I'll give it a shot! I just hope it doesn't depress me too much

OK here's the scoop. Let me see if I can type it out so it makes sense. I have my measurements from when I was 124 lbs and some from time ago(important note here: make sure to date things if you're keeping a log) probably the end of Mar this year when I was 128.

124--- 128--- now
chest 29.5----30---30
bust 35.5---36---35
waist 27---28.5---27.5
umbilicus 30---31---30
hips 36.5---37.5---36.75
thigh 21.75---22---21.5
calf 14.5---14.75---14.75


And I'm not sure what to make of that.

I don't measure in near as many places as Susan. Here are mine.

---------highest weight-starting weight-currentweight-smallest weight
weight---256-----------225-----------152------------150
bust-----49------------46------------38-------------37.75
waist----45------------40------------29.75----------29.5
hips-----55------------53------------39.25----------39


Ilene~~No, I'm not a seamstress. I somehow got roped into making all six ballet dresses for the dance recital. I enjoyed doing the first three but by the sixth one I was sick of it. I think they turned out pretty good though. Here's a couple of pics.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v3...r/IMG_0194.jpghttp://img.photobucket.com/albums/v3...r/IMG_0196.jpg

Gaylyn

What a pretty ballerina!


Gaylyn ... I think I was hoping that my measurements now would be that magical 'smaller because I had more muscle than fat'. But I must be on to something if my calves are bigger. Not much room for fat on a calf any more.
But look at you go! You've lost a foot of boobs! Awesome work! You should be very proud!

Susan you made me spit water on my poor keyboard with your 'lost a foot of boobs' comment. lol Actually lucky for me (I guess):rolleyes: I had a lot of back fat.:p My cup size has only gone down from a D to a C.

Your calf is bigger and your thigh is smaller. I'd take that any day!

My dd starts softball next week so with her practices being an hour long I'll be able to get in an extra 2 hours of walking a week. Hopefully that'll help to kick start the weight loss again.

Gaylyn -- What a cutie!!

Susan -- I'm not measuring in :no: I'm just not doing well these days... I haven't run since last Thursday and I only went to the gym once this weeks so far... I also feel bloated so I'm not going to play this time...

No I'm not measuring today :no: I went and carried on yesterday as I started - badly!

I ended up eating creme eggs and danishes and half a large easter egg and chips (fries) and fishcake and almonds and chocolate and chocolate and porridge and danishes and toast and crisps (chips) and I was not in control of myself at all. I would estimate it at a 5000kcal day! :faint:

What's more I saw the easter egg on the worktop this morning and thought, "Oooh chocolate!" But I stopped myself in time and had my protein shake for breakfast!

I'm taking tonight off kickboxing, I'm going to pamper myself by wrapping up in a blanket and watching videos with a mug of ginger tea. I bought 2 new books yesterday too and vogue. I think I might have time to read them if I blow off kickboxing! My lungs are still feeling a little sore.

Ilene - I think I caught your bloat! Shall we promise to look after ourselves for the rest of the week? I'd like to buy myself some british strawberries and scoff the lot, and wrapping up in a blanket sounds very good right now, with my comfy pyjamas and a fuzzy jumper :yawn: However all that's going to have to wait till the end of the work day. ;)

Oh yeah, and gaylyn, those dresses are really cute! Can you make me one?? :D

I'm not sure why I'm not encouraged by my numbers. I'll have to think on that. I suppose I'm just blah all over because of a couple of rotten eating days and not biking either.
I could use one nice day without wind and a 24 hour victory over food.

I'm off to work for a few hours. Be good everyone!

Susan - I think when you're looking at things like quarter of inches, the measurements tend to be a bit arbitary... you can lose quarter of an inch just by the way you measure...

I'm having an odd day. HELP! I know I'm not right and I'm not sure what to do to fix it... I feel like I should be all up-beat and ra ra and :cheer: and :hyper: because I'm USUALLY like that. And I feel ok in my day to day life, you know at work, I'm doing ok, I've had some compliments on that website I've been doing, I'm having a slight easy day today, not much happening. I've finished that assignment that was causing me to eat like a 3 headed monster yesterday and all in all stuff is ok.

