Motivation

Hi, my name is Suzanne and I am 23 years old. I weigh 258.3 pounds(yikes) and would really like to get down to between 140 and 150. I was wondering if there was anyone else out there in their 20's who has about that much they want to lose. We could work together and stay motivated to reach our goals!!! Also, if there is anyone in their 20's who has lost that much and wants to share their success story, I would love to hear it! Thanks!

is losing weight supposed to be such a rollercoaster of emotions or is this just me?  this probably has to do with the job stuff too.  and the boy stuff.  decided to just cut off the boy for a while.... he can go flirt it up with other girls and if it's meant to be, he'll be there at the end of the year when i'm ready.  there's no point in my being hurt that we don't talk as much or my waiting around hoping he'll contact more.

feeling overwhelmed. 

OH GOD I AM DYING!!!!! i jogged up 45 by the ritz. oh how i love to see the boobie dancers. j/k  i would love to go to memorial but its about 30mins away from my casa. thats just way too much gas. anywho i did a little over 30 mins which is about 2 miles for me. dudes i am so out of shape. not only have i never weighed this much in my life, but i think i walked for over half of it. hehe oh well. its better than sitting on my ass.

i woke up like a crabby patty and my pops called to inform mi madre that  he never  said he was going to pay my bills if i quit my job and went to school full time. that i lied and made it all up. that he was not going to help me at all cuz he dont have the money. than proceeded to say that if i was going to pay my bills he was going to pay off my car and keep it. hahaha that made no sense. if dont have money to help, how does he have money to pay it off. oh my father.  i havee always been able to count on him... to be an ass and a liar.

but anywho even tho that would put most in an even crappier mood it actual made me feel better. (i am sure i have mentioned how odd iam) so i decided to actual get out of bed and not be  crappy. i got on here and see you guys teeling me to go run so i did. and now i am dying.

i am serious tho.  my dad being the selfish liar that he is made me feel really good. odd isnt it. eh. now its time to shower and head off to school.

 oh yea and normally if my post disappears i hit the arrow back and eventual it will pop back up

good job on the run, fallon! yeah, you're in pain, but you know it was so worth it!

watchme, i think it is supposed to be an emotional rollercoaster (i like that song...). it is for me. well, it used to be really bad, but things are mellowing out now. i think i'm getting into the exercise groove, even though i've been eating more cals than i'd like since my plateau break last week. i'd decided in my head not to zigzag, but i'm eating more cals than that. anyway, off topic. this is gonna be long and hard, and every single part of our bodies will fight us like dogs to make us stay the same. the body hates change, and will use its evil wiles to make you stay the same. as long as you know that, you can be ready for its dastardly tricks.

speaking o' exercise, i was getting so bored w/ my gym. the only cardio equipment they have are treadmills, ellipticals, 2 rowers, some bikes, and a stepper. no go on the stepper b/c i don't wanna have a heart attack, and the rowers and bikes are essentially a waste of time (i'm looking to streamline my 600 cal burn).

so i've been doing the treadmill and elliptical, in addition to the strength training. but doing the same thing is beginning to bore me to tears! so, luckily, a couple friends asked me to go hiking with them next tuesday a/f work. i jumped on that! and i decided i'm gonna buy a tennis racquet and some balls so i can use the courts this weekend. and i was able to sign up for a cardio class tonite. and my swimming lessons start at the end of april. thank god!!! anything to break the tedium!!! i'm so relieved!

A friend of mine had a theory about weight loss.  She believed that emotions are stored in fat.  Your body carries around all that crap you've been through.  Then when you lose weight and your body burns that fat you've been hauling around.  When you burn that fat it brings up all those horrible things again, it's a part of becoming healthy, it's a cleansing, releasing of all that crap you've been keeping in your body.  But this also means you have to deal with all these emotions as they come up.  Hope that helps watchmeshine.

pinkcobra, you'll totally bust through that plateau! Switching stuff up exersize-wise is probably just what your body needs! Yay for the Y! :-)

Feddie, that dress is AMAZING! I love it! The first thing I thought when I saw it, is "I want one!" lol! You'll totally rock that prom! :-)

