Ya'll have a point about the calories, I'm sure. It probably just is first week excitement that's kept me from being super hungry. But then again, I feel like I'm eating MORE food now than I was before, the difference being that the food I'm eating now isn't total crap. The only trouble so far has been massive, crushing stomach pain I cured by dropping the Slim-Fast shakes. I'm still using the meal bars and keeping track of everything through their website, but those shakes tried to disentigrate my stomah lining. Or something. It wasn't pretty.

Perhaps I'll loosen up and get closer to 1200 calories, at least to start out with. I'd rather lose slowly and be able to stick with it than lose a lot and end up hungry all the time.

Thanks for the excellent advice, guys!

Okay just remember 1200 is the lowest medically recommended to go! Right now my bodt to maintain this weight would need app. 3400 cals a day. So even by me cutting down to 1600-1800 on most days, I am still losing like 2 pounds a week. (plus maybe a bad day or two thrown in) You dont want your body to think you are starving. (I notice your weight is similiar to mine) Try maybe 1600 cals, then maybe later if you lose and hit a pleteau cut to 1400 then 1200 if need be. JMO take it or leave it. Make sure to add exercise as well! Good luck!

Luvmypup, you are right. But let me explain where I am coming from. When I started this journey last June of 2005 it has been a slow process of changing eating and lifestyle. I used to not care at all for fruit. Didnt really care to walk either although I was 200 when I was about 15 and used that as a tool to lose 50 pounds so i know it works etc. Anyhow, this is a lifestyle for me, so alot of people laugh at me when they hear I (up until recently) still really struggled with my portions! For instance I would rather walk 5 miles a day and still overeat. People laugh at me cause they maybe wont even walk one mile and they are like, portions are the first thing I cut. So it kind of makes me feel like a pig.

I went from 280 - 250 by last xmas though, started at end of June 2005. ( I had also been dealing with the loss of two parents in the 6 months prior, mom in December 2004 and day in April 2005, plus a divorce spanning from nov 2004 til July 2005) That is 6 months. Now in August I went back to work and walked alot less but still walked a few times a week and ate good maybe half the time but still overate for dinner all the time. I lost roughly 30 pounds in 6 months. ****, if I had really applied myself that could of been an easy 50 - 60 pounds! BUT I still wanted to eat! The only difference is making changes, like only eating out once a week, once in a while or maybe twice, sugary soda only once week instead of a 2 liter a day. No more frying alot of foods and switching to chicken more often and having an apple for breakfast.

I was doing well but basically it felt like hit and miss and I had no idea how MUCH I was eating or how many cals. I could NOT give my potatos up! I LOVE mashed potatos BUT I will also eat 3 times too much! etc.
Okay new year comes along and I am 250 and was still proud of myself, cause I had lost 30 pounds. I will make this as quick and painless as possible but basically I found out I was pg. I love kids and really wanted this one too but I was also on the 10 year IUD so this was a complete surprise! We were thrilled none the less But my baby became my primary focus. The doc told us our chances of having a miscarriage due to infection, rupture, etc were 50%!! We were horrified. We toughed it out and said we would give this baby a chance anyhow. The doc said there is a big chance of this iud moving around and hurting you or the baby so I quit the walking. I quit having just the apple for breakfast and 2 cup o noodles for lunch. I figured, forget it! I dont want to risk my kid! So no walking, I started eating more. (I do realize now I could of come to a place like this and gotten tips on how to eat healthier too with more cals.) Anyways. We lost the baby April 14-06. We mourned and are still mourning but thats another story.

