Anyone in the 110s (and below) trying to maintain or lose?
 

110s? 1teens? Not sure how to write it. All I know is that I'm under 120, and I'd like it to be my 'red line' weight. I'm wondering if there are some folks in the same boat with me, and I didn't see any other 1teen threads, so... :wave:

YES! I'm in the one-teens, and I'm trying to lose 10 - 12ish more pounds. I'm glad you started this thread! I'm finding it really difficult to stay on plan lately, and I've been bouncing around between 116 and 118 for the past three weeks. Hopefully this thread will encourage me not to eat so much chocolate all the time.

How did you pick 120 as your red line weight? I still haven't decided on mine, which I guess means that I mustn't have reached it yet.

Hmm, good question! I think it's just that 120 seems like the point where I started to feel like, "OK, I'm gonna keep losing, but if I had to stay this weight forever, I think I could deal with it," in a way that I didn't feel about previous weights. And since I've lost down from it (just a pound, but still), I haven't had to diet down to a stalk of celery and a glass of water to achieve that, and I have a pretty active lifestyle, so it's realistic.

If the tone of my lifestyle changes (losing mobility for some reason or another), then I'd probably have to adjust my expectations, but for now, given where my energy expenditure and metabolism seem to be, I don't think it's a stretch. 110 might be pushing it -- I'll have to see -- but maybe my end "goal" will be a range of 115-119.

So far so good this weekend! I woke up really motivated to keep things clean, and I have. We spent time with friends, and our hostess loves making cake and made one with a sort of cheesecake topping. I had barely half, if that, and I didn't feel deprived at all. Dinner wasn't very heavy -- great big salad with pieces of pork (hey, I love my other white meat, and gotta get my protein.) The bell peppers in the salad were awesome.

Oh! But I did stop by McDs and get an ice cream cone. Husband suggested it as a treat, and given that I was out shopping and moving around, and the calories and such on an ice cream don't seem incredibly ridiculous, I figured I'd go for it.

I killed it on the stationary bike today, though, and got some dancing in. So all in all I'm good. Even with the ice cream and cake, I'm actually not sure if I got all my calories in -- but some days I get more, some days less... it all evens out.

Also! I know some people swear by this throughout the whole process, but I just started keeping a food journal. It sort of helps me keep in touch with what I'm feeling before and after I eat, and hopefully it will help me from falling into compulsive overeating behaviours that have gotten me in trouble in the past.

Yes, me!

I'm currently 113 pounds, aiming for 110. I've been trying to get there for the last couple of years. For the longest time though I just couldn't accept the fact that to get the last few pounds off I would have to drop my calories down to an uncomfortably low level, at least temporarily. I had a lot of anger over this because my first thirty pounds came off relatively easily. They came off very very slowly, but didn't I have to eliminate any foods, or exercise every waking moment, and I never felt deprived.

Everything was great until I stopped losing weight and entered a two-year stall. I thought many times about calling goal but deep down I knew I would not be happy with myself if I didn't at least make a final effort to lose my last five pounds.

Since November I've eliminated all sweets and treats. I eat between 800 and 1000 calories a day divided into two meals and I exercise two hours a day. I know this sounds extreme but it is what I have to do now to lose weight.

I have four strikes against me when it comes to weight loss: I'm female, short, over fifty and on the edge of menopause, and only one thing in my favor, my very active job which gives me built in daily exercise over and above my personal workouts.

Thank you for starting this thread.

No problem! I knew there had to be someone around here wanting to be under 120.

Have you noticed yourself feeling deprived or lacking energy? If so, how do you manage it?

Hope you guys had a good weekend. Mine was OK, and now my husband is up in Munich for a conference today and tomorrow. I love him dearly, but it'll be nice to not worrying about cooking for both of us and getting pressure to try to eat more.

I'm getting more regular with my food journalling and I'm finding it very helpful... wish I had done it more regularly long ago.

I've maintained 108—just barely under 110—for more than a year. I even managed not to gain weight on my cruise earlier this month. I count calories and eat clean most days.