I know I've got a bit of lurgy and I'm not feeling 100%, more like 80%, but I'm still ok. I don't want to go kickboxing tonight because I know it will wipe me out, and I'd quite like a day when I sit down in the evening! Which hasn't happened for about two weeks! But I think I'm having a bit of this "too perfect" thingie that was touched on in Chicks in Control. I feel like I have to be exercising hard or I'm doing myself a dis-service. When I do take every opportunity I have to exercise I absolutely love it, but then, does it knock me for six the next week? I'm not sure whether I feel blah because I have a wierd cold in the background or because I overdid it last week. :dunno:

And right now, I really could demolish the last stale danish pastry that's sitting in the kitchen! I could easily scoff the rest of my posh chocolate bar. but I won't. I think I'll have an apple. I feel like a fake. I suppose my decisions to NOT eat the danish pastry and the rest of the chocolate are MY decisions, so then I'm not faking, but when I was eating constantly, like yesterday :rolleyes: I felt more comfortable, more myself, like it was the real me who was eating that easter egg. I suppose that's what you do, slip into old comforting habits... Almost like I was eating the way people expected me to, because "I'm the fat girl" even though I'm not and I'm nowhere near and I NEVER will be again. But it felt strangely like home... I suppose that's quite scary when you think about it properly.

I can't remember what my point was now, but it's kept me away from the food for a few minutes and I think I've made some head progress. :halffull:

2frus~~I can relate to what you're saying. When I eat, eat, eat I fall back into the whole food is comfort thing. I think that's why it feels so good to binge. While you're doing it anyway. Afterwards is a whole different story.:barf: I think it's a little difficult getting used to not being the 'fat one' anymore. I have always been the 'fat one'. From the age of 5 on. I think I hid in my fat. Now that it's gone I sometimes feel exposed. Does that make sense? So maybe that's why you felt more like yourself while you were bingeing. It'll take a while to get used to the new you. Hope you had a good rest of the evening.

Susan~~I know it's all relative but to me your measurements look wonderful. A 27.5 inch waist?!? I wish! Here's some :dust: for you to have a good day.

Gonna~~Good for you for trying to get back on track and for not gaining. When my dad passed away in Nov it was a huge struggle for me to keep exercising and eating right. Looking back now, I think staying on track and staying healthy helped me to deal with his death.:hug:

Gaylyn

I know what you mean about feeling exposed - I used to want the (sexual) attention when I thought I couldn't get any, I'd grab any that I could and go out of my way to attract more. However now that I do feel good about myself and dress like I feel good about myself I feel annoyed when I do get any unwanted attention.

It's strange, because I used to suffer from IBS, and any type of binge episode would usually set it off. Recently when I eat a little bit more than usual I expect to have an attack and that would finish the binge. However, I think my IBS has gone. I ate so much yesterday, I ate TONS of greasy food, and carbs but my guts of iron sorted it all out and this morning I was even hungry for breakfast! :lol: Usually I'm still full the morning after! What's up with that??

I still really want that easter egg!

Apologies for all the MEMEMEMEMEMEMememememememe ranting today gals!

:grouphug:

I've been MIA for a couple of days (school fundraisers, gardening, etc.) so I have a lot of catching up to do.

I did not weigh yesterday because I am horribly bloated thanks to TOM. No sense in getting worked up over a number that I know isn't right. My calories have been in check but the quality of my food has been less than stellar. I have been exercising harder and more frequently but still not as often as I need to. I've been considering a short fast. Not as a means to lose weight but just to focus on body ques, control, etc. I think one reason I'm having a bit of trouble is because I'm a little out of touch with those things. Journaling, meditating, and the like haven't helped much lately. We'll see.

2frus, you just put into words exactly how I've been feeling. I've felt "off" for a while but could never put my finger on what was going on. You just nailed it. The occasional days of crappy eating do feel more like "me". I am with you in that I refuse to go back there. I simply will not let that happen - even if I have to be a fake to make sure it doesn't. I'd much rather be a healthy fake than a fat real me. Wow. I'm going to have to sit and think about this for a while. Thanks for the insight.

Susan, I'm not going to take new measurements just yet. Next week for sure, though. Isn't it amazing what just a couple of days (or meals for that matter) can do to our overall attitude? My clothes are starting to loosen up again, but after those krispie kreme's the other day I can't bring myself to put my favorite jeans on. I'm just convinced I'm too fat for them - even though I logically know that a couple of donuts can't possibly put me up an entire size. How did the showing go? I remember how stressful selling our first house was. I hope I never have to move again!

