unless you are The Donald, this sentence needs disambiguation
… that pig had it coming!
Welp, here’s something I certainly never thought I’d need to say: I need to QUIT losing weight.
I’m on Ozempic. I lowered the dose back in August because it was too harsh - e.g. several days barely eating anything, then I ate something and shortly returned it to the world. I’ve lost another 5-10 pounds since then.
My total weight loss is something like 90 pounds since starting it. My peak weight (some years ago) was 20ish pounds more than that - so you could argue that I’ve lost 110 pounds.
My immediate goal though is to find SOME way to exercise. I’ve been going to a water-exercise class, though I’ve missed most of October due to illness. If I can find time to go to a gym, some weights might be useful - I can’t manage anything aerobic at the moment.
“I need to stop.losing weight”
These are words none of us have ever thought we’d ever say.
Comparing my weight15 months ago, to this morning, and my total loss is just under 100 pounds.
I’m debating lowering my Ozempic dose another notch, and I’ll have to if this continues.
My comfortable weight is around 175. Today I finally checked in at under 200. I was 235 at my peak in July, and, at 49, felt I couldn’t lose weight, but it was mostly that my kids seem to only like carbs and I’m the cook around the house, so I typically just cook one meal, and end up eating way too much of those. It’s a slow creep, but a pound a month over years adds up.
In late November, after I weighed in at a slimmer 223 (falling off the wagon and substituting on alcohol will do that to you), after I left the hospital I decided to try to get my diet under control and realized it was working. I incorporated more steps into my routine (avg about 11k/day), as well as switching to cooking a separate meal for myself. I eat two sensible meals a day, avoid (but not eliminate) carbs (maybe still 30% of my daily calories), and weight has been dropping at about two pounds a week, pretty much what I calculated given my caloric needs and intake.
So hopefully I can keep this up. I do one cheat meal a week, and my regular meals are all stuff I like to eat — I don’t feel I’ve been depriving myself of anything, just mostly eating less and being cognizant of my carb intake. And better about snacking and eating after dinner. (As in almost totally eliminated.)
I feel much better in my clothes. I can bend over and tie my shoes again easily. I just in general feel more spry.
I’m struggling right now and my weight is up a significant amount since before Thanksgiving. Not sure how to get back on track. Super cold outside and depressed inside with the election. not an invite to talk about the election in this thread, just the cause of my current issues.
Find ways to use your feelings about the election to amp up your workouts. Protest marches are a great way to burn calories. And make sure to carry an extra big sign to maximize your sign-waving calorie burning bonus! 
It’s hard to not get off track during the holidays. Between the holiday meals and get-togethers disrupting workout schedules, it’s tough to keep the scale where you want it to be. Hopefully those experiences were enjoyable and were a worthy tradeoff. Keep doing as best as you can and I’m sure you’ll be back on track before you know it.
I continue to not weigh myself, because I don’t think that in the long run it’s productive for me to focus on specific numbers, but after a long while of clothes that didn’t fit fitting again and finding it easier to get around, I’m now finding that things are tight, and dragging my carcass up the stairs is getting harder. I decided that tomorrow (ok, technically today) is going to be a restart on some eating habits and finding time to get some movement in in the mornings. Of course, I’ve said that before…
I’m bouncing around between 165 and 175. Seems to have stabilized, finally.
I came to the realization that I really, really needed a new winter jacket. Mine is 3XL which was always loose - I got it way on sale, so I just didnt care. It had gotten absurd though. We couldn’t quite zip it around two people but it was close…
I knew we had an older jacket in the coat closet. I tried it on… and it fit perfectly. I was pretty sure it was one I’d bought 20+ years ago.
Then I looked at the label… and it was size Large. No way would I have bought that for myself, not any time in the past 35 years.
Turns out, it belonged to my daughter. From high school. She’d forgotten about it because she got one she liked better. She doesn’t want it, so after 3 wash cycles to get rid of the “put away without washing and forgot for a decade” stains, I’ve got a “new” jacket.
I’ve been on a diet for three months. On Nov 18th I was 178 lbs. Today I am at 152 lbs.
I’ve lost 50 lbs in the last year, and I’m happy that I’ve saved some of my favorite “small” clothes and can wear them again. It was intentional, though – not like @Mama_Zappa 's happy accident.
I lost about 70 pounds in the last year and basically had to buy new everything except for socks. Part of my issue was that I had to accommodate a large belly, making everything I owned already a little too big overall, so once my gut was gone it was like I walked around wearing billowy tents. I don’t much love clothes shopping, so my wife dragged me to Nordstrom after making an appointment with a shopper there. Everything was all preselected before I got there so it was an easy run of yes/no/maybe to things they handed me.
I might do something like that; dunno if Nordstrom around here offers a service like that. I know they used to, years ago.
