i started trying to lose weight about a week before my son turned 2 months. this was around june 24th. i was doing atkins. unfortunately i don't know my starting weight, but when i hopped on a scale at my moms house around 4th of july weekend (2 weeks into my diet) i was 199. i couldn't believe it and thought it was wrong...until i went to an ob appt a couple weeks later and was 196. then on aug 6th i had another appt and was 190. i bought a cheap dial scale and i was down to 185ish in september, but i am pretty sure i gained a few lbs up to 187. i fell off the wagon, because we moved and re-started october 11th and am now 179. i am doing weight watchers now, because the low carb diets weren't giving me enough variety. i love weight watchers and eat so much better than i used to. i also eat all my meals instead of having this really unhealthy dinner and snacks.
anyways. :) my ultimate goal is to get somewhere around 118-120. i am short at 5'1" ...and a half and at 145 i was a size 12. that's fine, but i'd like to get to where i was in, oh 7th grade where i felt great and healthy and i was a size 5-7 then. we'll see. but i have a TON of mini goals to keep me motivated.
Christmas goal is 171 (which would make 10lbs since i joined the xmas thread a few weeks ago).
would love to get under 169, because before i got pregnant with my son i had lost some weight and gotten to 169
under 159 would be amazing, because it's been SO long since i've seen those numbers
my rewards: actually my mom and her husband are very supportive and told me that will pay me 10$ a pound. payable at 25lbs and 50lbs lost starting at 184 pounds, so they owe me 50 bucks so far. :D they want to help me get a new wardrobe. also, little things here and there that i see fit.
a huge thing is i want to get brazilians when i get to goal weight. i hate shaving and get ingrown hairs. and lastly-i want to get professional, tasteful boudouir photos done of myself.

WELCOME!! I've been here for QUITE some time:):) Lost over 50 lbs before I got pregnant and now I am on that road again. I also do South Beach because that is what I did before to lose weight and it works wonders in making me choose healthy foods!

It can be done...even without excercise. I do workout videos at home, either Kettleworx or Tae Bo about 5x a week now.

i've been here a looong time too. i'm not particularly counting calories, just making a general effort to eat way better and exercising 3x a week. my goal this time is to make it to 150 by the time i'm maid of honor in my friends wedding in april of 2011

Hey!

I'm new too. A few weeks ago I started seeing a nutritionist and following that diet. I'm also trying to work out 4 days a week..thats not working out so well though lol.

I started at 157 and i'm only 5 feet tall. The goal they set for me was 125lbs but ideally i'd like to be 115lbs. So i'm at the beginning of my journey. So far i've lost about 7.6lbs in about 5 weeks so I'm hoping I can keep up that momentum. I'm 149 right now, I have a mini goal of getting to 140 by christmas and to 115 by April 5th, which is my birthday.

I joined here because I really just need people who understand. I have one friend who went to the same nutritionist i went to, shes lost over 40lbs and she looks awesome...and shes a great help and cheerleader BUT now shes a skinny b*tch lol, so even though i know she used to be overweight, i still feel like saying..."shut up your skinny!"

Welcome! I loved reading all those responses.

what is everyone doing to lose weight?
I am counting calories, with a target of around 1500/24 hour period. I work nights, and so "daily" counts get a little tricky. Midnight to midnight works better for me. I am writing them down, for accountability reasons, until I can eat this way intuitively. Really working on portion control and mindless snacking/eating past full point.


What are your goals?
-Under 125lb by Dec 1st
-At or under 122lb by Christmas
After that, I will keep creating mini-goals for myself until I hit 115, hopefully by Feb!
-Finish 8K in January


Do you have any rewards for yourself?
I love a good mani/pedi! I try to avoid food rewards, and instead am trying to learn how to incorporate dinners and drinks out with friends as careful indulgences, so that they don't turn into all-out binges. So far, so good. :)

Best of luck to you!

:hug:
I am .5" taller than you. I started out at 1800 calories per day also.
I felt good within a week, but as I lose more weight, I feel even better.
After a couple of months I dropped the calories down to 1700.
So far, since June I have lost 21 lbs. I have dropped the calories down to 1600-1650 for now.

You will make it.
Don't worry.
Just keep at it every day.

I write everything down that I eat...and keep track of changes in my body every week.

:goodluck:

I love these threads =)

I live in canada, vancouver and I m asian ;)

I started my calorie counting around august 2st and I've lost roughly 63pound till now. I started around 230 and right now I weight 166.

I only eat 1000-1200 calories per day and I have class in the morning and work in the afternoon. I also walk everywhere and sleep super early in the night.

My goal is to be 155 by december and my ultimate goal is 120 but my current mini goal for next year march is 140 =).

I reached my highest weight in a very long time! I refuse to step up on the scale. I will start a meal delivery system of 1500 calories on Monday.
I also started tweeting every activity I do, kinda like a casual blog to motivate myself. ( we'll see how this goes)

My goal weight is 150ish and to be more active.

I'm calorie counting as well. I've been doing calorie cycling and it's worked out pretty well for me. This past week I also decided to lower my carb intake (usually between 70 and 80 net a day) and I had a great loss this morning. So I think I'm going to continue to keep my carbs around there.

I try to exercise everyday for at least 30 minutes sometimes up to about an hour. That doesn't always work out, but I definitely exercise more days then I don't. I just started doing strength training and I'm going to try to do it 3 days a week.

