I've been off the radar a bit, August slump I guess...I've been trying to eat intuitively and keep active, and I seem to be doing alright...146.0 at the gym today; been hovering around here give or take a # for about a month now. Still not sure if I'm going to stay here or lose another 5-10...my body might decide it for me, bc according to fitday I've been keeping a negative calorie balance but haven't lost any weight.

Hello everyone - I am kind of new!

I am also in the 140s. I lost two pounds when I weighed in on Sunday and am pretty pleased - and surprised! This is the lowest I've been since I was... 15?

I do expect myself to be in this thread for awhile ;)

Welcome, souvenirdarling! I'm also the smallest I've been since I was a teenager. It's kind of a weird feeling, eh?

forestroad: You looked great on the thread about how much we all hate the camera, so I say if your body wants to be 147 and you like 147, don't worry too much about it.

143.5 at the gym this morning...it's been 90 degrees in VT for the past week, so from this I am taking that I am really dehydrated. Also I should probably weigh myself at the same time every day.

StringBean and Canadia - Thanks for the congrats!

forestroad - I agree with canadia, you look fantastic, so if you're body feels like settling, perhaps you should let it! Also, yeah, weighing yourself at the same time every day is a must. My weight fluxuates up to five pounds during the day.

souvenirdarling - Welcome! And yeah, I'm the smallest I've been since I was 11, it's a strange, STRANGE feeling, but also a good feeling!

As for me, I'm down to 145.0 today, which was the goal I was hoping to hit before I start law school (which doesn't start for another week, YAY!). I was also secretly hoping that before I started classes I would be a size 8, and I sort of doubt that'll be the case, but maybe I'll head over to the mall this weekend just to check and see how close I am.

Ruby- Thanks! Good luck with law school...my friend starts classes at UVA law tomorrow; she is your height and heavier than you...and I just found out she wears size 28 Seven jeans, lucky b, so I'd say you have a shot at those 8s!

And I am STILL wearing size 12s from Gap...I guess the fact that I wouldn't have a prayer of fitting into size 28 Sevens is mitigated by the fact that I wouldn't have a prayer of being able to afford them either...or does that just add insult to injury?

I'm new to the thread. Just "officially" reached the 140's a couple of days ago. Getting down to 149 because of the flu last week doens't count, right? I was stalled for so long at 150 that when I finally figured out my problem, I shed TWO pounds in one day! I wasn't eating enough. And sure I knew that not getting enough calories could stall you but I didn't really think about it, ya know? Well, my bf bought some pizza and I just worked an 8 hour day at work and when I got home I had one slice. Went out with some friends to the grocery store. Didn't exercise. Got on the scale the next morning and suddenly I went from 150.4 to 148.8. I was shocked! When my boyfriend said I ate like a bird, I honestly didn't take him seriously.

Super excited to be in this thread finally! :carrot:

Congrats loveLauren! I hope your boyfriend's not like mine, who's be hinting at the weight loss benefits of pizza weekly!

Welcome, loveLauren! I was stalled for an entire month because I wasn't eating enough, so I know exactly what you mean. Once I upped my calories from 1300-1500 a day to 1600-1800 a day the weight has started dropping off. Metabolism is a crazy thing.

Lovelauren:
Heeeeey, you're here, I'm so happy for you! Welcome, welcome! :D

souvenirdarling:
Welcome! We're so glad to have you! :D

Ruby:
Wow, honey, congrats on being at that little mini-goal! That's completely fantastic! I hope your size-8 goals are super close!

Elise:
Lol, jesus, if I saw a 143-point-something on the scale, dehydrated or not, I think I'd faint!
I think the important thing here is that we're not gaining! At least we know we can handle staying at these weights with minimal pain and effort, lol.

Canadia:
Metabolism IS a crazy thing... ughn!


And as for me....
OH man... Three weeks... three weeks of bouncing between 146.0 and 146.8.... and FINALLY..... FINALLY.... this morning I was 145.6! I'm praying to God, Allah, Buddah and any other higher power that this isn't just a fluke of epic proportions.
I've been avoiding 3FC recently, because it's no fun informing everyone that you're the same weight you've been for the past two and a half weeks. I've been SO frustrated.. and honestly petrified that I wouldn't be able to keep going... but I've also been trying just as hard as always. I've been eating well, keeping my calories between 1,200 and 1,400 (with the exception of the weekend where I went to Toronto to watch an MLS game with buddies and had a mild drinking binge, but I also walked for a decade, and danced up a storm in the way of calorie burning!).

Okay. Gotta go shower. I'm starting a new job today! wish me luck. <3

Update: I got a blackberry, so I'm sitting around the college.. Eating a muffin, and contemplating the fact that my natural need to be punctual has gotten me here 25 minutes early... And I thought I would ramble a bit. No matter how much weight I lose, I still feel fat. Does anyone else feel this way? I was just in th washroom, making sure I don't have a,y embarassing smears on my face, or chunks of green in my teeth before I go meet my new coworkers, and... I couldn't help but feel pathetically dismayed about how I look. What is wrong with me? I'm really worried that I'm going to spend my entire life stressing about my appearance, even if I do make it down to goal... Gah. Okay. Typing on this tiny keyboard is making my thumbs cramp. <3 to you all!