Does anybody ever give you a hard time or try to sabotage you over your weight?

I notice you've talked a lot about exercise, especially strength training, and how it's helped you. Do you exercise every single day? I intend to stay active, but I don't know if 6-7 days is realistic for me long-term... 4-5 days would be better for me to try and pull off, though.

Hello! I'm new here. I posted an introduction in the What's your story sticky.

I'd like to join this group. I'm at 118 and looking to get down to 110. I've struggled with crash dieting so I'm going to take it slow. I'm going to try to see if I can lose weight at 1450 calories a day. Has anyone else had lost with a similar plan to this? I've never eaten this much while trying to lose weight but I'm tired of yo-yo-ing.

I'd be curious to know what amount of calories others here are eating!

One other question: what exactly is "red line" weight?

Me! I'm not a "teen" yet but was for most of my life. Since I am so short, the smallest amount of weight I gain is so noticeable.

What have you ladies done to lose the weight? I'm very interested....

The "red line" weight is basically the weight at which you will you go back into weight loss mode should you ever hit it again. Since weight isn't completely static, we're all likely to fluctuate a bit even once we hit goal. Creating a "red line" weight that's a few pounds above goal weight gives our bodies a flexible weight range but also provides us with a predetermined red flag that will remind us to be mindful of our eating/exercise habits should we start to gain weight.


shefontaine, I know what you mean about being short. Even a difference of a few pounds is noticeable on me. Being short and having such a small frame is both a blessing and a curse.

fivestone, thanks for answering my question about your red line weight. Your answer helped me confirm that I haven't hit mine yet. I mean, I know that it wouldn't be devastating or horrible if I remained at this weight, but reeeeally, I'd much rather not and would feel a tad unhappy if I were forced to maintain now. I'm glad that you're finding the journalling helpful. I feel like I should try it, but I'm of two minds about it. On the one hand, I've heard so many people say that it's helpful and even that it's hard to successfully lose/maintain without a food journal. On the other hand, I haven't been journalling up to this point, and I'm actually pretty aware of what I eat each day. Is the journalling actually making you more aware of how much you're eating? Has it helped you to cut out anything in particular?

Magrat, if you don't mind me asking, what sort of job do you have? I like the sound of anything that keeps you (generic you, not personal you) moving throughout the day. I don't really get a ton of exercise in during the work day per se, but I am on my feet tons, which is probably helpful. Well, that and the walk to and from work.

petite powerhouse, do you find that it's difficult to maintain or are you on auto pilot at this point?

My week's not going badly by any means, but I'm still not losing. That may or may not have something to do with the cake and popcorn that I ate yesterday. The teachers' room is my downfall!

Sorry, I forgot to answer your question in my last post! I've sort of been calorie counting. I say sort of because I get a free lunch every weekday at work, and I'm not exactly sure what all goes into it. It's pretty healthy, so I just try to keep my portion sizes reasonable. At home, I calorie count. I used to jog 5-8K a few times a week and bike a little as well, but that died off once winter set in. I've tried to replace this with ice skating a few times a week. I live about 2K from my work, and I don't have a car, so I pretty much walk everywhere I go, which helps a lot.

Only all the time. I hate doing this, but nothing else has worked and I am running out of time. This may be TMI but I haven't had TOM for seven months. If I go another five months I'll be in menopause and everything I've read, heard about, or personally observed, says that menopause makes it all but impossible to lose weight and that most women gain a bit no matter what they do. Some women gain fifteen pounds. Fifteen pounds would take me all the way back to chunky. I can't let that happen, not when I've fought so hard for so long. I need to lose the weight pronto to create a safety margin in case of a future unavoidable gain.

In the meantime I'm tired and grumpy and thinking about food all the time. I drink black coffee like it's water and water like it's about to be outlawed. I avoid the breakroom at lunch since it's the meal I skip and it's too hard to sit there while everyone else is eating.

