Spot on Rip.....good advice....

Hi. I'm a lurker coming out of hiding. I wanted to share my two cents. I go to the Lincoln center as well. I had the same thoughts as FL and leahruthie, what are these skinny girls going to tell me?! For the most part I like them all. I do know one of the counselors personally and even though she is a stick, she did go through the program long before she started working there. I think she lost 25 pounds. What I try to remember is, some people only need to lose 25 lbs, I need to lose over 100. It's hard for everyone, a pound is a pound is a pound. We all struggle with weight and that's why we're there. So, I just suck it up and dream of the day I will be that skinny!

Thanks for listening.

So glad you came out of hiding....welcome. I agree...a pound is a pound....join the club....100 pounds for me too. But we can do it....hopefully by next year we can be one of those skinny ones too!!!

Well, I finally made it the 50 pound board! Back in April I couldn't believe it was possible, but here I am!

On one hand I'm really excited and proud, but on the other I'm 'conflicted'...I still see the same fat person in the mirror! With clothes on, things are much better, but without clothes it's still not a pretty sight...all the bad spots are still there and now seem more out of place than before. It makes me wonder if I'll ever be 'happy' with my body, and how ridiculous is that!! I should be nothing but ecstatic at this point. I guess I'm just venting...it's therapeutic to write it down I think. I remember at the beginning sometimes thinking 'what are people complaining about when they've already lost x number of pounds and I still have so far to go', so I hope I'm not putting anyone off. Maybe this is the 'mental' part of weight loss that I wasn't expecting?? I think maybe it's feeling disappointment that after losing 50 pounds I don't look as good as I hoped. And continuing disappointment that I let myself get so out of control to begin with, and now I'll forever have pooches, droopy skin and a turkey neck to remind me of it. I started looking at tummy tuck pictures on line, and oh my those scars don't look very good either.

I don't know...it's just strange battling with myself mentally over how happy I should be feeling. I guess I wasn't prepared for this kind of feeling, so maybe by sharing my frustration it could help others prepare better. How terrible would it be to gain the weight back because losing it didn't meet all the initial expectations I had. Maybe my body image expectations were too high? Maybe I should just stop looking at myself without clothes on, but since my tub and shower are directly across from the bathroom mirrors that's pretty much impossible!! I'm usually a very upbeat person, so thanks for letting me vent some frustration. I love it when people say 'you're getting so skinny!'. It does feel good to have the smallest sizes I've purchased in many years getting too loose. And certainly I wouldn't trade this sense of frustration with the feelings I had at just over 200 pounds. I just need to get through this so I don't let some disappointment sabotage the much greater success. Maybe I'm just crazy and stressed with all the things going on right now!

Thanks for listening! Hope you have a great weekend.

Succeed09, the mental part of losing weight sometimes takes a little while to catch up with the weight loss. When I lost 80 lbs a couple years ago, I still thought I was fat everytime I looked in the mirror. The skinny girl in the pictures definately wasn't me, and yet she had my eyes. Then I gained it all back, and well, the mental picture caught up with my weight, just in the wrong direction. What I'm trying to say is to just keep looking in the mirror knowing that you've come a heckuva long way with losing 50 pounds. That's so amazing! We're here for you, the center is there for you, just keep up the good work and eventually you'll believe that you look great no matter what you're wearing or aren't wearing. Maybe find a picture of yourself from before you lost the weight and compare.

This is the end of my first full week OP and I lost 7.5 pounds which everyone seems happy about except me. I'm still skeptical, water weight, etc.. lots of reasons floating in my head to make me not thrilled. You're not alone with the mental block. But at least we have here to vent to so we can feel a little better.

oh sweetie, don't feel bad for feeling that way--it's perfectly normal!! even when i was at my skinniest in college, i still always saw the meek 245-pound girl when i looked in the mirror. this, i think, is where the psychological counseling benefits of MRC will really kick in. schedule some time to talk with someone who has been through what you're going through. it's going to take a lot of work and time, but you'll learn to love yourself. in the meantime, be THRILLED with all that you have accomplished!! having only lost 12 pounds so far myself, you are truly an inspiration to me (and i'm sure to many others) and a picture of what we have to look forward to. kudos to you!! and please, please, don't beat yourself up for struggling. it's a hard path to travel but we know the destination is worth it, right?

Leah....Great Advice...I ditto that!!!

By the way, it seems kind of ironic that it would be called "water weight" loss considering the fact that we drink so much water, lol.

Oo! I was so proud of myself this week! We don't usually get much food at my work, maybe once every week or two, but this week Oh my Gosh! I started OP Monday with the yellow menu. Tuesday, someone brought chocolatey cheesecakey bites in. Wednesday there were brownies and some other baked chocolate-like goodies that I can't describe very well since I've never had them. Then if you think that's bad enough, yesterday on the last day of my yellow menu, not only did we have like 15 boxes (seriously not kidding about the amount) of bakery cookies but we also had two chocolate cakes for someone's bday, AND an instrument company rep gave us free lunch! (The lunch was at least healthy with turkey sandwiches, baked potato chips, fruit tray and cookie tray). Geeze louise I felt like I was in one of those video games where you have to dodge the bad stuff coming at you left and right and the higher the level you get the more bad stuff you get coming a lot faster. And wouldn't you know it, I dodged every last chocolate morsel without even a second thought.

