Weight Loss

Lauren in San Diego here (5'11'').  I was up to almost 180 lbs at the end of last year and I lost about 10 pounds during Jan-Feb and then got lazy.  I need to get back on the wagon.  I think I weigh around 170 and I would like to be 150.  Weigh in on Fridays for me starting tomorrow.  I would love to chat with others who have similar stats and goals to stay motivated.  All my girlfriends are little petites, I need some amazon love!!

Let's look hot and healthy this summer!!!

Get well soon Ame!! I have to say bikes scare me since falling off and breaking my wrist when I was a wee one!! Good job gettin back in the saddle so to speak!

Well, I think as usual it hits friday my part of the globe first, I'm totally stuck at 129.6 (seriously have been seeing this exact no. for 3 weeks now)! Its scaring me because I am eating so well, granted I am as lazy as ever, but I am eating nowhere near maintenance, so like do I have to eat this little forever to just maintain? not cool!! Its definitely time for a shake up, maybe in what I'm eating but definitely I'm hittin the gym at least 4 hours next week!

Any ideas in how I can shake up my diet a bit, I usually have varied dinners but mostly the same breakfasts as in I'll have all bran or oatmeal (cos I know it fills me until lunch & I wont snack) now I'm thinking I should have eggs and possibly fruit (but then i will get hungry earlier), and then for lunch I always have soup (at work so its easy for me) but they do make wonderful salads here but always with the dressing!!! My diet, I would say is super healthy 80% of the time but is my body just too used to it now? Is it worth compromising what I know to be good and healthy for the unknown in a bid to shake it up? Oh deary me, I need a little lie down now...

Good luck guys xxx

Car

I wasn't sure if it was Thursday or Friday! It's been a busy week. I've been eating very well and increasing my run rate (running a faster mile), so I'm very proud of myself even though the scale didn't move.

What a week.

On Sunday I bought a size 6 jeans, and a couple 8s. Not kidding. Got them at Target, so think their sizes are wacked. At The Gap I'm a tight 8-10 now. Seriously, if you want an esteem boost, try on some jeans at Target.

I also bought a new scale that weighs me 5lbs more. My regular scale was analog with little tiny spikes, so it was difficult to monitor progress because the needle would move a lot with just a little shift on the scale.

So (at 5'11") my old scale still read 153lbs this morning  and my new scale weighed me at 158. My new scale also measures body fat and hydration. Has my body fat (on athletic mode) at just under 17%! Uh...hm. When I take it off of athletic mode it has my body fat at 25%. I have no idea if I'm what is considered athletic or not. I think I can grab more than 17% on just my thighs though, so I'm not counting that reading.

I'm not sure which scale is right, but can still use either to track progress. I'll weigh at my Doctor's next month and ask her about my body fat readings...see what she says. I don't want my body fat to be too low, but can't imagine that it is at 153-158lbs. And if it is really that low, then hey, I've hung onto most of my muscle through all this!

Good luck to ya'll and HAPPY FRIGG'N FRIDAY!

I can never figure out the body fat thinger on my scale so I mostly ignore it. Mine also tells me what % of my body is water and I'm sure it's supposed to mean something to me but I usually ignore that too. Well I just looked it up and apparently all tissues in the body EXCEPT fat contain a lot of water so the more water you have the less of your body is fat or something like that. I'm still going to ignore it. I also weigh myself on both my new fancy scale and my old scale because my old scale says I weigh slightly less. We like that.

Down another pound this week which is a miracle considering that I did a three day pig-fest break last weekend starting just after my Friday weigh in. Now I'm 3 lbs. away from my original goal and 18 away from my new (boo) goal. Also in the news my period is a week late making my lost pound even more interesting. (Going to buy a test tomorrow if ttom doesn't appear fast, if you pray please pray for a negative)

Slipped on a grape (darn &%$# kids!!!) and dislocated my knee which prompted me to finally explore the deep and frightening abyss which is the weight room at my gym. I could hardly get through my power yoga class this morning without passing out as a result, my arms are so weak and sore today. Looking forward to soon being world's strongest woman...despite fact that I cannot even lift a pen today.

