The amazing shrinking woman (I hope!)

Well done on the 6 miles Tigs - what an achievement!!! Who'd have thought that was ever do-able at the start of the whole "running" journey?!?!!

The award ceremony sounds great - what an ego boost to a) be appreciated in your job and b) look pretty darn good whilst accepting it!! I'd wrap that one up and stick it in a shoe box in your mind for when you need to open it up and get a bit of a smile and ego boost on a bad day!!
 
I've not been counting calories either for the last couple of months to see if I can maintain my weight and I have managed to stay the same. I think that we just learn to mostly make the right choices and to make up for it late when we don't. Next month when I get back into serious exercising then I will count calories again for a while to hopefully loose a bit more weight.
You must have felt great at the awards ceremony. :)
 
Well, apparently eating more than usual and not counting calories hasn't hurt anything because I stepped on the scale this morning at it said 137.2! I was prepared for as much as 142 or something like that. Really shocked me to still be that low! I was so pumped and excited that I decided to pull out an old pair of size 6 jeans that I had found a couple months ago in a box of clothes I had packed away. I had tried them on when I found them and could only get them most of the way up my thighs. They wouldn't go over my hips though. This morning I got them on though! And could even get them closed (though I had to suck my gut in). I had quite a bit of 'muffin top' over the waistband of the jeans, but at least they went on!

I think size 6 might be a decent size for my frame, so rather than working towards a number on my scale, I'll work towards having those size 6 jeans fit comfortably with no muffin top hanging over. That should still leave me with some fairly decent curves. Then I will work on maintaining and will wait to see if my skin shrinks up some more.

Speaking of skin.... This may be a bit TMI for some - so I'm warning you now. If that sort of thing bothers you, you may want to skip this part. I made it a smaller font so it's easier to skip over.

Day before yesterday the kids were all occupied, so hubby and I took advantage. But I saw something that really disturbed me and almost killed the mood for me. I was on my knees and happened to glance at my belly. The position I was in caused all the loose skin to hang forward and was swaying/jiggling around. And I kid you not - it looked just like I had a scrotum hanging there! It was disgusting looking!

I told hubby that I didn't think I wanted to be in that position ever again for quite a while - or at least until some of that skin shrinks up. He said "So don't look at it! I like it that way cuz your ass is half the size it used to be and I like to see it!"


I know the whole loose skin thing HAS gotten better, but it's sure taking a LONG time. The fat is disappearing faster than the skin can shrink I guess. I'm hoping if I just give it enough time, my skin will be able to heal itself somewhat. I can feel my ab muscles under all that extra skin already - they are almost washboardy. But I'll never be able to see them under all that extra skin. YUCK! Makes me think why bother putting all that time and effort into all that ab work, when it's not visable anyway?

SHRINK SKIN SHRINK!!!
 
Girl! congrats on the #! I understand with that loose skin situation -- i'm afraid of it! WHEN I GET TO WHERE YOU ARE! i'll be damn afraid of being all loose! But I guess it's worth it right?!?!

No need to throw encouraging words your way, you're ALMOST THERE...135 by halloween? Yeah without a doubt you'll pass 135!!
 
The skin problem is one of the reasons that I have been maintaining for the last few months instead of losing. I wanted to give my skin a chance to tighten up a bit before losing the last bit of weight.
 
Tig...

Okay so... male perspective here... And hopefully I don't overstep any bounds, but based upon your post, I'm thinking you're pretty open about this kind of thing.

My wife has lost 130ish lbs in the last 2 years. I have lost a total of over 140 in the last say 3 or so, 70+ since May of this year. Loose skin happens.

Now, she is also very sensitive about the exact same scenario you just mentioned. She hates it. Now, from my viewpoint, what I am seeing is this lovely, heart shaped ass before me and DAMN... wow... I mean... wow... So what you are seeing is your own self conscious perspective because you are your own worst critic. Meantime your husband is just seeing his amazingly sexy wife's curves looking like a fantasy in the flesh in front of him...

We just recently moved a dresser (full mirrored) in my bedroom, so it is directly across from us in bed. She saw the same thing and hated it. Then we adjusted the positioning a bit so that she saw a little different view and she was like, "oh, okay, yeah I do look kinda hot that way"...

