bigduke:

 You're not "the fat girl" ... you're beautiful you and apparently you're being noticed for your progress!  I'm very proud of you. 

Thank you sooo much ;-) My coworker noticed today - she said - "You must be losing weight because your clothes are too big now!"  Which felt great! 

Thank you for all your kind words - I feel more beautiful each day!  I am going to lose this weight and keep it off.  I can't wait to see my brother who saw me last at my highest weight.  I would just LOVE to see a total loss of 75 lbs or so by next May.  That would be totally wonderful ;-)

I am proud of us all - it takes so much courage and will power to stick with it. I really appreciate all the support on the message boards ;;-)

jdemo78:

Thank you for all your kind words - I feel more beautiful each day!  I am going to lose this weight and keep it off.  I can't wait to see my brother who saw me last at my highest weight.  I would just LOVE to see a total loss of 75 lbs or so by next May.  That would be totally wonderful ;-)

 Hi JD,

You post a lot and that's a very good thing.  Everyone here is so helpful and we get so many tips and so much encouragement from each other!

If I could make a tiny suggestion.  Try replacing "I am going to lose this weight" with "I am losing this weight".  Might sound like a very small difference in words, but think about it for a moment.  When we say "I'm going to" we almost give ourselves a pass.  Going to?  When?  When you say "I am losing this weight", it puts you in the driver's seat!  Makes your body and your mind cooperate with you!

You are doing it girl!  Can't wait to hear what your brother has to say when you next see him!

Mary 

You are absolutely right!!  I have been "going to" for eight years!!!

It's about the same as my husband's "going to" power-wash the house... LOL...

Well - I haven't posted for a little while. I got on the scale last week and nothing lost... I was really down and while I tried to remain positive, I just wasn't.  It really is amazing how one thing - even a minor setback can really mess with your head.

I just didn't understand it. I stuck with the diet, I exercised EVERY day... I really worked out; sweat dripping workouts... and nothing.  It really set me back.  So the entire week following, I stuck with the eating, but I didn't really work out... I only hit the pool once (which is so unlike me).

My husband kept telling me that I had to stick with it and not to let one week ruin it for me.  I have to admit he was super supportive, said that I stopped logging on, stopped logging my food and that I am not a quitter.  He even gained two pounds he said in sympathy... Men...

I am happy to report that despite myself, I lost four lbs this week.  I hope that this inspires someone because it felt really good to see the drop even though one week I didn't see a drop.  I guess you have to keep going and keep trying.

P.S. Mary - thank you, you are my inspiration and I bought a new and smaller bathing suit ;-)

 I gained back 2 pounds for my check-in this morning. Too many celebrations in one week. And by the end I didn't try moderation, plus I ate trigger foods like chips. I have to pull myself together right now so I don't totally lose it. I have no parties to go to this week, so I can do it if I just get focused. The weight will drop right back off. But I didn't do my yoga yesterday either. Nor am I getting it done this morning, having already started breakfast. So my hard one habits are already getting lost in lazy. (To my credit, I set the timer for 30 minutes last night and danced around my living room...) I can't allow getting lost. It's almost 100 degrees every day and I don't have air conditioning. This doesn't help. I was ready to hit the pool yesterday but can't find my gate key card, having thrown all my clutter in boxes and tossed all into my storage earlier this week when company was coming over. Out off the balcony where it's so hot in the afternoon! I gotta get out there this morning and take a look...Any way, wish me luck as I try to get a handle on this today and not slip back into slugdom. (In spite of the two pounds, I did discover I could fit back in my bathing suit without embarrassing bulges, that was encouraging, kind of counteracted the feeling of blowing it.)

Cheri ~ Nevada

jdemo78:

I got on the scale last week and nothing lost... I was really down and while I tried to remain positive, I just wasn't.  It really is amazing how one thing - even a minor setback can really mess with your head.

I just didn't understand it. I stuck with the diet, I exercised EVERY day... I really worked out; sweat dripping workouts... and nothing.  It really set me back.  So the entire week following, I stuck with the eating, but I didn't really work out... I only hit the pool once (which is so unlike me).

<snip>

I am happy to report that despite myself, I lost four lbs this week. 

 I think this is a very important story to tell. Just because you don't lose one week (or even gain a pound or two) while following the low-fat, reduced-calorie diet and exercising does not mean you failed. Our bodies fluxuate from week to week, day to day and even hour to hour with regards to weight. Staying the same weight from one week to the next could have nothing at all to do with something in your control. It could be hormones, water retention, muscle mass growing, etc. Obviously, you are doing something right if the next week was 4 lbs down and hardly any exercise. That four pounds was just not evenly distributed among the two weeks because the one time you weighed yourself something else was off.

I know I am going to have to remind myself of this in the future because these plateaus are bound to happen. They are part of the process.

E

 For me what works is that I actually weigh myself 5-6 times every day.  I know... I know... people may think this is wrong, but that is what works for me.  Like I said in another post everyone is different. 

 I think of my weight like a blood pressure.  On one day last week my highest weight was 218 and my lowest weight was 214 so I look at the whole picture... I saw it as 214/218. and I feel good about that.  As long as the overall "range": is going down I wont worry. 

If for example I happened to have weighed 218 on my 'one and only official weekly check in' I would have thought that I  had gained 2 pounds...... That may have discouraged me.  But knowing that I actually hit a 214 once .... that keeps me motivated.

And by the way I do use my first of the morning weigh in on Saturday's as my official weigh-in weight.  So for example this week it was 215 and that is what I reported, even though I know that I had a 214 a couple times this week.....  I know that I am on a Downward trend.

DebbieT