Watchme, I totally get you: I hate that every time I start feeling all cute and small, I think about how big I still am, and how far I still have to go. Blah. And it's totally a rollercoaster; somedays I just don't think I'll ever make it, and others I'm totally pumped. As far as the boy goes... well I understand that too. Boys are stressful, and it seems impossible to know what they're thinking. And waiting for phone calls is never fun. THE GUY hasn't really been around in the last week or two, and hasn't even really called. I just get the occasional "What r u doin?" text, which is odd 'cuz we talked all the time before. *sigh* He's had me in this massive worry spiral the last week or so, and it sucks. I alternate between "what did I do wrong?" to "You're being silly, he's just busy," to "F him! No one's that busy!" to "I don't need him anyway!" and back around again. *double sigh* Right now I'm at the "fantasizing about seeing him when I'm at my goal weight and making him feel stupid that he ever passed this up" stage. Which is silly 'cuz I don't even know that he passed this up... He could just be busy... :-/

Fallon, way to go running! Two miles is awesome, whether you walked some of it or not! In no time you'll be running the whole thing and then some!

sroscoe, that theory is awesome! I want to post that on my wall! Lol! Your friend wouldn't happen to have a theory about the minds of men, would she?

thanks for the encouragement you guys. 

roscoe, i definitely love that quote.  i'm going to use that on my profile to keep me motivated every time i start to falter.  hope you don't mind :) 

dalma and allydan, i am going to write a post about this in my journal because i think i am getting a bit TOO personal publicly :).  thanks for all of the encouragement and understanding.  you guys are all like my crutches when i need someone to lean on. 

eh, today wasn't the best of days....had the candy bar from the school bookstore (it WAS dark chocolate though :])  over my calories by a bit...didn't get to exercise this morning due to oversleeping and won't get to tonight because I have to study all night for a huge test tomorrow........meh.......

Hey lovely ladies! Your all doing so great, ! I see people exercising and eating good! Great job, keep up the good work!

 

so, i only slept 4.5 hours last night and then took a 1 hour nap on my office floor with the door closed (as opposed to the normal 8 hours i get) and i only ate 1500 calories, of which, 650 were for dinner at 7:30.  too much was going on at work for me to get much sleep or eat basically. 

i'm wondering if doing dance has just made me "bad" at the elliptical now or gotten me out of shape or if i'm in better shape but just am not burning as much cuz of my weight change.  see, i did weights and the elliptical tonight instead of dance class.  weights for about 20 mins, elliptical for 40 mins.  the thing is, i had worked my way up to doing the elliptical for about 1.5 hours but lately, i haven't been able to do much more than 40 minutes. 

although i'm burning the same number of calories as i was before in those 40 minutes, i'm sweating a HELL of a lot more and FLYING (like 55-60 rpms) where as before (say at 290 lbs), i would be at like 40-45 rpms max and burning the same amount of calories.  now i know that going faster at a lower weight is probably the reason i'm burning the same BUT my concern is this:  before, at the slower pace, i was burning more calories in total (according to the machine, anyway) since i was able to stay on the elliptical for longer.  i wasn't sweating though and my heart rate was not as elevated as it is now.  anyone know about this stuff?

this was a really good workout, regardless. 

watchme--My advice comes from what my trainer told me--and they said (I have several) that higher intensity at a shorter time is better for fat-loss---so not sure what you want to do with that information but that's what they say---

watchme:  I know that the best fat burning heart rate is 60-75%  The better shape you're in, the higher you can safely go.  You can find your target % by subtracting your age from 220.  That number is your maximal heart rate.  You can then find percentages from that number.  Again, the 60-75% is just the target for maximum fat burning.  The more in shape you get, the harder you have to work to reach these percentages.  I'm sure if you were going slower as you used to do, you would be able to do 1.5 hours.  But the shorter more intense workout is awesome!  And you'll definitely sweat more if you're working harder, so remember to increase the water intake!

pc, so at 26 years of age, my maximal heart rate is 194.  so i need to be between 116-145.5?  (just wanna make sure i calculate this right.) 

Good morning!

I've got some happy news: today I reached my first 5 lbs!  As of this morning, I have lost 5.2 lbs.

Good Morning ladies! It's so close to the end of the week! Then only one more week until Spring Break. My Spring break is so late compared to other schools. (I teach 8th grade math).

