I gained 5 pounds but that's because our newborn was in the E.R. these past days and then transferred to a regular room.  We just got back. Baby is doing amazingly well and we're happy she's okay. I guess I can start again with my Diet.  So 123 to start and now 128.  I'll be walking, then running this next week and going back to the gym as well.

Hi Everyone!

Yes, I have not checked in for about two weeks because I am working so much. No time for anything but sleep.
Which brings up an important subject. One important key to weight loss and good health is proper sleep. The body produces hgh during sleep which burns fat and builds muscle among other important functions. So get your sleep people.

Welcome to the new enthusiastic members. Stephanie, was that a typo or did you lose 100 pounds already? Good job Sigmafan, I like that attitude, get in there! Lee, keep at it, eventually this will become more of a habit and the consistency will come. Regan, yay! Kyril, it's not healthy to eat so little. Slow weight loss is best, but I understand everyone has their own method that works best for them. And of course the lovely Madelyn, the author of this thread and the most encouraging girl around, you are catching me! However, I have dropped off my plateau (finally) and am happy to report that I lost a few more pounds! I now weigh just 170.2 lbs! I have lost 18 pounds in 18 weeks, and if I can do it, anyone can.

Good luck everyone and keep at it!

Jennifer

Not checking in to join, but to congratulate you all on such a great supporting thread, and for all of you being so dedicated. Keep it going and good luck. It will pay enormous dividends for all of you in every aspect of life.

Hugs to all of you wonderful people.

Cindy

I now have some bad news.  I've gotten burned out from the gym, so I'm taking a week off.  I'll still do some stuff at home, but I'm giving a week away from the gym so I can get my batteries recharged.  I figure that this short term break will bring long-term rewards.

Quote from: Nathan. on February 22, 2011, 10:08:55 AM
When i'm down or anxious I comfort eat and my anxiety has been quite bad recently, but when i'm ok i'm better with food, I don't snack and eat ok portion sizes.

Drink a cup of hot water, it sort of fools you're body into thinking you've had something hot and nourishing when in fact you haven't. plus it's water which is always good for you.

Well I finally made it down to exactly 180lbs on my scale! It actually happened over the weekend and I was very excited about it because it was a goal of mine to hit 180 before my birthday (which was on Monday). Anyway, since then I bounced up about a half a pound, but I'm still very happy! I'm keeping the faith and tracking daily - Next my goal is 174, which means I'm at a "normal" BMI for the first time in my entire life.

Thanks everyone for checking in and saying how things are going. It really helps motivate me and I know others too when we all share our progress (or even our lack of progress).

Good job, Madelyn! My next goal is 179lb which I am about 20 lb away. The reason it is 179 and not 180 is because i weighed 179lb when I put on a maroon beret when I graduated Airborne School at Ft. Benning Georgia in December of 1989. I was 19, not an oz. of exra fat and in the best shape of my life!

It is going to be a challenge  to get that low as I have a lot of muscle mass and will be very low body fat to get that low again so I need to shed some serious muscle mass as well. I think my ideal weight will be about 160 when all is done which shold look ok on my 5-11 frame.

Oh sweet! I didn't know this thread existed. Hi everyone!
Looks like some awesome progress has been made!

I've been on a diet since November, and lost a little over 20 lbs now. Does anyone here use loseit.com? If not you should check it out, so far it's been really great. It gives you a calorie limit per day based on your weight and height, and how much weight you want to lose per week. As you lose weight it lowers your limit, which is great as it keeps you from letting your metabolism slow down with super restrictive diets.
So right now I'm at 164, I started at 185 >_< Been having trouble kicking a plateau right now. But I eat between 900-1,300 calories a day, though my limit is around 1,400, and do mostly aerobic stuff for now just to kick my pudgey curves, for an hour or more.
After I get down to a more ideal weight I'm gonna start building up muscle. Since muscle weighs more than fat I always feel like I'm not progressing doing both at the same time, lol. And since the muscles don't show under a layer of fat 
Good luck everyone! 

Madelyn-Awesome! You really help to motivate us all.

Stacy-Great to see you checking back in, I'm still thinking about that salmon. And I love your enthusiasm.

Asher-Welcome, it's nice to have another motivated person here. I am going to check out loseit.com right now...thanks.

Sigmafan-Honest and smart as always. A little vacation always helps the burnout. Hope to hear from you soon.

As for my my success, I am at the 170.5 plateau and that is great for me. Nothing drastic, just a slow and steady drop in weight.
I did drop a dress size too...Yay! Next stop, 169, my high school weight 35 years ago. Good luck all you beautiful people!

