Perfect! That’s more than enough exercise for now, you will benefit greatly from it. AND since it’s easier than your original plan I know you will stick with it!
That’s what I do, btw (well I do cardio on strength days but nothing earth-shattering) and I’ve kept it up for over 2 years now. And lost 56 lbs!
In the last two months, I’ve lost 1.5 inches on my chest, 2.25 on my waist, and 3.25 on my hips. I’ve only lost a little over ten pounds in that time period. Exercise works, folks.
Wow, sounds like a lot of folks are making excellent progress, yay!
I dropped from 360 to 178 over about twenty months roughly six years ago (damn, I am getting old) but have put most of that back on in the intervening years. I don’t have a digital scale, and don’t really know that I trust the manual one I have, but according to it, I weighed somewhere around 310 last week.
I started dieting last Thursday and have been doing good so far. I focused a little too much on the scale a little too much the last time time around, so I think I am going to track this more by my clothes than numbers.
My pants are already looser, and I look forward to being forced to buy some new ones, though not for the usual reasons.
Look on the bright side, you are still down 50 pounds!
Good for you for getting back on the horse.
Oh God, I pigged out today. 
I made the mistake of stepping on the scale this morning and seeing the same freaking number that was staring back at me the last time I weighed myself like two weeks ago, and I got so upset.
I went to Whole Foods and got stuff from their hot bar, a danish, a pound cake, and some ice cream. My thought process was, “Fuck it, I’m giving myself one day where I can eat whatever I want.” I don’t think I’ve objectively eaten a lot – I’m not tracking today, I didn’t eat huge quantities of anything (only a 1/3 cup serving of ice cream, 2 small slices of pound cake, 1/2 cup mac and cheese, etc) – but I must have gone over my 1800-calorie maintenance limit. I don’t care. It’s just one day, I mowed the lawn (up and down hills) for an hour today which gave me some calories in the bank, I feel bloated and gross, and tomorrow I will go back to controlling everything again.
Oh, I also had a graham cracker sheet (4 crackers?) with nutella and dulce de leche on it. I regret nothing.
In better news, I have my first appointment with a physical therapist on Tuesday so I can get some pointers on how to deal with my chondromalacia-stricken knees. I would love to take up Couch to 5k again, and maybe I can do so soon. I also applied for a better paying job at my library, so maybe my career will pick up soon, too!
I’m hanging in there! Still operating on the No Sweets in the House rule (I barely notice anymore), though my consumption of the dark chocolate is getting a little wild… I’m limiting myself to one bar a week.
Friday I was so stressed after work I wanted to go straight to the gym, but I didn’t have my stuff with me. I didn’t go over the weekend either, because I was lazy. On those days I really need to focus on getting out of the house ASAP before my morning momentum wears off.
This morning I packed my gym bag and will be keeping it in my car. That way if the urge strikes as I’m coming home from work, I’ll have my stuff.
I’ve been eating considerably fewer sweets and I can definitely tell a difference as I no longer really crave them. I lost 1.6 pounds this week and I’m hoping that the coming week will be better. This past weekend was the memorial service for my boyfriend so I was eating differently than I normally do.
Hi folks
I’m new to this forum, which I joined mostly for this thread. It’s quite hard to find online places to converse about weightloss where good grammar and spelling are par for the course 
Firstly - wow. Some of the weightloss efforts here are astounding. The highest my BMI has ever been is 25.03(!), so I am in awe of people who keep on the diet for long enough to lose 80+ pounds. Great work.
I am now at a BMI of 20.4 and 22-24% bodyfat which is pretty good for a 39yo female. I weigh just over 50kg, having lost 12kg two years ago. Since then it appears I am a very good weight maintainer, but a terrible loser. I guess I need a bit of a kick to get going again - the dream target is 15% bodyfat. It’s only 3-5kg and yet I can’t seem to do enough to shift even a bit of it. And by “enough”, I mean give up my daily habit of 2-3 glasses of wine
So I guess I have some serious thinking to do - do I ditch my beloved wine in hopes of seeing my sixpack, or do I decide that I like my lifestyle and just stay at this healthy weight which I am reasonably happy at? I got down to this weight without giving up the wine, but the leaner you get, the harder it is to lose weight (physically, rather than emotionally, I mean).
Exercise-wise, since January I’ve been having two personal trainer sessions a week, learning the Olympic lifts, and I do an extra weights session one more time a week. I only do cardio under duress as it bores me to tears.
Well, that was an introductory ramble from me - nice to e-meet you all, and good luck with your progress
have you tried corset weight training to loose weigh ? i find it effective.
You need to borrow my husband for a while. He knows what days I am supposed to go to the gym and won’t get off my case until I do.
On a sadder note, my scale at home is off by 8 pounds. Which means I am still obese. :mad:
Still down 22 pounds…they just were different pounds than I thought.
So, instead of having 18 pounds to my goal, I have 26 (and 6 more pounds to being overweight…)
But I lost another two pounds this week!
I also had a personal training session at the gym and the trainer complimented my weight loss strategy. I also got some tips on my routine. I just have to keep it up (that being the hard part…)
I am really having a difficult time. I’m suffering portion creep and not being as good with tracking as I was. This week is especially going to suck because I can’t exercise as much as I’m used to because the sprog is home until he goes back to school next week. I’m going to try restricting carbs and sweets (even sugar-free sweets) and boosting the protein to see if that helps, and I’m trying to at least walk when I can.
