hey all... so i had an interesting day at the gym today... i had a fitness evaluation...

it wasnt as horrible as i thought. my PT suggest that i only lose 60 lbs because even tho i weigh 300 lbs, 175 of that is muscle and bone mass. so i only have about 125 lbs of fat on my body. thats so wierd to me. i mean to put into terms like that. ive always been into sports and very active, until lately, i guess. i have a 42% bmi, and they said i should get into 30%, which means just losing 60 lbs.

wierd.

any thoughts?

Princesspuffypants, I started out at 310 pounds, 170 lean body mass. I set a goal of 20-22% body fat for myself. ("Normal" is 20-25 according to something I saw somewhere... maybe online? It's getting late ).

In the past 3 months, I have lost a total of 27.5 pounds officially (in my monthly weigh-in/measurement session with my trainer). Of that, 20 pounds is fat, the rest is lean body mass. According to my trainer, that is good/normal. I am now down to 42.4% BF from a starting point of 45%.

I don't know what my real "weight" goal will be -- I picked 200 because it was a nice round number. I figure as I keep going, my LBM will stabilize and it will be easier to pick a weight number.

Hugs and good wishes to all awaiting more tests and results of tests. It's nerve-wracking waiting for those results!

Hope everyone has a good day tomorrow!

Carole: good luck with the Pox..adult chciken pox can be very dangerous and much more serious than pediatric chicken pox..be well!

Rebecca...I am in LA...a little north of Costa Mesa, but not far. Let me know if you actually move here...I am always up for a day trip to meet a fellow chickie.

My prayers are with all of you who are ill, struggling or otherwise frustrated. I am still trying to kick my cold but for the time being it's as good as it will get. I am stressing about tomorrow's WI. I might be plateauing...I know that I was good on my food but I don't feel like I have ben losing lately at all

MWAH!

hey rebecca.. im in the long beach area... if you come out, maybe you, julie and i can get together and have a nice salad lunch

Hi all. I'm thinking of all of you who are sick. Don't you just hate this time of the year? My daughter has been sick since last week and today is the first day that she hasn't woke up with a fever. I hope it doesn't decide to come back. I was at the doctor's office all day yesterday just for them to tell me to keep doing what I've been doing and the her virus run it's course. So I didn't get to exercise yesterday. By the time I got home I was absolutely exhausted.

Good Morning Chicks!

Well we have been finally hit with a major snowstorm. It hit us blindly too and now the island is shut down completely. There isn't a great amount of snow down, maybe 4-5 inches but it's blowing around a lot. I can't see our car from here and it is just behind the house in the parking lot Sucky part is, there is another one coming Friday night and should last til Sunday or so!

Well, I went to the doctor yesterday for drugs to help my arm. Told him that I needed to start weight training (Which I physically cannot do right now because of my tendenitus). Unfortunately that means that I have to go on a stomach pill as well since one helps the shoulder, hurts the belly. He was pretty proud of me when we went over my diet info. It made me pretty happy to be able to tell him what I have lost since July. He is a wonderful Dr who has never once "bugged" me to lose weight so it was great to be able to say "I am doing this with a lot of determination and a little help from my friends "

I managed to catch some kind of stomach flu yesterday. Just layed in bed and slept. Good news is that the scales were kind this morning. I made sure that I had lots of soup and water but I still am not ready for solid foods. Thankfully the center was closed today because of the storm so I get a day to recoop and do some cleaning and christmas stuff

Andrea ~ My thoughts are with you

BrandNewMe ~ I am glad to hear that things are not as serious as you originally thought. It can certainly be a shock to your wellbeing just "Thinking" you may have cancer

Rebecca ~ Congrats on the job offer !

To everyone else that is sick, feel better soon!

Stay strong ladies!
Brenda

Gosh! I'm almost afraid to stop in here for fear of catching something!

Hope all those ill get better fast and those having tests have good results!

Take care ladies!

hey guys, new here. not at 300+ anymore but that's where I started, I finally decided to sign up and post up on here. Not many people I know have been in my position and I'm looking forward to having some support from people I have something in common with.

I'm so excited! My semester is almost done and I'm getting an exercise bike on Saturday!

Welcome Meroka...you're in good company.

Ladies I am BEYOND frustrated. The day before Thanksgiving I had WI and was down 4 lbs. The week after, even with eating very carefully and not overdoing it on TG, I was up 3.2, last week I was the same (after eating even better) and this week I am up .2 and my food was sooooo good this week, as was my water.