Hello :)  After lurking for a few weeks in this lovely thread I've decided to introduce myself.

I'm 5'11" and today I weighed in at 182.6, down from 186.6 on Aug 1.  I have an extremely athletic build and I LOVE LOVE LOVE lifting weights.  I'm currently a size 12 and would just about do anything to be a 10...which seems like a long ways away at this point!  The last time I remember being a 10 I was in 8th grade wearing a juniors 9/10!

I have an hourglass shape and right now my measurements are Bust 38, Waist 29.75, Hips 43.  I lost a lot of inches a few years ago right when i got into lifting and was 36, 28.5, 41.75 at that point which is my first goal to get to again. 

My previous fat loss efforts were derailed by exhaustion and my "need" for more food.  I'm definitely an all or nothing person and can stick to a clean, regimented diet strictly for a while but then I tend to give into my cravings in moments of weakness :(....that lasts for weeks! I'm still struggling with a way to remedy that--I don't feel like I can put treats in everyday because they just trigger binges...but then I tend to binge anyway about once a month if I'm strict :(.

So I'm trying to do it better now.  Trying to take in more calories to begin with in an effort to continue my success past a couple of months.  Right now I'm eating 1500-1700 on cardio or non-workout days and 1900-2100 on lifting days.  I work out 6 days a week--2-3 lifting and 4 cardio (1 day is lifting + cardio).  I do full body lifting and 2-3 days of HIIT and 1-2 days of steady state cardio. 

You are all very motivating and beautiful!

Welcome inittowinit1!! I have to tell you that I'm the same way with the all or nothing stuff. though I have gotten much much better at it over the past year. I had to stay really strict with myself for about 6 months before I could relax and let myself have something here and there and not let that trigger a binge-fest. It's like total brain reprogramming, that stuff takes time!

I wish I could find someone nearby who love love loves lifting weights so I could have someone to talk to in the weight room. When I do the elliptical and the treadmill I put on my headphones and I don't want anyone to so much as look at me but in the weight room I get more bored.

Hi etahbear--you are extremely motivating and have done so well!  it was great to read your story!

I'm the opposite with cardio...it bores me to death!  Even HIIT and I'm starting to talk myself out of it after 10 min.  I like lifting because I feel so strong, love seeing the weights go up and my muscles move...and I have to admit that I REALLY love walking to a power rack and deadlifting more than the guy next to me :). 

i'll give you some of my love for weights if you give me some of your motivation for cardio?  Fair deal?

Happy Friday!  SW 178 CW 158 GW 150 well well well not any movement down...I think I was 157.6 last week.  Argh.  I was under calories a couple of days due to stressful days...and I haven't counted in a few days.  I gotta get back on the counting wagon to get these stubborn lbs to move.

Still working out the same....really eating is all that is different.  So I gotta work harder at eating enough.  Funny problem to have since I LOVE eating.  When I have time I do fine.

Inittowinit I LOVE WEIGHTS TOO!  I love the smith machine for my squats...tho I'm pretty sure I don't squat more than guys so far!  I LOVE seeing my shoulders getting defined!  I do 3 days lifting, finished off with 20 min cardio and HIIT 3 days...tho my HIIT is pretty wimpy.  I do it on the treadmill at home and it is only 16 min total!  But man do I sweat!  What do you do?  Welcome, btw!

Good morning tall ladies!

I've had almost two weeks of zig zagging back and forth everywhere from 178 to 180. My official weight loss for last week was only .8 lbs and the week before only 1.4. Since my average had been 2 lbs a week before, this was disappointing especially since my exercise has increased and my calorie count  has been good.

Well, yesterday I was thrilled to see 177.3. But today was a total shocker. I weigh 175.0! I weighed twice to be sure. Yep, 175! I drank plenty of water yesterday. I don't think I'm dehydrated. I did not eat late and I had something easy to digest for supper (spaghetti). Still, I expect tomorrow's weight to go back up a little. I haven't lost this much overnight since the first week I started. Could I have really been holding on to that much water these past two weeks????

