Elysium, I was having MAJOR gym motivation problems last week. I’ve found a nice solution for now - I got an audiobook out of the library, and I listen to it at the gym. If I don’t cheat, I should ONLY listen to it at the gym. I’m enjoying the book, it makes the time pass so much faster, and I actually sort of want to go to the gym so I can hear more!
You know that is a REALLY good idea! I have to dig up some kind of cassette or cd walkman from my closet. Unless I buy an audiobook from iTunes. I’ll have to look into it.
Now which book? Maybe I’ll go with Harry Potter, I hear the narrator on the audiobook is really good.
I actually got the CDs out from the library, ripped it onto my computer and then loaded it onto my mp3 player - I don’t think I have a walkman anymore either!
Harry Potter sounds like a good one. I’m listening to a book by Augusten Burroughs - I like it because it’s not really something I need to FOLLOW deeply, which would be hard while doing cardio. I think I’ll work up to stuff with a plot and/or that I haven’t already read.
I’m at 105 down currently, and I know I’m not the reigning champ. ;0)
We did a weight loss challenge at work and at the end of the six week run participants had lost a total of 98.4 pounds–we should figure the total number of pounds lost so far for the participants of the thread, I bet it’s quite a number.
Yeah, HP’s all re-read for me so I figure it’ll be a nice light attention listen. And duh, of course I could rip the CD. Only for some reason I forgot that kind of thing was possible.
Mondays are tough.
I think this is exactly the right and healthy attitude.
All the same, I would encourage you to not think in terms of black and white, that you are either “starving”, “a gym rat” or “chubby”. If you choose to have a small calorie deficit, you will simply lose weight slower. That’s all.
After losing 50 lbs. in 7 or 8 months last year, I’m very close to where I want to be for the long term. I made the decision over the holidays to eat more “funly” (why stop at verbing nouns when you can also adverb adjectives?) and work out somewhat less often (I do my running/biking 3 or 4 times a week now instead of five, and weight training twice a week instead of 4 times), but to continue keeping track of where I am, what I do and how I eat.
The net result is that I have “only” lost 4 lbs. over the past 6 weeks, and most of that from the first two and a half weeks of the year when I was still working out more intensely. This is consistent with the effort I’m putting in, so I’m fine with that. If I stayed exactly where I am now I wouldn’t be upset, but I’m so close to my original target weight and body composition that I feel I owe it to myself to slowly work towards that goal.
Okay. So if we’re counting weight lost, what number do I count? My 80 pounds down from my highest weight, or the initial 70 pound loss plus the after-pregnancy 50? When people ask, I say 80 pounds lost, not 120.
Weight Watchers’ points system has been rather helpful, either way.
Last week was ahem party week, plus Mr. S had minor surgery on Tuesday (and came through with flying colors), so most of the week was spent waiting on him, doing his chores and mine, and feeling not so great myself, plus not eating according to plan (not a pig, but not fabulous either), and I never made it to the gym. Plus we had a really rich dinner on Saturday.
Went back to the gym today. Down another pound or so. Mother Nature is a maaad scientist!
210 / 204.5 / 150
A non-scale victory, as I believe sombody called this type of event.
We went to Vegas for Christmas, and I needed a couple of pairs of new pants. I ended up at the fat-boy store, buying 46 inch waist pants for the first time in my life. It was a large part of what inspired me to look at my lifestyle. So, here we are at the middle of February, and this morning I decided to try on some of my old 42s as I hade already been able to get back in some 44’s. Wonder of wonders, the 42s fit. I did a happy dance.
It seems we’re a lot alike. I, too, have the whole underactive thyroid issue. I’m on medication too but still find that I lose slower than most folks. It’s taken me since October just to lose 10 pounds with exercise 4-5 times a week and counting calories (decreasing by the recommended 500 a day). I’m also with you on the chubby & happy part. I refuse to starve and eat twigs, and I don’t want most of my free time to be spent working out. But you can do it without being a gym rat or being miserable. It’s just going to take time, is all. Trust me, when you finally get rid of that first five, then 10 pounds, it’ll start to feel worth it. To me, there’s no greater motivation than a flatter stomach. Hang in there!
That’s gotta be a great feeling. What really motivated me to get serious about losing weight was when my size 48 pants that I bought by accident years ago and only wore when I wanted something baggy, became my default pants. Now I am back solidly into my 46s. By summer I want to be able to wear 42 (my size in high school).
I only post sporadically and don’t usually bother when there’s minimal to non-existent loss, but on last Saturday’s weigh-in I finally got into the 120s! I’m 9.5 lbs from my goal of 120 (I’m 5’3", so that isn’t too thin). I haven’t seen this weight in over 10 years.
That’s great. You can see the promised land. Keep up the hard work, you are showing us how it pays off.
My goal is a few states and a big hill away, but I know it’s there.
LOL. Same here brownie55. I do like the changes that have been happening with my body and plan to keep on plugging away…
You know I like to remember a quote from John Bradshaw when I find myself wanting things to happen faster. This is paraphrased:
Let’s say you and I both leave New York today to travel to Los Angeles. If you get to Los Angeles in three days but it takes me three monthes I have not failed Los Angeles.
A friend of mine and I like to tell eachother, when we’re feeling like we’re not as far along as we’d like to be, “Los Angeles is still there”. The moral of that story is: The only way to fail is to quit trying.
And so, last week was not a stellar week for me because I was sick and I didn’t exercise etc. etc. but here I am on a Tuesday at 1:23 still working at it. I have not failed Los Angeles (and I refuse to keep dropping the whole basket of eggs when one rolls out).
Last year when I joined the SDMB weightloss club I was 185.5. This year when I re-joined I was 179.5. I lost 6 lbs in 2006! Not exactly sprinting toward my goal but I’m still moving in the right direction. 
Let’s hear it for those who can see the “promised land” it’s out there, some of us just need a bigger telescope.
It’s certainly out there. I’m taking my sweet time getting there, but Im going to make my goal. If it takes me another year, so be it.
175.5 this morning.
Well, I went to Vegas last weekend and gained quite a bit more than I wanted. It’s coming down, but I was resolved to do my Comcast workouts every morning from now on since even when I return to my pre-Vegas weight, it’s more than I want to be. Two days in a row and I’m still at it; let’s see if I can make it a whole week.
I kept my promise to myself and went to the gym as scheduled. It’s really good to say “I’m going to do X” and actually do it. Sure I wanted to take that left hand turn and go home instead, but I held out and once past I said “too late to turn back, we’re going to the gym.”
So here’s to small victories!
I’m not losing weight as fast as I would like to: only two pounds so far this month. So I’m stepping up my walking. I haven’t figured out how far I walked today yet but my feet were telling me it was probably more than 2 and half. One of these days, I’ll get a pedometer.
I’m thinking about summer and how much I hate sweating, which I do copeously the moment the temperature gets above 70. I’m going to look into a membership at the YMCA, which is about a two mile walk from here (or a quick bus ride.) It would be so nice to hop into a shower after a workout and before exposing (well, not exposing!) myself to folks who might not appreciate my hyperactive sweat glands.
Anyway, as velvetjones pointed out, Los Angeles is still there. I know it’s still there. It’s just taking a little longer to get there than I’d hoped. Thanks for the story, velvet. I hope you’re feeling better this week.
Well, between my current kidney infection (running any kind of fever makes working out a bad idea), and the crappy, crappy weather here, I haven’t been to the gym yet this week. I’m hoping the antibiotics will be kicking in high gear by tomorrow night, and I can make the gym Thursday, Friday and Saturday.