BTW, she went from a size 24 to an 8, and is denying it now, but I keep telling her she's a 6 now. She'll realize it when we go shopping next time... I'll make her take a 6 into the dressing room, and she'll ba happy when she comes out (I know that girl... been married for 23 years now)
 
Love your thread heading. :)

Tigpuppy,

You are such an incredible inspiration. You deserve massive congratulations for all of your hard work and for being so candid. I salute you. I started to read the first pages of your thread and then had to skip to the end and see how you did. You are the amazing shrinking woman! You are proof positive that if one is committed one will succeed. I too am worried about the stretch mark and loose skin. I read a site online from a bodybuilder who said that if you keep building lean muscle eventually your skin will tighten and that will help the stretch marks too. I hope it's true.
 
Tig, I have to stop and reply even though its going to make me late for work.

First off, congrats on the 137 - must have been a nice surprise! Plus I think the jeans are a good change of target in terms of finding a point where you FEEL like its right as opposed to the numbers saying they are right.

In terms of the skin, yeah, that's a lot of information (!) (given that I'm British and we don't about that sort of stuff ;) ), but you know what, really refreshing to have an honest issue out here in the open to discuss. Loose skin is one of the things that has worried me from the start - particularly on my upper arms and lower belly. I think once you have had a child, that skin is never the same (unless you are one of those women who gives birth, jumps up and looks like a supermodel again within weeks)....I have a flap that hangs over that I don't think is going to go away with any amount of situps - it might get better but I don't think it will disappear, plus because I have an appendix scar on the other side, its a bit lopsided!!

I suppose the way I look at it is, I'd rather lose weight and feel good 98% of the time in and out of clothes apart from a couple of hangups than be fat again and feel rubbish ALL THE TIME. The pragmatic thing to do is go, ok, so its not ideal but I'm pretty darn hot and sex is good, so I'll just get on with it... Like cabbie says, its the last thing that your husband is thinking of!!

So much of the beginning of what we do here is to lose weight to LOOK better, but after that, we've got to learn to FEEL better I think as we've all spent so many years feeling awful.
 
... (given that I'm British and we don't about that sort of stuff ;)

Dear ol' blighty ;)

Agree with Jay and Cabbie, the last thing he's looking at is your tummy! I know what you mean though, I've been in that position before and you kinda look down and you're like OH MY GOD MY STOMACH!!! But all he can see is your ass so don't ruin that position for yourself!

Or just get the blindfolds out and they'll be no problem with him seeing much of anything at all ;)

And they say English girls are classy and reserved? ;)
 
Dear ol' blighty ;)

Agree with Jay and Cabbie, the last thing he's looking at is your tummy! I know what you mean though, I've been in that position before and you kinda look down and you're like OH MY GOD MY STOMACH!!! But all he can see is your ass so don't ruin that position for yourself!

Or just get the blindfolds out and they'll be no problem with him seeing much of anything at all ;)

And they say English girls are classy and reserved? ;)

I don't get it. On your knees? :svengo:

<Flumes gets out his catechism>....nope not gettin it. :Angel_anim:

:smilielol5:


Anyways....I will always have this mental picture of you Tiggy....(not that I mind lol)

And trust me, like the others said.....he's not thinkin bout your skin or fat or anything. At least not while hes admirin the new scenery lol.

Have a great day! <Now that we know we don't have to worry bout you enjoyin your nites!>
 
hahahaha Flumes!!!

Sunflower is right. Blindfolds make the whole problem go away and you get an added frisson!! Or maybe set up a mirror or two so you are looking at bits you like instead!!
 
^^ What Jay said. There are many ways around this problem! I've found *loads* of sexy underwear that covers up my tummy or my "problem areas". Although I like to see my problem areas as sexy areas that just haven't been properly discovered yet! Your tummy just hasn't realised it's full potential!!!
 
It's been a busy couple of days!

First of all, just wanted to thank everyone for the comments and great advice. It really helped to put things in perspective. I'm going to try not to freak out so much about how my skin looks, and maybe get a bit creative with some new lingere. :reddevil: And I'll have to convince hubby that for my benefit it's better to leave certain things on if they make me feel sexier knowing the gross, saggy parts are covered up.

The kids didn't have school yesterday and I took the day off from work. Since we just sold cattle we decided to pack the kids into the pickup and drive up to the city to do some shopping that we've been putting off for a while. Since my birthday is next week Tuesday hubby told the girls they could pick out a present for me. The 3 year old twins thought I needed this big barbie dollhouse type thing. The 7 year old thought I needed a nintendo DS that I could maybe share with her. My 9 year old is the only one that thought to ask me what I wanted for my birthday. I told them that they could get me some new pajamas. So we turned them loose in the women's lingere section. While they were busy picking out the ugliest fuzzy moo-moos you ever saw in your life, hubby was busy pointing out some lingere that he thought I should come back later for when the kids weren't with.

