:welcome: to everyone new & to everyone coming back!!

Akim--I hope I'm not sticking my nose where it doesn't belong :o But is there a chance that eating so low causes to you lose control because you get hungry?? I can go pretty low for weeks, maybe even months, but sooner or later, it causes me to go off track. I'm sure being away from home and on duty in Iraq adds immense stress and it sounds like you're doing well most of the time. I'd be eating all those yummy goodies too if they were around! Good luck with your goals :D

So I got a trampoline today. It's a Gold's Gym mini one with a DVD, pedometer and resistance bands. It's so awesome and fun. I've been bouncing on it off and on all day, and did the work out dvd tonight. I"m shocked at how good the work out was and it was only $34!!! My kids have been on it constantly too.

Oh and 141.4 today, although TOM is due Thurs and I'm sure that will start going up soon :(

eeeek, am definitely rejoining this thread. my weight jumped back up into the 140's the past couple months, but as of about 5 days ago im determined to re-lose all the weight that i had lost at the beginning of 2010. this morning i was 147. I've started working out again, though i will admit that my eating has been horrible the past couple weeks. starting tomorrow im cutting out the sweets, and im going to see about getting my boyfriend on board with my eating healthy. Hoping to see 13_ by February :)

AKim- Eating healthy is difficult esp. when you're deployed (I've been over there twice). However you can request vegetarian MREs the same way as you can request a Kosher MRE. I know you don't want to survive on MREs but on some days it may be better than chow hall food.

Good luck

Hello!
I hope y'all don't mind me jumping in.....
I have been stuck in the 140 - 143 range since early October, and I would love to say that I'm doing the best I can. But I'd be partly lying, I still have major issues combating binge eating. For instance I downed not 1 but 2 boxes of Girl Scout Cookies today, knowing that it wasn't going to help in my weight loss.
However, I have been exercising very regularly (I'm training for an half-marathon), which has kept my weight stable these last few months. But I would really love to drop those last 5 pounds and finally hit my goal weight.

good morning ladies! I hope everyone has a great day! I weighed in this morning at **** DRUMROLL**** 140.8!!!! I am SOOOOOOOO happy. But i am not going to change my ticker just yet!!!!! I just need to get to 139 to get outta this thread and to the 130's.... AHHHHH only 15 lbs til my goal i am soo excited! I cannnot wait to get to 135! then 130....... then 125. I am SO motivated. My hard work and discipline with food is paying off!!!!!!! YAY

By the way: Do any of you girls shop with American Eagle? I can fit a 4 in them, but can fit a 5 in Aeropostale. I guess i am wondering how much i wil have to lose to go down another size.

I am up for the challenge! I started at 160 and am currently 145. I would love to see 13_ on the scale and would love to have some motivation. I am going through sugar withdrawl and coupled with no excercise, this week is going to be tough.

Breakfast: yogurt and oatmeal with golden raisins
Lunch: Pad See Ew (1/2 serving), hummus, 3 pieces of fresh pineapple, and 2 peanut butter crackers? wow, that was a lot of food!

Heading to hot yoga tonight (hence the HUGE lunch). I haven't been there in two weeks, so I hope I can make it through the heat! Thought I would hate hot yoga. I mean I do, but the results have been amazing. Anyone else do hot yoga or any other yoga?

I want to try hot yoga, but my gym doesn't have it :( I do Yoga 2-3 times a week. Yoga and strength training has done amazing things for my body! I might have to switch gyms just to get some hot yoga...but it's a hard choice because I know everyone at my current gym and I like it smaller. The gym that offers hot yoga is huge and crowded :(

Congrats Ashley! I've never tried AE, but I might have to now! I'm still anywhere from an 8-10, depending on the brand. 6's fit, but they leave a horrible muffin top lol. I'm hoping when I lose 15 more lbs, I"ll be a 4, but who knows. I'll be happy with a 6.

I rode my 6 year old's scooter to pick her up from school. Haha. So much fun! I might have to get one for myself. I'm kinda sore from my rebounding (trampoline) work out yesterday, so I just might take it easy today. 140.6 today. why did it go up? Boo!!!

I was doing bikram yoga occasionally. there is a studio by my house that ALWAYS has classes offered. I always found the harsh teaching method unpleasant but around Thanksgiving got pretty into it and went 4 days in a row. On the 4th day, I had a class with the studio director and he tormented me throughout the entire session. He told me I had to learn to be stronger and take it (his crap, not the yoga) in order to learn to deal with my life. I haven't been back since... :?: I was really upset as I was FINALLY starting to really get into it, after going occasionally for over a year and thinking, eh, this sucks. I left the class feeling like a big fat failure and practically in tears. Which was sad, because I am actually quite good at yoga and have done other styles for years and can do almost all the advanced poses.