Ilene, I'm sorry you don't feel you've done well lately. But, I have to admit, that it helps me keep my faulters in perspective. Don't get me wrong. I never like to here that anyone is struggling but, when I do, I feel much less anxious about my own sturggles. I suppose it makes me feel like we are all in this together and it is nice to know that the things that are hard for me affect everyone - even the people I look up to.

Gayly, what a sweet ballerina! The dress looks great. I've been threatening to get my sewing machine down. So far, though, I'm all talk. It is funny you say you were sick of the dresses by the 6th one. I remember back in high school my sister was a cheerleader and my mom got roped into making their uniforms. She never made that mistake again. I think it was the one incident that taught her how to say "NO". lol.

Daisimae, I bet you will lose weight while on vacation. Seriously. I hope you have a wonderful trip. You are going to look and feel great!

Gonnaloseit, hang in there. It is going to take some time to pull your life back in order. In the meantime, you are doing great. Maintaining your weight while facing such a hardship is a feat in and of itself.

Okay, girls. Hope I didn't miss anyone. I'm off for a very short walk. I have lots of volunteer work with the school lined up today and tomorrow and am not going to get to the gym. Why is it that when my schedule is packed I want desperately to exercise and when I have nothing to do but sit on the couch the gym seems as unappealing as all get out? Weird. have a great day all!

I got my heart rate monitor today. I am really excited about that. Maybe this thing will help with my cardio (yick ptewy).

Girls! Have I been in denial about what cardio really is! No bloody wonder I'm almost there but never there or rather there for long.
I went to watch Dr Phil, don't like him much but wanted to see the 700 lb woman and what was going on there. I put on my gadget ( resting heart rate 68 or 70) and started doing Susan's boogying around the TV room. I got up to 91! So for months now, my idea of cardio is a heart rate of 91!
I had to insert weights to get it up over 100 and really step up the bouncy bouncy to keep it there.

Now I'm of two minds about this ....
#1. ach you idiot! look at all the time you've wasted!
#2. by George, I think I'm on to something here.

The one gadget I put off buying until I thought I could afford it ... should have indulged much sooner!

:wave:

Hey everyone. I ate cookies for breakfast :doh:

I'm really trying to be "good" for the rest of the day though. I can see I've lost muscle definition and I feel flabby and my trousers are tighter. :doh: :doh:

I've just had meal #2 with lowest fat low salt bacon and wholemeal bread and an apple. TASTY :T

I'm hopefully going to be ok for the rest of the day, I think I'll take DF up on his offer of going for a run tonight, now that the nights are lighter. Gotta :love: that man :D

I've been in denial the past few days of just what I've been eating. I feel like a complete idiot :doh: :doh: :doh: :frypan:

So I've kicked myself in the pants :kickbutt: and I'm getting back on track ASAP, cold or no cold! ;)

Tell you what, 2frus, I'll stay in line today if you will! My summer clothes fit but are definately tighter than they were when I bought them. It is a good thing I got rid of all my 10's because if I had anything to fall back on I'd probably just keep packing on the pounds. I was really, really close to a 6 ta few months back (8's were too big, 6 fit but not consistently depending on the brand). At this point I don't have a choice but to stay on track. Nevermind reaching goal, at a minimum I have to be able to wear the clothes I already have. And don't talk to me about flab! I am certain that losing muscle is one of the big reasons my clothes are tight. Scary.

Susan, I just may check out the heart monitors. Of course, I'd need to actually get off my butt and exercise for it to do me any good.

Today has be great so far. I've managed a walk/run this morning so that is out of the way. I'm still planning to hit the weights at the gym tonight, though. Yesterday ended up pretty bad but I didn't log anything so I don't know just how bad. It was bad enough that I didn't want to put it in fitday though so it had to of been rotten.

I have decided to fast today and, depending on how I feel, possibly tomorrow. I really don't know why doing so appeals to me right now. When I mentioned it to DH he asked me what the point of doing it was and I didn't have an answer for him. I think I just want to see if I can do it. Maybe surviving without food for a day or two will prove that 1500 calories is perfectly doable, even now. I know the reasons that I am NOT doing it - I'm not trying to crash diet or starve myself and I'm not looking for quick results. It is a 100% mental thing for me, I just can't verbalize why. With that said, I warned DH that if he came home for lunch and I ate with him that he was to keep his lips zipped. LOL.

