Just wanted to say thank you for all of your stories. All of you are inspirational and I know I am not alone. I am MT Stevenson, and I am on a life change journey starting with health and weight.
I have been a big girl my entire life and was totally confident until I realized I am 5 ft.2, 242 lbs, and beating the crap out of 40 (I'm 38 years old). When I saw that number on the scale and took a pic of my real self, I cried. I feel in a state of depression for a week. On March 10, 2019 I've decided to stop making excuses and make a change.
So far it has only been about 5 weeks and I have lost 14 lbs and 5 inches off my waist, but I can't see anything changing. I was getting discouraged, but not enough to quit. Patients have never been my strong suit. However, thanks to your wonderful community of friends, and the love of my sweet husband, I know I can do this and will see results eventually. Thanks for listening and I'll keep you updated 🙏

Greetings MT, I'll start with a quick question. You say you've lost 14 lbs so far and 5 inches off your waist. How did you lose 5 inches with only a 14 lb loss ?

It's pretty much a constant that you lose 1" off of your tummy for every 8.5 lbs of scale weight lost, you should have trimmed the belly by about 1.5 " or so, I'd love to know how you managed to get a magnificent 5 " loss in the belly area !

More thoughts for you later if you're not going to be a one post wonder girl?

Hey Frank B and everyone else!
I'm not sure exactly how I loss inches, but I did. I measured both of my "bellies". The circumfrence around my belly button (uppper abs) went down 3.8 inches from where I started. My bottom stomach only went down 1.2 inches. That's why I say 5. I'm not sure about scientific numbers and technicalities, but I know eating cleaner, strength training, and tracking calories to an extent will garner some kind of weight loss. It's slow but effective. As of today...16lbs down and counting. Thank you for all questions and support��

I do something similar with taking measurements in different key areas, and I keep meticulous records.

I have two notebooks I use for this exact purpose. Book #1 is for my nephrologist, I see her every six months or so, I always weigh and measure myself naked right before I take a shower. She just wants an approximately weekly record of my weight and blood pressure readings along with a date so she has something to go by between visits. I'll continue this in a few.

MT, I totally know how you feel and you're at a good place here. One thing that disturbs me a bit is your statement about losing 14 lbs in 5 weeks or so and being disappointed because you don't see anything changing. Well girl you're 38 , likely have been overweight pretty much your entire life ? At 5' 2" and 242, I came up with a 44.3 Bmi you are class 3 morbidly obese and disgusted with your body as is, most folks here are also ( or once we're) very fat/ obese, that's why they are here ! I'm at 43 right now.

I find it helpful for my mental health to share numbers and measurements on a forum like this anonymously with fellow fatties I'll never meet, I'd even gladly talk to someone like you over the phone about weight concerns
I was quite curious how you lost 5 inches off of your belly until you explained that you are adding up multiple measuring points ! Still losing "3.8 " off of your belly button waist ) seems like an awful lot for 14 lbs, I've found that 8.5 lbs pretty much is the required amount to lose an inch of your waist line, no arguing with success however !

I'll share some more things with you and anybody else that reads this thread, namely the measurements in my private log that I'd never show to anyone in person.

Well the nephrologist gets her Bp and weight numbers weekly in a notebook, I don't consider that very sensitive, I'm 6' tall and 55 y.o. last weigh in was 317 lbs = 43 Bmi, more on that number in a few.

Bp at 137/ 91, pulse 97. That's well within where my doctors want it, I've been taking meds for that for years. I take 8 different prescription drugs daily !

The sensitive stuff, MT !

I measure my belly in 4 different ways ! It sounds like your tummy is a lot like mine with the upper belly navel area ( what I consider to be my waistline, but where your waist really is hard to determine when you're extremely well FAT ! Then there is that area below the navel you call it your lower belly, I call it the pooch, some use FUPA, all obese people know this area , there is a scientific name for this problem area,but I can't think of it right now, lower belly or pooched out area works well enough

My most recent measurements:

Tummy at navel standing = 54.75 "

Lower belly pooch standing = 58.75 "

Belly at navel sucked in as hard as I can manage to suck it in with measuring tape pulled really tight = 49.5 "

Pooched out lower tummy measured when seated = 58.75 " !

I'm not very happy with those numbers, but it does feel good to share them, I'd never let my doctor or anyone else see this private logbook of just how fat I am !

I used to have a doctor , actually an APRN which is an acting doctor, this gal was like 27 and a marathon runner with a tiny waist and super tight body !

This gal took extreme delight in fat shaming me, it was like her hobby or something ? She wasn't trying to help me at all she just wanted to berate me and almost try to get me in tears for her jollies. She would extend my 20 minute appointment to 40 minutes to try to torture me on purpose !

She would tell me to take my shirt off and she would bring out those caliper things to measure your fat rolls, measure my belly, feel it up grabbing my rolls and and poke and probe my belly in various places, ask me why and how I got so damn fat !

