What a difference just a few pounds can make!! I know I'm probably making light of the fact that I've lost 7% of my total body weight (20 lbs) but it really is phenomenal. My clothes are fitting better, I'm sleeping better, I FEEL better. I haven't dropped a WHOLE size yet really, but maybe I'm cheating myself. I'm really excited by the fact that I spent about $120 on clothes 2 weeks before I started on my diet and THEY ARE ALL TOO BIG now!!! That shopping trip was so frustrating. None of the jeans seemed to fit me. I finally found 1 pair (I have a really interesting body shape, I'm 5'8" but its all upper body, I actually usually have to wear "petite" jeans because my legs are short) that fit.. they were the "low cut" style of jeans, and the only reason they fit was because they had some "stretch" to them. NOW THEY ARE TOO BIG!!! They fall off me... I can take them on and off without undoing the button or the zipper. So, that is a huge accomplishment. I know that its the "10% Challenge".. My doctor wants me to come back in after I've lost 10% of my body weight to check my blood pressure again. I'm frustrated because it hasn't come down AT ALL. It's not THAT high, but borderline. (132-6/90 usually) But I know I need to keep pressing on.
Other interesting things I have noticed - I have almost completely stopped getting migraine headaches. I used to get 3-4 a week. I can't even tell you when the last one was. I wonder if that is the weight? or all the water? or maybe just the fact that I'm sleeping better since I'm not suffocated by my neck/upper body fat as much as before.
Even though I haven't been exercising lately - I can get up the stairs without needing to pass out or feeling light headed.
I am trying hard not to beat myself up this week, although its been rough. I am just depressed that I let myself get this bad. now I have to lose 30 lbs to get to the 10% goal, rather than the 25 the last time I did weight watchers. And why is the weight coming off so strangely?? I've had 2 close to 10 lb weeks.. and then the weeks where its 1-2 lbs. It's just confusing sometimes, but I know that's what happens.
Any advice on how to specifically target areas to lose fat?? My worst areas right now are my "love handles" which extend all around my back to my belly button. There are 2 rolls there JUST above my waist line that are really not helping me look skinnier or shrinking at all. I have lost the weight under my chin, and below my navel... but I want to lose those rolls!!! If anyone has some advice, let me know. Is there a specific exercise I could do that would help?? I'd appreciate it.
Just thought I'd start the "General How we are doing" thread anew... Hope you all have a GREAT Friday and a WONDERFUL weekend if I don't talk to you sooner. I may try and sneak on to chat tonight... but don't know if I'll make it since Jocelyn will need to go to bed, and the computer is in her room.
Good Morning All!! Well the cloud lifted yesterday and I have managed to get my head on staright again. I hate to blame it on TOM, but I'm thinking it's all his fault that I had a bad couple of days!!!
The weekend is here and that is generally my very worst time. I can have an awesome week and still have a bad weekend. My goal for this Easter weekend is to stay OP 100% on Saturday and on Sunday, Exercise and drink my water and stay OP 100% except when I am at my mom's. There is no way that I will (or even want to) stay OP during Easter dinner. However, that is no reason for the whole day to be shot. So I think that is a very reasonable expectation.
BethAnne - I think you are right on...I have lost about 9% of my total body weight and I really feel the difference too. I am down about a size. I was a 4X or a 32 and now I wear a 3x or a 28. Jeans are such a challenge. I ordered 30's, they were too big (imagtine that!!), so I returned them for 28's. The 28's fit, but are a little big, but I don't think 26's would fit. Today I am wearing the 28's. They are REAL jean with just a little elastic in the sides. Last time you did WW, did the weight come off in spirts as well? No beating yourself up now!! What did you tell me...ONE DAY AT A TIME, NO GUILT, MOVE ON!!!!! And as far as I know, there is no such thing as spot reduction.
Hope everyone has a happy and healthy Easter!!!
By the way, I am going to try and make chat tonight. 8:30 (Chicago Time), General Support Room. We have had a really nice time the last two Fridays, so please come and join us!!