The kids are spending the night with a friend of theirs tonight so I'm cleaning house today. I want to be able to relax tonight while they are gone but if the house isn't clean I'll be compelled to take the opportunity to scrub everything down. So, I'm trying to get it done today so I can enjoy a date night with DH. Have a great day!

I'm sorry, Susan, I never got around to measuring yesterday. Thursday is one of my "long days" where I work my usual office job and then work at the restaurant until about 10:30. Last night was even later because of a last minute customer and I totally forgot about measuring by the time I got home.

I'm going to try to find a few minutes to do it tonight and post so I can see if I gained or lost inches while on vacation. Keep your fingers crossed for the "losing" theory.

yawn! So much for getting off work at 11 and then going to do a little shopping. Work turned into hard work and I'm tired. I didn't take lunch and cafeteria was oi! today. I think I'll grab a little nap before DH gets home and reassess after that.
The physiotherapist told me I need to try to find my resting heart rate as soon as I wake up. So it's not really a nap, it's a fitness test. Ya, that's it! I'm going to have a little fitness test.

Susan -- Why does your physiotherapist want you to take a resting heart rate? Enquiry minds wanna know :yes:

I should have qualified that it was my friend the physiotherapist so it wasn't an official type consult. Just chatting. I was telling him that it was pretty hard work to get my pulse up. He wanted to know what my resting rate was because he thinks I might be in better shape than I think I am. :rofl:

So, what would an ideal resting heart rate be?

Okay, so I'm finished fasting. It wasn't as hard as I expected it to be but I doubt I'll do it again. Abstaining from food for a while did serve a purpose though. I feel back in touch my "real" hunger ques as opposed to "head" hunger. That was exactly what I set out to accomplish so I feel good about it.

I bought myself a food sealer today. I'm excited about it. I love, love love, kitchen gadgets. I had just finished cutting up my salad stuff for the week so I put half in the usual zip lock bags and sealed the other half. I'll be interested to see if there is any difference between the two after a couple of days. I actually bought it for freezing meats and cooked foods but if it makes a difference for my refrigerated vegetables that will be an added bonus.

Hope everone is having a great weekend!

:wave: Hello all!

I've had a very low calorie day today, which is good because we ate at a chinese buffet last night, which was pretty exciting! And I've also done absolutely nothing today! I've lazed in bed, read my books, had a bath, been food shopping, watched a film, slept some more... :yawn:

I thought I might make it to the gym today, but I wasn't even up to going out for a ride on my bike :scooter: so I just went and bought plenty of fruit. I think I'm off back to bed with my book soon! Here's to more lazy days :cheers:

Lucky ... physio friend's is 58 and he kayaks and all kinds of interesting things. I thought mine was 68 which he said was pretty good, but I did the sleeping thing and it's 62. I think that's pretty good for an old sedentary gal like me.
Was it Meg who just had a physical? She said what hers was too.

I went to look. Meg's resting heart rate is 54.

MMy resting heart rate once before I gave blood was 48...

Congratulations on that run today Ilene. Awesome work! No wonder you have a nice low resting HR. You're a great example, my post 40 friend!

I'm curious now. I'll check mine first thing in the morning. I just did a test one and got 69 but I had trouble counting, breathing, and watching the clock all at one time. I might have counted a breath as a beat and a move of the second had as another. I have trouble chewing gum and walking at the same time too. LOL - Just imagine if I tried 2frus's kickboxing!

Good Morning! It's May! Anybody got any new plans for a new month?
My plan is to try to stay cool, calm and collected thru the last few days before this wedding. I'm starting with the waking up thinking about things that still need to be done.
So I think my focus (ha!) is going to be on maintenance for a couple of weeks. Good food, therapeutic exercise, making sure I sleep and getting things done.

May is my maintenance month! I've decided :yes: that it might just chill me out for a while. I'm not going to go bonkers with the chocolate or anything, but I think I need a rest! Plus I don't want to slim out of my dress :lol: Like that'll happen :rofl:

Just off to check my resting pulse (I have only been up a little while!)

61!!!! :eek: you guys put me to shame!

