Andrea - I keep meaning to ask - who is the dreamy guy on your avatar?

metachick ~ i know exactly what you mean! i haven't worn jeans since i was a size 24-26 ish. i still have all of them and can't wait unti i can fit into them again! right now my wardrobe consists of comfy/workout clothes and dressy clothes...there is no middle ground!

i went to the gym again today, 3rd time this week, go me! we (me and my workout buddy) have been averaging about 45 minutes but we keep adding more and more biking at the end so it would probably be up to an hour before long. my only concern right now is that i don't really sweat well except for the biking at the beginning and end, but doing the free weights and the machines i don't really sweat by my arms feel like noodles when im done...can anyone tell me if this is normal?
i have also discovered that i don't want anyone to know that im going to the gym and im not sure why. but everytime someone asks me where im going i avoid the question or am very vague about it. maybe it's cause i don't want the pressure. i find that i wish i could just lose weight and not have anyone comment on it. i don't want people telling me how great i look and blah blah blah...i just wanna do it an get over it, so to speak. does anyone else feel like that? i know most people i talk to love the comments and the compliments, but i really dont want them, i don't want to feel like ive been "wrong" all my life and now suddenly im "right" ya know? i believe that being fat my whole life taught be to be a stronger, tougher, more accepting and open-minded person. ok, im done babbling for now lol! sorry!

Okay, another newbie here!

My name is Shar, I'm 25 years old and I'm currently 339 down from 360ish last month. My doctor's scale only goes up to 350, so I don't know for sure. I did a big happy dance when my weight finally registered!

This thread moves so fast, I'm hoping I keep up.

I bought a Gazelle from a co-worker today and I will pick it up on Monday. My only problem is that this one only goes up to 300 pounds, and I'm 39 pounds higher than that.

Is there going to be a problem if I begin using it now? I would hate to snap a cable and then not be able to use it again, but I'm so excited, I want to try it out! I've been doing WATP, but my knees are not too happy with me lately, so I wanted to get something that would give them a break every other day. I also walk the dog, but she's a Mini Schnauzer, still under a year, and she can't go much longer than 15 minutes without getting exhausted.

You ladies (and men?) are amazing, I love how supportive you all are of each other!

Welcome Shar! I'm a newbie too, and another Ontario girl. Congrats on your success so far!

I don't know from a gazelle, so I'll leave that for somebody else.

Amen to this. I want, *need*, to succeed in this weight loss effort. But when I do, I hope I remember the fat with some gratitude for the strong, compassionate, observant and wiser person it had more than a little to do with shaping.

hey shar I also have a gazelle and it holds me up!!!

Another liquid day here lol; protein shakes and the like, and tried something called vitamin water. It wasn't too bad I guess, but it isn't something I'll have too often since it contains 13g of sugar. Besides, I can basically get the same thing out of a multivitamin, calcium chew and my own bottled water.

I also had to celebrate the initial weight loss from my banding somehow and I needed some new spring clothes anyway, so I took a little shopping trip to Fashion Bug this afternoon! What an ego boost to get a smaller size--and this is just the beginning! and they asked me if I wanted to model in the fashion show tomorrow, but I had to pass since I had the surgery--I may do the summer or fall shows though.

Plus I stopped and got my hair trimmed while I was out. I can't believe how fast it grew already! Must be all the vitamins I am taking.

Hey everyone

I am having a lazy night. I invited a few people over to scrapbook but no one wanted to play so I decided that I would just tidy up my craft area and relax. I know I have to cook some chicken tonight so I am going to do that in a few minutes. I like cooking 12-14 chicken breasts up at a time and slicing it all for salads. That way all I have to do is grab, weigh and eat. I wasnt as prepared last week as I should have been so I need to work on that this week. Some weeks are better than others but overall, most are ok as long as I make an effort to have my chicken ready. Thankfully I like it alot cause I pretty much eat it one way or another twice a day.