So my goal was to do an hour of cardio yesterday. That didn't happen. My legs are SOOO sore from my personal training session that I literally could not do it. I tried to do Couch to 5k - Week 2, Day 3 and had to skip the last jogging interval. Then I did manage to complete 20 minutes on the elliptical on interval setting. That was all my legs could handle. Walking hurts! Oh well- off to the gym tonight for some more pain. Pain is gain, right? (Not gain in the weight, you know what I mean...)

As for being a rollercoaster of emotions, I like sroscoe's theory.

watchme - I actually heard 65% to 85% - which would make your higher end of that be 165 (which sounds like my heart rate when I'm doing the higher intensity stuff on the elliptical.) You will burn fat at 65% - 75%, but a cardio range includes up to 85%. It tend to be hard for me to track mine, as I don't have a heart rate monitor (although I want one!). So occasionally, when I'm on the machine I just have it take my pulse.

Have a great day everyone! Keep up the hard work! We choose to be successful at this!

Everyone is doing great!
Watchme, yeah you can burn the same amount of cals in less time because your intensity is higher. Great job!

I'm going out for Indian with a friend (ugh). I just ate a small snack so I won't be as hungry when I get there (haven't eaten lunch since 1p and we're getting dinner at like 1030p) and won't be tempted to over eat. I'm getting the healthiest thing I like so I should be okay. :)

Good morning everyone,

Thank you all SO MUCH for your kind words and encouragement...I am very happy that I have been accepted to several medical schools (but now I have to choose one!). I'm hoping to study pediatrics, but given my personal struggle against weight gain compounded by PCOS, I just might consider endocrinology...

Big congratulations to everyone who has been meeting so much success, whether it's dropping under 200 or losing the first 5...I am so proud of you--you are my motivation!

So I got back to campus on Monday afternoon, and proceeded to trip in my high heels and tumble down an entire flight of stairs, landing on my elbow/head. Fortunately no one witnessed it...and fortunately I seem to have avoided serious injury, although I have had shoulder pain, whiplash, and a huge (and disgusting) bruise and abrasion on my elbow for the past few days (don't worry, it's getting better :) ). I was reminded of the saying, "the bigger they are, the harder they fall"--honestly, I was probably quite lucky that I did not do more harm. In any case, I decided to refrain from exercising until at least Sunday in order to heal (I do get about an hour of walking in daily, simply going to class).

I'm not sure if it's due to the lack of exercise, not enough water, being 5 days before my period, or what--but I cannot seem to lose any significant weight! I have been adhering very honestly to the calorie counting, and have a daily deficit of about 1000 calories (sometimes more). I know that such a deficit is supposed to be "bad," but with over 100 to lose, larger bodies can generally afford it (at least initially; I plan on slowing down once I get some results). Anyone want to share advice/encouragement? I suppose the best thing to do would be to hold off and only weigh-in weekly....

I WANT RESULTS NOW! :) (Sorry for the tantrum!)

congrats fantasyflight! keep it up!

hilwe85 - just thought I'd put my two cents in... undoubtedly, all of our bodies lose weight differently. But... I've found that with me, the higher deficit I have, the LESS weight I lose! One week, I had a daily deficit of around 1000 cals/day and only lost .2 of a pound! WTF?! haha... but then I noticed that when I didn't restrict myself so much and ate more (around 2200-2400 cals per day as opposed to 1700 cals/day - I know, HUGE difference) I actually lost like 4lbs! Even though my burn meter only put me at around 2600 cals/ day. I don't get it at all... but that's just the way it seems to go haha. Can't say I'm upset about it! Eat more, lose less.. why not?! I would try it... even for just a week. I mean, as long as you don't go over maintenance, you won't gain any weight.. so might as well try having less of a deficit.. and maybe it will kick start something in your body? Maybe try a 500 cal deficit instead of 1000 cals.
Last week I had a 2400cal week... so this week I'm going to try going back down to about 1800 cals/day and see what happens.
Hope that bruise gets better.... ouchie!

hilwe, since you're a PCOSer like myself, there are a couple of things:

first, any time you have a carb like bread, pair it with a fat.  peanut butter or butter.  you're probably thinking "WHAT?" but actually, the way our bodies handle carbs, having the carb alone (despite the fewer calories) screws up our chemical processing of the food, meaning there's a spike in insulin.  the fat slows it down.