I love your excitedment at the changes in your body and clothing.
I am also 5'8" and started at 297 lbs in November 2002. I am now at 259. I can't believe the amazing changes in my body either. People who have't experienced this kind of change just don't understand how cool it is to notice the small changes.
I have gone from a tight size 28 to a snug size 22 already. When I go down a size, I buy one thing from the next size down and then try it on until it either wears out or fits me perfectly
The other changes I have noticed is that I fit into the seats at the theatre now. I thought they had changed the seats at first because it didn't hurt when I sat down.
My hips don't seem to know things off desks or bump into things like they used to
I actually look forward to going to the gym and love the new recipes I am trying (I am on WW too)
I can bend over and tie my shoes without holding my breath and I can and do actually run up the stairs and don't lose my breath.
I have hesitantly given my old clothes to the thrift shop but I am believing more and more that I will succeed.
I still have 100 more pounds to go to my goal of 160 lbs and I can't even imagine what that will be like.
Thanks for letting me share these thoughts with you,
Beth Anne...The excitement and proudness just pours out of each one of your posts. I must thank you for inspiring me daily. You really do. I completely understand what your saying about feeling so different.
I so understand about the headaches. It's most likely a combo of everything. No junk food, lots of water, weightloss, better sleeping, more energy. Feels good, doesn't it? =)
You really are doing wonderful. Don't let the unconsistant weightlosses get you down. That's the way the body works. All of your hard work will catch up with you.
There really isn't a way you can target where the losses comes from. The only way you can trim and tone a certain area is to workout. It doesn't have to be strenuous workouts. About the "love handles", there are these side twist things I learned at the gym, and of course sit ups. That helped me get rid of em. Still there, but much smaller than they were before. Have you heard of Curves for Women? It's a gym. If you have one in your area, I HIGHLY reccomend it. It's a 36 minute workout each time you go, and it's not even like a workout. The time passes, and the results are amazing. It works all areas of your body and all types of women go. It really is great. IN my first month, I lost 9 inches overall. Didn't lose a lb, but 9 inches. My clothes were falling off of me. I will be restarting on Monday. It's only $39 a month, not bad at all. Worth every penny.
JacobsMommy..WOOHOOOOOOOOO!!! Enjoy Easter Dinner for what it is. Increase your water, stay OP throughout the weekend and I am sure that whatever you eat at the table on Easter is not going to effect you. Your doing so well!!
Karie..Congrats on the fantastic weightloss! Your hard work is definatly paying off. Noticing those changes in our lives is just amazing and it makes all the work worth every moment of it.
I hope to be back on a more regular basis now that I have had Stephanie. I figured it out from the beginning to the end of my pregnancy I lost a total of 29.5 pounds. I have lost a total of 32.5 pounds since I started TOPS. I hope that this gives me a good push to keep up the work. Well I will have to come back later little one is crying and needs some attention. Take care I will post again soon.
It IS amazing now much a few pounds can make... I'm 6' and dropped 22 pounds, and went from a 32 to a 26... which is grand by me :-) I LOVE seeing the excitement in us all, and I am proud to say that for the last 2 days, I have made very *GOOD* food choices...I think my slump may just be over :-) Everyone have a great Easter, and a great week
What a great thread! Reading this was very uplifting. I too am 5'8. I started at 313 wearing size 26 jeans (that were snug but I told myself there was no way I was buying 28 jeans! LOL
Now I can wear 24 jeans, not quite yet a 22. My problem area is my stomach ( I am an apple shape).
Thanks for the suggestion of Curves For Women-I think I will check them out. I would love to lose that many inches in one month! I have my cruise coming in June and I have joined WW this week to get some more weight off. I would love to be a 22 by then and to get some new clothes for it.
