cut out "white" food, so I did. I exercised more. I've lost 30 pounds with 10 to go. (Actually a lot of you know that I was down to 135.5 on Thanksgiving day, but had some complacency issues during the holidays and packed on 8 pounds which are refusing to budge!)

So, I'm 43, married, 2 kids and this is my second and LAST time I will lose weight! I lurk around the maintainers section here at 3FC to glean some ideas for when I make my goal. I will not, WILL NOT, allow myself to ever get above 140 again (once I get under it!!!LOL).
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Old 01-22-2007, 05:03 PM   #3  
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I guess you could say that I've lost weight twice. The first time that I remember gaining some weight in a concentrated period of time (not sure how much) was after studying abroad in the Carribbean for a summer. My host family overfed me...It's hard to refuse politely when you're not completely fluent in the language, so I ate!!!

I got back and started graduate level study. Sometime that winter, I got sick with a GI illness for a week and realized that my clothes were loose after that. I had never tried to lose weight before, so this was quite a shock. It got me interested in the idea that I could be smaller than I was. I started eating less and exercising more. I think the lowest I got was about 132. I bounced back up into the high 140s during my 3rd year of grad education due to the stressful work and no perceived time/energy for exercise. My last year of study was much better, and I got to exercising again and got down to around 138-142.

I then moved to another city, started a very stressful job where working 120 hours per week was not unusual. For the first 6 months I maintained/lost a pound or two because I was so stressed I didn't eat much. The second 6 months were a different story. I stopped cooking completely; I ate the food they provided at work and purchased all my meals by takeout or delivery when I was home. Food was all that I had to look forward to. It was my entertainment, my excitement, my company.

When that job ended, I moved to another city, had much better hours, and I stepped on the scale and realized I was nearing 160 pounds. Prior to that I had asked myself questions like, "Did I always have this bulge below my belly button?" and "Did I always have this fold of flab on my back?" I had been in denial, and I had told myself that maybe I did!

I decided to decrease the eating out and start exercising intermittently again, and the weight started to drop slowly. At some point, I got tired of cooking again and started eating easy meals (lean cuisines/microwavedsweet potato with soup/carrots, pretzels,and sweet and spicy marinated tuna packs) for lunch. For dinner I always had a lean cuisine or healthy choice meal.

I also quit eating any of the free food at work that looked unhealthy, and later, I just started bringing my own food regardless--less thinking and deception with "healthy-looking" stuff. I have to admit that my calorie levels Mon-Fri were pretty low, and then I would indulge on the weekends and eat whatever I wanted. My weight dropped very slowly or maintained on that plan. I wasn't really consciously trying to achieve any weight goal, and I wasn't unhappy with my size at that time, so I didnt' care how quickly it came off.

I stopped working several months ago (I'm now getting ready to start my new job). I was concerned that my indulgences on weekends would start to spread into Mon-Fri since my schedule was much less strict, so I decided to try to eat evenly every day of the week. I quit all junk food/unhealthy foods, even on weekends. I had time to cook, so I threw the frozen meals out the window and started cooking again. I exercise regularly. I eat pretty similar foods every day and love them. I also discovered this site and fitday at that time, and the rest is history.