I didn't go enough to see my body change, has it really been helping you? How often do you go? Everyone in the class was so buff, but I am not sure if it was the yoga, or just that it attracts that type of person.

Hi, Everyone!

I do eat the vegetarian MREs on days I'm desperate. But, yes, I think I ate all that junk food because of the combination of accessibility and for the previous weeks of good control of intake. That's why i'm trying to increase my cardio to at least 1 hr to balance out the requirement to be at a deficit of 500 calories a day to lose a pound a week.

JayZeeJay-- you are so nice to offer to send a care-package.... But, the mail system is all messed up these days and I'm at the tail end of the year deployment... I just need to exhibit a little self control.

It's so wonderful to read such inspiring stories. I LOVE the mini trampoline! It's such a great tool to have. I used to just jump around on it when watching TV instead of sitting.

I also LOVE hot yoga! Wildflower-- your instructor seems to be quite inappropriate and out of line. The studio is supposed to be a place of non-judgement and freedom. He sounds like a jerk. You could just pop in a yoga video at home and plug in a space heater and humidifier and practice yoga in the comfort of your own home.

Everyone, good luck today at reaching your goals!

i feel so stuck..ive been stuck at 142.x for over a week. I feel so close to leaving the 140s i can taste it and its just out of reach....this weight has always been the hardest for me to break through. I feel like this is where my body feels "comfortable" I don't feel so overweight that i can't move or function anymore..i just feel normal..but i'm not where i want to be and i can't seem to break out of the 140s!!!

I've been going for around 2 months now and try to go 4-5 times a week. Everyone has said my legs are looking more toned and they can tell I have lost weight. It has been the only workout I have been doing and has caused my weight to go from 160-145.

We have a great teacher. Some days I feel like I get corrected all the time and others she rarely says my name. I've been lacking in the self confidence department lately, so some days its harder to take than others. If anything yoga has taught me is some days you will be held accountable and critisized but all you can do it take a deep breathe and let it go.

I didn't think I would believe all the "healing powers" of yoga, and sometimes finding my self laughing at the instructor when they say, "you are massaging my descending colon". But I will say I sleep like a baby now, have less headaches, drink a ton more water, and find myself done eating way before I normally do.

Finally made it back to hot yoga last night and my body felt old and wobbly. I hope to make it back tonight. I need to get back to it, since I stuffed my face during the holidays! I mean to tell you I sat on the couch and ate an entire container of mini cheesecakes. Didn't feel guilty for one second!

morning ladies! i weighed 140.8 again today i'm going to change my ticker! how is everyone else doing!? i cannot WAIT to get to 13_... I bought my first pair of 3's last night at goody's. I am so excited. Of course they are tight, but they button and go over my butt. i'm ecstatic!!!!!!! :)

Wow, that's fantastic! Congrats on the weight loss. Did you count calories or the yoga just made you want to eat less?

I didn't really watch what I eat, but something inside of me caused me to actually eat a couple bites of chocolate cake and then put my fork down?! I didn't think that was humanly possible!

I'm still at 145. I weight myself every morning. Last night I went for a walk instead of working out. I can't get the damn scale to budge!!! Maybe I should stand on one foot?

crazybeautifulkittie: that's my motto, too! i thought i was the only one!

Hot yoga? That sounds really interesting....
I'm sure they don't have it at my local YMCA, but I would love to try it.
What gyms do you know of offer hot yoga?

Sadly, today I weighed 142 on the scale... I had an issue with another binge afternoon.... nono:

140.2 this morning ladies!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

They don't offer it at any gyms by me, I attend a yoga studio specific to bikram yoga (which is one of the most popular forms of hot yoga). The room has a heated floor which keeps it at 105 degrees F. Some hot yoga is cooler than this, but bikram is kept specifically at this temperature.

You can search of bikram studios here, but as I said above, hot yoga is just any yoga in a heated room and not as specific as bikram, so not all hot studios will show up, only bikram specific ones. Gee, that's confusing to explain! lol.

http://www.bikramyoga.com/studioLocator.php

That's awesome! After several days at 139.4, I've been back up to 140.2. Not changing my ticker quite yet, but still floating right around 140.0.

Hello,

I never really posted in the Feather weights forum before, but I think this is a great place for me to post this question. I will ask you as well as the featherweights that are in the 130's.

I am just trying to figure out what has been working for everyone.

What type of plan are you following? Calorie counting, low carb, weight watchers?

Do you cut off your meals early in the evening?

Are you exercising? If so, how much?

I guess I just want to know what's been working for everyone.

