Are you my loser friend?

S

shrinkingme

New member
Hi everyone,

Hood morning, and welcome to story hour...well, maybe not, but it feels like it. I tend to ramble a bit. So anyway, I'm new, and I'm very much desirous of losing about 35 or so pounds of baby weight. My second child is about to turn 2 in April, and I don't feel like I really have an excuse anymore. Right now, I'm guessing I weigh around 165-168lbs. I know that isn't very large. I know some of you have a longer way to go, and may want to scoff at my size, maybe even having a mini-goal close to where I am now. But hear me out...

When I was in high school, I weighed 115-120lbs, After 3 years of college, I weighed 135-140. Got married. After being married for 2 years, I was at 182lbs.
I was frustrated at my size 12 pants (again, not a "big" size, but much bigger than the 5's that I had worn just five years earlier.) Then, I went to buy some new pants, and couldn't fit into any twelves. My chest has always been disproportionately large, so extra-large shirts wouldn't fit. I was in tears. I knew that something had to change, Not only had I gained seventy pounds in five years, but forty of that had been in the last two years.
To make a long story short, I lost fifty pounds on the Richard Simmons food mover plan. I had been on the plan for close to 2 years when I got pregnant. I gained way too much weight when I got pregnant, and only managed to get myself down to about 160 before I got pregnant with my second child a little over a year later.

The scale is starting to go up again, and I am scared. I don't want to keep going and going. I know I'm capable of being 200, 300lbs or more. I know that it's just one bag of chee-toes or one box of cookies too many and I'm there.
I don't feel well. My back and my knees hurt when I am up a lot. I turn 30 this year, and I just quit smoking. All these things are a recipe for gaining a lot of weight very fast if I don't do something now. If I start gaining at the rate I was gaining before, by the time I'm 40, I will weigh 368lbs.

I need a buddy. Or twelve. Preferably someone who is counting calories, or doing weight watchers or some kind of exchange system. Something that requires planning meals out, and thinking about what you're eating...
I'm looking for accountability with exercise and with eating. Someone who will laugh with me and motivate me - and let me return the favor.
I need to get this thing started, and lose some weight - let me know if you're interested!
 
I don't mind being your buddy! I've got more to lose than you , but I don't think that matters. I'm starting weight watchers this Wednesday so any info that I receive I would be happy to share. Send me a pm :)
 
Oops...can't do the pm thing. Haven't been a member long enough. :banghead:

But I'd love to buddy up with you.

I am doing the Richard Simmons food mover. Basically, it's counting calories, but using the food pyramid. I'm on 1200 cals a day, and I have exchanges of starch, protein, veg, fruit, fat, dairy, and "extra" that I am allowed each day.
It is a lot like Weight Watchers because I'm allowed anything I want - as long as I stay within my exchanges. Just like WW gives you so many points and you can have a candy bar - and almost nothing else! - all day, I must close the fat/carb windows for that candy bar.
Programs like WW and this work because they teach you to live differently. To make choices with your food, and change your lifestyle and how you look at food...I'm excited to be really starting out again.

So, do you exercise? That's my big problem...
 
Don't worry this board gets a little time to get the hang of , but you can do it!

That's so good that you are doing the Richard Simmons program. I had never heard of it until I came on this page, but I'm sure it will work for you. I did Jenny Craig for about 3 weeks and while it was nice not to think about what I would eat , it felt really limited. (Not to mention it was sooooooo expensive).

And to answer your question I do exercise 7x a week. It's alot , but once your body gets use to it you'll start to crave it. When I first started out exercising I just did dvd workouts 3 times a week for about 40 mins. After a month of that I just decided to do the DVD exercises ever morning before I went to work. If you want any tips about working out let me know :)
 
Good morning,

Well, I got my measurements done (YUCK). And did my weigh in this morning. I'm 167.5, so I changed my signature for today's starting out. I'd love any tips you want to give on exercise. I have done yoga in the past, and love it. Hate Pilates, but love what it does for my body. I also have a gazelle (no impact "ski machine" type thing), and some small dumbbells.

So I can't really walk very much at this weight. My knees give me immense trouble, as does my back. If I'm anything like I was before, once I hit about 153, I'll be able to do some higher impact stuff.

I have zero tone in my abs from my kids (seriously - "poking out" my belly is no different from just relaxed.) So my main thrust needs to be core strengthening - either Pilates or some really good yoga, and then the Gazelle for cardio.
 
Hey, I'm on a calorie counting diet having tried that method and had success with it before. Besides, I find that with diets like WW and the Atkins after I've lost the weight it all goes back on again when I start eating "normally".

Anywho, my starting weight was 210 and my goal weight is 105 (I'm 5 foot :() which is probably a bit ambitious but if I'm doing this then I may as well go all out gonzo. I'm still working on adding in the exercise element as I have some personal issues which make it difficult to do it :S
 
Hi there,

I agree with you about going all the way! Kudos. The first time I lost all the weight, I never had a formal exercise plan. I did some yoga, but more for the flexibility. The key is to find a plan that you can live with forever. We got overweight by eating too much, or rather, by eating too much of the wrong things. Let's face it, counting calories, we can only eat so much of the really good stuff :-}, so we have to fall back on the good for you stuff.