I've lost about 5 pounds since I started eating evenly every day, kind of unintentionally. I've struggled a little with finding the right calorie intake for maintenance since I started calorie counting, and I'm currently working on slowly raising my calorie intake to see how high I can go. I've been exercising regularly for the last several months, too.
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Old 01-22-2007, 05:17 PM   #4  
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Let me see .... I remember telling the fellow I was dating that I weighed 102lbs. Then I was lying on my passport and saying I was 118 when I was 120-something. Then I got married, had three babies and someone told me I didn't look bad for having three babies.
I remember hating the idea of being 130-something.
Then suddenly I was 157 lbs and a poster child for metabolic syndrome. I doctored for every symptom in the book.
At about 42-ish a doctor told me I should be walking.
I didn't listen.
I doctored for some more symptoms and changed doctors. Fooled with health foods and found myself well over 160 lbs.
I had no clothes that fit! Then I started walking.
I jumped in whole hog at 1200 calories and whizzled my way down to 119 lbs of skin and bone.
Rebounded, badly.
Tried again. Learned alot about body composition. Got down to 126 or so by adding weight lifting to a BFL type diet.
Now ... I still apparently don't have all my ducks in a row but ... I want to be thin and healthy. So, I carry on.
Yup, it went something like that.
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Old 01-22-2007, 07:09 PM   #5  
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My story's a lot shorter than most, as I'm a bit of a spring chicken. (I'll be 18 in less then a month.) My weight is always something I've been self-conscious about (like all teenage girls) but I didn't really notice how much it could fluctuate with exercise and eating habits until grade 12. Throughout junior high I was taking a martial arts class 3 times a week, and gym 5 times a week in school. I thought I was fat, but I realize now, that I would kill to be that size again (imagine thinking a size 4 was fat?!)

In grade 10 I hit a high point of 159, I remember being miserable with myself for being almost 160lbs; all of a sudden not wanting to eat anymore. At all. I stopped eating breakfast, took lunch to school and threw it out, and pushed the food around my plate at dinner. I think I ended up being about 115 in maybe 2 months? Then I started eating again (I typically eat healthy meals, with sweet snacks), and taking kickboxing, and averaged between 130 to 145 throughout grade 11 and grade 12.

Now I'm in University, struggling with being away from home and eating every meal in a cafeteria. I don't have a scale out here, but I want to be 123 lbs next time I am home because I don't really remember if that was an ideal weight (in my own mind) and because 123 is a BMI of 20, and I like how it is 1-2-3. My goal might change though.

Tips: lots of water, little or no caloric beverages (empty calories), make sure to get enough protein and fat to stay full!
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Old 01-22-2007, 11:02 PM   #6  
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Since junior high, I've been unhappy with my weight and appearance but it was after college that I really started to be overweight. From the time I graduated until I was 35, I gained a few pounds per year, eventually topping out somewhere around 150-155 lbs. I was a size 14 quickly headed to a size 16. My bottom half was two sizes larger than my top half. I couldn't find any dresses that fit and it was getting pretty hard to find jackets and shirts that fit too.

Then two things happened. First, I got a job that allows me to work from home full time on a flexible schedule, making regular gym attendance a possibility. Still, that wasn't enough to motivate me, although it was a New Year's resolution every year. Second, I had some health issues that originally appeared to be weight-related. It turns out that they had nothing to do with my weight (so all this diet and exercise hasn't help with them much) but I joined a gym before we figured that out.

When I first joined the gym, I didn't really think I could lose weight, so my stated goal was just to get into better shape. But I signed up with a personal trainer because it was clear that having a regular appointment with a trainer would infinitely improve my chances for success at even that relatively modest goal. The staff at the gym was so enthusiastic and appeared so confident that I could lose weight (they just took it for granted that weight loss was one of my goals) that I started to think that maybe I could lose weight. I remember sitting on the sofa with my SO after we got home asking him if he thought it might really be possible for me to be happy with how I looked. After literally decades of hating what I saw in the mirror, I just couldn't imagine looking in the mirror and being happy.

At first, all I did were the training sessions. Then I added a couple of days of cardio on my own. I didn't lose any weight but it did seem like my clothes fit better. So I decided to see if making some changes to my diet would work. I was REALLY SKEPTICAL that modifying my diet would work. I thought there was something wrong with me that would keep me from losing weight, but decided to give a 1200 calorie a day diet a try for four months. I was so convinced it wouldn't work, I didn't tell anyone, not my family or my close friends, that I was doing it. My SO knew only because how else would I explain where I was going every day and the excessive measuring of food.

And, what do you know? It worked. Turns out, it's not rocket science. If you eat fewer calories then you burn, you lose weight. After four months, it was very clear, not just to me, but to everyone else, that it was working. In fact, after a couple of months, I even got up the courage to tell a couple of close friends that I was trying to lose weight and exercise regularly.