Anyhow, I sat and did some thinking earlier on what my next big goal should be. Once I hit the 100 mark I kinda thought about taking a break. At least for a moment. I was unsure what my next step was. We are taking a trip to Ontario in August and I think I would like to have lost about....140. That means another 36lbs. 4 months and 40 lbs. I almost think that is do-able. I have lost 26 in 7 weeks.

Anyhow, chicken is in the oven and I think maybe I will try and find something interesting on tv. Maybe a movie...

Brenda

Hi everyone-

Thanks to all of you for the well wishes for my DH and Alex. Alex my cat came out fine. They did a bunch of dental work and fixed up his infection. He should be fine. MY DH had a mole biopsy for melanoma (skin cancer). It came back as possibly melanoma. So they will go next Friday to do the wide biopsy to get a lot of the surrounding skin/tissues to try to stage the melanoma. As some of you know we have a had a ton of medical issues these last few months. So the news of this just seems to be a low blow. I am sure things will turn out just fine. Right now I am just trying to not be seriously depressed. But I just wanted to update everyone and say thank you so much for your prayers/well wishes. It really means a lot to me. I am going to try to stay OP through this stressful time but I also don't have much energy to focus on losing weight. Maybe at least I can maintain. Sorry no personals don't really feel like posting much. I hope you all are well and have a good weekend.

Well hellllloooo everyone .. last day of March here in NZ and it was my last "Splurge" day .. April 1 sees me back on track again .. I Hope lol ...

It was a good day today .. we went and did the stock take with the old owner and so now we just have to wait until Monday to get the keys!

Tonight we (Scoot and I) went out for dinner to celebrate the new beginning of our shop .. and a heck of a lot more organised this time round compared to our first effort lol .. and I didnt once think of my calorie counting at all lol .. I know I probably should have behaved a little bit at least .. but we were celebrating the first positive we have had this year so I wasnt gonna think of anything else (could have been a good time to learn I suppose .. ah well lol) .. So if you dont want to have a watering mouth .. skip the rest of this paragraph rofl ... our starter was Herb & Parmesan loaf (Scoot had 3/4 of it tho lol) .. then I had Chicken Cordon Bleu with salad and fries (but I only had about 8 fries) .. and then dessert .. oh well .. couldnt pass the hot fudge cake .. and I didnt leave any of it rofl .. although Scoot had a couple of bites of it .. and I had a Lemon/Lime/Bitters and a Baileys & Milk .. soooo THOUSANDS of calories Im sure sigh ... but it was such a wonderfully relaxed evening, I didnt think of anything other than listening to the Irish music that was playing, enjoying every mouthful ... and being with my hunny

Okee .. so that is my naughty night .. tomorrow I get out the WATP and will do the 3 mile I think lol ... have to clean the sleepout tomorrow .. and omg . if its as hot again tomorrow as it was today I will be drippin with sweat by mid afternoon out there lol ..

Would love to also welcome the newbies .. congrats on taking the plunge ... for those that have celebrated losses .. WOOO HOOOO .. and for those celebrating any other occasion .. congrats to you and hope you have had a lovely day To those that have added to your figures ... tomorrow is another day .. put the scale in the cupboard and bring it out again in a few weeks lol.

To everyone else .. LOVE AND HUGS .. hope you have a lovely weekend .. I know that I am definitely feeling a lot more positive .. and now the mushy part .. just want to let everyone know how much I love my hunny .. most of the time he doesnt know the right things to say or do .. but when he does *sigh*... I really feel thankful SO that is my positive for today

BYEEE

PS - Heather I know .. Im just going to put my minutes in before I forget again lol....

MetaChick Thanks! I figured there were more canadian girls up here.


motherof3angels I'm glad to hear your gazelle works for you. Maybe I don't need to be worried afterall.

LAnneCarrington Wow. Liquid diets must be so hard. But it must be nice to kind of get rid of the whole food thing while in this process. How long have you been doing it for? Is it a special program?

