I think this is a great thread, and something for many to think about.

I cannot say for certain if I think I will reach my "goal" or not. I suppose I feel almost 50/50 about it because I have always been big, have never been sucessful at losing weight, and like a few have said, I cannot imagine myself as "thin".

BUT then again, I have lost 31.5 lbs in about 7 weeks, and met my 30 lb goal before my set date of June 15th. That makes me feel wonderful, and really makes me think that I CAN meet my goal.

My goal that I would LOVE would be 180 lbs - but then again, I have to be realistic. 200 lbs is very realistic to me, and by setting smaller 30 lb goals, I feel like I can get there.

It's hard, but we'll all make it.

~ Kari ~

I think I'll be able to reach my goal, and that's only if I can remain unemployed and have the ability to save as much money as possible in my savings account til I get to my goal weight of around 140. I'm really seriously surprised even at my own self for making it this far. My starting weight was 304, I'm now at 264. I watch the carbs (as directed by my mother--a diabetic), ride my bike EVERY day for 10 kilometers, then do about 20 minutes of weightlifting. It just feels like it takes forever for the weight to even start coming off though that makes me discouraged. I had always been used to telling my mom when she went shopping at X-mas, to get me size 26 jeans that last weekend when I had to go shopping for size 24 (!) jeans, I just about had a Chonda Pierce moment in the dressing room. *LOL* Since I'm off work, I have time to work out, it's just feeling like it's going ot take so long even though the way time seems to fly around here lately, it may take shorter than I think. Who knows? I'm really glad I joined this board yesterday too, you guys are great!

That's wonderful that you've gone down a size--yippee! And you've done amazing with your weight loss. Congratulations!

I'm finding that it's taking a lot more effort for me to lose weight, which is sometimes discouraging, but I'm really committed to this. I do aerobics 3X per week, weightlift 2X per week, walk 2X per week (and also at other times) and do stretching exercises daily. I track calories on fitday.com (although I'm on WW--I just find it interesting to look at them) and usually have a 1,000 calorie deficit or more per day. But still I only lose one pound. But, hey, I'm gonna take that pound--it's one pound less of me and all those "one pounds" add up.

I love the monthly challenges, and the holiday challenges here. Setting those little minigoals is so much easier than looking at the fact that I have 62 more pounds to lose. In fact, until I wrote that, I hadn't really thought about that, but I have been thinking about the 8 more pounds I'd like to lose by July 4. That's doable.

Glad you're here, and good luck on your journey!

One thing that I've found though is just the staying active part. I mean, because I eat a Budget Gourmet thing for lunch with 41 carbs in it, then I eat something small for dinner. I have been keeping a chart, and almost every day for the last month, I've had around 60-80 carbs a day, and only around 500-850 calories a day. I guess that helps though, but the working out really makes me feel like I've done something, more than just the food part.

F-5 Diva....At the risk of sounding completely clueless, who's Chonda Pierce?

*LOL* It's ok, chica, Chonda Pierce is a female Christian comedian. If you go to a music store or a Christian bookstore, look for her Four-Eyed Blonde CD. It's from one of her live shows, it is the best one of any of hers that I have ever heard, in my opinion of course. Speaking of, there's one part on it where she's talking about how guys make sure they always get credit when they do stuff. She's like, "You drive down the road and see a sign that says 'Men At Work'...when you're at home, do you see a sign that says 'Mom's Doing Dishes'? NO!" *LOL*