I was at my highest weight a long time ago (Christmas of 2006) Since then I've yoyo-ed up and down quite a few times. I started this journey on my birthday this year (October 13th) and so far I've lost 14.2 pounds.

My mini goals are in my signature and *I think* my ultimate goal is 150. I have no clue if that will change or not. I haven't been even close to 150 in at least 15 years. :halfempty I picked that based on what is supposed to be a healthy BMI based on my height and frame.

I haven't really considered rewards. Really, once I reach each of my mini goals I'll probably have to get new clothes that will fit so that will probably be my reward. :)

I haven't been using any particular diet, I have mainly just been focusing on eating the right foods, lots of veggies, fruits, grains, fish etc. I haven't declared anything off limits because i've noticed the moment I do that is when things go wrong and its the only thing I want in the world! So if I go to a wedding and I want to eat the cake, I do! I haven't been calorie counting because I think I would be really bad at that.

As for exercise i've been hitting the gym. I doing c25k 3 days a week and doing other cardio like the cross-trainer etc. My main goal is just to get the gym everyday (with one rest day) I find once I get there I get more motivated! Next week i'm going to add Yoga and other classes that my gym offers to my routine.

That said i'm only at the start of my journey, have lost 2kgs of 30kgs. Current weight is 84kg. My first mini-goal is to get under 80kg and never see it again! My ultimate goal is somewhere around 56-58kg, but honestly I don't know because i've never been skinny ever so I don't know what my body will look like, so i'll just see how I feel when I get there!

I'm calorie counting. I eat between 1200-1550 calories a day. I exercise 5-6x a week rather its for 20 minutes or 45 minutes.

My goal weight is to be 125. I've NEVER seen 125 for as long as I can remember. But that's it. My mini-goal weight is 140 and I would like to hit that by March of 2011 and 125 by June 2011. Who knows though. Right now I'm 172 and I'm losing at about 7-8 lbs a month pace. Good Luck!

Wow! Congratulations to all of you! This is so inspiring. I did not expect so many people to reply :) I kinda fell off the wagon last night but I am back on it today. My goal is 175 because I remember being 175 two years ago and thinking "Gah.. I've gained 15 pounds since high school.. if I hit 179 I'll DEFINITELY take action." Well I hit 197 at my absolute highest so when I get back to 175 I am going to by myself a purse I've been eyeing up on eBay :)

SB has been a great diet. Once you know what you can eat and how to make up meals it's very easy. My carb cravings are gone within the first week. I have tried WW and lost 5 pounds within two weeks and with just simply working out again I lost 6 pounds in a month without dieting. SB gives me faster results and now I feel like a pro.. I just need to stick with phase 2 now :)

What inspiration here. Great work, all!

what is everyone doing to lose weight?
I finally owned up to my unhealthy relationship with food and began eating for health rather than pleasure. For me, this involved close attention to the Acidic properties of food, which I am very sensitive too. I have suffered from Stomach ulcers in the past, and foods that turn to acid in the system wreak havoc in by belly. As a result of research on which foods are "alkaline" and which are "Acidic" I eat mostly vegetables, certain grains (polenta, quinoa mainly) potatoes, tofu and soy products, and can't have meat, dairy, white flour or sugar. If you google "acid and alkaline food list" you'll get an idea


What are your goals?
Under 150 by New Years.
Running the NYC half marathon in March
Reaching goal weight this Spring.


Do you have any rewards for yourself?
All this money I'm saving by not eating out as often, drinking less, etc. is being funneled into a vacation account. Next summer, the hubs and I hit Spain. Barcelona may never be the same:D

Hey girlies! I am "new" here I signed up awhile ago, believing it was time to change my life buut then stopped excersizing and counting calories boo on me! However as of November 16 have started again..and I WILL SUCCEED! I have to! Im 21, have an almost 2 year old who is the best little guy ever. I have been overweigh/obese since about grade 10 but chubby all my life(sigh). I am at my heaviest right now 210 I'm only 5'4 blah. my ultimate goal is 120 by November 16 2011. Im eating 1200-1500 calories a day and as of now walking/jogging, weights and tae bo for an hour a day (except saturday haha) I feel hopeless, like no matter what I do it my goals will never be met. Then I look at this site and the goal photos and everyones success I want it sooo bad I could cry. I just want clothes to fit and to not feel so disgusting anymore! Now Im ranting haha I love you all and believe in all of you. Good luck to all of us!!

what is everyone doing to lose weight?

I'm supposedly tracking my calories and exercising almost every day; cardio and some body weight strength exercises. "Supposedly" because I'm quite sloppy and end up losing on average a pound a week. Lots of cheating and setbacks. I aim to eat under 1700 per day.

What are your goals?

I'd like to be a weight I want to be. No more of this "ehh that's good enough" stuff. I'm also just interested in maintaining an overall healthy lifestyle - balanced diet, regular exercise for good heart health, etc. I've wasted enough years being an overweight smoker. Time to make up for lost time.

Right now my goal weight is 115.

Do you have any rewards for yourself?

I suppose the greatest reward for me will be successfully maintaining a lighter weight! I don't have planned rewards but when I reach goal weight/size, a massive shopping spree of epic proportions awaits me and I CANNOT WAIT.