175? I think I will go dance around the park this morning instead of walk!!!!

I have not weighed less than 177 in probably 10 years! In 1999 I know I weighed less than 177 but I'm not sure exactly what I weighed. But I have this little black dress that I wore to my mother's funeral that only fit me for a few months back then. So I think I may just try it on later today. I'm thinking I still have about 5 more lbs to loose before it will fit me good though. Still, 175! That makes my day!!!!

I'm still waiting on the babies. I've got two ladies who could go any time. I'm just praying not at the same time. I have a back up midwife on call but I really want to make both births myself. And preferably with some sleep in between the births.

I hope everyone has a blessed day today and a great weekend.

~ Beth

Hi Emberjem!  How long did it take you to lose 20 lbs?  I would like to be 160 as my ideal weight and I have about 22 to go.  I'm hoping to do this by mid-November.  You've done great by the way!!

If you don't mind, I'd like to address the smith machine squats.  I find it puts me in a very awkward position to do squats and it "helps" me too much.  Whenever I write programs for people it's always full squats outside of the smith because of the potential for injury.  If it's working well for you, stick with it but you might want to try squatting on your own just to see what's most comfortable for your knees/hip flexors/ankles.  Just my $.02

My lifting program is this:

Monday (all 2-3 sets 6-10 reps)
Lunges
Leg press
step ups
dips
incline flys
pull ups
cable row
bicep curl into shoulder press
tri pulldown

In between each of those I do an ab exercie--v ups, decline crunches, cable crunches.  Then I get in about 10 min cardio and then stretch.

Friday (3 sets 6-8 reps)
Squats
deadlifts
incline bench
Pull ups
Shoulder raises
Bi curls
tri pushdowns

Same ab/cardio/stretch plan.

Wednesday I have a plyo day:

Burpees followed by 20 jumprope jumps x 10
Walking lunges, 20 each leg
push ups, as many as i can do regular then as many as i can do on my knees
step jumps x20
supermans x 30 seconds each arm/leg raise
5 sprints up and down a bball court
Repeat one more time= about 35-40 min total

Tues and Thurs I'll do treadmill + jump rope HIIT (1 min run, 100 jumps x 12) or run to the beach and run sand sprints (10 sprints).  Saturday or sunday I'll do a steady long session of 45 min of low intensity cardio.  I also walk on average about 1 hr per day.

So I'm going home for Labor day weekend and then to Florida for my husband's graduation--I'm very nervous about the food :(.  I'm trying to empower myself to make my own decisions and not let anyone or anything influence me.  Anyone have anything they say to themselves to stick to a diet while away from home or little tricks?

Fifth Miracle and Etahbear, how are you two healing up? Sorry about your injuries!

I was feeling so sprite and light last week, but now feel bloated and thick. How in the heck does that happen?

Anyone know of a low calorie icecream w/out hydrogenated oil?

Oh yeah, I met another guy. A 6'4" stunner. He gave me his email address (sign of the times).

Sigh...I miss meeting boys. New boys always seem more interesting than my plain old husband who very very rarely seems interesting.

I'm feeling fine actually, the dislocation doesn't seem as bad as they sometimes do, I'm a old pro at dislocation but this knee is especially loose. The ankle I broke MONTHS ago is giving me much more of a problem.Thank you for asking!

I bought a yoga mat today because it was super cheap but it's only 6' long. The one I had picked out on my Amazon wish list was 7' long and I've been drooling over the freedom to actually lay down that would afford me.

Oh that reminds me, somebody said something about trying on jeans at Target. Do they make inseams long enough at Target? I need a 36" inseam and I have to order all my jeans online, actually trying jeans on first would be an absolutely insane luxury!!

I'm thinking of making my own super low calorie ice cream. It's not like I don't have 50,000 other things to do with my day. I'll let you know if I come up with anything amazing.