My stated goal is 115 but I'm not sure that's realistic. My lowest weight was 117-118 and I got there in August of 06 (I started counting calories in Nov 05), maintained for a while but am currently up about five lbs from the holidays. I currently eat about 1500 calories per day and wear a size 2-4. I'm pretty happy with what I see in the mirror. I am currently trying to lose the five lbs I put on over the holidays and then I'll have to decide if I really want to get to my goal of 115.

Last edited by BlueToBlue; 04-20-2007 at 09:56 PM.
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Old 01-23-2007, 10:11 AM   #7  
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Hooooo this will be interesting to type out! I haven't done it for a while, maybe I ought to save this on my computer just to remind myself how and why and what happened.

Ok, so I was a large child. I was always taller than everyone else at school. I was head and shoulders above everybody, then obviously since I was so tall, I was quite a lot wider than everyone else. I'm going to dig out some photos and decide when I really got "fat" but I remember being quite a slim thing at 7. I had gone on a doctor-controlled diet. 1000kcals a day. I remember being STARVING for lunch. I'd wait around the kitchen table and watch the clock until it turned 12noon so that I could have lunch! I remember my parents getting rid of the deep fat fryer, and then living on oven chips. I was a fussy eater when I was a child and probably kept Bird's Eye in business through my fish finger eating habits!

So I got fat, and I remember my mother telling me, "You're almost as fat as so and so now..." and she was huge! Thanks mum! So if I was fat then I should behave like a fat girl right? We used to live right in the middle of 3 sweet shops! I could cross the road to get to one, or walk next-door-but-one to get to the other. I think I spent most of my pocket money on sweets and ice creams. I remember being given £5 and spending it all on sweets with my friend.

So when I got to secondary school I didn't quite have the same opportunity for sweet buying but the only things I liked for school dinners were sausage rolls and hot dogs, chips and chocolate pudding! Other times when there was stuff I didn't like I ate cream crackers and cream cheese.

When I was 14 my parents moved house and I lived with my grandparents during the week so that I could still go to school. Oh my goodness I hated it there! I hated being fat, I hated not being able to walk to school (about 15 minutes) with my friend, I hated not being able to go to the shop after dark (less than 5 minutes away), I hated that they watched the holiday program, that my grandmother wrote me a letter with house rules in! That I couldn't have a pet there, that she called my favourite poet "mad" (Spike Milligan - manic depressive. SO?), etc! The one thing I could seemingly control was my weight. I skipped lunch. I was unhappy at school and didn't have many friends. Then I started skipping breakfast - I remember "washing up" clean bowls and spoons in the sink and only eating half a plain biscuit (cookie) for breakfast to "boost my metabolism" (OMG something just hit me - remind me to talk about weekends!). Then when I got home from school I would eat whatever she cooked for me. Usually. There was a nice argument when I think I might've had an oddly horrified look on my face when she put 3 fish fingers that she had FRIED IN LARD in front of me! So she asked me what was the matter and I said, "They're swimming in grease..." AND she knew I was "dieting". I think that was the same night as the mad comment about Spike Milligan. I was obviously really excited about the new book I'd bought and she made that comment. Anywhoo, so most weekdays would go like that, then I would eat whatever I wanted at weekends, since I was home with my mum and dad and happy. I remember we used to have great roast dinners and huge creamy desserts and all bloomin sorts! Anyway, over that 18 month period I lost 28lbs and looked pretty good - I actually wore vests for the first time ever and some cute hippy clothes.

Then I went back to school for 6th form and became a border. I loved it! However I wasn't loving school dinners twice a day! Breakfast was good though! I started lifting weights then - I'd be the one with the key to the weight room when it went missing! I was also swimming almost every day in free periods and at lunch. Unfortunately my grades suffered because of all the exercise I was doing! YES REALLY! I didn't really want to acknowledge that fact, but it was true, so I dropped a subject and stopped swimming and weightlifting and bucked up my grades, although not enough since I still had to resit after the two years. During 6th form we were allowed into town in our free periods. Most people went to the big supermarket next door to buy bread for our toaster, tea, sweets etc etc. I wish I'd found healthy eating then, I could've bought all the healthy stuff I needed and continued exercising and I would've been fantastic! But instead I bought sweets and I remember bingeing one day at lunch. Needless to say I regained all the weight I'd lost while staying at grandma's.

