Dalliance: Thank you! I haven't done anything special, just calorie counting and exercise throughout. I'll send you a PM with some specifics, but really - I've just consistently eaten in a 1200-1500 calorie range, and exercised ~5 days per week. EDIT: Oops, seems you don't have PMs enabled. I target specific macronutrient ratios (less than 25% cals from fat, more than 25% cals from protein, less than 55% cals from carbs, and at least 25g fiber daily), but I have lots of days where I don't hit those and I didn't pay much attention to them at the start. Some people need a lower-carb diet to lose weight effectively, but I don't seem to be one of those. Really I just found that I had to eat well - lean meats/fish and dairy, fruits and veggies, less bread, less sugar - in order to keep to my calorie range, and when I did that I wasn't hungry and didn't feel deprived. I definitely still work treats into my diet, I just have them in smaller amounts and less often than I used to (I'll have one piece of pizza with a salad instead of four pieces of pizza; or an actual half cup of light ice cream or sorbet rather than a big bowl). My exercise has been a mix of cardio (usually 3-4 days/week) and strength training (I target 2 days/week). All in all, I think what I've done is a pretty common formula around here!
Steph: Yup. Positive action has made me feel so much better than overeating ever did!
Last edited by chickadee32; 03-03-2012 at 11:47 AM.
Dalliance: Thank you! I haven't done anything special, just calorie counting and exercise throughout. I'll send you a PM with some specifics, but really - I've just consistently eaten in a 1200-1500 calorie range, and exercised ~5 days per week. EDIT: Oops, seems you don't have PMs enabled. I target specific macronutrient ratios (less than 25% cals from fat, more than 25% cals from protein, less than 55% cals from carbs, and at least 25g fiber daily), but I have lots of days where I don't hit those and I didn't pay much attention to them at the start. Some people need a lower-carb diet to lose weight effectively, but I don't seem to be one of those. Really I just found that I had to eat well - lean meats/fish and dairy, fruits and veggies, less bread, less sugar - in order to keep to my calorie range, and when I did that I wasn't hungry and didn't feel deprived. I definitely still work treats into my diet, I just have them in smaller amounts and less often than I used to (I'll have one piece of pizza with a salad instead of four pieces of pizza; or an actual half cup of light ice cream or sorbet rather than a big bowl). My exercise has been a mix of cardio (usually 3-4 days/week) and strength training (I target 2 days/week). All in all, I think what I've done is a pretty common formula around here!
Steph: Yup. Positive action has made me feel so much better than overeating ever did!
You seem to have amazing control over everything. After a few days of calculating percentages I would get frustrated. You have a very sensible outlook. I think I'm stuck in the mindset that a diet has to feel bad, i.e. "I feel terrible and deprived so it must be working!" It's really hard to break out of that.
I didn't know I had PMs disabled..maybe it's a thing that newbies have to go through and get after the initial 20 days of joining.
If you don't mind me asking, what kind of cardio do you do? A DVD/VHS, your own routine, or something outdoors? I would love to go walking right now, but it's so freezing and cold outside(I live in Upper Michigan). I'm considering doing some Dancing to the Oldies. I bought the 5 dvd boxed set for myself as a Christmas present, lol. Can't get enough of those booty shorts. "Come on ladies, work it!"
My last straw moment came after my breast cancer diagnosis in May 2011. I had closed my eyes to my weight gain for years - I'm just under 6 feet tall and even when thinner I'm built like an Amazon, and while I can carry the excess weight better than someone much smaller, let's face it - fat is fat. I was always very slender up until I hit my 30's - I'd served in the Army in my 20's, was incredibly active as a teenager, but a really unhappy marriage pretty much got me started on the downward spiral to obesity. At my heaviest, I had reached 300lbs. After my ex and I split up, I got down to 200 lbs, rediscovered my social life, and got involved in a healthier relationship with a much more compatible man. Unfortunately, he ll eat just about anything I put in front of him and I love to cook. The pounds snuck back on, for both of us, but we never really addressed it aside from the occasional comment, "I remember when I used to be skinny."