second, eat as few "regular" carbs as possible.  i've pretty much eliminated pasta from my diet.  when i want cereal, i have the high fiber raisin bran (8g fiber in 1 cup of cereal), since i *heart* raisin bran.  i only eat whole grain bread that is "lite." i try to only eat brown rice and even that is one-two times a week, max.  (i *heart thai food so i go to places that serve brown rice, whenever possible, and go for thai about once a week.)

third, if you're eating out, figure out if you are really counting calories right.  as much i dislike chains, i've been going to a lot more chains that publish their nutrition information or else going to places like middle eastern, where i have a better sense of how the food is prepared.  i have been amazed since starting this process as to how many foods -- even salads -- are loaded with tons and tons of fat through crutons and dressings.  in fact, often, having a cheeseburger with say a baked potato (butter on the bp cuz of the starch issue!) is the equivalent of a salad when with the salad i felt like i was "depriving" myself of some other meal.  so yeah, think carefully about your eating out habits.  for a while i wasn't losing and then realized that althoough my daily deficits were 500-1000 calories a day, i would have 2-3 days of eating out at restaurants where my meals were actually 1000+ thus counteracting my deficit days.

fourth, your body (especially with pcos) is not going to lose weight the normal route.  it's a sad reality.  after being on metformin for a year, i've been losing.  still, i create a 1000 calorie deficit on AVERAGE (i'll get to this in a sec) a day PLUS work out 5-6 days a week and lose about 2 lbs/week max, when i should be losing somewhere between 3-4/week according to the numbers.  i have been told that when you create the regular routines -- like elliptical for an hour, every single day for months -- your body gets used to that and becomes more efficient.  after my post last night, i did some research on the issue of exercising for a shorter duration of time but with bursts and learned that if i want to exercise at a steady rate for like 1.5 hours, my body will actually want to hold onto my fat and fight to hold onto it, because exercising that much is almost like a threat to it.  also, in terms of calories, like you, i was creating the 1000 calorie deficit each and every day.  now, i've changed it up.  one day i do a 700 calorie deficit, the next day a 1300 calorie deficit.  this apparently keeps my body guessing so it doesn't try to hold onto the fat.

finally, i would highly recommend eating a lot of protein -- grilled chicken, fish, and turkey.  do have some "good" fats (healthy oils, nuts, guacamole, natural peanut butter).  as for carbs, you can get these from fruits (low glycemic index ones, like berries), dairy and high fiber items (oatmeal, whole grain bread, fiber one bars, etc.)  the more fish and protein i have and the less carbs i have, the more the weight flies off.  that being said, since i have tried to make this a complete lifestyle change (and have been somewhat successful at maintaining this way of life for almost 2 years now), i have tried to have more protein than normal but still tried to maintain enough carbs that i will never feel deprived.  for instance, i have the 100 calorie snack pack fudge shoppe cookies, even though they have 16g of carbs and 9g of sugar in them.  i also melt a few chocolate chips on 94% fat-free, high fiber popcorn.  i probably shouldn't have these carb snacks (should have more protein like string cheese) but i know that if i didn't allow myself something like this, i'd be craving big fat pieces of german chocolate cake at 1000 calories.  :)

i hope this helps.  for so many years, i felt like "well i have pcos therefore i have no control and am stuck the way i am."  luckily, i read a bunch of books and have learned that this is totally doable.

wow.. that's all great info watchme!

Seriously... I've known that I had PCOS for 10 years.. and I had NO flipping idea that it had anything at all to do with insulin and/or losing weight!  When my doctor put me on Metformin a couple of years ago I was like "am I diabetic?! What is this for?!"... All he said was "no, just take it"... So honestly, I haven't been taking it!  I just started taking it (the way I'm supposed to) for about 2 months now and I'm finally starting to lose weight, so I"m sure that has something to do with it.

Hurray for people like you on CC who can explain stuff to me that my doctor won't even bother explaining!  *shakes fists in the air*

You.. and everyone else in here have been sooooo freaking helpful. I really don't know if I could do this without you guys. As lame as this might sound.. I really need you guys and the awesome support here. I totally appreciate all of the support, motivation, and kicks in the butt. We rock! :)

PS Post 1000  woot woot!