I'll have to check properly tomorrow morning when I've just woken up!

My plan for May is to stay on plan! Also, I've started posting again in the other forums. I've been struggling with my own weight loss efforts so much that I felt like a big fraud if I tried to pass any advice along. But I jumped back in the other day and it makes such a difference. I'd forgotten that posting advice is as much confirmation of the things I need to do as it is making suggestions to someone else. It has been a nice reminder that I do know what I'm doing when it comes to weight loss - I just need to keep following my own advice!

You are right Lucky. Nothing reminds me that I'm slipping one area or the other as much as advising someone else ....

Hello!

I'm eating out tonight! :D There's a place that's famous for its carrot cake... served warm with orange sauce, candied peel and sweet spice ice cream :drool:

I think that should "maintain" me, after a gym session at lunch! :lol:

My Mummeeeeeeeeee is coming down to do bridey things! We're dress shopping really, but I'm sure we'll end up buying lots of other things! I need some new sunnies for one thing! :cool:

Oh yeah, another thing! I'm 110% recovered from my dragging cold from last week! :hyper: I couldn't sleep last night because I wanted to dance! :dance: I wanted to run around doing jumping side kicks off walls and just generally be hyper! :hyper: So that's why I'm going to the gym today, nothing to do with getting ripped :no: I just have a lot of energy to run off! :lol:

Extra energy? I'd like to try that some time ;)

I got up at an ungodly hour this morning. A combination of having too many things planned for today and the cat meowing. Now ebay isn't doing what I want so I've had time for introspection. You poor girls!

My calorie intake has only been good (by my standards) about 7 days of the last 2 weeks. I may have exericised 2 days in a row once :?:
However, I'm hovering under 128 lbs, which isn't bad for an old gal like me. My measurements are not bad. Maybe that little roll of belly fat isn't life threatening. There are no clothes in my closet that I cannot wear (I might need control top hose for one pair of pants) Maybe if hovering under 130 is fairly easy ... do I necessarily have to get to be hovering under 125?

I should go read that thread about maintenance and complacency again.

I'll have lots of time to think today. I'm going to run errands and it involves a 45 minute drive. I need 'the' bra and shoes still. I'm also stopping at my favourite healthfood store.

I'll let you know if God strikes me with any blazingly intelligent insights along the way. :D

I've been having similar thoughts, Susan. I am really very comfortable in the 130-135 range. So, I'm thinking, is being comfortable the same as being complacent? :?: Maybe not. I've been considering why exactly it is that I want to get all the way down to 115-120. Is it because that is what I want? Or is it because I like the idea of being one of those women? If I'm happy with myself at 130 what would 10 to 15 more pounds change? Would I be even happier or would the difference just be smaller clothes? Is the difference going to be big enough to justify how much more difficult 115-120 is to maintain? I know I'd really like being only 120 pounds. So what happens if I get there and can't maintain it? Will that impact my self esteem? Will 130 seem unacceptable after having a taste of 120? After all, 6 months ago I was on top of the world at 143 pounds and now, after having been as low as 134, I feel like a big fat blob. LOL.

I've decided that I won't have the answer to any of these questions unless I actually get to 115-120. So, I'm going to keep going. I believe that I will feel such a difference that it will be worth any extra effort it takes to maintain that low of a weight. (Did I mention that my mother and my sister have both cleaned out their closets and passed on some clothes that I really love but that happen to be size 4 to me?:carrot: ). But, if its not, its not. I'll just put my size 8's in the attic instead of donating them- just in case!:devil:

2frus, I've gotten that kind of burst of energy before and it felt great. If we could bottle it we'd make a fortune! I could use a dose of it today, as a matter of fact.

So, yesterday our dog either got stung by a bee or bitten by a snake so we had to rush her to the vet. She's fine, but it really screwed up my schedule. I didn't have time to get dinner ready, get my son to karate, and get myself to the gym. So, I decided that a healthy dinner was more important than one karate class. We ate and I decided to skip the gym - it was close to bedtime for the kids and I wanted to try on all those clothes I mentioned. Well, I started to try on the clothes and came across the 6's and 4's. It made me think, "What the heck am I doing? These clothes will still be here tomorrow but what does it matter if they don't fit?" So, I put on my sneakers and headed to the gym. I had one of the best workouts in a long time. I still feel awesome about it!

