OK guys. I have been remiss in the past about starting the new thread on time. It is a day early, but here it is. Good luck losing! 
Well, I made my goal of losing 11 pounds for January. If I can lose 11 more this month, then I’ll finally be under 200 pounds for the first time in 2+ decades. Woohoo! And I realized the other day I’m no longer officially morbidly obese. I’m aiming for 130 and I really feel it’s obtainable.
While it took several months, my outlook on food finally changed. While I’m not on any particular diet, I no longer crave French fries or sweets or extra big portions. I’m changing things little by little. Right now, I’m aiming to cut breads out as much as possible.
Early last summer, I was 35 pounds heavier and using a walking stick at times since it helped my balance and I knew if I fell, I’d never get up by myself. I walk differently from other people anyway because of a birth defect, so that gave me an excuse for me to use my walking stick. One day in June, I was at the local farmer’s market when I overheard a man tell his little daughter, “She’s all crippled up.” The father wasn’t making fun of me, just trying to explain to her why I was the way I was.
In the last couple of years I’d occasionally noticed young children stare at me. Sometimes they would say things they shouldn’t on impulse. I got to resenting them but knew they were too young yet to understand what they were doing. Somehow, that man’s comment stuck with me though. I thought, “I’m not that crippled!”
That was about the last time I used my walking stick (with the exception of when it snowed a few weeks ago.) Now I can walk three miles without stopping and without the aches and pains and breathlessness I used to get from walking three or fewer blocks. Plus, my sense of balance has vastly improved. Several years ago, I tested positive for hypothyroidism, the most noticeable for me being attacks of vertigo. I was tested a few weeks ago and either no longer have it or the first test was wrong. Either way, I haven’t had anything even remotely resembling vertigo since I became a walking fool.
And I’ve bought new jeans recently. When I was looking in my new size, I thought, “Those are too skinny!” But guess what? They fit! Woohoo!
So, can you count me in for February? You betcha!
I’m only post here sporadically, but I do tend to follow the threads!
I’m hoping to get to my official Weight Watchers goal this month. Today, I am 140 lbs, but my official weekly weigh in day is tomorrow, so what I weigh tomorrow is what counts to WW online. My goal is 135 - my personal goal is more like 130-ish.
5 lbs in a month doesn’t sound like a lot, but it’s slow, slow going when you get close to goal. I’ll be thrilled if I’m 139.5 tomorrow!
Obviously, I’m still here. I was going to go to the gym again today, but my right kidney is talking to me today. So I guess it will have to wait until tomorrow. That’s okay, that will make three times in a week, which is my goal.
I’m currently about 22lbs. above my driver’s license weight (which, of course, was a total fiction at the time!), and my temporary goal is to get to my driver’s license weight by June 1st.
I’m down 4 pounds from start, 2 weeks ago, and down 10 pounds (again) from my original high 2 years ago (I had lost 20, down to about 195, but gained most of it back when I got lazy). I’ve been going to the gym just about every day. Cardio only for now, until I can make up some more blank workout logs for strength training. (The gym is using different ones now, and I don’t like them; fortunately I saved all my old ones, so I can do some funky pasteup/scan & clean up/whatever to keep using them.)
Food plan is going fairly well too . . . I’m using the rice cooker more to keep whole grains like brown rice & quinoa in the fridge, ready to go. Started slicing up my chicken breasts before putting them into freezer bags: easier to weigh/portion and they cook quicker too! Still need to figure out how to keep ready-to-nuke veggies in the fridge. Sometimes it’s just too cold for a salad, although I do have one at least every other day. I had some nice canned veggie soup last week that was pretty low in fat & sodium & tasty too; gotta find some more.
I’ll renew the gym membership for three months at a time, I think, and keep my eye out for an elliptical for home. I have a treadmill and a Bowflex; with an elliptical and some free weights I can duplicate my gym workout without the hassle of putting on my coat, warming up the car, driving there, suiting up, rigging up the armband MP3 player, etc. At home I can just strip to undies, put on my shoes, hit the switch on the boombox, and go.
If I can maintain this rate of weight loss, I could be down to about 175 by my 40th birthday! Watch this space . . .
210 / 206 / 150
Responding to comments from the January thread:
norinew I never stretch but maybe I should start. Actually yesterday I did a few really light stretches before walking. Didn’t seem to make all that much difference but maybe I need to get a bit more structured with it.
yellowval You’re probably right. My shoes are…heck, I can’t remember how old. Probably close to a year. This weekend I’ll do some shoe shopping, it’s definitely time.
Here I am in February. I’m down 5 lbs since January 1. If I can lose 5 every month I’ll be well satisfied. That seems like a reasonable pace.