Okay, so today is the first day of my new 'shaking it up plan' (cue dramatic music).. kicked off the day with 2 slices of dark rye ryvita, 1 tbsp of hummus, 3 egg whites, 10 red grapes & a cup of tea, super protein brekkie!, I thought I'd be starving without my all bran/oatmeal, but so far so good! For dinner, I'm having grilled salmon, beans & mixed veg (cant wait!). I'm sticking with soup for lunch!! Acc to calorie count, I'm gonna be getting 70g of protein, wowzas thats  double my usual.  Then tonight, its back to the gym with me, cant stay lazy forever! I'm planning on 20 mins of running and 30 mins of weight lifting, I'm not going to be able to move tomorrow but I need to build some muscle! can anyone help me on this mission?

Southern Midwife congrats! Isn't it so strange how a number can make you feel so incredible?

Car, that breakfast sounds super-tasty, much better than the little kids' cereal I downed this morning. My gym time is usually early morning, so my breakfast suffers; I wish the breakfast place in my building served something other than bagels and pastries.

So, for the first time since probably high school, I clocked in at 152.6 lbs! I thought my scale was broken, so I actually pulled off my dress and stepped on again just to make sure it was measuring correctly. The scale is actually at my parents' house (so I don't obsess over weighing myself). My poor mother probably thought I was a crazy person--I was dancing around the scale in my leggings and a bra celebrating.

Last week I ate about 1800 calories/day consistently, and I wasn't at the gym daily like usual. So, I'm thinking about upping them even more on workout days, because last week was my biggest weight loss week. Speaking of the gym, I ran my longest run ever this morning--4 miles! Hopefully if I get my butt in gear I can find myself a 10K in November and not collapse half-way through.

So, question for you all: what do you usually eat after workouts? Today I had cereal and fruit, but I'm sure there's something better I can be doing with those calories.

What an exciting day! Be healthy and make good decisions, ladies, I know I'll try to.

Morning all!

I've changed up my plan this week--did a plyo workout this morning (not my own, it was P90x Plyo) and then walked for about 35 min into work and on an errand.  I'm exhausted :).

Skookum-wow, you sure are attracting the boys lately :)!  Nice work!

etahbear-man, broken ankle, dislocations?! hope you heal up soon!  I buy all my jeans online too--I like VS jeans, although they have little 'give' so I need to have skinny days everyday to wear them *sigh*. i've also tried on jeans at a store called Windsor and they have long inseams and really cute clothes!

carolally-good luck with shaking things up!

I'm feeling good today, think my measurements went down a bit so I'm happy :).  Just going to keep on track at home this weekend and eat well and make the right choices......easier to type than to do....

Edit: Congrats lovesrobots!!! that's amazing!  I typically go for the protein shake + carbs move after any workout....if I can't get to my protein I try to eat meat or eggs and have a carb.

Hello ladies!

I think I've been a little MIA on this board lately.  Firstly, congrats to Beth and everyone else who continues to see those numbers drop, you are an inspiration to me to become more motivated!

Carol- good luck with your shakeup, I think your body will welcome the changes!  Also with the extra protein it may help keep you away from the BFs goodies :)

Skookum- you little fox!  Sounds like all is well with you.

inittowinit- I'm sorry if this is a dumb question, but what is plyo?  Whatever it is, it sounds good!

Etahbear, I hope you are feeling better.  As for the jeans, I just recently bought a pair of Stella McCartneys, a skinny jean, and they run SUPER long.  I don't think you mentioned your size, and I'm not sure if the inseam is a progressive length, but mine are a size 28 and have a (according to my measurement) 35.5" inseam.  They are seriously a dream, I feel like I look 10 lbs lighter when I put them on!

Oh, and since I didn't post on Friday, here is my condensed update: holding steady around 152/153 (STILLLL) but like soo many people keep asking me if I've lost a lot of weight, and even more of my tailored work clothes are to the point that there falling off me.  So maybe I'm losing inches and not lbs?  I've never taken my measurements before, so I will try to do that & post later this week. 