It was an interesting weekend. Exhausting to say the least!!! Friday night I rushed home, stopped at 3 stores to purchase a hub for my computer at home so I could be online after Jocelyn went to bed, some stuff at the craft store to make a macrame (Sp?) plant hanger for the one plant I have in my house that I managed not to kill (Greg gave it to me 9 months ago or so), and the grocery store to pick up the things we needed for our weekend adventures. I made dinner, we all ate, then Mom and Dad stopped by for a visit with Jocelyn and to give her Easter present (a Jr. Bible) to her. We had a lot of fun with them! I finally fell into bed around 11:30, and woke up at 9 the next morning. I finished my macrame, cut up the lamb I'd bought into cubes to marinade for lamb-ka-bobs, hard boiled some eggs for this week's breakfasts, and we were off to see E.T. Loved it again. It was great. Then we stopped by Greg's parents, had a nice visit with them, got home, plopped on the couch to watch college basketball. I am SO glad it is all over tonight, as I would really enjoy having my husband back! I tried to go to bed at 10, but couldn't sleep until Greg finally came to bed around 11:15 or so. We got up at 5:15 for the sunrise service (oh the joys of being a youth leader!), went there, had breakfast, stopped at mom and dad's to see my brother who was home for the weekend, then went to "real" church, and then went to our friends for "easter on the barbie" (A cookout on their new grill.) It was a blast!! Greg took off to go do work, and I stayed and we played Absolute Balderdash. I have NO idea if I stayed anywhere remotedly OP, however, I didn't eat ONE piece of Easter candy. Yay! When I got home I found out that my sister had called while everyone was at mom and dad's for Easter. My sister is away in Italy for 6 months with school. I was so crushed that I wasn't there to talk to her, I must have cried for a half hour. (I was also totally exhausted at that point, so that might have played into it.) I really really miss her... but hopefully I will get to talk to her soon, and I was really glad to spend the day with my friends. We finally went to bed at 10:30. So, I was awake for 17 hours yesterday. Craziness.
I think I got off track somewhere last week. But, its a new day, a new week, a new month, so I can start working at this again. I've eaten 5 points so far this morning, and plan to stay OP ALL Day, including drinking water. I'm going to try to not drink crystal light today, and see what happens. I'm really wondering if the Nutrasweet or whatever is giving me sugar cravings (which I've been experiencing lately.) So today is test-day. We'll see what happens!!!
Feeling the "re-newed"bug!! It's a Monday and the 1st day of the month. New beginnings. I weigh in tonight and I don't care what happens (not really, but it's a good thing to say when you think you might gain!!). But REALLY, today is the 1st day and whatever I weigh tonight is the point I am moving forwrd from. It's going to be an awesome Month!!
Yes, BethAnne, it's me!! As adorable as my son might be I thought it was time to show my face!!! I wish everyone would, wouldn't that be cool!!! Friday's chat was great! I really enjoyed it. I bet you will find that the straight water does better by you.
Tamara - Did I read your post right? Did you say that you LOST 29.5 lbs. from the start to finish of your pregnancy? You lost weight while you were pregnant? How did you manage that??
lorelei - A cruise, wow what great inspiration!! How is WW going?
PNG - It was great talking to you again on Friday, did you have a nice easter?
*snooooooore* Oh wait, I'm awake... :-) I'm dragging a bit today, allergie kicking up, all the sagebrush is kicking up around here, and the trees, it's what passes for spring here in the desert... and it's making me MISERABLE! OK, venting past...
Sandi: My Easter was great, we BBQ'ed veg food for MIL and her family, ate too much jelly beans drank too much soda but today, slowly getting it together... as for the weightloss during pregnancy, when I was preg with my son, I lost 72 pounds... I ate constantly, and could not hold weight, his metabolism was so fast, he was like a little tapeworm... luckily, when I got preg with him, I could stand to lose those pounds....best diet ever Was great chatting Friday, and great pic ya got there :-) Well, I'm off to see what else I'm missing on the board...