I’m working on eating less in terms of quantity but eating more often per robardin’s suggestions. Better but not there yet. I need to be better prepared.
Tikki congrats on reaching your goal. My short term goal is 10 by March 3 (my band has a fairly high profile gig that day) Looks like right now I’m on track to make that.
Heh. I thought I was the only one. My main reason for not wanting to join the wellness center they’re building in my community is, “They’ll make me wear pants.” 
They list your weight on your driver’s license in MD? Wow… On my NY license I have hair color, eye color and height, and that’s it. Oh, and a picture, of course.
Funny, I lived in MD for two years and converted my license while I was there, I don’t remember filling out a weight. Though I may have lied outrageously and then forgotten about it (I’m pretty good at that).
They list it here in MO, too. I’m from NH, and it wasn’t listed on my old license.
My license says I am 150, which was true at the time. My recent* high weight was 172, so I was more than willing to put my real weight on there!
*I was heavier as a kid/teenager than I have been as an adult.
Pretty good at lying outrageously or forgetting about it? 
They list weight on driver’s licenses here too. And fishing licenses, for what it’s worth. Mine says I’m five pounds lighter than I currently am. At the time I got it renewed I was 10 pounds heavier than I am now, however.
Well, I’m back, yet again. I have rejoined WW, and am going to the gym 4x/week with a friend (weights and treadmill x 2, swimming x 2). I’m actually finding sticking to plan much easier this year so far (knock on wood!) My first week was very encouraging, so we’ll see how it goes.
182/179.4/?
Yeah, I gained a pound overnight. My official February 1 weight is 179. I’m ready to cut off a leg or something to get to my goal.
You would think that a few little pounds would just come OFF already.
My drivers’ license weight is 210, which is what I thought I weighed at the time.
Good job, good start!
I like the egg substitute crap. The stuff I use is egg whites with a little bit of egg yolk and no additives that I can not recognize. I use it in baking a lot, and quite like it in omelettes.
Thanks Ginger. I really like the egg sub crap myself. But with the whole hysteria over trans fats I find myself double guessing everything. I checked the additives list a zillion times and didn’t find anything strange-it’s 99% egg whites anyway.
Since this thread seems to be part therapy…can I just say how fucking humiliating it is to get on that scale and REALLY see what your weight has gone up to? I’m greatful to Usher Lite for coaxing me into it, though. I’m trying not to be scale obsessed and we’re still heading towards a certain body fat percentage that will match up to a roughish goal weight. I know 10 lbs doesn’t seem huge and I feel like shit making a big deal over it, but I’m very short and it feels and looks like a bigger deal on me.
Right now I’m 9 lbs away from fitting back into my expensive suits and ideally, I’d like to lose 5 to 10 more as a “buffer”.
I just want to kill genetics for giving me my mom’s genes instead of my father’s. He loses weight swivelling his neck.
I think I have to accept that, given my current work schedule, I’m not going to lose much more weight simply by trying to diet–which is fine, since I’m very close (5 lbs.) from my target range.
I did two workouts earlier this week and actually enjoyed it, so now I just have to get on the ball and make it my daily early-morning routine.
Have you tried roasting? I love to roast: tomatoes, red pepper chunks, sweet potato cubes, sliced onion, garlic, green beans, chickpeas, carrots with a little olive oil. I like to eat it over quinoa or whole wheat couscous, or make a wrap with a whole wheat tortilla. I think it heats up nicely - I usually make a huge pan and then eat portions for several days.
I don’t know if this is really the right thread to post in, but it’s the only fitness-y thread I could see offhand, so here goes…
My goal is somewehre between weight-loss (trying to shed the last of the fat) and weight-gain (trying to strength-train and get “cut”). Currently 6’ 190 lb, and would really like to get into the sub-180 range eventually…
-Jack
Hi Jack! Welcome! I’m a (former) Northerner too.
Not this way, but “on the spot,” to be eaten right away. Thanks for the suggestion, though – I’ll definitely have to try it! A few weeks ago I was feeling lazy and rather than boil and mash some red taters, I quartered them and tossed them with olive oil and rosemary, then roasted them. Mr. S thought they were delish.
Roasted green beans – intriguing! I love fresh green beans, but they’re a bit tedious to clean and stir-fry as I have been doing. Love the idea of roasting them ahead of time!
(One of my weight-loss mantras is WWGD? :D)
Happy to have you on board. We each have our goals, whether it’s to lose 10 pounds or 100, and all are welcome. My personal goal is to become more fit as well, not just to lose weight (though that’s nice too). I find it’s helpful just to have other people to talk to about what I’m doing and my progress. It also helps to keep me in line.