After 6th form I worked in a sweet shop I'm still trying to work out the logic that I thought it would be a good idea!!!! Anyway, so I put on an extra 14lb in about er 3 months or something! When I left that all came off again, and I took a year out, moved into a rented room with a family and did an engineering placement. I tried to restrict what I ate but I remember it mostly being macaroni cheese and english muffins! For lunch we would either go to this burger van that did amazing (fried food) sandwiches, or we'd have fish and chips! So I only stayed about the same that year, although I did go to the gym and go out dancing a lot with my friend.

Then I went to Uni and tried to look after myself better. I remember trying to like pork... It didn't happen then! I can't remember much about what I ate, but I don't think I cooked in the kitchen much! My first year at Uni I had a long-distance relationship with a boy I adored he still gives me a bit of the goose bumps now! However we broke up because I wanted to marry him (never ask a boy after 6 months if he'll marry you!), and another time we had a bit of an argument while he was out partying with his mates and I was in my dorm. Oh and another time I remember asking him if my fat bothered him and I said I'd lose weight for him and not for me. (DUH!) And while he didn't exactly say that it bothered him, I could see it in his eyes. (He had previously been bigger himself). So it all fell apart and I wanted to "show him" that I could be thin and sexy! And I was devastated and love sick and I probably didn't eat for about a week! I also entered my first 5k run then. I went out "training" once with my friend (now DH) and once on my own and I found it so hard that I basically walked the race. I lost about 7lbs between breaking up with that guy and the summer.

That summer I was kicked out of Uni (lovesick bunnies tend not to do much Uni work...) and I got a summer job in a kitchen! I lost another 7lbs while I was working there, since I didn't want to make anything to eat when I came home from work and my meanie mum wouldn't make anything for me, I remember her saying, "You've been making sandwiches all day, make yourself one!" So I ended up living on Weetabix! I also had mild fibro while I was working there and for the next 6 or so months and I lost another 7lbs.

I went to a new Uni, decided to eat right once and for all, joined a gym and actually went, went to body combat (fuelling the desire for kickboxing) and step and legs bums and tums and stuff like that. I also carried on lifting. I remember when I was at 6th form reading in Zest that Jennifer Aniston's trainer had her lift heavy weights because heavy weights built muscle and increased metabolism. I have ALWAYS lifted heavy because of that. However I only used machines, but they were better than nothing! So I lost about 14lbs that year.

My 2nd year at that same Uni I moved in with my then boyf (now DH) and I continued "dieting" on about 1200kcals. The first time I'd properly counted. I used to keep a diary and I'd be on about 1200 during the week and a little more at weekends. I also started kickboxing. I dropped another 14lbs to where I am now.

During my final year dieting was still on my mind, but I only managed to maintain. I'd cycle to Uni some days and still kickbox 3 hours a week.

My first year of employment (last year) I decided to get down to it. I started eating 6 mini meals. Lifting heavy, I invested in dumbbells and barbells at home and started running. I completed lots of 5ks, a couple of 10ks and last October a half marathon. I lost another 7lbs before last May until wedding mania hit and I've kinda lost the plot since then and am up 14lbs since last May.

I need to find my groove again. I KNOW I can do it, I just wish these last few pounds were as easy as the first few!

re: Weekends. See when my weekend binging began? It's been ingrained since I was 14 years old that as long as I was really strict during the week I could stuff my face at weekends. That has got to STOP! I almost never eat off plan during the week, but weekends are very rarely on plan.

Last edited by 2frustrated; 01-23-2007 at 10:32 AM.
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Old 01-23-2007, 03:28 PM   #8  
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I was never worried about my weight. Throughout university and grad school, I was probably between 145 & 160 most of the time, and I liked how I looked. I thought I was attractive, sexy, etc. I knew I wasn't skinny, but it didn't bother me in the slightest. I didn't wear cover-ups over my bathing suits. I wore tops that showed my tummy. I worked out a lot, so I was more muscle than flab, and in photos from those days, I still don't think I looked half-bad.

