Oyyy. I have a friend just like this! She and I have always been the "bigger" girls in our group of friends, and over the years a LOT of our friendship was grounded in the fact that we could (and frequently did) pig out on ridiculous amounts of junk whenever we were together--without feeling embarrassed or guilty about it, because we were *both* fat and didn't really have to hide our bad eating habits from each other... It's been weird adjusting to the friendship now that I'm much more focused on eating healthily, especially because this same friend has unsuccessfully tried many diets over the years, whereas this is basically my first effort, and I've been doing pretty well. [I feel so weird saying that, because it feels like I'm putting her down or betraying her somehow, but I swear I'm not! I love this friend to DEATH, but it is true that she's tried WW/Atkins/etc before and never really stuck to it... I guess it's just hard to say that because I don't want to seem like I'm judging her, cuz I'm certainly the last person in the world who should be able to judge a fat person! :o] But yeah, I worry that she's disappointed to have lost her eating buddy, or that she might feel like there's extra pressure on her now because she doesn't have a fellow "fat friend" anymore. You are very lucky that you and your friend have entered this journey together so you can motivate each other--god knows my friends are usually the ones prodding at me and saying "Just this once won't hurt!!", so it must be SO nice to have her support! And how awesome is it that you were able to have such a fun weekend *without* food having to be the main source of entertainment? Heh. What a great NSV. :D

Gosh, my posts on this thread always get sooo long. I just find everyone's NSVs so awesome and touching! They always make me think! :chin:

A coworker told me that I am her "inspiration" for a new weight-loss effort :cool:

Can fit into a size 18 with an elastic waist.
 

:cool: I can fit into a size 18 plus size in an elastic waist. I hope to be in a regular style pair of 18's by the end of next month.

Yesterday I was at work, and since it was Sat it was dressdown day so I was wearing my jeans. They are a bit big in the waist, so I always wear a belt with them.
Now I'm hoping this isn't TMI lol but I was going to the ladies, and as I was about to pull my jeans back up I realized I hadn't even unbuttoned them, just undone the belt, they were that big on me :D

^ WHOA! Sounds like it's time for you to get some new jeans, missy!! :lol: What a great NSV. :)

I had a hard time finding this thread so I thought I would tell my NSV and bump it up.

When I first started this journey, one of my goals was to be able to walk from the parking lot to my office without being out of breath. It is a short walk but all up hill. I was disappoint when I was still out of breath even after losing a good bit of weight.

This morning it suddenly dawned on me that I was not out of breath when I got to my office. I don't really know when this happened. I think that I have been managing this walk just fine for a good while but it felt good to realize that I had achieved one of my goals!

This still seems a little odd to me but I live in a town house community and this Sunday I walked to talk out the trash in shorts. On Monday my new neighboor told me good morning and said "I saw you in your shorts yesterday and you were hot". At first I thought he was joking, and automatically thought well I have so much wieght to loose blah blah blah.... but them remembered a thread I read on here, Thanks but.... about taking a compliment so I simply said thank you. This was a big step for me.

DD came home from college yesterday and asked me if I wanted some of her size 18 (not 18W) pants that were too big for her. I figured I'd try them on, but was pretty sure they wouldn't fit as when I went suit-shopping a month or so ago, I had to get an 18W because I couldn't get the pants over my badonkadonk.

Well, they fit! :D The khakis are a tad too tight in the rear for public consumption, but the jeans are just fine!

:carrot: :dance:

Yesterday, I bought new shorts in a size 7 and a few new t-shirts in a size small

:carrot::carrot::carrot::carrot::carrot::carrot::c arrot::carrot::carrot:

I made it through the third donut day (Board meeting days) at work in the 3.5 months since I've been on plan without even mulling over the idea of eating said donuts! And these aren't just your run of the mill donuts, these are hand-made mom and pop owned fresh bakery donuts.

I also have this shirt my sister gave me a few years ago because she bought it then realized her chest would never come close to fitting into it (she obviously has my share). Well, I've never worn it because while I have no chest, my belly was too big for it. Hung on to it all this time, tried it on today and realized I almost missed my window for wearing it.

^ *Whew!* GREAT JOB resisting all those donuts!! You deserve a gold star for sure! (Darnit, and now I'm craving one...) :hungry: Hehe.

Today was a very good day for NSVs all around, actually!

1. When I was getting lunch at my school dining hall this afternoon, one of the servers (who has been extremely complimentary of my weight loss several times in the past) pointed to me and turned to another employee and said, "Look at her! Doesn't she look great? You know, she used to be a bigger girl..." :D It probably sounds a little strange (you don't always appreciate someone announcing your past obesity to an entire dining hall full of people :p) but this woman is just one of those outspoken, brassy types in general--that's just kinda the way she talks, LOL, so it didn't bug me one bit. In fact, it seemed like she was so enthusiastic about complimenting me that it just kind of tumbled out that way, which I thought was extremely flattering, hehe! I'm sure I blushed a bit, because there were a lot of people around, but I just said "Thanks! I'm doing the best I can." *big grin* :D Yeah, that felt great!

There's another thing, and it's kind of a weird one... As in, I'm not really sure how to feel about it, but I *think* it was some kind of NSV. Just for some background info: lately in one of my classes, we've been discussing various types of oppression (based on gender, race, sexual orientation, etc), and we happened to be talking about homosexuality today--discussing whether the frequency or intensity of oppression of homosexuals is affected by whether society views it as a "choice" or an inborn trait. WELL... Of course *someone* just HAD to bring up a comparison to obesity, saying that society is more tolerant of discrimination/mistreatment(/just plain rudeness!) towards obese people, because it's generally believed that obesity is a "choice," and so on. And as I was listening to this, I instantly had a gut reaction of shame and panic and thinking Omigawsh, everyone in the room is looking at me and thinking "You CHOSE to be that way," ohhh, dear god this is awful... :o But then it occurred to me--no, they were *not* looking at me, because I am *not* obese anymore. No one was worried about offending me by discussing obesity in that way; I was just another member of the class. That felt very... weird. I almost felt like a fraud, like I was hearing something that I wasn't supposed to be hearing! But it felt kind of empowering, too. :cool:

I mail ordered some clothes in XL - and I'm returning them to exchange for L!!!!!

I now fit in my dh's relaxed fit jeans! Now onward towards fitting in to his regular fit jeans :)

It's the end of the school year, and it seems like every day someone is bringing treats in to celebrate, either in the teacher's lounge or in classes. I have resisted most of them, allowing myself one thing on Tuesday and adding it into my calories.

Also, though I have gained a bit this month when I fell off plan, for the past two days I have noticed the "old me" in the mirror. I think my face is getting thinner and regaining the definition it had a few years ago before I started gaining weight. :)

I'm kind of late on this one but either way I still wanted to share because I was super proud of myself!

So this past weekend I went out with some friends that I used to work with last year just to visit with them before I go back to school and it was so awesome because everyone kept telling me how good I looked. Now I know everyone says this but I really dont see a difference in my appearance. I mean I've barely went down a size so I'm not sure what they were seeing but it still felt good none the less.

Anyways, I ended up getting drunk (way more than I wanted to) and instead of pigging out on every junk food/ fast food I could get my hands on I chewed on gum all night and I was perfectly content ALSO the next morning when I needed food badly instead on my usual Jack in the Box breakfast after a night of drinking I went to Subway :)

I realized that I have used drinking as an excuse to eat badly and cheat on my diet in the past and there was just no reason to do that. So I didn't! :)