As for myself, I lost a huge chunk of my weight low carbing - 45+ pounds

..and then once I plateaued I switched over to fat smash and lost more.
Now, I calorie count with fat smash foods and exercise a ton. For me, It just seems like I always have to keep trying new things to get the weight moving. But the key is - find what is going to work NEXT. It takes me a while to get my body in the "weightloss" mode, but when I am there - I can feel it. Its kind of hard to explain, but I can just feel when my body is starting to really drop weight.. its an unexplainable "light" feeling that I get.

I'm looking for it again right now actually. :)

I was just curious to see what works for everyone. I'm in the upper 140's but some of you are in the lower 140's. --- How did you do it? I just dont want to stay in this 10-pound range much longer!

What type of plan are you following? Calorie counting, low carb, weight watchers?

Calorie counting, although I've been on a break lately. I try to stick to 1500 per day.

Do you cut off your meals early in the evening?

Yes, I don't eat after dinner and most nights go to bed hungry.

Are you exercising? If so, how much?

I do yoga twice a week, although I am trying to transition over to running twice a week. I walk at least 2 miles a day.


What is fat smash?

What type of plan are you following? Calorie counting, low carb, weight watchers?

Calorie Counting. I used this calculator online, and it said to eat 1200-1250 cals a day to loose 18 lbs in 2 months. So i follow on with that.

Do you cut off your meals early in the evening?

Yes. Mostly i eat before 6. Sometimes it may be 730 or 745 Occasionally. But i usually dont fall asleep til around 1:00. That being said, i usually go to bed hungry because i eat lightly for dinner (eating biggest meal of day for lunch).

Are you exercising? If so, how much?

I started out with 25 mins of cardio 7x a week. Been doing that for Four weeks. On the 5th, i upped it to (2) 30-35 min sessions of cardio daily. I do circuit training so it involves cardio, strength, and abdominals. That way im getting the most i can get out of my workouts. I won't lie, the 2 sessions a day is harder, BUT i can definately tell its going to blast this fat off!

WEIGHED IN AT 139.6 this morning!!!!!! ;)

i had just been doing very low carbs- like around 35 a day. i did my own version of atkins/southbeach. i didn't measure anything and ate when i was hungry until i was full. i lost, but it was slow and i was working out a ton. as i get lower it gets harder. now i'm trying calorie counting, but still trying to stick to lower carbs. i'm eating 80ish carbs a day, but the carbs are coming from healthy whole grains, legumes, some fruits and veggies. i do very low sugar too. i'm trying to stay under 1300 calories, even though it says on my workout days i can go up to 1700. that just seems way too high for me.

i have horrible snacking urges at night. i try to drink tea and water to combat them, but alas they usually win. i'll eat sugar free jello, a square of dark choc or string cheese. i need to work on my snacking- those urges have been bad lately. what does help is for me to just go upstairs and turn the lights off in the kitchen.

i exercise 6-7x a week. always some type of cardio, atleast 30min- usually 45-60min. i need to do more weights, i do notice that helps with losing inches.

Fat Smash is the plan that Dr. Ian (the guy from Celebrity Fit Club) wrote. He has 3 books: Fat Smash, Extreme Fat Smash, and the 4 day diet (I believe)

Pretty much low fat dieting... but works great.

You know what?? I swear that cutting your meals off early really does the trick! It seems like that is when I lose the best. Unfortunately it doesnt help with my insomnia but it most definitely works with weightloss. I swear, I think thats the biggest thing for me. I try to cut off my meals by 7. I need to stick with that or maybe even a tad earlier!

i think its safe to move to the other thread now ;) 139.4 this morning.

Congrats Ashley - I'll be over there hopefully in a few days!

I was 139.8 yesterday and 140.2 this morning. Sigh. Still bouncing around a lot around 140. I am going to wait a bit to go to the 130 thread.

Ashley! Great job!

Wildflower-- I think I am in the same boat as you. Last night I went to bed at 138 and this morning I was 141. I don't get it!! I thought you were supposed to be the lightest at the end of the day and heaviest at the end of the day.

I honestly think a lot of this weight is water weight. But, that doesn't matter-- the scale doesn't lie, right?!

What type of plan are you following? Calorie counting, low carb, weight watchers?

I've been calorie counting. I try to get at a gross calorie of 1000. I eat more than 1,000 but, I subtract my (underestimate) of output from working out

Do you cut off your meals early in the evening?
Yes, HOWEVER, I get hungry and I usually break down and eat something. However, I am going to stop giving in.


Are you exercising? If so, how much?
I work out 5 days a week. I stick to cardio 30min -1hr, then I do situps, pushups and then work in lifting to target problem areas (my arms).

Wow, that's really odd - could your scale be off? Did you drink water somewhere in there between weighing?

yesterday i was sooo close but no cigar..140.1 - and today i'm back up to 141.2 :-(

i've been bouncing between 147 and 146 for the past couple days. I've got a birthday party tonight and one of sunday so we'll see how my eating goes but i am all dressed to go to the gym right now so im hoping an extra long workout will push me to 145 by monday, and then the festivities will be over and ill be more focused on my eating.
it so hard to see a little bit of progress, and then see it go away the next day you know?