Here is to another successful day for all of us!

Hello All! I had company on the weekend (who kept commenting on how tiny I was:carrot: ) and I completely 100% blew it. Alcohol, food you name it I ate it or drank it. :( I haven't weighed because I know I'm probably back up to around 160.

It's a new month though and I have a couple of events coming up this summer so that is always good for my motivation factor. One is June 24th and the other is July 15th.

So my plan for May is.....add the exercise ball back into my weekly routine as well as pilates. MWF for one and TT for the other. My goal for June 24th is to fit into the size 8 jeans that I bought back in March when I was 150. It feels good to have solid goals again. I seem to do much better when I have a deadline.



Gaylyn

Oh lucky and Susan, will you stop reading my mind please! Get out! Of my head! :rofl: :frypan: I'm getting complacent - and get this, I'm maintaining this month because a bride has to have curves :yes: to look sexy and stunning in her figure hugging wedding dress :yes: BUT I'm still going to do groundwork for getting ripped because a BLACK BELT has to look all ripped and muscular and like she could kill you with her little finger! :rofl: So I'm just putting off getting REALLY ripped for a few months! :lol:

I've had a mega stressful afternoon, we are coming to the end of our tenancy agreement for our trendy flat and things were getting a little confusing as to whether we would have to move out in 6 weeks if we didn't like the new contract. DF is talking to one person, christened B*tchface, who basically told us to start looking for a new place - she is the main person in charge of our contract. However I really didn't understand why we should move out and shouldn't we get notice if the rent's going up? So I rang another branch of the same letting agent and asked what the procedure was, the guy was an outrageous flirt, but also very helpful. He got me to call the grand daddy of all Lettings Managers and she explained to me exactly what I needed to know, and exactly what I wanted to hear. So, we are all relieved and sorted now. Why couldn't B*tchface have told us that in the first place??? :?:

I went to the gym at lunch and did lots of back weights. I felt quite good running down there too. I didn't feel so puffed, but I know in my heart of hearts, I just don't like it enough to keep going out for a run every week. I think I'll do all 3 of my races that I'm signed up for this year and then concentrate on kickboxing. I need to keep my hand in at running, but now I know that I CAN do it, it's kinda lost its appeal! Plus it's bo-ring! :yawn: I think if I wanted to get into running it'd have to be my main target, with speedwork sessions and length and a proper training plan, but I just couldn't fit it in at the moment.

Ok I'm all talked out, I'd best do some work before I take my 2 days off! :D :D :D

Gaylyn, we were posting at the same time!

I'm SURE you'll get back on track, so don't worry about having a blow-out weekend! :D Happens to the best of us :yes:

Well, I answered my own question when I got in the car and slipped my seatbelt over the flub of flesh hanging over the belt of my jeans! Then I was trying on bras and there was that roll.
So I'd better stick with it.
I did get 'the' bra but not 'the' shoes. Now I have to go to work so I guess the shoes will have to wait for another day, another city.

It's our job to be in your head ....ohm.... frus yes you can be curvy and ripped at the same time ... ohm .... Gaylyn, yes you can ... you can reboot as many times as it takes .... ohm .... Lucky .... yes the size 4's will fit and soon.

Hello all!! I am new to 3FC. I have been dieting now for 20 months!! YES, I said 20!!!! It has become my worst enemy. I have lost my mojo, and cant get under 142-144 lbs!! I found this thread and decided to join ya'll, if thats ok. My goal weight is 125 lbs. But I have no clue how I am gonna lose the weight!! Everybody keeps telling me how great I look, and ask how did I do it. Sad thing is, I CANT REMEMBER!!!! I have tried to remember, but I just cant!! I know I had a meal plan, and an exercise plan, but somewhere between Aug.2004 and Feb.2006, I totally lost my memory of dieting!!! Now, I go up a few lbs, then back down. Been on my plateau now since Dec.2005. Going from 138 lbs to 144 lbs. Now I am just stuck at 144 lbs!!!I have gotten so angry with myself that I just gave up!! I am scheduled for a TT in mid June. I would like to lose at least 10 of the 17 I have left to lose by the TT date. But HOW??? Can anyone gimme some advice, or maybe just slap me really hard and put me back on track???? LOL. Thanks!!