I’m having a tough time, too. My period is three weeks late (not pregnant) and my skin is breaking out, and I’m blaming my diet. My dietician isn’t answering her emails or calls. I weighed myself yesterday at work on an old-time analog “slide the weight across the bar” scale, and with clothes on the scale registered only 1 pound under what I weighed on July 17 (last dietician meeting). So depressing.
BUT. On the other hand, I had my first physical therapy session last night, and it was awesome. I learned that my feet pronate slightly, my knee caps stick out to the sides too much, I’m slightly hyper-flexible, I hyperextend at the knees, my right hamstring is very tight and my left quad is very tight, my ilio-tibial band is tight, my hip flexors are really weak, my abs are stronger than I thought(!), my left leg may be 1/3" longer than my right (!!)…great information.
My physical therapist actually said to me, “You’re stronger than I’d expect of someone at your fitness level. Did you used to dance or play sports as a kid?”
I said, “No, I’ve never been athletic – I’ve never been in shape in my life!”
She said, “That shouldn’t be a problem once you finish therapy. You’ve got a great foundation to become fit.”
I felt so…flattered and motivated! I seriously have never been in shape, ever. To think that I might be able at some point to run 5Ks (or more!) several times a week is mind-blowing.
I was given stretches and exercises to do, recommendations on new running shoes, was told I will be able to run again without pain, and on top of this I learned my insurance covers 35 sessions. My next session is on Tuesday.
It was a good day.
That’s great!
Ever since my boyfriend passed away I haven’t eaten red meat or any fried foods. It’s not as if I’ve forbidden myself to eat them, they just don’t appeal to me anymore.
Well, last night I had a dream/mild nightmare (?) that I somehow ended up eating chicken mcnuggets. And in the dream I was horrified that I had done so. 
I am really having a down day.
I went through my closet last night and took out everything that was too big for me. I have nothing left. All of my favourite clothes are now gone. They all look stupid on me.
I actually cried to be getting rid of some. Makes me question why on earth I am doing this.
I want to offer my condolences on the loss of your boyfriend (I don’t think I did before, and I’m sorry). From what you post here, you seem like a strong person. I was with my mom when she died last November and…well, grief is a bitch, isn’t it? My mom and I were very close and I still think and dream (and cry) about her all the time.
Your dream reminded me of the dreams I used to have when I wasn’t eating sweets or grains. I’d occasionally dream of eating whole feasts of cakes and pastries, and my feeling in the dream was like “Oh nooooo, it’s all over! despair” and I wake up feeling intensely relieved that it wasn’t real.
perfectparanoia, would you be able to take your clothes to a tailor and have them altered to fit you? If you’ve gone down significantly in size, you can even have the tailor make a new pair of pants (for example) using your old pants as a template. I have no idea how much this costs, but it might be worth thinking about. I’m contemplating doing that for a pair of pants that I absolutely love but are now too big for me and don’t have belt hooks.
I used to have a blue blouse that I loved to death and when I got too small for it, I gave it to a friend of mine, so that I knew that even if I couldn’t wear it anymore, it could be worn by someone I cared about. 
I’m in the uncomfortable stage of being between sizes. The other problem is that my waist is a size smaller than my hips/thighs. Right now I’m wearing a pair of pants that are way too big in the waist and slightly too big in the seat (and they look kind of silly on me because of it), but when I tried on the next smaller pair, they were fine at the waist but too tight everywhere else.
I wouldn’t suggest this for all your clothes, but if you have a few favourite pieces that can be altered that may be an option.
It’s not going to help with the down days, but if you have a lot of good memories attached to certain clothes it can help. Or if you just hate clothes shopping (like me) then it’s one less replacement item to find!
I have changed shape as well as size. I tried pinning them to simulate taking them in but they still looked dumb.
As for the pants thing, I swear that the smaller the size, the smaller the difference between the waist and hip. It’s driving me nuts. I have an hourglass figure and they seem to be designed for people who have no hips (or boobs but that’s another story). We are not men!
I haven’t checked in for ages here!
I absolutely understand how you feel, perfectparanoia. On the one hand, I’m delighted to be losing weight. On the other hand, I feel completely out of touch with my body, I don’t know what fits it any more, clothes don’t sit how they used to, and it all feels very foreign.
When I get to feeling that way, I make myself remember all the things I’m able to do more easily now. I can run up the stairs at home. I can walk for miles without my feet aching. Hell, it’s even easier to trim my toenails!
How do you feel about dresses? I am a busty pear and I’ve recently discovered 50’s style reproduction dresses and I find they are great for my figure. As an example, here’s what I’m wearing today: http://www.ladyvlondon.com/Black-White-Polka-Dot-Midi-Dress_A13KQB.aspx
I buy the size to fit my bust, and then I can cinch the waist in further as required, either using the tie the dress comes with, or my own belt. Because they are flared in the skirt, they are good for those of us with big waist-hip ratios.
Whatever it was that I did worked, and to the tune of about 3.5 lbs. This really helped my motivation, because I’m back on track.