My diet is a trimmed down version of an exchange plan. Every day I have one serving each of fruit and dairy, and two servings each of vegetables, grains and protein. That averages out to about 900 calories.

The thing I miss the most and constantly crave is dark chocolate. My bedtime eighty calorie piece of dark chocolate was the very last thing I cut from my diet and I feel like a tantrumy child because I can't have it.

I wish I had gotten my act together and lost the weight twenty years ago when I had plenty of time.

Magrat, your diet seems brutal. You've probably already done this or thought about it, but have you spoken to a nutritionist or a doctor or a trainer? Maybe someone who works with weight loss could suggest some sort of technique that doesn't make you tired and grumpy so often. Or maybe you could tweak your diet so that you still eat the same amount of calories but feel more full? I know you've already experimented and have probably settled on this knowing that it's the only way to lose weight, but I just felt bad reading about your struggles. I hope that you see some progress soon!


In other news, I was excited to see a whoosh on the scale this morning! I hope I don't undo it when I go on holiday Friday.

First things first, congrats on the whoosh!! Where are you headed to for holiday?

As per your questions... personally, I didn't keep a food journal all this time, and obviously I still lost the weight, anyway. But what I'm doing now isn't the typical "food eaten/calories consumed" journal. I also write the time I'm eating, my feelings before eating, any anxiety, and then my feelings afterward. Emotional eating had a lot to do with me gaining the weight in the first place; I don't want that to happen to me in the future, and some of the slips I was having with food made me nervous that I'd slip up and fall back in that direction. So the journalling is about helping me separate my food from my feelings -- I journal a bit before I start eating... not just record what I consumed after the fact. If you're not much of an emotional eater, though, then the way I do it might not be the thing for you. Whatever you're doing seems to be working very well for you, though! :)

I'm gonna quote myself from my "Goal Photo Album" post (my original goal was 125, which I reached on 1 January):

I kind of established some rules for myself -- one is that exercise was, and is, an absolute non-negotiable. I started off just walking, and then going to a walk/run or run on some trails around here. I live in some really beautiful surroundings, so it was really appealing to want to get out and be in the scenery and take in some fresh air. Later on I added Dance Dance Revolution on the Wii to keep things interesting, and later I added the stationary bike in lieu of so much running because I live in the Alps and we've had a fair amount of snow, so my usual trails just aren't passable and the sidewalks are sometimes iffy with the ice and snow.

(More recently I have also done cross-country skiing, which is a great workout...)

I had a regular schedule, with at least 3-4 days of exercise a week, if not 5-6 times, and sometimes twice in a day. I did at least 30 minutes, if not 45 minutes to an hour or more.

I also tried to focus on having an active lifestyle in general. I'm fortunate enough to live in a place where you can take trains, or just walk to get to the store or other places (bank, post office, etc.) I wouldn't include things like this in my regular exercise calculation so these worked out as extras. I've gone from being quite the couch potato to being active... it seems like I'm always moving. Even when I'm on the couch or just chilling at home I seem to always being in motion, unless I'm specifically concentrating on relaxing. Sometimes randomly whilst watching TV I'll just do some situps and pushups, or if a nice song comes on the telly or my playlist whilst I'm during housechores, believe me when I say that I'll break out into a dance! I'm sure things like that didn't hurt!

Food took a major overhaul in my life. I've been married since September 2009, and before then, I rarely cooked. I started teaching myself and learning some recipes a few weeks after our wedding... but definitely when I started getting my diet plan together, I realised that I should really step up my game a notch in terms of cooking more nutritious meals for my husband. I gathered cookbooks and recipes online as well and started experimenting, and I also started being a lot more careful about my purchases.

I use olive oil for 95% of my oil-based cooking (and use it sparingly). I use a tonne of whole foods -- way more of that than anything processed. I do a tonne of stir frys and experiment with different veggies... sometimes I use lean meats, and sometimes I do it as hearty vegetarian. I really try to make the best use of herbs and spices to load the flavor in there without a bunch of extra calories and such... My husband absolutely LOVES the stir frys... he grew up eating a lot of hearty, fatty traditional Austrian and Italian meals... I do a variety of dishes, and I've been able to take some of the traditional ones and update them healthily. I'm happy to say that my husband has also lost over 30 pounds since May!