However. My friend at work makes a wonderful chocolate cake, it wasn't there that day and I thanked her for not bringing it. I would have resisted, but I would not have been happy about it, lol!

Succeed90, I'm having the same feelings. I'm getting close to the weight I think I want to be, and I still have the flabby tummy and thighs, and now my arms are flabbier than ever, and "the girls" are really starting to look like granny's. My bust didn't develop until I was 27 and I was so proud of my "youthful" breasts (took Hormones from age 45 to 58. After I stopped, they have not been as firm but now they are positively droopy). My skin gets those fine wrinkles that "old ladies" get - hey 62 isn't old! I'm not that old yet! Did I really do the right thing? (I ask looking in the mirror!)

I know I need to exercise more - we have free weights and back in 2004, I had a nice weightlifting routine that I did for over a year before I had my second hip replacement. I can't seem to get back into it, but I need to.

I want to hear from some people who have been through this (like Namaste - you there??) After being on maintenance for 6 months, a year, do you have less loose skin? What did you do to shape up? Can you 'see' yourself as a skinny person eventually?

I really think that I am going to need the 6 weeks Stabilization and 1 year Maintenance for me to feel good about my body without the clothes. I am glad my center is close enough that I will keep going even once I have gotten down to goal weight. Let's keep talking about this, Succeed09 and not let it sabotage what we have/are accomplishing. I'm going to look for old threads that might address this. If I do, I will bump them up to the top of the list. Have a good weekend everyone, jeanette

I felt and still do at times the same way. I am down 59.5 pounds and still see myself before I started the program. I am slowing learning to look at myself differently though. A couple of weeks a go I had on a pair or shorts and tank top and was walking out of a public restroom. The restroom had a full length mirror when you walked out (I don't have one at home) and I started to say hi to the lady in the mirror then I realized that it was ME. I stood there for about 10 seconds just in awe I hardly recognized myself. I got home and sure enough the new person was not in the mirror just me but I do know I look different the surprise mirror proved it.

Also when I was feeling down and thinking how I look just the same I stole all of my pictures off of the pound boards and taped them into my book I carry around. When I think I look the same I just open up to that page and see thouse 5 pictures and there is a big difference between each and everyone of them.

So hang in there and don't be too overly critical. You are seeing yourself the way you have seen yourself for years. We always look different to ourselves.



Started MRC 5/9/09

Thanks for the support and encouragement. It makes me feel so much better that others have the same thoughts, and I'm not the only one! I already feel more empowered to push away the negativity and not let it defeat me. It's amazing how easy that nasty little voice creeps into my head! The most I've ever lost before on my own was about 25 or 30 pounds, and of course I gained it back. I'm determined to see this all the way through stabilization and maintenance, and I will talk to one of the experienced counselors next time I go in. This didn't really 'hit' me until after I got home from weighing in, and putting it in writing has made the issue more clear to me and made me realize I do need to address it. I have no intention of gaining this weight back!!

Thanks again...you gals are the best!

Same here...I just bought a few of those 'push up' bras as much for the 'fill up' as the 'push up'!!

Leah --

lol...it's ALWAYS been difficult for me to learn my way around State Fair Park! I make it a point not to pet the animals there. Not that I'm afraid of them -- I was born and raised on a farm. I don't know what kind of "critters" the last person that petted the animal has!

Okay, I admit it. I have been a little disappointed in myself that I have only lost 12 pounds in my first month. Especially when I see others who are losing 15-20 pounds a month! But today it hit me. 12 pounds in a month is great! I shouldn't be disappointed at all. I dropped a whole size and a half - I can get back into my size 12 jeans (I was at the 14/16 border). We work so hard every day to lose every single pound that we just want it all gone...right now! I have to remember that everyone's body is different. Maybe it has to do with body composition. Maybe it has to do with how much weight you have to lose total. Who knows. But I'm going to chose to be HAPPY with every pound that I lose and not compare myself to anyone else. Besides, there's no other person in the world like me anyway. And there's no other person in the world like you, either. So GOOD LUCK, be happy and be healthy!

I, too, look at what I've accomplished in 7 weeks (21.5 pounds down as of this morning) and on one hand, I worry that I won't make my MRC goal (50.5 pounds) by the Monday before Thanksgiving. If I do, it will be close. On the other hand, however, I have to keep telling myself that it took 40 years to get to the weight I was at 7 weeks ago, so why would I expect over 50 pounds to suddenly drop off of me practically overnight? It's neither a reasonable nor healthy expectation, IMHO.

My gosh, even if I lost half that amount of weight, I'd still not be completely disappointed! I'm eating so much healthier than I did before, so I'm accomplishing SOMETHING, even on those WI days when I don't seem to make a lot of headway.

I'm proud of the dedication I've mustered (which I didn't think I had!) and the committment that I've made to this healthier lifestyle. And I'm so proud of all of YOU as well...for your dedication, committment, support and sharing!

-- JJ