15 pound minigoal :)
 

I just wanted to share my mini-goal. About a month after my husband and I got married (a year ago this week), I had gained some happy weight and wound up at 194. Over the year, I tried a number of things to lose it, but was pretty unsuccessful because much of my life is sedentary and I don't have good cooking habits and tend to be an emotional overeater and had a lot of stress throughout that time (grad school, life changes, etc). I tried spin class, lost 12 pounds and then gained back six. I was at about 188. My husband and I just moved across the country and I decided to try harder to lose the weight. I've made a number of changes and in the past 3 weeks, I've actually lost some weight. I'm now down to 178, according to the scale this morning. So, this is an overall loss of 16 pounds and a recent loss of 10 pounds.

10 or 16 pounds might not sound like much, but, because I'm just 5 ft tall, every pound shows when I gain and even a few pounds lost makes a visually discernible difference. I'm feeling good about this progress and encouraged to keep trying and not give up! I'm actually really happy that I'm seeing results. I've got a long way to go, still, but I wanted to share my happiness with you folks because I'm sure you know how hard it is to make those numbers go down! :)

Next goal -- 165. Once I get there, I'm going to start weeding out my wardrobe a little, too, as a treat.

Awesome work!! You are doing excellent and 16lbs is a lot! Even if it doesn't seem like it because you have a larger goal, it is huge! That means you're working hard and making progress toward your goals! Keep it up! I know what you mean about the happy weightgain after marriage. I had made it down to 147 right before we got married. Since then I struggle to keep it in the 150's.
Last year I let things slide big time and got up to 170. I know it's less than what you are right now, but I started where you started. I saw myself creeping all the way back and didn't want to go back there.

You're doing awesome!! One thing I did the other day was went to the goodwill and found some shirts and shorts that fit but were a bit tight. It helps motivate me to lose the 5-10lbs I need to in order to fit into them!

Anway, I look forward to seeing your progress! If you don't mind me asking, what are you doing to lose weight?

If there is one great benefit about being a shorty, it's that our weight loss is so incredibly noticable on us. Even just 10 pounds! And you have lost 15 POUNDS! That is a wonderful accomplishment and the next 15 is going to be that much sweeter!

Congrats! :D

Awesome job! My sister is short, so I can definitely tell even a five pound loss on her. Congrats!

tdiprincess -- Thanks for the encouraging words. I think it's cool that having an outfit in might helps motivate you to work just a tiny bit harder to lose the extra that makes that outfit look great. I wish that motivated me, too. I've tried buying outfits that I want to fit into by a certain point in time, but it tends to be too abstract as a way of focusing for me. However, since I'm starting to take a closer look at my clothes and how I look at them, this might be something I should revisit trying. :)
I hate how fat I had allowed myself to become through neglect, depression, inactive lifestyle choices, and poor eating habits and I've gotten to the point where I couldn't stand the sight of myself in a mirror. It's easy to tune out the body in stretchy pants and t-shirts, which being a grad student allows as a wardrobe choice.
I've been trying a number of things to lose weight and I don't know if they are necessarily the best, but they seem to be working so far and I plan to become more disciplined as I keep at it and stay encouraged. Not giving up has been a struggle for me in my several-year long failed attempt at weight loss. Firstly, I'm forcing myself to look in the mirror every day and not just see what I want to see, but see what is there. I'm forcing myself to take body measurements every week, too. This way, I am reminded of the physical and tangible shape of my body and can't tune it out in an abstract way. I switched over to an Atkins-style diet -- that is, lots of meat and protein and veggies, but very little carbs. I stopped putting sugar in my tea and coffee, stopped eating sugary things in general, and stopped eating junk food (my husband eats junk food and I usually have a tiny bit when he offers, but I'm turning it down now and reminding him that it's nothing personal) altogether. I had cut out processed foods, high fructose corn syrup, msg, and hydrogenated oils already, though I never did eat much of that. I've also reduced my portion sizes and I only eat when I am really, really hungry instead of eating out boredom or emotions (this is a hard thing for me, because I do tend to binge when I'm emotional about something). And, I started taking phentermine, which really worked for my sister. She lost like 30 pounds in 3 months without any exercise at all, and as a physician, she had recommended it to me for years; I never took it before now, but I started it recently. Because I feel energized, I am less inclined to avoid physical activity. It suppresses the appetite a little, too. Another thing is that I have started to be more committed to exercising every day, even if it is something small. So, for instance, in the past several days, I ran/walked five miles on one day, played an hour and a half of tennis another day, walked three miles one day, spent an hour doing exercises like squats and push ups and crunches (etc) at home one day, and things like that. Some days, I just go for a walk in the morning and night, so that I might only walk about a mile and a half each time, but it adds up. These are all little things and I haven't had the energy for much discipline recently, so they seem a little silly, I guess. But, I think they are starting to work. I haven't been under 180 in at least 2.5 years, so that's something. I think that the biggest change, though, is that I am actually resolved to doing something and actively combatting those defeatist ideas that make me look at the slow results and want to just give up. Over the next few weeks, I plan to consistently wrk out for at least 1-2 hours every day. And, I should probably start keeping a food journal, again.
Anyway, thank you for your kind words. I like your strategies and hope we can chat more about different ways to stay motivated :)

ShanIAm and kaleidoscopic and Scooter-- Thanks for the encouraging words! I do have to agree that being petite has at least that as an advantage. :) though reaching for things is always amusing. I didn't see a huge number difference on the scale, but my normally hypercritical family has already noticed an improvement :)
I hope to keep up with your fitness journeys on here, as well. :)

That's really great! My mum is also 5ft and it's really noticeable when she loses too. Well done :) x

Congrats, that's great! 16 pounds is a fair amount of weight, especially for a short person, so be very proud of yourself! Keep up the good work!

Thanks, Liliann, Skinnysooz, and devnet.

Skinnysooz, I just noticed your location. What part of Scotland are you in? My husband and I will be in Glasgow for two months sometime soon. He's from there and we're going back to visit his family. :)

Sorry neon, just noticed this. I live in Edinburgh so not too far from Glasgow! You should come through and visit the city when you come over. Although I take it for granted, it really is a beautiful place to be xx

Well, I haven't had much more progress since my last goal (just -1 lb), so I think it will be a while before I reach mini-goal 2. But, I am hanging in there and trying to amp up the exercise and control the calories. :) At least I haven't gained any back, yet!

skinnysooz -- What do you recommend seeing in Edinburgh? I've been to Glasgow and Stirling, but not Edinburgh, yet. DH and I will be going there to visit his brother in law for an afternoon trip, but, if you have any suggestions of cool things to do, I'll add them to the itinerary. :)

WooHoo! Great job! And think of it this way, 16 lbs is almost 10% of your former self! WOW!

Keep going! 1 pound lost is better than nothin! :D

I get excited when I see shorties on here! I only 5ft and I weigh 148lbs! I just feel stuck and seeing all of the other shorties gives me motivation!