Rushgeekgirl, about 13 years ago I suffered a critical illness - to the point my family was making funeral arrangements. Within the next six months 8 of my toenails and 2 of my fingernails had fallen off, as well as layers of skin off my palms and heels. I really didn’t notice my hair loss because it is so thick, but my hairstylist and my sister-in-law (who is also a hairstylist) did. Don’t worry, anything that falls off will grow back. If it seems like your hair isn’t recovering, there is a product that will help it along, but it’s been so long I don’t remember the name of it, but your stylist should know.
I’m going to start participating in this thread. I just joined WW this past Monday. I weighed in at 193, which wasn’t as bad as I thought it was going to be, but still not good at all.
I’d like to lose at least 50 pounds, and then see if I want/need to lose ten more after that. Thankfully, I have the complete support of my husband. I’ve made a couple WW recipes this week, and he’s really enjoyed them, which makes it so much easier for me.
This is my fourth day on the points plan - is it possible that I’ve lost weight already? My husband commented yesterday morning before I got in the shower that he can see a bit of a difference, and my pants felt looser than they have in a while. I’m usually pretty sedentary, but I’ve been doing a lot of housework lately and taking the dog for walks.
I’m looking forward to my weigh-in on Monday. This thread looks like it’ll be a lot of help. 
I weighed myself this morning and I’m down to 218!
Breaking that 220 mark was a lot easier than I expected. Woo-Hoo!
I realized that my scale (Taylor digital, about $20 at Target) was sticking and underweighing. I got a new scale (Thinner digital, about $40 at Bed, Bath and Beyond), which is more accurate but therefore shows me at a higher weight by several pounds. This was a good opportunity to be philosophical, though all I really wanted to do was fixate on numbers. It’s been helpful to remind myself that even without weight loss, exercise is good for glucose metabolism and discourages the body from producing excess insulin (which is what it wants to do when it’s overweight). Since insulin helps the body store fat, this can’t be bad.
I’ve been trying a number of low-carb snack bars in preparation for some travel. The Atkins bars seem to me to have an unpleasant metalic aftertaste. Zone bars taste good but are higher carb and don’t fit my diet right now. Lo Carb 2 (from Biochem) actually tastes best to me.
Oh, I totally agree! We found some Atkins Lemon Chiffon bars cheap, and decided to try them. On first bite, we said, “oh, these aren’t bad at all”, then the aftertaste set in! Yuk! The best low-carb bars I’ve tried so far are Carb Solutions chocolate and smooth peanut butter. You might want to look for them. Around here, WalMart carries them, and so does a string of gas station/convenience stores called Sheetz.
Thanks! Today I tried Carb Solutions High Protein bar. Not at all bad, but I think the Lo Carb 2 is still my favorite.
Twenty pounds as of today. Yay!
Go, Gingy!!
WTG, fizzes, Gingy, and Lsura!
DarkWriter, IMHO looser clothes are an excellent indication, even if it’s early in the diet. BTW, if you’re interested in joining some Dopers for outdoorsy stuff, keep an eye on “MAD Outdoors Club” threads. We’re talking about a hike in the Harpers Ferry area, weekend after next. Same goes for you, norinew, although I know that it’s a long way to Cumberland.
[sub]BTW, ‘MAD’ stands for “Mid-Atlantic Dopers”.[/sub]
Oh yeah, I may finally be off the 185 plateau. This morning, the scale’s readings bounced around between 182.0 and 184.5. We’ll see if it holds up. Here’s hoping!
I got excited when on Sunday I weighted in at 183.2, a new low. I thought perhaps I had broke through the 184 plateau I’ve been stuck on for weeks and week. Alas, this morning I was back at 184.4.
I swear I feel like I will NEVER get below 184 for more than 1 day…
But how do you feel? are you toning up? do your clothes fit well? you’re probably making fantastic progress! 184 maybe you’re lucky number, but don’t let the scales get you down, they can be so fickle!
I, on the other hand, need to get my ass in gear this week after a beach weekend of eating nothing but JUNK and minimal exercise. Today, I promise to eat well and go to pilates. is anyone else a pilates fan/addict?
Yesterday was the first Sunday in ages that I actually thought about points and tried to stay within them. Didn’t do very well at all. I was so frikkin’ hungry.
I have yet to tablulate my points. Lemme do that real quick. BRB.
15 points over. Not totally awful, especially since I really did think about it. Next Sunday, I’m all over it.
I also decided that I’m going to shave the top two points off my range so I can bank every day. This really worked when my range was 20-25 points per day. And it will work – dammit – with the 18-23 point range.
It will!
So wish me luck with my first 21-point day. Eeek!
Thanks, RTFirefly! I can’t make May 11th (Mother’s Day), but I hope to meet up with you guys something this summer. My only concern is that everybody is completely fit and able to hike without getting tired - I’m just starting out with exercising and wouldn’t want to hold anybody up.
I’m pretty close to Harper’s Ferry, but willing to travel a bit to meet up for other times.
I know how you feel, MeanJoe, I thought I had finally broken my 235-238 plateau, even got to 232, but it didn’t last long, I’m back up to 238 in only a week. I guess it’s becuase I didn’t have time to do any real exercise - I only did my aerobics tape twice and walked twice - not counting the large amount of non-exercise walking I did Saturday night at a local fair we went to. Thank goodness I didn’t get any funnel cake, corny dog, corn-on-the-cob stuff, or who knows how much I would have gained. Ah, well.
Don’t worry, we aren’t exactly dazzlingly fit ourselves. Hope you can join us sometime!
I hear you! I’ve been stuck in the same 3-pound range for weeks. I just got a pedometer so I can get a sense of my overall activity level at work; I’m thinking that once I’ve got the baseline, I can increase it so I’m not just exercising in the morning and then sitting at my desk all day.
I think you guys have a dangerous plateau disease, and I caught it! I’ve been fluctuating, a pound up, a pound down for about three weeks now, and it’s starting to get frustrating. I’ve decided to add at least 20 minutes of aerobics to the days I don’t go to the gym, and see if that helps. Will report results next week.
RTFirefly, I sure am interested in that hike at Harper’s Ferry! I think it would be great to meet some fellow Dopers and exercise at the same time! Harper’s Ferry is about 90 minutes from here. It’s a bit of a hike (hehe), but may be doable. Will have to check scheduling and such.
Well.
With Passover, my decision to get back to seriously trying died for a week. Today was my first weigh-in day for a week where I stayed under-point, and I didn’t lose anything! I was so upset.
A couple of positive things: My last exam is tomorrow. I will afterwards have more time to go to the gym. Ideally, I’ll be doing at least SOMETHING every weekday (weekends are super-busy at my gym and suck). I looked carefully over my journal for the past week and decided that while I was eating within my points range, I didn’t eat very well at all. I will work on making smarter choices this week.
I’m now at 150, which is 4 pounds lighter than when I started WW online in January, and 5 pounds heavier than my lowest weight since then.
Tonight was my first weigh-in since joining WW last Monday, and I lost three pounds! Not a lot, but it seems like a good start.
WTG, DarkWriter! Tolja the loose clothes were a good sign. I’ve only lost 9-10 lbs. since I started this diet, but I now pull my belt in an extra notch, and the jeans that were formerly a bit tight now feel kinda loose.
norinew, we’d love to have you join us if you can! It looks like about a 6-mile hike, with easy-to-moderate elevation change, at a relaxed pace. Pix from our last outing are here, btw.