Jennifer

Quote from: Helena on March 29, 2011, 04:57:42 PM
Drink a cup of hot water, it sort of fools you're body into thinking you've had something hot and nourishing when in fact you haven't. plus it's water which is always good for you.

Also, I love to drink hot water with a tablespoon or two of bouillon. I recently bought a big tub of organic vegan bouillon whose cost worked out at 30 euro cents a liter. It's only 10 calories a tablespoon and makes you feel nice and full and the ingredients are all healthy. Plus you can use the bouillon to make cheap soups that are virtually fat free. Bouillon, legumes, veg and wholegrain paste. Cheap, tasty, low in calories and high in nutrients. Great bang for your buck.

A spoonful of miso in a mug of hot water is great too. Feels very wholesome, and is.

Quote from: yoxi on April 03, 2011, 02:13:41 PM
A spoonful of miso in a mug of hot water is great too. Feels very wholesome, and is.

Especially with sea vegetables! YUMM-Y!

Happy hello to everyone here,

Another week has gone by and I am so excited to report I dropped another pound! 169.5 pounds and I feel great now.

And here comes summer...YAY!

Don't lose sight of your goals everyone because you can do it and it is worth it.

Jenny 

Well, at last weigh-in I'm down to 300.  Which is a great thing to have happening.  Hopefully I'll be in a size 40 pants by the time summer rolls along.

Hey everyone! It's great to see people still checking in. I'm so glad to have this thread

Well, I've bounced around a little, but this morning I weighed and looks like I hit a new low of 179.2lbs. I haven't been this low for a very long time, so I'm quite happy about it! I just started Estrogen, so hopefully it won't have too much a slowing effect on my weight loss.

Quote from: Madelyn on April 07, 2011, 03:52:46 PM
Hey everyone! It's great to see people still checking in. I'm so glad to have this thread 

Hey Madelyn! That says it all. And good job cracking 180!

And hi to everyone else who stops here. I'm proud of all those who don't give up and continue to be true to themselves.
It pleases me to see all the motivated people who keep checking in with their updates and tips, keeping in mind that a little hiccup now and then is no reason to give up. Continue to try and success will come.

I am excited to report that I am still below 170 lbs. for 2 weeks now! The lightest I've been in 30 years, and checking in here on a weekly basis has helped me achieve that. My ultimate goal is 155 and I am more than half way there!

See you all next week. Good luck and keep up the good work everyone.

Jennifer

Hey guys congrats on the losses! Sounds like ya'll are doing pretty incredible.

It's been a little over a month since I checked in. I'm happy to report I've maintained the same weight. Yup happy... because a huge portion of the fat on my thigh and calf area has become muscle and I've gained a huge amount of bicep & shoulder muscle in the last month from my continuance of lifting weights plus the amount of walking I have to do every day to get to/from work & at work.

Starting a healthier food diet as soon as I can get to the store and fruit market (hopefully tomorrow) so I'm hoping for some weightloss. Because of my current diet I believe I'm eating somewhere around 4,000+ calories a day ugh. Good luck everyone

Had the baby in the hospital these past few days so I haven't been able to restart my visits to the gym 
Hopefully, I"ll be able to this week. I'm still at 223!
BUT I have noticed that the weight I have is all on my butt and thigh area and is really contributing to some awesome curves...I just got to make sure they don't go more than that. I'm thin on top and chunky on the bottom like a bowling pin!  Okay, just venting!

Guys. I want to thank everyone for continuing to check in, it gives us all a lot of encouragement to know others are out there struggling to work on their weight too.

I have a bit of surprising and good news this morning. I finally, after about 3 weeks of struggling to make it to a lower weight, have broken to a little lower level. Since starting HRT I've had such a hard time staying in my calorie targets, but I've tried really hard and I stepped on the scale this morning and I am 176.2lbs! I'm so happy because it's been difficult. The lowest I had been before was 178.

Anyway, please keep the faith friends. You guys can do it.

Congrats Madelyn!

Well guys I'm back to 208 exactly so I've lost 6.6 pounds in the last couple of weeks. My diet has been poor due to only having time to eat once a day, usually junk food or fast food because of my schedule not allowing grocery store visits. 2 days off ahead of me and I'm hoping for a trip to the store (maybe I'll bike the twenty minutes up there but won't be able to get any cold food with the 90 some degree weather). Hope everyone is making some progress