I swear I think cutting the meals off early and going to sleep a little hungry is a big key in weightloss. Well... wait... that has been MY EXPERIENCE anyway ;) However, I wish this wasnt so.... :(

I'm still bouncing around 148 - 146 in the morning with nothing on. But the other night at weight watchers with the lighest clothes I could find I was 150 :(
All these numbers are playing with my mind.

I have been on plan but have had crazy weight fluctuations that must be mostly water, like up 5 lbs, down 3 lbs, up 1 lb, down 4 lbs. It has taken me about 12 days of daily weighing to be sure that I am down 2 lbs overall now to 144. Which is good but the bouncing scale is hard on my nerves!

Wildflower & Dedikayted-- It must have been water weight. I weighed in today at 137.. whoohoo! But I swear, I don't feel like it really is true until it's consistent and i'm below 135? It is so hard to stop eating after 7pm. It's hard to go to bed hungry. So, i pushed back my work outs to start at 530/6pm and drinking more water during my workouts (at least 1 liter during my 1hr of elliptical). Also, I've been drinking a juice box size of low fat chocolate milk. I think it's been helping to stave away the hunger at 10pm. Also, I read that drinking lowfat chocolate milk is a good post-workout meal... perfect balance of protein and such....

oh.. and i just realized-- i meant i try to have a NET of 1,000 a day.... not a GROSS...

It's a new week! Good luck, everyone!

Congrats AKIM - sounds like you are really there!!!

I was afraid to even weigh this morning...I was WAY up yesterday, up to like 142.5 or 143.5, I don't even remember, I was so upset it ruined my morning. I don't know if it was water weight. It's pre TOM so maybe. I think I am starting to gain. The worst part is, I went back to calorie counting last week and had some really healthy days below 1500 calories plus 2 runs. So I have no idea why I was up. I know I slipped up with a few meals, but I haven't been counting or exercising AT ALL for weeks, so why do I gain the week I start back up?

I don't know...maybe I just ate too much salt, or maybe being off plan finally caught up with me. But I was 139 last Sat so that's 3-4 lbs up when I ran and counted calories this week - what the heck? :(

It IS hard going to bed a little hungry, but unfortunately thats what my body responds best to.

If I am desperate, I will have a little diet hot chocolate before I sleep.

Just seems like the lower the weight. the more tricks I gotta pull out the hat to get my body to let go of the pounds!!!!

It totally sucks, and it's a struggle. I was weighing in a 138 and now i"m back up to 140.0 because I'm ovulating. I know it will go back down.... I have to remind myself that the only thing I have control over are my habits (exercise and eating). The weight will follow eventually. Congrats Akim!

I'm so sore from my lifting session on Friday! Im supposed to do another lifting session today, but given I can still barely sit down without crying, I'm gonna have to wait!!

I hope everyone has a great week :)

You know, I feel the exact same way. It really does sound like TOM plus retention from salt is the culprit. For me, I was around 142/3 and then BAM, i just dropped the next morning to 139. It was really strange, but all I can really attribute it to is retaining water? Also, if you started back up with working out, your body is just adjusting. It helps, if you are retaining water, to drink more water.... counterintuitive but I've found it to help me.

Don't worry... mathematically, you will lose weight if you continue on counting calories and working out!

Also, have you been tape measuring yourself? Even when I was stuck at 142/3 for an ENTIRE month, I did lose inches in my hips, waist, chest and neck. So, maybe it will help keep you motivated and on track if you try measuring yourself?

Pink! Ovulating is a good thing! :) Lifting always makes me feel like crying, too! But, doesn't it feel so good?

I think I'll join in here, if that's okay with everyone! I participate a lot in the 20-somethings area, but why not come over here too?!

I saw my lowest weight since my soph. year of college yesterday. 146! I am dying to atleast be at 145 by Vday (you will learn that I lose very slowly :) ) As long as I'm losing and not gaining I've accepted it!

Maybe this thread will help me get these last 11lbs off.

I've been stressing lately about my final goal weight, but I've decided that I'll just worry about it once I get there. I need to see what my body looks like at 135. Any other time in my life I've been at 135 I hadn't been working out regularly so I'm hoping it looks a little more toned than in the past!

Ugh. I have been cycling between 142-144 lbs for the past couple of weeks. I am so ready to be out of the 140's. I have been calorie counting and have staying around 1200 calories per day for the past 3 weeks. I havn't been working out much lately, maybe that is why I havent been able to lose anything. It is so discouraing.

In other news, I fit into size 4 lucky brand jeans now.. yay! But it gives me pretty big muffin top :\