Then I moved in with a guy who would grab my love handles, and say things that made me not feel so attractive.

The first day I got on the scale at this point, I was at 148. Over about a year and a half, I dropped down to a low of 122. It didn't come off all at once. I'd lose 4 or 5 pounds, then maintain for a while, then lose another 4 or 5. Some people thought I had lost too much weight, but I thought they were just jealous. But sometimes I got hungry. Once I ate half a cheesecake in my sleep.

The boyfriend dumped me, and I moved out on my own. Within about eight months, I'd gotten up to the 132-136 range. I liked it there. I looked good, I was comfortable, I wasn't hungry.

I stayed there until I met my husband. I went up to about 150 when we first started dating (comfort?), dropped back to 135 for our wedding, and then within a year was at 157, which is where I'm trying to come back down from now.

I have 120 as my goal, but that's to keep me from getting complacent and thinking I am close so I can stop trying - really I'd be happy back at that 132-136 range. But it's hard this time. I don't remember it being hard before. Every day is a struggle. I can't seem to move the scale below 145 to save my life. Maybe I'm older and my metabolism has changed, maybe I don't care enough any more, even though I think I do. I've tried calorie-counting, which I've never done before - all I've learned is that calories in v. calories out isn't the nice mathematical formula it seems to be. I've bought a scale, for the first time in my life - and discovered how easy it is to obsess with that number, without seeing it go anywhere.

That's about it for me!
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Old 01-23-2007, 05:30 PM   #9  
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Hi there cool chix! I have been looking for a site that is free and supportive and has a sense of humor...so here I am!

I have never been obese, but I have never known thin, either. I'm 5'4 and have always been around 150lb. When my husband and I got married I had managed to get down to 135lb, but ended up gaining and reaching almost 160lb. I decided that I DID NOT want to keep buying bigger clothes. So, I joined WW last year. It has been a love/hate relationship, but I have come to the conclusion that I feel best when I stick with the plan and exercise. I struggle with accepting myself where I am now. I have this nutty self talk going on in my head...one day I will say that I love my body and I don't need to lose...another day I will wonder why I can't just reach my goal once and for all. Some times I hate the way women are portrayed on magazines and other days I want to look just like them. Stop the insanity!!!

I hope to find some cool friends here who can relate.

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Old 01-24-2007, 10:51 PM   #10  
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Gee. It all happened so fast! One day I was comfortable at 109 lbs, then determined to draw the Red Line at 120. Held steady there until I had a foot reconstruction gone bad that kept me on the couch for 6 months living alone with 5 dogs. We ALL ate a lot. Suddenly I topped out at 152lbs. ...

When I returned to work I got back into the 140's. Then I was "let go" for having had so much sick time off. Hovered in the high 140's.

I'm just now working again and able to walk [about every other day] again. I decided I needed to do something more structured and drastic than I had been and so am doing the Body For Life for Women program.

GONNA make it happen!

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Old 01-25-2007, 10:32 AM   #11  
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Great thread idea Doughnut

I often have people ask about my story, I really feel that I have no big story ...

I was a pretty average kid... As a teenager I thought I was fat, but looking back at pictures I was far from it. I had one aunt that always commented on my bone structure, I thought she was saying that I was overweight so I thought I was fat... I do have big bones which can be seen in my NOT so delicate hands, good hand for picking potatoes my g/f always says ... And I do have a very wide back even without weight training...

As a young adult, 20 yrs or so, I started biking and liking it and that's how I kept in shape.

At 28 I decided to quit smoking and start exercising. This is when I joined a gym, 22 years ago ... At the time there were only about 5 girls on the weight side of the room, we had a blast working with the big guys. I did some aerobic classes but I didn't like them at all, it was too much like work... I preferred just weight training.