Hi, Mari! Welcome! :wave:

I'm getting anywhere between 1500-1900 cals a day, depending on activity and my desire. I could probably lower my calories if I wanted, to lose more, and I like having room for that because it makes me feel like it's realistic for me to lose more if I want.

Magrat, totally agree with Nienna on this. I understand that you want to be in control of your weight before menopause sets in, but your diet sounds hardcore. Obviously, only you can decide if it's worth it to you, but it sounds like an awful lot to go through. Could any of it be related to hypothyroid or a similar condition?

=) Thanks for the welcome! It's nice seeing your calorie levels- many people have set there's lower than I'd like to. I'm fitting habitual crash dieting so I'm keeping mine higher than what I normally do to lose weight. Hopefully I can lose at this level like you can!

Today was nice. I saw a three pound shift downward! Most of this (if not all) must have been related to my ending TOM, but still its good being closer to my goal.

How is everyone else doing?

Magrat- I agree with the other poster's. If you can find another solution to reach your goals that leaves you with more energy, it may be best. Not just for your energy levels and emotions, but health too! I'm sure you already know that though. Is there anyway you'd be comfortable adding more servings of low calorie raw vegetables? It might help out without slowing your weight loss. I've never counted calories of most raw vegetables and its never gotten in the way of my weight loss in the past. Maybe it would be true for you as well.

Rock on, Mari9! You're doing great. And, yeah, I'm just not a happy camper when my calories are way too low. More power to other people that can manage it, but I'm not great at it.

So far, so good this weekend. 118.8 on the scale today... not too bad, right? I'm hoping to be at 115 within a couple of weeks.

Thanks for asking. I'm a custodian at a biology lab. There are thirteen buildings and only eight people in the department, so sometimes we have more than one assigned building. Currently I have two, a four story office building and a five story library building. Whether I am emptying trash, pushing a mop, vacuuming or dusting I am essentially walking all day long. I wear a pedometer which one of the scientists helped me calibrate and I walk anywhere from five to twelve miles a day, just on the job. I probably climb about twenty flights of stairs a day, half the time while wearing a twelve pound vacuum cleaner. Whenever it snows I, as part of the snow removal team, have to go to work an hour early in order to shovel the paths and walkways between the buildings. And in the winter and spring we do the heavy duty project cleaning which means lately I've been going to work two hours early in order to strip floors before the scientists and support staff get in.

You would think that, with all the moving around I do, I wouldn't have to eat so little in order to lose, but, sadly, it hasn't worked out that way.

Congrats on your whoosh.
To answer your question, no I have not consulted a nutritionist or a trainer. I can't afford a trainer and my health insurance won't cover a nutritionist unless my doctor okays it and that isn't likely to happen since my doctor is one of those who thinks that weight gain for an older woman is both inevitable and healthy ( as you've probably guessed I vehemently disagree with her) and actually told me I should stop losing when I still weighed in the one thirties.

I knew that cutting my calories so low would make me tired and grumpy which is why I resisted doing it for so long. I lost my first thirty pounds eating between 1500 and 1800 a day. When I hit my stall I tried lowering my calories by 200 a day. Tried that for six months. Didn't work. Tried lowering them by another 200 a day. At this point I was eating between 1100 and 1400 a day. Did that for another six months. Didn't work. Thought that maybe, due to all the exercise I get on the job I was eating too little so I raised my calories by 100. Still my body stayed glued to the same 115 pounds.

It wasn't until I consistently kept my calories down to between 800 and 1000 calories a day that I finally began to lose weight again. Even so it is coming off extremely slowly. Since November, which is when I dropped my calories, I have lost just over two pounds.

