Last fall at my highest weight ever, my BMI was 47.8. Now, at my lowest weight in nearly three decades, it’s 34.2. Though I think that’s pretty impressive, I like saying I’ve lost 70 pounds better. 
OK, looking online forther, I see that body fat percentage is different from body mass, though they both showed up on the same page when I searched. According to one site, my current body fat is 47%. Don’t know what it was last fall because I don’t know what my measurements were back then but it had to have been a lot worse.
Thanks to all those who offered me advice! I will see about getting a DVD to work out to, and in the meantime I’m gonna start replacing the junk I normally eat with fruit and veggies. No more Ben & Jerry’s. 
That kind of all-or-nothing thinking could back fire. How about “more fruits and veggies and less Ben & Jerry’s”? You could even try making a nice ice cream sundae with plenty of fresh berries (if you macerate them with a little Splenda first, they’ll get nice and soft and juicy), topped with a half cup of ice cream, and a swirl of whipped cream? Then, you have your serving of fruit, and it’s a heck of a lot more satisfying than just a half cup of ice cream would be, and you’re not feeling deprived? Plus, it’s berry season! Yay!
Yeah, I definitely don’t recommend giving up what you love altogether. Sure, Ben & Jerry’s is a bad idea if you eat it too often, but as norinew pointed out, there are other tasty options. There are many good sugar-free ice cream treats. Check out the Sweet Freedom line. I eat a lot of popsicles, probably one per day, and they range from 15-60 calories so I don’t feel guilty about it. Another idea is to make/buy some dip for your fruit. Yum! Or make a fruit smoothie. I think you’ll also find that once you’re working out you can give yourself a little more leeway on the food. I’m not overly careful about what I eat but because I exercise regularly, I’m still losing.
Somehow I’ve made a U turn and headed the wrong way on my journey. The last two days I’ve weighed in at 173.5!
I’m not particularly happy about that.
So you need to not fuss too much, Velvet. Just take a look at what you’ve been eating over the past week or so; if you’ve been drinking enough water, or eating too much salt, that sort of thing.
As expected, yesterday was high, but this morning I’m below 170 again so that’s good. Also, the fat % reading on my scale is very wrong. I had it professionally done as part of the study and it’s very different from my scale.
peeks in thread
So…um…hi.
I finally, after more months of dillying and a few of dallying, signed up for Weight Watchers online program about an hour ago. I told my husband he and the family will be eating WW recipes with me, 'though of course they’re not limited in amount, and I will be. He looked at a few of them and said that sounded great to him. He’s really more a fresh veg whole grain kind of guy anyway, whereas I never met a meat I can’t fry with onions and garlic and smother in cream of something soup and serve on noodles! (Guess which of us has the weight issue!)
So, that was my last excuse out the window - “I don’t want to eat “diet food” while cooking “real food” - WAH!”. We’ll all eat the same food.
I was shocked to find that my frantic the-landlord-is-coming-over housecleaning (about an hour and a half of solid, too busy breathing to talk, sweaty activity) earned me a whopping 19 extra points for the day! (My daily allotment is 31.) Generally speaking, it seems my activity level is higher than I thought - I would have ranked myself about half a step above total bedrest, but poking around their Activity tables, it seems I’m already at a Stage 3 Activity level. That actually makes me feel a bit better about myself already, although I wonder if Stage 1 actually includes people in a coma.
So, here I am. 5’6", 258 pounds. Ouch. I was 210 pounds two years ago when I delivered my daughter, and I felt way too heavy for my taste then. I gained only 12 pounds with that pregnancy (although it only lasted 23 weeks!), so I really literally have gained much, much more weight with a toddler than I did while pregnant.
Well, in Traditional Chinese Medicine, we say that you need 1 month of treatment to reverse 1 year of ill-health. I’ve been obese for 15 years now, so that gives me 15 months to get myself healthy again, and that agrees with healthy weight loss goals. Here’s hoping that “2 pounds a week average weight loss” bear out - I’d be over the moon to be at 138 pounds by September of '08.
I can’t tell from this if you’re aware, but you can only accumulate 4 points from activity per day. Anything more than that is not counted toward extra food points.
Hey WhyNot, welcome. I’m glad you’ve decided. I’ve been crossing my fingers, you know. 
WHAT
No, I wasn’t. They don’t mention that at all.
Is it possible that the 4 point limit is from an older system?
ETA: Thank you, Ginger!
Welcome to the club WhyNot. Good luck losing!
OK, I’m gonna crow a little, because I’m so pleased with myself. I am up to an hour a day on the elliptical and doing weights 3 days a week. This morning I just could not get up at 4 AM for my morning half hour work out. So I did the full hour tonight!
I am back down to 228, after last week’s indiscretion. Sunday is the official weigh-in, but I don’t think I’ll jinx it by mentioning it today.
My boss, who has been away for a few weeks, mentioned to me today that I am losing weight. I’m not, but perhaps I *am *losing fat…
I figured out the disconnect on Activity Points! There are two reasons I thought what I did: because it used to be that way and because even with the new way, WW recommends that you not earn more than 4 APs per day.
Sheesh…I thought maybe I was going crazy because I could have sworn I REMEMBERED the 4AP per day thing…
I hit a low of 157.5 recently, but am hovering around 160. The goal is too not exceed 162 for a full week. The tough part is that I’ll be travelling for 2 weeks straight starting next Wed., so I know there’ll be an inevitable bump (though you never know; I tend to exercise more–walking and such–when I travel, so it might just balance out a little more than I expect). Here’s keeping my fingers crossed, and my mouth shut (eating less and less frequently has been working wonders, wouldn’t you know!).
Ah, thank you. It’s not about *using *more than 4 points per day, it’s about *earning *more than 4 points per day. It’s not so much a weight loss issue as an injury prevention issue:
Well, I’ll take my chances. I did (will) end up using only 10 of the 19 points though. I’m not giving up my ice cream yet! 
Wow! That’s fantastic and you have every right to be pleased with yourself. You’ve come a long way in a short period of time with the elliptical and I’m sure the scales will reflect that very soon.
Welcome to the club, WhyNot. Glad to have you on board.
I kill you now. NObody knows their system inside and out better than I do. You caused panic. DIE DIE.
PS We’ll be in your neck of the woods on Sunday.
Darn it all I’m up to 174 today! WTF?
You’re right Ginger I need to take a look at things. I’m sure I’m not getting enought water. I’m certainly not sleeping enough and I’m eating too much, especially at dinner.
I’ve been trying to get away from the post gig snack in the middle of the night because I hate to eat and go right to sleep. I think it interferes with my sleep and I’ve always thought that late night food turns right to fat (even though I know that’s not really the case)
What’s pissing me off about this week is that I skipped the post gig snack on Monday and went right to bed, I also didn’t drink on the gig. The next day I’m up 2 lbs. I thought those two things would maybe nudge me in the right direction, instead I got just the opposite.
Yesterday I didn’t eat anything between lunch and when we got home after midnight so I was starving and I did eat something and then went right to sleep. I’m sure dinner at midnight was reflected on the scale at 6 am.
I’ll figure it out. I need to keep track better, that’s all.
You thin people can eat anything, I swear! You have no idea what it’s like to be fat like me.
I weighed in at a whopping 228.3 today. Actually, that’s down by 0.9 from last week. I’m firmly in the 220s.
Race you to 220!