At 30 my mother and I both needed to lose weight I was weighing about 150 then. We joined Weight Watchers I lost 20lbs, I was down to 130 ... Then BAM, as soon as I reached my goal I got pregnant ... I wanted to be pregnant, but hated the thought of gaining all my weight back... I ballooned up to 180 .

It took about 2 years to get back to 130, once again I got pregnant. This time I ballooned up to well over 200# ... I looked aweful I had no neck I shudder everytime I look at this pic of myself just days before delivering my DD... After DD was born I yo-yoed and yo-yoed and yo-yoed, up and down, up and down...

Then we bought this new fangled gadget a computer and this is when I discovered the internet and all the great resources available for just about everything imaginable. One day I googled "diet sites" or something like that, and discovered 3FC... I lurked for a very long time as most people do. I lurked the most in the Ladies Who Lift section and they talked a lot about Body for Life, eating 5-6 meals/day. I started posting and met Mrs.Jim, Meg and Mel... I learned a LOT from those 3 ladies and finally started to lose weight, I lost 15# :dance, but it took me foreEVER to lose , but lose I did and have kept it off...

I also started running and this has helped tremendously in keeping the weight off...

A few weeks ago I turned 50 ... this is the last time I will lose the weight because there is no way I am getting pregnant at this point in time ... So I have no excuse anymore ...

And that girls and boys is my story and I'm stickin' to it ... Later all

Last edited by Ilene; 01-25-2007 at 10:47 AM.
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Old 01-25-2007, 12:07 PM   #12  
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Default Any new Moms out there trying to lose weight?

Hi I'm new to this site. I've had two beautiful girls in two years and now that the youngest is weened I want to get my body back. I always weighed between 117 and 128 and I find myself at 160 and not liking it at all. Are there any other mothers out there in my situation, and if so what did you do? I'm in need of a little inspiration.
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Old 01-25-2007, 04:17 PM   #13  
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S/C/G: SW175/CW159/GW145

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OK, here goes. I am 64, 5'2", and while my present goal of 145 seems pretty high comparatively, the few times I was at that weight, it was a good healthy weight for me. I am build really out of proportion, with a tiny face and frame on top and a large frame on the bottom... Only once in my life was I 116#, and that was when I graduated high school, and it was basically me losing my baby fat. My mother was always bemoaning my build....I take after her, and food and dieting was the much talked about topic in our house.In college, 135-145 was my norm, and it was a good one, for my face is so tiny it gets gaunt when I go below that. But then marriage, and an evolving bad marriage did me in. After 18 years of marriage and 2 kids I was up to 180....however, the last two years of my marriage I somehow found the will power to drop the weight, back down to 145, and I don't know if my husband felt threatened or not tho' I think there was some of that....a divorce later......I maintained at 145 for a number of years, then my daughter got very ill, I injured my foot, had to work under an "evil" boss, and my weight ballooned again. It has been only in the last two years that I have started to get things under control. Working out, joining a gym, getting a trainer, and then starting to do training myself all contributed. I think it was also that I finally had the self-esteem I needed, and recognized all that I've accomplished over the years, that made the difference possible.

Losing weight at this age is so much harder, much slower, and it means I need to think of eating not as a diet but as an eating plan for life. Most days it goes well, and even my binging isn't the horrendous overindulgence it used to be, when I could finish a gallon of icecream and still keep going. Thank goodness for that! Being a trainer also makes a difference, as I have to set a good example. It is a continuous process, and challenging, but having 3FC to come to, and the support and encouragement of everyone here has been extremely helpful.

Guess that's about it.
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Old 01-25-2007, 11:05 PM   #14  
Bekka
 
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S/C/G: 200/ticker/150

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Really interesting to read everyone's stories! As for me, I was always a medium sized kid - I was fairly tall and had big boobs from age 11 on, so I was really all around thin through my sophomore year of high school. My family is naturally pretty muscular and has ridiculous metabolisms. My mom always taught me that food is the most reliable pleasure in life - something I still think is true, I just needed to learn moderation. Being in a boarding high school I put on a little weight, from about 130 to 140, but it wasn't until my junior year abroad in Israel that it started in earnest. I loved the program but hated a lot of the kids I was there with, and was constantly stressed - also, I didn't like much of the food but ended up eating a lot of different things at each meal so that I felt satisfied. By the time I returned, I had gone from about 140 to 155 or so, and over the next two years I ballooned up to between 185 and 190 - I refused to weight myself. I had struggled a little with eating disorders as a depressed early teen, and had a lot of trouble thinking about losing weight without slipping back into disordered eating, and so essentially didn't do anything about it. I generally had a few guys around, and was at an all girls school and insanely busy anyway, so it was no big deal.