I am not hypothyroid and I don't have PCOS. I'm just old and that just plain stinks since there is nothing I can do about it.

Oh, and want to know what the real kicker is?

Several times during my stall I would get fed up and discouraged over my lack of progress and I would stop trying altogether for a week or two. I never binged but I would eat about 2000 calories a day of regular healthy foods with a couple of daily treats thrown in.

And I didn't gain any weight. Not one ounce.

I must have the setpoint to end all setpoints.

fivestone: congrats! 118.8 is a great number. How long have you been on your diet for?

I'm hovering around 114.5 I think- I don't have a digital scale so it's hard to tell exactly, but I'm between the 114 and 115 mark. I'm hoping to hit 110 by the end of March. I think this is doable. I'm going to start doing yoga this week and hopefully that'll help a little bit. I'm trying to lose my weight through diet alone so that way I'll be able to maintain by eating more and adding exercise. Does anyone have thoughts on this?

Magrat- I'm sorry this has been such a frustrating journey for you! If you're able to maintain at a higher calorie count, would you consider just maintaining for a few weeks? Maybe it'll bump your metabolism up a little so when you go back to your more restrictive intake you'll start seeing more of a loss. Either way, good luck!

I'm not there yet, but by plan is for 120 to be my red line number (except if I'm pregnant of course!). I'd like to maintain between 115-120. That means if I ever saw anything under 115 that I would have to gain. Wishful thinking I'm sure!

For those that have reached goal, when you went into "maintenance" mode did you see a bump in your weight? I've read other posts about people losing a buffer amount once they got to goal so their goal weight wouldn't be so fleeting.

Magrat, I can relate completely. I have to restrict calories to the bone to lose weight.
I am short. I am 40. I am on hormone replacement therapy because I had an emergency hysterectomy when I was 29. I have a compassionate doctor who put me on a small amount of Armour thyroid because my levels were slightly low and he felt that for ME it was too low.
I eat no more than 1200 calories a day and my weight loss is almost as slow as my metabolism. Most days, I am at 1000 give or take 100. I count every morsel. Being short, my calorie needs are so much less than others. When I was younger, I had a very active job, I was a merchandiser. I was eating 600 to 800 calories a day. My doctor at the time said that was perfectly fine for a woman my age and height. I think I weighed 100 pounds, maybe less. He was so wrong but being young and impressionable, I believed him and was very restrictive. Like you, I drank black coffee all day. And chewed gum. In no way, do I condone restricting like that. I just want to be clear on that point. I was young and uninformed and had a bad doctor. And now, 15 years later, I wonder if all this up and down with the calories over the years messed with my metabolism.
I worry what I will have to do to simply maintain when I reach goal, which at my height should be much less than the 115 I set for myself. The only reason I did that was because the 15 pounds I gained was mostly hormonal and I am trying to be as kind to myself as possible! But I do incorporate a cheat meal once a week to stave off the deprivation feelings. Do you think this is something you could do mentally and physically or would it put you in a stall? I really do feel for you.

Hello! I'm in the teens!
Right now I weight 113.5 lbs. My goal weight is 105, which is fine because I'm 4'11". I joined a local gym and I try to exercise 4-5 days per week. I am doing boot camp and zumba. I keep track of what I eat too. I am in weight watchers. If I don't track what I eat, I could easily gain a few pounds.

mari9 and Lisa1971

I've definitely thought about giving myself a break and maintaining for a few weeks. The reason I haven't and probably won't is because I'm afraid that if I raise my calories, even for a while, I'll enjoy it so much I won't be able to force myself to take them back down below 1000. It took me a long time to get my head in the right place to lower my calories to the point where I, personally, need them to be in order to lose. I knew it would be hard, and it is. I knew I would be mostly miserable, and I am.

Things would be so much easier if I could just raise my calories a bit, say to 1200. At 1200 I could go back to eating three meals a day. But I can't lose at 1200. I've tried. And I cannot be any more active than I already am.

I just want to get this over with.

I wish!