Hey Jelbb, hope your first day is going well. I feel you on the never feeling thin thing. I felt great after I lost 10lbs, for about 2 weeks, then started feeling fat again not losing any more, lost 15lbs, felt great for about 2 weeks, and now I feel like a heifer again. I think part of my problem is comparing myself to others, which is bad news bears bc there will ALWAYS be someone thinner or prettier or more successful or whatever. Anyway, in spite of having a lot of tension between loving my body where I am, and wanting to be a size 6 (and then after 2 weeks being a size 6, a size 4, and so on?), I think being a 10/12 is awesome and hot and sexy, just like I think that being a size 18/24/30/whatever is awesome and hot and sexy, bc in some sense being/feeling awesome and hot and sexy really has nothing to do with your size. Well that's not entirely true; what I mean is that you can feel awesome and hot and sexy at any size, if you let yourself. It's sort of like you wearing the clothes and making them look good, not the other way around (the clothes should fit you, not the other way around, and you make them look good, not the other way around). Does that make any sense? You're what causes your size to be awesome and hot and sexy, your size is not what causes you to be awesome and hot and sexy. Wow, I just articulated that really well for myself.

As a side note, I also happen to really like the size 10 in an objective way, not just in a "feel good about the size you are" way, because I think I have nice curves and a cute little bit of pudge, but I do feel pressure to be smaller and go through major bouts of feeling like I'm STILL fat. I really am trying to stop here though. Getting to 140 would just give me a little leeway to feel within a comfortable range for myself.

Ultimately, joining the fat-o-sphere is helping me out with body image issues. I'm not fully on board yet (or else why would I be here?) but for me, it is succeeding in helping me accept my body for what it is. You might be able to pick out some helpful stuff over at Shapely Prose, the Rotund, or Big Fat Deal, without having to agree with everything over there (SP especially is very anti-dieting). Sites like the F Word deal with eating disorders and body dysmorphia more specifically.

For what it's worth, I'm not alone on here in thinking that you are gorgeous :)

Woo-hoo Jelbb, I knew you could do it! My body stayed the same weight forever and just recently I've had a 'whoosh'. That's how it is with me - steady weight loss, then nothing, nothing, nothing, then weight loss again. I have upped exercise and lowered calories to break my last plateau, which has worked, but I'm not sure how long I can keep my new regime up! I randomly hopped on the scale just now and got 142.6, but I'm not moving my ticker just yet!! Too good to be true and all that :) Plus I'm going out to dinner tonight for the first time in ages and I'm not holding back!! The scale will not be so happy tomorrow...hehe...

OK...still 142.6 this morning...I might just move my ticker down. I love moving the ticker :)

Elise:
You have so many good points. I wish I could internalize them a little better, lol. To be honest, one of my most major issues yesterday when I was staring in the mirror in dismay was the fact that there was a line across my stomach where the pants cut in, and you could see that line through the shirt. And to be totally honest, it wasn't even a roll or anything... just the line of the pants. And I think that line looks HORRIBLE, and it was making me feel gross, and chunky.
I think your little tangent about clothes, and making them look is completely true... provided you're buying the right clothes! ;) I probably would've felt tons better if I'd been wearing something that I just felt was more flattering in general!

Stringbean: [And then a transition into Me:]
Congrats on your weight staying down! Well, I hope my body has a woosh now too! My calories were surprisingly high yesterday... I was in this training session for my new job, and my stomach just kept GROWLING. Loudly and embarrassingly, at that. And of course, they didn't have fruit and healthy stuff for snacks, they had cookies and danishes and sugary garbage. So, I kept tabs on my calories, hoping to stop at 1,600-1,700 but... I refuse to starve myself. So, when my stomach was STILL growling in the evening, I refused to deprive myself of another hundred calories.

I did go for a nice long run tho, in an effort to balance out the extra calorie intake. The school track that I normally run around has gotten finicky about us randoms taking advantage of the track (I can't imagine why... we're not ripping up grass, or having RAVES, we're walking/jogging/running around the track... it's not even a NICE track, it's gravel, and overrun with weeds...) so, they've locked up the fences and put up a "trespassers will be prosecuted" sign. It makes me a bit bitter...

But I'm moving in ten days, so I figure now is a good time to start scouting neighbourhood areas for blocks to run around. My new place doesn't have a handy school track nearby, so I'd need to eventually anyhow. I figure it doesn't really make much of a difference anyhow, since I've been tracking everything by time, not distance.

Possibly due to my high calorie intake yesterday, possibly due to the intake of a couple of cookies, or... quite possibly due to the fact that my muscles are retaining water from the hard work of a half-hour run... I was back up to 146.0 this morning. I'm hoping that the slight increase is just a precursor to an overall downward trend again... 3 weeks at any number is almost more than I can take. *prayssss*

Jelbb- I was 144 at the gym yesterday, and thinking I'm probably going to have another little uptick again today. Looking at my fitday graph, that's the general pattern...hopefully it will level off lower than the 146-147 it's been for the last month. On a side note, I look in the mirror at work, and I don't see any difference between now and 20lbs ago. I know I'm smaller, but I just can't see it.