I am losing it and am just angry. I see other people who "cheat" and get their points in through Taco Bell and whatnot and lose...and I sit there and ask myself why I am knocking myself out to make the effort to eat healthily, drink water, take vitamins, and so forth.

ARGH! This is so not the time for me to plateau.

Then on top of that, my parents are planning an engagement party in June for Jason and I...and my dad called me today with the menu for a brunch...NOTHING I could/would eat...and there is no way I'm going to go to my own party and not eat. He wants to have omelette stations, egg and tuna salad, blintzes, bacon and sausage and scrambled eggs and bagels. ARGH. I I very nicely asked if they would have english muffins (only 2 points each), turkey sausage (not great but a better option), salad, fresh fruit, grilled chicken with the omelettes and egg beaters. Hopefully he will understand and have them make the changes.

Oh well..off and running..just had to come and vent.

G'Nite.

Welcome meroka. 70 pounds is amazing. You'll definitely find the support you are looking for on this site. Glad you joined us.

Julee--how frustrating! I totally hear you re:junk food vs. healthy food for your points. I think the same thing with my calorie-counting (not very different from points tracking). It's like, if I can eat 1800 calories worth of cake and ice cream and lose just as much weight as if I ate 1800 calories worth of fruits and veggies, why would I torture my taste buds?! It's hard to remember that we're working toward a better INSIDE as well as a thinner outside sometimes. After all, I can have high blood pressure, high cholesterol, or diabetes just as well at 120 pounds as I could at 310

Oh, and rock on to you asking for healthier choices at your engagement party! If it doesn't happen, one day of splurging is not going to undo all your hard work (as I'm sure you're well aware), but I still admire your firm desire to be good even on special occasions!

Hi Ladies,

Quick post to say hi and check in.

Princesspuffypants: That is great that your eval with the pt was so good. Usually they say your goals are low. Good job.

Brenda: - 45 pounds is excellent. I'm glad that your Dr. was happy about it too. Hope your shoulder gets better soon.

Merka: Welcome. I'm sure you will love it here. Ok, what is the deal... loose 70 pounds, which by the way is wonderful... then get kissed? Tell us who did they kissing?

Brandnewme: So glad you are back and in better spirits. Hope that all of your test come out great.

Andrea: praying for your tests and your schooling. Hang in there.

Tashabella and Rebecca: get better soon.

Catherine: hope you are MIA because you are sewing your fingers to the bone! Or packing or something good towards your big move.

Suemarie: if you ever lurk, know that you are truly missed. Hope you are doing well.

Ammi, Voodo, Shadie, FutureDiva where are all you guys?

Well, Be blessed,
Dogpal

Princess and Elmay: How do you know what your muscle and body mass are? How do they measure that?

(Very curious. I'd like to find out mine.)

Thanks.

Jilly: It's not the issue of one day of splurging...it's more than they are actually foods that I do not eat...at all...and either really do not like or have found out that I can no longer eat because they upset my stomach. Here's hoping that it's all good in the end.

Tash, there are different ways to measure lean body mass versus fat mass. A common way is the caliper method -- where they take measurements of size of the fat fold under your skin in various places. According to what I've read online, that method is to within 1-5% accuracy and it depends a lot on the skill of the person doing the measuring. This is what my trainer is doing monthly. She also uses a tape measure to measure various things like waist size, hip size, thigh size, etc... Those numbers are going down too .

Another way to do body fat % is to get into a tank of water, exhale all your air, hold your breath, dunk completely in the water, and they measure the body fat % somehow. I think they do it on the amount of water displaced, but I'm not 100% sure. I believe this is the most accurate way to measure body fat, but it requires a big tank of water and some high precision measuring capability. When I was at college, there was a research study I signed up for where they measured our BF with this method, then had us do exercise, and measured the change 8 weeks later. I don't remember much more about it, except for the procedure.

Good job on making healthy eating choices all! One thing I've found that helps is concentrating not only on taste, but also on fullness. For instance, Yoplait Light yogurt is only 100 calories, and is a nice snack if I'm hungry before bedtime. Every other time I've lost weight before (actually dieting or not), I've essentially starved myself. I hate going to bed hungry, and from what I've read and been told, letting yourself get too hungry is actually counter-productive -- you tend to over eat then. I am certainly no expert and am curious whether or not I will be able to lose weight down to some "normal" level and keep from being ravenous, but I certainly hope so.