Magrat I am very sympathetic and if you need to vent I totally understand. I had a meal delivery service for two weeks as a 40th bday present to myself because I knew I needed to really restrict my calories, esp carbs, and I knew I would be miserable, too. I figured having the delivery service would soften the blow a bit. It was great but the portions were teeny tiny. My husband couldn't believe an adult could survive on the seemingly toddler sized amounts in the little black containers. My dad thought that the whole day's worth of food was my lunch!
I have to say, I rarely reach my 1200 calorie mark on most days. I am usually a bit lower. For the most part, my body seems to have adjusted and I would rather avoid most foods than try and just have a little bit. I just wanted you to know that I feel for you. Now that I am nearing my "goal" weight I am going to readjust it because I still don't like how I feel or look.

Magrat- You know your body better than any of us, so you know what's best. Looking at your stats in the sidebar, it looks like you're only three pounds away from your goal. Is this right? I hope you don't mind, but I looked up your bmi on an online calculator and it says you're at 21.3 for being 5'1 and 113 pounds. Granted I don't know your body composition of lean weight to fat, but this is a perfectly healthy bmi. Again, you know your body best, but I feel compelled to say that it sounds like you are torturing yourself over these last three pounds and that possibly these last three pounds are optional. Just something to consider. How have you been feeling lately? Are things going any better for you? I really hope so!

fivestone: how are things going for you?

Yesterday I weighed in at 113. I'm not sure if it was fluke, but I'm happy that it looks like I might be able to hit my goal by the end of March. Next weigh in will let me know if it was just a fluctuation in water or if I'm really just three pounds away from my goal.

My stomach and thighs are still "softer" than I'd like them to be. I measured my waist yesterday and it was 27.5- a totally okay number. What's weird to me is that when I'm standing I have some definition to my abs, my body stores most of my fat on my hips and upper thighs, yet when I lay on my side I can grab a handful of fat on my stomach. I have large hands so this is even more unsettling to me. I compared with my boyfriend who is not super lean but is fit and we could only pinch some on him. I feel gross and I want to be leaner. I have never attempted this before- it's always been a number game for me.

Does anyone have any tips for getting leaner while remaining roughly the same weight? I don't want to drop much past 110 because I'm 5'4 and do not want to be underweight again. I eat a clean diet but I could exercise more. What's best? Cardio, strength training, both? I also don't want to go UP in weight. ugh.

mari9, what you think is "fat" is maybe just skin. As your body composition continues to change with this weight loss, your skin will take the longest to realize that it's not surrounding a larger body mass, but eventually it will shrink around your new frame size.

Also, for leaning out/toning up without weight loss, NOTHING beats weight training! I love, love, love weight lifting and aerobic weight training (AWT) workouts. You might also give pilates a try.

kat999: Thanks for the reply! I'll start doing some strength training then. You seem like you have experience, are there any workouts that you recommend? I have netflix so if there are any videos I might be able to give them a try. I don't have a gym membership but I do have some free weights and would be willing to purchase a few more, though I live in a small apartment. I'll start searching the web to see what I can find. Thanks again!

Yes, I'm three pounds from goal. I know my BMI is healthy right now, but, then again I reached a healthy BMI after I lost my first fifteen pounds and I could have stopped there if getting to a healthy BMI was my only concern. At 110 pounds my BMI will be 20.7, still well within the healthy range. I'd have to get below 100 pounds in order to drop into underweight territory.

I really have no idea of my body fat % or my muscle to fat ratio, but I'm thinking that I probably have a lot of muscle as opposed to fat. I base this assumption on two things. One, I am relatively small and compact for my weight. Two, there is not really any place on me to pinch. I am solid as the proverbial rock. My bust, waist and hips are small. My problem is my thighs, which are disproportionately large. If my thighs were where I wanted them to be I'd be happy to stop right here.

It seems odd that with all the walking and stair climbing I do during the course of the day my legs would be slimmer, but it's just not happening.

