As you may or may not know, on the 1st of every month I do my weigh in (the official one where i write everything down) and measurements. I thought I'd post a new pic since the last one was 78 pounds and several months ago. I also thought I'd add my stats as they've decreased over the months for anyone interested

Wow! You have done a tremendous job!! Keep up the great work you ark an inspiration!

Wow Chaoticfish!
You are looking great!! I was just passing by and saw your post and couldn't resist commenting! You are so precise with everything too!
You've done a tremendous job for only having been since 6/04! What are you doing? counting calories? What are you doing for exercise? I have 120 to lose altogether and this gives me such a boost! WTG!!!! You Rock!

good job@@@@!!!!!!

Amazing! What do you do to keep motivated over all this time? Surely there have been times when you just wanted to cave in and stuff your face. I say that because that is how I have been feeling this week. Luckily there is nothing in my house to stuff my face with, mind you I did eat a whole bag of mini rice cakes.

Your doing an amazing job!!! Be proud!!

Wow chaoticfish! 3 cheers for you!
I love reading your updates! congrats!

(and look at those ankles!)

you can stop anytime now- your hips are smaller than mine (my= 41.5) and your thighs are smaller than mine (my = 23) just kidding. Keep up the great work!

and 1 more PS- tape up 66 inches of paper together (5'6"!!)... I did that when I was at 44 inches (now I'm at 46.5) it's amazing!

WOW! What a great transformation. That's awesome.
I'm not the jealous type but I sure am feeling a little green

I've been waiting to see some updated pics on your progress. You are doing so awesome and are truly and inspiration to us all. Keep up the good work and it's great to know my 30 in. thighs will more than likely shrink down

I've just recently joined, but your post title made me stop in and take a look. Congratulations, you look great!!!! You're certainly a motivator for me!!!!

Congratulations!!!! Wooo Hoooo! You're such an inspiration!

I'm speechless! Please let us know how you did this. Because I'm giving up hope because I hear of people on all these diets & all the talk about cheating & really don't read many success stories. Thanks.

That is so wonderful! You must feel so good about yourself and all round. May I ask what method/s you are using. I myself Have been at it since September and haven't lost much. I'm down 2 sizes from 18 to 14 with a total loss of only 13lbs. I hired a trainer and workout all the time and have significantly reduced my food. Any advice?

Keep up the GREAT work. YOU LOOK MARVELOUS

1hot_tomato.....
Yup, I'm counting calories. I eat about 1200 a day and walk for at least an hour a day. I try to use my [device of torture] exercise bike 3 times a week and do weights/cardio exercise the other 4. And I'll tell ya what - Yoda was a smart fella. Even though we don't like it, we all know what it takes to lose the weight. It's hard but ya just gotta do it!

fannie~annie.....
There are a few things that keep me motivated. The first and most important is all the encouragement I get from people here and in my every day life. Especially when someone says I've inspired them. See, I was always the timid, fat girl who tried to stay as invisible as possible. Now I have people asking me how they can do this too and I run into to them on my daily walks and they say to me, "I'm doing it!" It almost makes me wanna cry. That I made someone feel they could better themselves. It's wonderful! As for stuffing my face - Ohhhh I do indeed! In fact when I do I way OVERdo it. For instance, on the 1st, after my weigh in, I had my fav meal from my fav mexican restaurant. I ate so much I felt like I was gonna explode. Yesterday was a hamburger, fries, stuffed jalapinios and a strawberry shake. I hadn't splurged for 20 days and went a little overboard this time, lol. The thing I've learned is that I CAN splurge, just not often. But now I've gotta be a good girl for a good long while to make up for my indecent eating, lol

Feeling better also helps keep me motivated. I couldn't even walk half a block to check my mail before but now I can walk for miles without blinking an eyelash. I can even run! Also it's kinda fun for me to see the scales go down. It gives me a thrill when they drop to the next "10" - from the 190's to 180's to 170's, etc. I dunno what I'm gonna do when there's no more weight to lose, lol. Oh and clothes! Being able to buy anything I want and feel good wearing it! Up until a few months ago buying clothes wasn't fun it was simply neccesary and embarrassing. Has anyone else ever felt like falling through the floor when the checkout girl, a size zero, picked up your size 28 jeans to scan them and nearly toppled over from the sheer weight of them?!? That's an exaggeration of course but not much of one, lol. I hated that and pretty much wore the same clothes until they fell apart in strings.

KandiceA.....
Everyone says that, lol. STOP already! One of my best friends said some very unkind words (jokingly) when my waist got smaller than hers. As for taping 66 inches of paper together, I was thinking about that yesterday! I'm 5'2. I've lost 4 more inches than I am tall!

melmcc99.....
I do feel good about myself and it's an odd feeling, I have to admit, because it's a new feeling. I never much liked myself and pretty much always thought I was (literally) a big, fat nothing. Certainly that's what I was always told by everyone. But now I DO like me. I have an opinion of myself and I think I'm funny and nice and well, likeable. It isn't because of my body size that I have more confidence, it's because I stopped hiding from life and drowning myself in beef supreme gorditas!

As for what I'm doing it's pretty simple, as I said above - I eat about 1200 calories a day (give or take 100) and walk every day. Use my exercise bike and weights and do cardio exercise 4 days a week. I don't go to a gym or anything, I just use my little 5 pound Wal-Mart weights and watch Everybody loves Raymomd whole I try to elimnate my bat wings and do crunches

The best piece of advice I can think to give you is DON'T GIVE UP! Sometimes it's really slow and hard and frustrating. My biggest obstacle in the past was knowing how long it was gonna take. But this time I thought, "Ya know, time goes by so fast and it's gonna go wether I'm eating chicken breast or pizza so I might as well eat the chicken and be thinner at the end of the road" and sure enough, it's been 8 months in what seems like no time at all and I've lost 110 pounds.

Also I'd like to tell everyone that it gets easier. At first it seems aweful but that's just because you're used to eating whatever you want and I'd be willing to bet that 80% of the people here are emotional eaters which makes it even harder to give up your comfort (food). But it really, truly gets easier. At this point for the most part I just eat what I know I'm supposed to eat and it's not a big deal. The best part about this is that I know I can maintain eating this new way when I get to my goal weight. It's a good, good feeling!

To everyone else.....
Thanks so much for your kind words. They mean more than all the size 14's in the world

you are amazing! congratulations, and keep up the good work!

I watch That 70s Show for an hour every night -- maybe I'll take your advice & workout while I watch!