SO what I am saying is for like 4 months in the middle of my trying to lose weight I stopped. I wound up weighing 252 which is not a bad gain for stopping all exercise and trying not to do much. I did try to keep with having some good eating habits but I know I did load up on the cheese etc. On 4-24-06 I told myself what happened happened and you cant change it, you did your best for the baby but now it is time to get your butt back in gear and cont. where you left off. So I did. I started walking again and changed back to the apple for breakfast. I lost alot of muscle though. Right after I misc I got to 247 fast(baby weight for sure, misc at 4.5 months! ) And started walking, got to 242 in no time, then stepped it up even further! I wound up back at 247 so i know at least 5 was muscle getting put back on. I did cut back on the potatos finally, i limited myself to no sugary sodas, eating out only once week mainly, having chicken breast more often than not and more veggies, plus more fruit every day. So just alot of changes and being more strict with myself. BUT I realized one week that it wasnt helping me to do that when One nite we had chicken tacos, (cheese!) Then the next nite we have chciken enchiladas(cheese!!!) then we had chicken burritos(cheese!!) You see what i mean, eating habits did change but I had to stop and realize I cant load up on cheese too all the time! I did lose about 8 pounds in July and walked 1730 minutes. But August hit me hard and I only walked 1130 minutes or so and I was terrible with my eating it was so out of contriol we ate out once a week PLUS had little caesars pizza 3 times that month! I only lost 1/2 a pound. That is when I realized that I had hit a pleateau and needed to buckle down and get the 1700 minutes of walking and NOT eat all that pizza! I discovered a formula that said my maintenance level was 3400. So i realized since i am so heavy thatIf I do eat only 1600 two days in a row that is a deficit of 3600 which is a pound in two days! Not to mention my walking. So this opened me up to a different way of thinking and I vowed to do chicken veggie rice most days, red meat and potatos twice a week and just in general watch the portions and the calories. I have started losing again since discovering this. In August i was rocking in between 236-238 all month and on Aug 28 weighed in at 238, i am now on the losing track again and i feel in contriol of my eating and my cals once more cause I realized its all a numbers game. Now today I am 227. Which is great!! BUT I read other peoples threads and i see they have lost 100 pounds in a year and i am happy for them. But it makes me feel like a loser! It has been like 15 months for me and I have only lost like 53. (I know I gained in muscle too but that dont show on the scale) So i just feel like I am behind and if I could of been stricter with myself and the calories I could of lost 100 too. This is also why I started this thread to see what other people are doing calorie wise. Everyone has been very helpful. I have been doing pretty good to stick to the 1600 - 1800 for like a week. One day was like 1908, not bad. But one day, saturday it was really bad. I had miscalculater the potions and cals on my new popcorn. I normally buy the 94 % fat free one but this other =one wasnt and I had a whole bag before I realized it was like 32 grams of fat and like 410 calories! My day wound up being at like 2600!!!! Yikes!!!

I know, I am still doing really good. I keep telling myself that even that was a deficit PLUS I walk ALL the time. I am very proud of that! This is my walking schedule from April~Sept. But I still feel like I should be doing better and not even have a 2600 cal day esp when i hear some people are doing like 1400!!!

April 2006 (24th ~ 31st) 220 minutes total

May 2006 760 minutes total

June 2006 1060 minutes total

July 2006 1730 minutes total

August 2006 1185 minutes total

September 2006 1695 total!!!

Oh I also wanted to add congrats on you losing too! that is great and we are similiar weights as well. The one thing I am also proud of is that i know I have made lifestyle changes and this is not just a diet for me. I am making changes I can stick with my whole life. I know alot of ppl lose a ton then gain it back cause they didnt plan on staying with that form of eating! lol I am 31 by the way.

You've had quite a year, haven't you... I'm sorry for your losses. It's amazing you've been able to make such lifestyle changes and take off some weight, in addition to just dealing with life.

You said,

I know EXACTLY how you feel. I just met with the other two women, friends of mine, who are working on the weight/nutrition thing too. I was complaining about how I felt totally stalled and like I wasn't doing everything I could.

Now, we've been VERY strict with each other about not letting ourselves crash diet/go overboard, because we've identified quick weight loss as one of the things that trigger us to GAIN weight. So I know I'm doing everything right, but it still feels wrong sometimes--so I really relate to what you're saying.

Well, I stepped on the "official" scale and I've lost 3 pounds since about 2 1/2weeks ago, so again about a pound a week or a little more. On the one hand, I'm thrilled--if I keep this up, in a year I might be able to buy some "normal" clothes... esp. sweaters and stuff, and a good suit (I SO want to be able to buy some decent fashionable clothes, just a few). On the other hand, in a year I'll be turning 39 instead of turning 38... a year is a long, long time in some ways, even though LAST year seems not so long ago.

The other two gals got on Excel and graphed my progress, and convinced me that I'm not behind, I'm ahead--forward progress for the first time in about 15years shouldn't be "behind" in any real sense.

But also, I was thinking last night, if I really AM behind, I'm behind by about 20 years... that's about how long it's been since I've been a cute little thing... and there's NO catching up to that! In fact, no woman in her thirties is going to "catch up" to what she looked like senior year in high school, unless she has God-like powers to manipulate time!

So if I'm behind, well, so be it. At least that's how I'm trying to see it. AND--think how far ahead of ME you are! Go ahead--I can take it--I would be happy to be of service--you are SEVEN YEARS ahead of me!

Hang in there--the mind trips this weight stuff plays are really tough, aren't they?

Oh, by the way, as we were all feeling some strange combination of frustrated and motivated, we set our first official goal, and we set it at the ambitious side of reasonable, just to see if goal-setting would help us feel more focused.

So--the goal is 30 pounds by New Year's Day. It's a little more than two pounds a week. We're all doing it differently--one with portion control and counting carbs/balancing with protien, one with cutting out sugar and no eating after dinner (she isn't conscious of what she eats if she eats late--it's almost binging), and I'm strictly by the numbers--2000 cals./day and 3 miles walking 5 times a week.

We're meeting once a week to talk and walk together, and every other week we'll step on the scale also.