Would you maybe want to do a buddy thing, where we talk about what we eat every day, and how we're doing? Just to keep accountable and whatnot? I'm really struggling with eating because I just quit smoking last month, and I've been wanting all those starchy, fatty things so much more lately...So I haven't stuck to my plan at all...
 
I wanna be your buddy!!! you and i have alot in common! First of all, i recently quit smoking.... FEb7th was my last day! i too, have gained a bunch of weight in the recent years, i too used to be a size 5.. now cry whenever i go shopping, i too am very top heavy so my once medium sized shirt is now an XL and finally... i too am turning 30 soon! ** sorry if all the "i too's" got reduntant, just wanted to make a point.

so i havent really picked a plan, i am going to do reduced portion control and strict calorie intake. i plan on switching it up daily, so my body doesnt get used to living with a certain number of calories. Like one day i'll eat 1500 calories, and the next 1000, then the next 1300 and the next 1100. if i were to live off of 1500 consistantly, then my metabolism woudlbe set for so, I want to keep my body guessing!

i have a dvd set called "the firm" it came with steps and you use it with weights. its a total body workout. I also have a treadmill. im trying to work on my dh to get an eliptical but we shall see about that,

i guess ill end it here since i wrote a book! good luck to alll of us!
 
(fast typer, bad speller, warning, lol )

:rotflmao:LOL, oh my God! I want to be your buddy too!!! I can't belive this, so many people with similar things going on.

I just quit smoking in JAN!!!

I'm turning 30 this summer too!!!

I'm a mom not of two, but of 5 kids! This is baby weight, a lot of baby weight!

I used to be a size 5 once upon a great while.

Yeah I have a lot more weight to loose then you but who cares. I make you look good!:rolleyes:

Just so you know I think from what I've read, here and other sites 1200 calories are way to low for you. It's borderline starving, through exercise into the mix and you have a bigger defiset then you want, and you could be seting yourself up for a big problem. If you loose the "diet" idea. And think life change, and read the sticky threads on this board etc, you will be suprised that everything you thought you "knew" is well wrong..lol... I found that for me I needed to eat more to loose weight, sounds dumb, but it's true, my calories were way to low so my body hung onto the extra fat.. Now that I'm feeding my body properly I'm loosing weight, and lots of inches. Last week I lost 8 inches in my stomach!!!! I use a calorie caculator online, and it makes it totaly easy. If your interested I can tell you more.. I am working out about 7 day's a week allso. Pilates, Taebo, and some other tapes. I use the stationary bike at home, and an old eliptical machine. I also jump rope, and I weight lift, oh and I'm using the balance ball... BUT, It's all doable, I've ajusted very fast to working out every day and it's something I look forward to now... Oh and I drink water all day long! I eat mainly health food, but I don't worry about it, if I want a cookie I'll have one, as long as I have enough calories to spare, and I want to waist them on a cookie, which most of the time I don't want to. This is a LIFE change, so it has to be able to be maintained, for ever.

Anyway , glad to see two others on the exact path I'm on, quit smoking, and now we can work on getting smokin hot!!lol

Hope2

Anyway
 
yay for buddies!

Well I haven't really lost anything. I don't do well if I am not motivated, and I haven't found a buddy 'till now.
I am proud to say that I am still smoke free - a little over 2 months - but not so proud to say that apparently I have replaced the after dinner smoke (among others :) with extra cobbler and ice cream and...well you get the point. It's like I have no idea when to stop eating now.
So Yeah, if you two want to be buddies, that'd be great!
Did you know that rambling/scatterbrained tendencies are a side effect of quitting smoking? Seriously.
anyway, I am recovering from a back injury right now, but will hopefully be able to start exercise next week. I won't be better, but will be at the point where careful exercise will help instead of hurt...

So FIVE kids? I can't imagine. Wow. My two run me into the ground! How old are they?

SO guys, lets do this thing!
 
shrinkingme,

Don't be so hard on yourself! Quiting smoking messes with you in so many ways. I became anti social, and I ate sweets very late at night, because I was depresed and didn't care about anything (you know what I mean), and couldn't smoke. I stoped really talking on the phone, because well I smoked before with every conversation. I don't think I gained any extra weight, but I didn't weigh myself. 3 months later, though and I'm fine. I feel better emotionaly, and physicaly, as a direct result from quiting... So no worries it gets better...

You want motivation? I'll give you some motivation! Do you want your 30's, the prime of your life being overweight? Or do you want to look as good as you did before you had kids? Perhaps even better! Well it's going to happen! But you have to be COMITED, seriously, it starts mentaly. I know, you take a beating mentaly after quiting smokeing... BUT, this is about takeing control back, not giving up on yourself! This is not about dieting, this is about simple changes with big results, that's it! It's easy it's just different... You did something way harder, quiting is way harder then treating your body good, I promise!