I caught on to her act in about 5 minutes and I was more than willing to play along with her game. She was very unprofessional in the way she went about it ! However I enjoy an attractive young fit female playing with belly rolls. She would just grab and pinch my fat relentlessly and say things like do you like having all this blubber on your stomach ?, Do you think this is healthy ? I'd reply yes, Erin I do like being soft, in fact I've been considering gaining about 50 more lbs ! That just makes her even madder, she would even pull up her shirt and tell me to feel her stomach, like a 22-23 " waist and say what do think of that ?

Well, Erin I prefer a thicker gal with some nice lovehandles to be honest , Hon !

She wasn't going to beat me down, she can cancel the rest of her appointments for the day, and I'll do this all afternoon !

She eventually left and I got assigned to a new APRN, a woman about 45 y.o., and noticably fat, like 50 lbs overweight, I get along great with her and talk freely with her about my weight problems and what I can do about it. I lift up my shirt and show her the rolls on my belly and ask her to prescribe me something to help reduce the fat rolls on my tummy. She's kind of like oh we all have those rolls, I have them too, as you can see. I'll prescribe you some Phentermine to help you lose some of weight, but don't worry to much about it, you've dropped nearly 50 lbs since I've been your PCP, from 343 to 296, great job, ultimately I'd like to see you reach 260, the nephrologist has a long-term goal of 220 for me, which is just under 30 bmi

I know I'll never be 183 lbs, and a 24.9 Bmi !

Did she talk to you at all about your diet? It's well known that nearly all obesity is caused by poor diet, so if she just prescribes Phentermine without telling you to improve your diet, then she's not doing her job.

It's unfortunate that most doctors spend very little time studying nutrition, so they prescribe dangerous medications instead of fixing the root of the problem. If you're trying to lose weight, I suggest visiting a dietitian.

I understand your concerns there, Beth isn't even an MD, she's a APRN also known as a nurse practitioner. So basically a registered nurse with a bit more training and the power to prescribe meds, yeah that could be dangerous.

Beth is a helluva lot better than her predessor Erin ! Erin just took perverse delight in trying to totally fat shame into losing weight and being like her..
Well I'm not 27 and a marathon runner, I'm 55 and level 3 obese, with a 43 Bmi ! Erin just enjoyed taunting her obese patients mercilessly, fortunately I recognized her fetish for this in a few minutes and refused to play her game, this woman would easily destroy the pysche of a weak minded young woman that had some issues with being overweight,fat, obese, and could do a lot of harm to the mental health of say a youngish female that is very distraught because she is say 85-115 lbs overweight, she could actually drive somebody like that to suicide potentially ?

This place is a walk in clinic, it operates throughout CT and probably also in nearby states

The place I'm speaking of is basically a clinic with many locations and staffed with many more APRN's than MD's , but my insurance covers visits there, a dietician wouldn't be a bad idea , but I can't afford to pay for one out of pocket

The place I'm speaking of goes by the name of CHC or CHS

Community Health Services/ sometimes known as Center instead of services. They have had some scandals for sure
The one I go to had an issue with a male MD that was accused of some sexual harrassment stuff as I recall he was dismissed, I don't think he ever lost his license to practice medicine, if memory serves correct, my first ( and last ) Xwife was a patient of this guy, she never had an issue with him but she is old, short, rather well fat ,and not overly attractive, to be honest, so maybe he liked young, tall , pretty, slender women and never did anything inappropriate with her ?
Mjf, as to Beth and her prescribing me Phentermine, when I requested something to help me lose some of my extra 100 + lbs of blubber populating mainly my abdominal area, she reviewed all the stuff I was already taking and concluded that Phentermine ( the drug she chose for me ) , wasn't contraindicated, so she wrote it up for me.

I will be seeing her in late June and that's one thing I want to discuss with her.

I've been taking that for 4-5 months now and my research shows me this drug is usually only used for much shorter time periods like maybe 6-8 weeks at most, I think when my current 30 day supply runs out in about 2 weeks I will stop it on my own, it's noteant to be taken for extended periods of time , from what I can see. There is no magic pill to make you lose 100 lbs !, I know that !
Unfortunately Beth doesn't have tons of time to counsel me about diet in a 20 minute appointment, but what I'm told will largely get ignored anyway. I eat a lot of stuff like grapes, cantaloupe, yogurt, cereal now, much more than I used to anyway

If you can't afford a dietitian, you can use a nutrient tracking website (e.g. Cronometer), so you can enter a list of foods that you ate and see if you're getting enough nutrients.

For example, if you eat 1 cup grapes, 1 cup cantaloupe, 1 cup plain greek yogurt, 1 cup shredded wheat, your nutrients would look like this:
https://i.imgur.com/xLxk3Xv.png
(the macro targets can be adjusted; I'm just using the default targets)

Other foods that you should be eating (if you don't already eat them) are vegetables, and some type of healthy fat (e.g. nuts, seeds, avocado).