Maybe once some upcoming surgery(ies) are over and done with. I’m getting ovaries/tubes yanked in the next couple of months and am debating a risk-reducing mastectomy - that, plus reconstruction, would alter my shape enough that I don’t want to invest a lot in clothes right now.
I tend to be willing to wear clothes a bit on the loose side - a belt solves most waistband problems. I’ve got some 2XL tops that I am happy to wear (turtlenecks and t-shirts for example). But some things were getting BEYOND ridiculous. That coat. Some non-turtleneck shirts are great if I want people to see my bra straps.
I’ve actually grumbled, the few times I’ve tried clothes shopping. There are TOO MANY CHOICES. Two years ago, I’d just go to the plus department at Macy’s and have a limited area to look in. Last year, I didn’t even know where to look.
Pretty sure that they all still offer that service to one degree or another. At a minimum, if you find any sales person you like there, you can give them your details and what you’re looking for and set up a time to come back for the full experience.
I currently own one belt, which I bought when I was near my top weight. When I lost a bunch of weight during Covid (I did lockdown backwards: I quit drinking, cut my hair, and lost 45 pounds) it was two big at its smallest, so I punched extra holes in it to accommodate my smaller frame. I gained back a bunch of weight so I was back at the pre-established holes, then lost a bunch last summer so I was back a to the ad-hoc holes.
Recently I’ve been trending back up. I can tell because the extra holes are still reachable, but a little uncomfortable. But I’m not big enough for the factory holes yet. So I have four options:
- Punch some in-between holes.
- Lose weight so I can get back to the smaller-me holes.
- Gain weight.
- Buy a new belt.
It’s probably pretty clear by now that I’m not going to buy a new belt. Guess I should get back on the elliptical…
As a side note: when I needed to replace my belt, I had a heck of a time finding one that was real, solid leather. Even stuff from better department stores tended to have a fake underlayer, at best. Finally found one (from what appears to be an Amish-owned shop) and loved it so much that I bought a second one, one size smaller, and I bought one for my husband for Christmas.
Today’s weight-loss surprise: I needed to go to the mall, to return a coat I’d bought online (was easier to go in person to Macy’s). I was feeling good enough that I decided to walk around the mall a little - the weight loss has led to worsening orthostatic hypotension, so being able to do so is not a foregone conclusion.
On the way back to the car, I wandered through the dress section on the off chance I’d see something. Last summer I bought something that was size 16, that was comfortably loose by the end of the summer. Today, I bought a size 14. I would have bought a 20, 2 years ago. I’m surprised with myself that I didn’t grab a 16 to try. But this one is possibly the perfect style for me - form-fitting through the ribs, but full skirt, so no bulges or floppy ex-bulges are visible.
The dress style is one that would not allow me to gain a lot of weight and still fit - but I’m going with the assumption that I won’t gain it back.
I have been fantasizing about a tummy tuck. Pure vanity - there’s no MEDICAL reason for one (though I did have the dermatologist write me a scrip for an antifungal, so I’d have an audit trail for insurance purposes). But since I’ve lost the weight, I no longer have that rash, so I couldn’t in good conscience even try for it. But… if I have a preventive mastectomy (BRCA1 mutation), my reconstruction might involve a belly flap, which apparently basically involves a tummy tuck!
If THAT happens, it’ll be a long-ish process; I’m having my next breast-surgeon consult in April, and it’ll be some months before step 1 could even happen. I anticipate a major shopping effort after things settle down there.
Exercise is wonderful for a myriad of things and you should absolutely incorporate a healthy amount of exercise in your routine. But losing weight or maintaining is something you do with fork and spoon.
I’m aware of that. However, for me, exercise and diet are intrinsically linked. I eat better when I’m exercising. I also seem to have an incredibly reactive metabolism. When I exercise, what I eat goes to muscle, and when I don’t, it goes to fat. Every time I’ve lost weight, regular exercise has been the center of my strategy. When I start, I lose. When I stop, I gain.
Yes, weight loss is calories in versus calories out - but exercise a) increases calories out, and b) helps build muscle versus losing muscle mass.
I’ve lost a lot of muscle mass in the past few years. Lots of stuff that’s gone into that but the Ozempic-related rapid loss has not helped.
I’m also like this. If I’m exercise, I have fewer cravings for junk food and it’s easier to manage whatever cravings I end up having. If I don’t exercise, then it’s junkfood-a-palooza.
Same here. Exercise matters a little bit for calories (depending on what you do. In my young days it was running 6-10 miles, which did add up. These days it’s walking 3-4 miles, which still helps, but is only like 300 calories.) But it’s more that I’m more likely to keep my healthy eating habits going. And I feel a hell of a lot better (which also helps from succumbing to stress or boredom eating.)
Today I’m finally under 190 at 189.4. From 223 just after Thanksgiving, when I started to consciously eat better. The weirdest was looking into the mirror and finally recognizing “me.” Not sure what my goal is, but 175 sounds good.