So first things first! Cobbler once a week:) get some fruit in your house, and lowfat yogart, cottage cheese, things like that for a quick snack. Start making yourself drink a lot of water (incase your not), you can get it all down by just refiling a water bottle all day.

Ok, so you can't exercise right now.. Ok, but dont take this time as "I'll eat what ever I want time", because you may even at extra weight thinking like this. Loosing weight doesn't mean deprivation either, you will be able to have all the foods you want and enjoy. You can still loose some weight, even though you can't exercise, just by doing some tweeking with your nutrition.

Listen I've been doing this for only about a month(started the end of march).. And I am amazed! Since April 8th, when I started takeing measurments, I have lost 9 inches in my HIPS! 10 inches in my waist! And 4 inches in my arms.... You can do it!

If you want to get it off the healthy way, here is what I'm doing and it's what is recomended all over this site....

You need to find out how many calories your body burn even while your laying in bed sleeping... So go to . Enter your info there....

Then you need to find out how many calories you need to maintain your current weight, with the activity you are currently at.

This is called the Harris Benedict Formula (you can google it for all of the formula, because I don't have the one for sedintary and I belive since you can not exercise right now, this may be the one you need for right now)

You take your BMR (basal metabolic rate) BMR x 1.55 for moderate activity (don't think your there yet)

For light activity BMR x 1.375

After you find out how much your body needs to actually stay what you are now... You take 15 to 20% off of that, to creat a defisit. Since you are not taribly overweight and have less calories to work with you should only probably take 15% off, to be safe (that's just my opinon)

After you figure that out, that is the amount of calories you should be eating to loose weight and still be full, it's like making sure your car has enough gas to get you where you want to go. :driving:

Anyway, it takes like only a couple minutes to figure it out, so don't feel overwhelmed.

I didn't want to be a calorie counter, but it's important to know what is going in your body and if you don't, then you don't really know, and can't "tweek" your outcome as easily...

I just enter my food that I've eaten in . its free and it's so great, I don't have to stress, or count calories, I search for my food, and the web site totals everything. They also give you a calorie range, but it's a little on the low side and I wouldnt follow it, maybe the higher end but they make too much of a deficet, which means, less fuel, and possibly slower weight loss....

Anyway, this is the stuff I learned from reading a lot of the STICKEY threads on this site, you should check them out for yourself too.

If you need any help at all, just let me know.:waving:

Oh, yeah, 5 kids, my husband and I started out very young. We have a 15,14,9,8, and 7 year old. Once you learn how to multitask with 2, then you have the skill to do it with five. Actually once you have three, it's even easier. No more then three kids out of 5 at a time ask for something at the exact same time, usualy only 2 kids though talk at the same time, etc.. At least with mine. Sounds overwhelming, I know, but it's not. There your kids after all not some one elses, so they all learn the same excepted behaviors etc. It gets a little loud sometimes, but that just comes with the number, and to me isn't that big of a deal.

Hope this info helped!!!

Hope2 (get to know you better!):)
 
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Hope,

I am really sorry that I haven't gotten back to you before now. I don't check this site every day, and my email didn't post the reply to the thread.
So, I haven't really "started" my diet yet. As you said, the mental preparedness is the key to any new regimen. So I don't want to set myself up for failure by jumping in before my big grocery trip...I need results and wont have them until I get the good foods in my home.
We've been working every spare minute on our garden, which has been a trial because of my back injury. But it will be so worth it in a couple of months when I have more veggies than I could eat straight from my organic little plot of land. (I just love summertime!)
But it has been a lot of work and when I get my housework done, kids to bed, and kitchen cleaned...I just fall over from exhaustion.
In a couple of days, the worst gardening will be over. Just a bit of weeding and picking the veggies when they come in.
So, I haven't forgotten about you...
The smoking thing is getting easier too, I was noticing how wonderful it has been these last two weeks, being out in the fresh air, and being able to smell the springtime...with no acrid smoke to taint the air, and ruin my sense of smell. And it's been over 2 months now since I quit, so it's getting easier to not replace the behavior. (yesterday, we were leaving Wal-Mart, and I always wanted a smoke after that place...but someone was smoking somewhere and I smelled it...my first reaction was to wrinkle my nose! So progress!!)
Oh, and the one thing I have already started on is water. I hate water, but when I'm outside very much, that's what I want. SO I'll already be good for that when I really start next week. Yay!!
 
Organic garden, that sounds fabulouse! I think your takeing good steps, mentally you need to be comited. I wouldn't think of it as a diet, just a change, I don't feel deprived at all. Acutally I haven't felt this great since I was 19... I'm seeing major results with my body, energy level, mood, just everything, it's really great.


Well start when your ready, if you need any help, just let me know!
 
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