Anyway, it just had to wait until I was ready. At the beginning of this past summer, I was housesitting and eating less because I was on my own, and ended up losing five pounds, effortlessly, over a matter of a few weeks. It was sort of an epiphany, an "oh, right, I CAN do this if I want to" moment. I monitored with fitday all summer, and was down to 160 when I returned to school. In the first few months, I kept up my eating habits but didn't work AS hard, and was walking around the city a lot - I found after two months that I'd lost another ten. From 150 to 140 has been an effort, punctuated by a brief holiday detour back up and down to 145, and I'm really working on those last ten. It was really funny, actually, today I was hanging out with a few girls from my school, one of whom had known me last year and two of whom were new, and I mentioned that I missed my shapelier rear (I DO!)... And when I saw the confused looks on their faces, realized I had to explain that I'd been 50 pounds heavier the year before. It was very strange having people not know that part of me, because so much of me is still the chubby girl inside. And that's not a bad thing at all. Anyway, thats my little story Do we get your full story soon?
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Old 01-26-2007, 01:55 PM   #15  
Doughnut
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Location: Birmingham UK
Posts: 631

S/C/G: 161.4/158.6/130

Height: 5'5.5"

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These stories are absolutely great - please keep them coming!

I thought this thread had been deleted and then found it up here - I hope i didn't press something wrong, I don't think I did



Anyway, my story which I've never expressed before let alone written down so this should be interesting (er - for me )

Skinny, skinny kid. Ate loads, exercised loads, never aware of my weight at the time - didn't occur to me to think about it. Then I went to bed aged 14 slim and I woke up aged 15 and fat. OK - that might not be quite right but that's how I remember it and it was really fast.

I probably wasn't fat either. At 15 I was about 5'"2 - 3" and I weighed 8 1/2 stone - 119ish but that was substantially bigger than my friends and I was definitely chubby. Then absolute disaster. A group of us (I was at boarding school so my parents had no clue about this) decided to "diet" which when you're 15 and nutritionally clueless means starvation. The obvious happened - I went up to 9 1/2 stone (133) and was fat. I stayed that way and got heavier. By the time I left school I was 147. Several of us from that "diet club" ended up with eating disorders and one of us died 6 years later from the effects of anorexia. I've never quite got over it.

Off to university and did a little better there because I started smoking heavily - terrible, terrible decision - but I went down to 135 ish and stayed between there and 140. I'd also grown so overall not too bad.

I stayed between 140-147 all my adult life except for a few months here and there when I got to 133ish again but always as a result of stress or upset. Anyway, 3 years ago I stopped smoking. I then blinked and was 163 - the highest ever. I totally couldn't handle that and calorie counted my way back down but have yo yoed between about 143-158 ever since.

I've never been slim as an adult. You'd think at my height that I would be at 133 but no such luck - annoyingly small bones. I want to be slim as a young(ish) woman and I feel like I've wasted so many years that it's time to do it. I feel like I did when I knew it was time to stop smoking.

Finally just to say:- I have never stuck to a diet for longer than 3 weeks before which is a period of time that usually sees me lose 10lbs. I've not lost as quickly this time but it's been over 4 weeks and I'm still going strong. That is absolutely 100% because of this site. Because members here have picked me up when I've fallen down, reminded me that one day can't possibly wipe out what I've already achieved and that this isn't an x number of weeks diet - it's a life plan so you've got to put things into context. Whilst I can come here and read and post I can keep going so thank you - so very, very much.
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