today I invested in a scale. I'm currently regretting my decision. I have lost 50 lbs and am 397, not 315. I've gone down two pants sizes and one shirt size (I'm in a 22/24 right now as we speak). where am I hiding it all!?! I'm 5'2" for christs sake. I never would have imagined I'm this big. I know it shouldn't feel like this is a set back, but it does a little. I was living a lie basically. now I have 237 lbs to lose. that just seems like such a large number. I should celebrate 5-10 lbs like you guys, but I feel like this such a slap in the face. what have I been doing to get me up to 450 lbs? avoiding scales. avoiding them since probably around 2003 when I was already nearing 300 lbs. this is just such a blow to my confidence. 300 lbs has always been where the stigma began. I'm lost.
Ten years ago, I was 5'7" and weighed just under 400 lbs (394). I wore a size 34/36 (snugly in some). Now I wear a 28/30 at 304 lbs.
Weight and body shapes can vary tremendously, but even so, I don't see how it would be remotely possible for you to be 5" shorter and yet somehow fit into a much smaller size than I did at that weight. The weight does indeed have to go somewhere, and 450 lbs just does not add up to someone wearing sizes smaller than a 30/32 (unless maybe they're 7 foot tall).
I've shared clothes (and weights in TOPS groups were we shared our weights out loud) with other really big girls, and I've never met anyone who weighed 450 lbs who could wear standard plus sizes (28 or smaller).
Sounds to me like the more likely explanation is that the new scale is defective.
my MIL has a scale and she weighed herself on mine and it was the same weight as it is on her. this is a lane bryant shirt and they run a little big. I'm much larger in pants (I finally fit in a size 32 pants) that are a little snug. I carry all my weight in the bottom half of me.
yeah, we did. I'm just taking a little bit to get out of denial. I mean, I knew I was big. and I knew I definitely couldn't fit in a 26/28 pants. I've been rolling with the same shirt size forever but there's a point where they just don't look good anymore and I was nearing that point. my pants size for sure is a 32. I thought that it was just that high because of how I carry my weight, not because I actually weigh much more than my mom's old, unused crap scale said. :\
I misunderstood and thought your pant size was also 22/24, so the math didn't add up.
Although when you're using a scale that is inaccurate, a pound isn't always a pound, so you could have lost quite a bit more than 50 lbs or quite a bit less.
You could experiment with your mom's scale (weighing yourself, holding something that weighs 20, 30, 40, 50 lbs) to see if the numbers match up, but the "real" math doesn't really matter. What matters isn't how much you weigh now, or how much you weighed before, or even how much you may or may not have lost.
What matters is that you are headed and moving in a healthier direction.
You're not behind anything. In fact, you're really "in the lead."
My doctor told me this when I was at 370 lbs and complaining that I was only losing a pound a month when I "should" be able to lose at least 2lbs a week like a "normal" person.
He scolded me and told me that "normal" at almost all weights was to gain or lose nothing, so my 24 lb weight loss, put me in the lead, not trailing behind, even if I never lost another pound.
Weight loss is like a big city marathon, and we convince ourselves we're failing and falling behind, near to last place because we see 5,000 people ahead of us and not the 25,000 behind us, trailing in our dust, thinking they're all in last place too.
The real numbers of weight loss are much bigger than any marathon. There are millions of people trying to lose weight, and most will fail, not because they quit after failing, but because they quit after thinking they were failing.
Just "staying in the game," puts you in the lead, doing better than most.
That doctor's "pep talk" had a profound impact on me. For the most part, I have staid in the game and have seen even "not losing, but not gaining" as 90% success (not the 100% failure I used to see it as).
100% success is awesome, but completely unnecessary for reaching your goal. Even reaching goal isn't necessary for success. Success isn't just reaching goal, it's also simply getting closer and even simply not moving further away.
You're not as behind as you think, you're in the lead, Baby. And some of us will be eating your dust (and there will be other's eating our dust).
You're always in the lead if you simply don't quit.
Wheezypi - I know this feels like a setback but look at it this way... at least you have already lost 50 pounds so you are definitely moving in the right direction...
I really like kaplods take on things... she inspired me to keep at it as well... you can do this Wheezypi... you have the motivation so you are already half way there...
But, look - you have lost 50+lbs. A key thing my weight loss journey has taught me is that once you find the key to your body and how you can lose weight, the rest is easy.
So just keep doing what you are doing and you can end up wherever you want on the scale.
Give me a number and I know how to get there. So do you!
I know it must be so disheartening to be further away from goal than you thought, when I first joined 3fc my rubbish old scale told me I was 236, my new scale then told me I was 243. I was devastated and that was only a few pounds difference, so I cant begin to imagine how let down you feel by your numbers.
anyway, I lost some weight, fell off the wagon, gained it all back and then slunk back here a year later weighing 30 extra pounds. I hate knowing I have to not only still lose all that weight, but lose the extra I didn't have before as well! I suspect you may be feeling similar, I know our numbers are different and you may think I cant know how you feel, and maybe that's true but we are all on the way down in weight, or as kaplods says as long as we are not gaining, we are winning.
the only thing you can do is keep trying.
it is disheartening. the fact of the matter is I can't give up. I know I've lost at least 50 lbs because I've gone down two pants sizes. at my height and size, it's about 25 lbs. per pants size. I guess I've just been living an illusion for so long. the last time I even allowed myself to get properly weighed was 10 years ago in like 9th or 10th grade. it was agonizing. all these years of avoidance have obviously brought me to where I am. I know what I need to do, and I am doing it, I'm more so just pissed that it's going to take even longer to get to the goal I'm absolutely looking forward to. I can't wait to be able to do normal ****. that's all I want. oh and to not have to spend $100 for two outfits. that'd be cool. kaplods, you're awesome, and you do make me feel better. I'm just going to be kind of marinating in self pity for a while.
Also - and I know this is hard - but please remember that you are more than just any number. You are still the same wonderful, amazing, beautiful you no matter whether the number is bigger or smaller than you expected. 50 pounds is a huge and inspiring number to have lost, no matter how many other numbers are remaining to be lost. That is something to celebrate and feel proud of before you continue on in your journey. Numbers are just numbers - and sometimes I think we give them too much power over ourselves. If you are putting forth as much effort as you can now to get healthier, and you are moving in the right direction, those are the most important things to focus on. You can do it!
Finding out you're so far behind...