I'm really kinda in weight shock today. After figuring out my goal weight and realizing I have 140 lbs to lose (20 down) It's a little monumental. I am really only doing it 10 at a time (for goals) but still, I can't believe that I have almost 50% of my body weight to lose. I'm about to lose a whole person. That's pretty incredible. And pretty sad I let myself get this way!! I'm not down on myself, but just realizing how much EASIER this would have been when I weighed 250, 220... etc. But I know you just have to wait for the right "click" and then it happens. I am committed to this for life now, I will NOT fail this time. I have all the right tools, the time, the commitment, the support, I can conquer this fat!! I will reign victorious over 140 lbs of blubber!! (using that picture I think nasus gave to us, 140 pounds of butter is REALLY GROSS!!!) but mix it with some flour, sugar, choclate chips, etc, it would make a lot of chocolate chip cookies...... ok need to get off that train of thought!!!
Have a great night, I know I Will, I am ON PROGRAM, DRINKING, and I WALKED A MILE TODAY!!
Hi all-Just checking in and hoping for a good weigh in tommorow on my first week of WW. I have done well. I banked points every day (always getting the minimum atleast) and never used the banked for a splurge. I am suprised by how easy it is for me so far. I wonder if it's just first week enthusiasm??
BA-I can relate on having so much to lose. It can be overwhelming. I think thats why I only lost the 30 and just maintained last year. The "big picture" was scary!! At first I needed to lose 155 to get to goal weight of 160!! I had to lose half my weight too. Now it's 120 to goal, so I just break it down too. Right now I am thinking 20 pounds by mid June for my trip. The rest I will think about later.
Congrats on the one mile!!
BA i can relate to that. I started with almost half my body to lose too, I had a BF% of over 60% so i needed to make some drastic changes in my life too. unfortunatly i waited for me to hit 40 before i started to do anything for my weight. What a shame but i guess the click did not start till then. I have alwasy been a late starter. so here i am doing one of the hardest things i have ever done which would have been so much easier younger and lighter, and well i missed so much of my life being weighed down, and set forrible examples for my kids. But i am making the changes and going about it slowly and heathy this time. it is for real and please do not hink of the big piture at this time it can be very overwealming but if you do not try then you will be this heavy next year or even heavier. so never give up. this will take much time and much hard work, and you will have down times but look at your success and yes think of all that butter. and better yet carry a 20 lb bag of flour down the isle and really see how havy it is. that is amazing. I carried a 55 lb bag of dog food inside the other day and boy was it heavy i just loved it cuz i though that i am that much lighter now, just imangine how heavy i was then.!!!
but anyways slow and steady never lose site of the goal!!!
BA - I can totally relate too. I have over 1/2 my body to lose too, but for some reason the thought of it excites me not overwhemes me. I will be one of those people who has lost 167 lbs!! OMG! That's what I want people to whisper behind my back. "whisper...did you know, she lost 167 lbs...isn't that incredible..whisper." It'll be so cool. I am actually very happy to just see the scale going down and not up. For so many years it just went up and up and up. But no more, I finally get it and have the control over my self to do something about it. Last night I was doing my step aerobics and hubby came down for something, and said "you know, I'm really proud of you...I never thought I'd see you doing this". And it made me want to do this all the more.
Sue - You are so right about carrying heavy things. I feel lighter every day. I have alot of respect for people like you that are so near goal. I think it gets harder as you get thinner to lose the weight. You keep it up, I can't wait to see you hit your goal. Did you try the 6 mini meals?
lorelei - So how did you do. I think WW seems easy, because it is. I just really think it's the best program I've ever been on.
It's so funny how much our emotions control us, I have been all pumped up this week, but yesterday afternoon, I just wanted to eat. I was wondering around looking for something to eat, looking at the calories on the pringles can. It was crazy. Then I realized I was bored. Had lots to do, just didn't feel like doing it, so I wanted to eat to entertain myself and make myself feel good. I had my points all used for the day (mapped out anyway) so I didn't have much room to manuvere. But I opted for 23 pretzels instead of my afternoon yogurt and a Tootsie Pop and that seemed to get me through it. But it just struck me as amazing that I could be sooo motivated and still be so controled by my emotions.
#148 - It's Amazing
food choices...I think my slump may just be over :-) Everyone have a great Easter, and a great week 
feeling the inspiration!
drank too much soda 