But my health scare woke me out of my complacency. After my mastectomy, I simply had little appetite. Three weeks later, I had to go back into surgery for a Trans Flap procedure, because what remained of my breast tissue was healing much too slowly and becoming necrotic. That second surgery kicked my butt. Too tired and sore and drugged up with pain meds to move, let alone get up to make something to eat, I lost 15 lbs in 5 weeks. It gave me the incentive I needed to continue losing weight. Realizing that my hormone based breast cancer might have been activated by my excess weight, it's been kind of easy to stay focused on my goal. I wouldn't wish a serious health issue on anyone, but realizing that I want to make the most of the remaining time I have left and how I can't do the things I want to do while overweight, I've more or less found my touchstone to keep on track. Not that it's easy - far from it. But I am determined.
My last straw oh there were so many - I hope this is my last last straw. I saw a picture of me and everyone else looked i know they look and I looked FAT. How could the camera just be skewing me - whoops maybe it is me. Maybe my thighs really are rubbing together.
Oh and I think it would be wonderful not to only be clothes with tags they say "slimming" or "control".
I've had many moments in the past year where I've just felt horrible about my weight, but about a week ago, I met one of my young cousins after years (she's 6 or 7 now) and, as children often do, she would just say whatever's on her mind. When I was first introduced to her as her cousin, she looked at me, laughed and said, "You're so fat". That crushed me.
I know she didn't mean it in a cruel way at all, and her mom immediately apologized to me and told her it wasn't polite to say that, but just having someone say it directly to me for the first time was almost more than I could bear. For ages my parents have been telling me nicely (you know, saying it would be healthier to lose weight, that I was overweight, it would cause problems when I grow older, etc.), but no one's ever been so straightforward and said, "You're so fat".
I don't want to be that person or that relative that people remember only as 'the fat one', but at this point I think I am. I know it's probably too early to say, but I really do think that that is my turning point, and I hope I never forget it.
I really didn't have a last straw. It was more of a personal problem I was going through that put me through a whirlwind of depression, and when I get that depressed, I can't eat. Then it just took off from there. If that didn't happen, who knows how much more weight I would weigh by now. Scary to think about it.
I have loved reading every single one of these "last straws." While I have never been obese and thus have never had actual health issues related to weight, I have looked huge in pictures compared to smaller friends, I have felt out of control with eating, I have used food to make myself feel better. Enough is enough.
Anyway, I hope today is my real last straw. I just saw a picture of myself from during a relatively recent time when I weighed about 133 to 135. I wanted to lose weight at that time to get down to my ideal of 115 to 120. I thought I was big then, but at least I was technically a health bmi. But I looked at those pics today and I thought, wow, I looked so slender, so fit, tiny in pictures compared to some of my friends. And I look at myself in the mirror this morning, at 150 pounds, which is significantly overweight for me (I'm only 5'2" with a smaller frame) and I think, "what HAPPENED to you?" And "Are you going to let this go on?"
So the answer is no, I'm not going to let myself go.
I haven't done anything special, just calorie counting and exercise throughout. I'll send you a PM with some specifics, but really - I've just consistently eaten in a 1200-1500 calorie range, and exercised ~5 days per week. EDIT: Oops, seems you don't have PMs enabled. I target specific macronutrient ratios (less than 25% cals from fat, more than 25% cals from protein, less than 55% cals from carbs, and at least 25g fiber daily), but I have lots of days where I don't hit those and I didn't pay much attention to them at the start. Some people need a lower-carb diet to lose weight effectively, but I don't seem to be one of those. Really I just found that I had to eat well - lean meats/fish and dairy, fruits and veggies, less bread, less sugar - in order to keep to my calorie range, and when I did that I wasn't hungry and didn't feel deprived. I definitely still work treats into my diet, I just have them in smaller amounts and less often than I used to (I'll have one piece of pizza with a salad instead of four pieces of pizza; or an actual half cup of light ice cream or sorbet rather than a big bowl). My exercise has been a mix of cardio (usually 3-4 days/week) and strength training (I target 2 days/week). All in all, I think what I've done is a pretty common formula around here! 
"Come on ladies, work it!"