Does anyone else want to start measuring with me?  I feel as though it could be a motivator, since the scale obviously is feeling quite comphy in the 150s.

Happy Monday,

Danielle

Ugh, sadly I am still wearing a 30. I like to tell myself it's because I'm probably the tallest tall girl on here (6'1.5") but in reality it's because I could stand to lose 10 more lbs and I need to have about 3 tons of excess skin cut off. Saving up for that means I probably shouldn't spend $600 on jeans. POO!! Once I get down to a size that I am going to wear for more than a few months at a time I'm going to invest in a couple pairs of amazing jeans. Since losing weight I've gone through *NINE* dress sizes and have only been able to wear them a couple months before I get new ones. I guess this is just one more thing I'll have to wait around to get.

Danielle: I am so on for measuring too, I have a couple of measurements one from start of july, one from end of july and need to take new ones for end of August although I've probably added inches, but maybe that'll motivate me to work out more! I looked at your swimsuit pics, you look in fantastic shape, weldone! All that running must be paying off!

I started this week upping my calories a little, and I'm up a little on the scales, I'm scared to keep them high, maybe high day, low day, high day, low day, until I can figure out what works for me.

Also, stella mccartney jeans.. how jealous am I? :)

Carol- good luck with figuring things out with the cals, I myself and not so good with that but you are looking GREAT!  As for the measurements, I will try to do mine on Friday w/ my weigh-in!  Did you notice significant differences each time you measured, what is normal to expect?  I need to cut back on sodium drastically before Friday so that I (hopefully) won't be bloated!  Also, thanks for the comments on the swimsuit pics, but they are old, from a year and 1/2 ago, I will post new ones soon. 

and the Stella jeans, they were a bit of a splurge, but Barneys (american department store) is having a promotion to save 30% off a new pair of jeans if you bring in an old pair of jeans to donate to charity which is pretty great, plus I had a store credit so I was able to justify it to myself, somehow! 

Original Post by skookum:

Fifth Miracle and Etahbear, how are you two healing up? Sorry about your injuries!

I was feeling so sprite and light last week, but now feel bloated and thick. How in the heck does that happen?

Anyone know of a low calorie icecream w/out hydrogenated oil?

Oh yeah, I met another guy. A 6'4" stunner. He gave me his email address (sign of the times).

 Skookum...Thanks alot...Nice ref to the great Purple One:) You are quite the minx on the prowl;) I miss dating...I look at my husband sometimes and Im like, "what the hell was I thinking <kidding!!>> No I dont!:)  LMAO!

As for me?? I am doing alright...Surprisingly, I have gotten back on the bike the18th. I was a bit hesitant at first...I was more or les in 3rd gear the entire 6 miles...But the second day, I went full throttle!! It was fantastic!! I forgot how much I enjoy mtn biking...its sucha release; and I havent looked back.  My road rash has healed up quite nicely...still wearing the pressure bandage...but other than that, I am NOT gonna let this put me 10 steps back from which I began.

Thanx:)

Ames

hey girls! been reading over the last couple pages of posts! You guys are doing awesome. I however, have been completely MIA on this site for at least 2 weeks...it SUCKS trying to get back in the groove, oh my gosh. Seriously, at this point, anything you can say would be super encouraging!! I am weighing in at 167-168 or so right now :( I had gotten down to 160...but for some reason I have the worst time sticking to a diet plan for longer than a month or two at the most!

Do you guys have any ideas what I can do to make my diet have more "staying power"?? I just really cant figure it out.

I know I just have to face the facts: Losing weight is NOT easy! Its totally killer and it takes EVERY ounce of strength and motivation and willpower you have...and then some more than you have to get from other people! :)  *sigh*

I've been thinking "keep it simple!"...and that if I just make sure to eat 1500 calories a day and get in some form of exercise, that I will lose probably 4-5 pounds a month...but even THIS is hard when you're out of the swing of things.

Well anyways, I'll quit my whining! I'll be coming back here more consistently now!

Meg