Everyone else, you have no idea how inspired you have made me. To see women of my size who are doing this and having such success makes me think I can actually do it this time!

My reasons for starting again is that I was diagnosed with Type II diabetes a month ago, I think it scared the fat out of me! I have it under very good control right now, but I really want to get off the medication for my high blood pressure and the diabetes. Plus, I'm scared of having to take insulin. I have piercings and tattoos, but the thought of sticking myself with a needle really freaks me out.

My doctor seems to think that if I can get under 200, I'll be able to get rid of all the medication. I'm certainly going to try and see!

Hellos to all the newcomers. That was me a month ago and I am already down 20 pounds and have enjoyed the really great support here.

So this week has been great. It was lovely weather so I gardened like there was no tomorrow. I planted onions, lettuce, kale, spinach, chard, carrots, a few herbs and even some sweet pea flowers. Oh yeah, beans and peas too!

I haven't lost any weight this past week, but I am PMSing, so I am going to stay away from that scale at all costs!

We are going on our spring break road trip today. The girls decided on Pendleton. It's only a few hours drive but it will be fun. They have a whole underground city that was dug by the Chinese in the pioneer days that you can take tours of, so that should be fun. We had to take the kids somewhere since they had two weeks off from school!

Well, I have to go get ready, oh yeah, Brenda, I totally bake chicken every week to cut up and put in the fridge for the week. It makes snacking totally easy. Great idea.
Have a great day ladies. I am off to lift weights.
Carolyn

Lillion: That dreamy guy is none other than Gerard Butler, scottish actor. He was recently in Phantom of the Opera and 300. I think he has one of the most beautfiul physiques on the face of the planet. I love dark hair and light eyes (even though I married a blond/blue) and this man just has an almighty presence. To boot, he's a fantastic actor, I had seen him in about 4 different movies before I finally picked out that I was seeing somebody I had seen before (I have an amazing memory for faces/voices and know when I'm seeing a bit actor for three seconds that I saw in another bit part five years ago). I've read that he's also just a down-to-earth human being and always takes a moment for his fans, apologizes when he genuinely can't (like dashing to catch a plane ready for take-off). Sigh!

Sharvanne: Welcome!! I bought a Gazelle when I weighed well over 300 pounds (not sure how much since the scale I had at the time didn't go that high). I used it faithfully until I was about 300 pounds. Never had a problem.

Michelle: I'm glad to hear about your kitty and sorry about your husband. I will keep you all in my thoughts that it turns out better than you hope. If I were in your position, I wouldn't be too focused on weight loss, either.

I'm teetering on the verge of doing well and doing what I've always done. I did decent for breakfast yesterday, had a slice of leftover pizza. Same for lunch, which I thought was awesome, because it means we had enough leftover for all five of us to make three meals of it. Usually, we all overeat when we get pizza and there's not enough for everyone to have a second meal, let alone a third. I saw it as a good sign, too, because noone asked for a second slice on the first night we ordered it. It means we're all getting used to smaller portions.

As for the jeans discussion, I can't wear anything else. I feel like anything other than jeans makes me look fat (not like I'm not). I finally realized that the reason I've been holding onto wearing jeans (to the point that I pay $50 per pair, which I don't pay for any other single article of clothing) is that they sort of hold in my bulges just right. I mean someone here will understand what I'm saying when I hate stretch/casual pants, because they always show off every single bulge in my legs, where the jeans hold my skin uniformly (for the most part), so that it's obvious I'm fat, but not how grotesque it is. Yes, I realize I have some esteem issues lurking in there.

Well, I've got to toddle off, we're supposed to be leaving on vacation this Friday, so the kids want to celebrate Easter early. We always have gift certificates as part of the prizes in our Easter egg hunt and I need to get this year's printed and over to Kinko's for laminating, I want them to last throughout the entire year this time!--they usually die by October because they're just slips of paper.

Everyone have a great OP day!!

--Andrea