Things are pretty much the same as they've been. I'm still eating less than a thousand calories a day, still spending my weekdays in perpetual motion and still feeling miserable that I have to work so hard for such pitiful results.

Personally, I swear by FIRM workouts for aerobic weight training. I know a bunch of them are on Netflix (but not streaming Netflix; regular old get-a-disc-in-the-mail Netflix).

That's awesome! You're doing great. You can definitely reach your goal by the end of March.

I totally agree with the suggestions about weight training. The great thing is that you're able to build up muscle tissue (don't worry, you won't bulk up like crazy or anything) that is more metabolically active than other types of body tissue (fact, etc.) and both makes you look leaner and boosts your metabolism. Win win!

Thanks for asking... I've been so worn-out and exhausted lately, but I'm not sure why. So that's made it harder for me to really exercise well this week, but I got in some good workouts last week. I'm also not feeling like eating as much, so maybe it's balancing out. I also feel like I'm getting too thin, but I'd like to have a better buffer first before I stop and try to maintain.

This is the exact reason I'm still plugging away.

I readjusted my goal weight in order to have a buffer, too. At 4'11" I really should be lower than 110, but I know it's not realistic for me. I have hormone and thyroid issues and although I am petite, I have a pretty big frame. That's probably why people think I look fine when I am way too overweight and they guess my weight at much lower than what it really is. So, new goal is 110. Weighed in at 116 yesterday but I knew it was too good to be true. Back up to 117.5 today. Not too happy.

Magrat, "It seems odd that with all the walking and stair climbing I do during the course of the day my legs would be slimmer, but it's just not happening."


Well, it isn't very odd because you have probably quite a bit of muscle on your legs from doing these things! the only time doing these things would make your legs smaller is when you are not getting enough protein to feed the muscles being worked. like, marathon runners run WAY too much to eat enough to put muscles into their legs, but other athletes like soccer players...yeesh. they still do plenty of running around but they aren't "slim." sure they are lean but...still rather big at least to me.

i probably have the same body comp. problem you do. i am quite solid but i carry the most weight in my legs. so, it kills me. now i avoid the stationary bike and stair climber and any direct weight training on the legs, and just focus on running and occasional elliptical to keep the blood flowing. but even now, if i wanted to lose more mass off my legs i'd either need to get my body fat % really low, which wouldn't look good for the rest of me, or lose a bit of muscle mass. it's actually quite hard to do either of these things. but, here is an article i think most people would find interesting..okay i can't post a link yet but go to fitnessblackbook.com and look up "how to lose muscle mass on purpose"

I'm with everyone on the buffer weight. It's why my goal is where it's at as well.

I had been doing well. Then midterms hit and calorie counting went straight out the window. I think I'm probably back where I started, but I don't want to weigh myself yet because I feel it'll just trigger more overeating. How frustrating. I'm getting back on track as of this morning though.

I'll check out those FIRM videos. Thanks for the suggestion Kat!

fivestone- sorry to hear about your lack of energy. Are you feeling better now?

Magrat - Can you pinch anything on your thighs? Maybe they are just bigger than you'd like because of muscle. How've you been feeling lately?

Good luck to everyone!

Only downside to the FIRM is if you like it, there's about 80 bajillion videos in the series; I have become quite the collector, much to the chagrin of my credit card. ;)

I checked it out. Seems to me, though, that the author believes that anyone suffering from big leg syndrome built their legs up through over doing heavy squats and leg presses. To reduce legs he recomends reducing calories and doing lots of low intensity cardio. Well my calories are down and if walking all day isn't cardio then I don't know what it is. The website was interesting, but not very encouraging.

I can't pinch anything on my thighs so I'm pretty sure it is muscle. I've had big legs all my life, even when I was a small child. I wish it were fat because then it would be easier to get rid of.

I'm feeling rather depressed and discouraged about the whole situation. If eating next to nothing and spending my weekdays in perpetual motion isn't helping then I'm starting to wonder why I even bother.

Where is everyone? This thread seems to have died.