Would you like to join us in the goal? We could keep each other accountable to our calories and exercise daily and do a Virtual Weigh-In every two weeks. If we both lost 30 pounds by New Years, after taking a year to lose 50 or 60 I know I'd feel like I was "catching up" a bit! What do you say?

Thanx for the condolences luvmypup! Everyone keeps saying I am so strong but it is God and my hubby that holds me up alot of times. With my parents passing that was heart breaking and I still miss my mom very much. It was also a wake up call. My mom was only 52 and had diabetes, gall bladder removed, pacemaker, cirrhosis of the liver, hepatitis, kidney problems, I cant even remember what else. I know that she was always a BIG prescription drug user. Something to help battle depression, something to help you sleep, something to help wake you up, lithium to stabilize you, etc...just alot of stuff! By the time she was 30 she was taking like 13-14 different prescriptions! By the time she changed docs and they realized how much all this medicine was damaging her body they took her off most everything. But by then she was in her late 40's and it was too late. After reading up though I do realize how terrible diabetes is and how it affects so much of your body in a bad way. I have found that people who are over weight have a much increased risk of alot of medical problems. My dad was 65 and had a heart attack, he was also diabetic and had lost a foot. It just really made me realize that this is not a cosmetic issue, it is a life or death issue! So that plus the fact of how my hubby sees me, is why I am so motivated to change and stick with it. He treats me like a princess and makes me feel beautifukl and thinks I am. I want the mirror to reflect what I see in his eyes. I also want to be here for my kids and not have them feel abandoned when they are only 30 cause mom is dead.
That is great!!!


hahaha I know what ya mean! But remember we are 30-40 not 60 -70! We may be a little old to the teeny boppers but to alot of men out there we could still be milfs!!! lol My hubby is actually 4 years younger than me. So he is 27! He is more responsible than even I sometimes and way more responsible than my ex who is 33!!! We are still at the prime of our lives and we are like a fine wine we get better with time. I do think women can be very sexy even in their 30's and 40's. Even at this weight, I am turning a few heads and actually even got a ******ed love note under my rose bushes! hahahahahahah!!!

I also feel like I wasted years hiding behind the weight and I know it was also cause I was so busy putting my kids first. It is great cause now with my hubby, I am able to stay at home with the kids and actually focus on ME for a change cause its not jst one parent trying to be two parents to these kids.(My ex was gone all the time)

*hugz to you too*


That sounds great sweetie! I will pm ya!!
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I have been cycling between 1200 to 1400 calories a day. do cardio atleast 4 days in a week ( aerobics and eliiptical machine) and weight training for 1/2 hr twice a week. I also manage to go play tennis when my hubby has time. With all of this - I burn an average of 600 calories a day. On a tennis day it will bump upto 9000 to a 1000.

Despite alll this this i have only lost 3 lbs in the past 6 weeks. Am totally demotivated and even though i am being careful abt what I eat now - its hard to get mnyself to go to the gymn.

i shud be loosing atleast 1 lb a week if not the doctors recommended 2 lb a week.

sigh

Do NOT get demotivated! Start taking pics! That happened to me too! I had taken pics though and i realized i was losing fat and building muscle! You probably are too! Try measuring yourself! They say one inch off the waist is app. 6 pounds lost! Remember that muscle weighs more than fat so it is not uncommon to weigh more yet still be trimmer. I have even heard about a woman who weighed 110 pounds, she started working out and gained 10 pounds but lost 2 dress sizes!! You will get past this curb and start losing again. the key is to stick with it! You can do it!!!

Oh, also, make sure you are getting enough cals and drinking 6-8 glasses of water a day. If you dont get enough cals your body wont let you lose either.

Well, I did loose 2 inches at my waist. Going by what you said - thats an awesome achievement. I thought its just the water that has left my body hence the inch loss. But you are right - I am building muscle. Now I can walk up the stairs without panting. Take more grocery bags inside the house at one shot.

Also - my body fat % which my trainer took at the begining was 44% and now its down to 38%.

yuhooo.
thanks for making keeping my spirits high. Elliptical - here i come after work !!

BTW - I hate water. Do you think drinking more water will accelerate the weight loss. Right now I do abt 5 glasses of liquid per day. That will include my shot of caffine and maybe a glass or two of water. I never feel thirsty. I have to force my self to drink water.

I have started keeping a bottle of real lemon and splenda packets in my drawer at work. I make a jug full of lemonde but forget to drink it.

That is awesome! See? you are doing great! Now just stick with it and watch the fat grams and calories. You really do need to drink water. It HELPS you to lose the weight!!! I'll have to find an article on it but believe me your body needs that!

I take in between 1100-1500 a day.

I do weight training Mon-Wed-Fri and I do cardio 6 days a week. I do at least 25-30 mins a day. Some days I do 60 or so.

...around 1400-1600 calories, all depends on the day. I cycle for 60 mins and 100 skips with the aerobic ropes, and alternate days with the gym ball and toning.