It would be awesome if I could find something that he picked that actually fit me because some of them would help cover up my problem areas. But I've always had a hard time finding stuff like that to fit me. He tends to favor corset style lingere, but if I find something to fit my waist, my boobs don't even come close to fitting. If I find something that the boobs fit into, the waist part is WAY too big.

So, thanks to guidance from my oldest, the girls did end up picking out a pair of pajamas I like. It's a 3 piece set that came with leopard print shorts and pants, and a top that says 100% ANIMAL on it. WAY better than the tents that the little ones were favoring.

Since my birthday is coming up we decided to go out to supper to celebrate. I let the kids pick where as long as it wasn't McDonalds. They chose this all you can eat buffet place because they love the dessert bar there. I decided that I wasn't going to count calories at all, and wasn't going to limit myself. I figured that it wouldn't ruin everything I've worked so hard for because it takes 3500 calories to gain a lb of fat, and that would be a LOT of food. So I had shrimp and steak, mashed potatoes and gravy, and I even had dessert! I was so miserable afterward because I'm not used to eating so much at once any more.

We had bought a new generator and a fire proof 16 gun safe (hubby's anniversary present) that had to be unloaded when we got home. The stores loaded them for us, but we were on our own to unload them. I had to help hubby carry that gun safe down into the basement to his 'man cave'. My muscles were screaming by the time we got it carried in and put away.

When I woke up this morning I was really sore from carrying that safe, but since I pigged out last night at supper I figured I'd better run a little extra today to burn some of it off. I had just gone a little over 6.5 miles when hubby came in and said I should get dressed in some old clothes because he needed help. The water pump for the cows wasn't working. I had to help him pull it up out of the well and replace the pump (it had burned out). Then after we lowered it back down into the well we found that it was too low because it was sucking mud (which is probably what caused the old one to burn out). The pump is held in position by a rope that's tied to the pump on one end, and tied off at ground level with the other end. To raise it's position we had to lift the pump up, then I had to hold it while hubby untied the rope and retied it off shorter. I don't know how much the pump and all that pipe weighs, but it was HEAVY!!! And to have to hold it there that long so that it could be retied was agony, especially since my muscles were already sore from moving the safe, and then from running for so long right before that. But I did it! I don't think I would have been able to if I hadn't been lifting weights these last few months. But this evening I'm so stiff and sore! I'm not looking forward to how much this is gonna hurt by tomorrow morning....
 
You have cows?! Bloody awesome! Do you live on a farm? What other animals do you have!?!


My boyfriend prefers corset type stuff whilst I'd rather be under a baggy t-shirt with a pair of his boxers on. Sexy underwear doesn't do much for me so I make it clear that what I *do* wear is a compromise and save the super sexy stuff for only when *I'm* feeling super sexy, not when he wants it. Otherwise I end up feeling crappy and he can tell and the sex isn't great.

New pj's sound great though! Happy birthday for whenever it is! xxxx
 
You have cows?! Bloody awesome! Do you live on a farm? What other animals do you have!?!


My boyfriend prefers corset type stuff whilst I'd rather be under a baggy t-shirt with a pair of his boxers on. Sexy underwear doesn't do much for me so I make it clear that what I *do* wear is a compromise and save the super sexy stuff for only when *I'm* feeling super sexy, not when he wants it. Otherwise I end up feeling crappy and he can tell and the sex isn't great.

New pj's sound great though! Happy birthday for whenever it is! xxxx

Yup! I live on a small cattle ranch/farm that has been in my husband's family for a little over 100 years. His family were Germans from Russia that came over and homesteaded here in the U.S., breaking ground for the first time in the spring of 1903. Our 2nd daughter was born in April 2003,. We had a centennial celebration when she was about a month old where we and a few neighbors worked that first original field with old horse drawn equipment and planted oats. My husband's 2nd cousin is a minister, so we had our daughter baptized there on the original old homestead by him. Today we have beef cattle, a few horses, a couple dogs and half a dozen barn cats. We also do some small grain farming - some wheat and oats usually.

It's a LOT of hard work for not very much money, but we love the land and the lifestyle.

Thanks for the early birthday wishes! It's officially my birthday on Tuesday, the 26th. :party:
 
I am SO freakin' sore today! Been lazy all day and not eaten very well either. Feeling bloated and a bit cranky because that TOM is due to start this week. Stepped on the scale tonight and it's jumped up to 144.6. :banghead: SO depressing to see that. I haven't been drinking much water the last few days and I've eaten WAY too much salt.

Gotta get myself back on track again tomorrow. Water, lower salt, water, lower calories, water!!! And MORE WATER!!!!

I've been looking thru old photos today trying to find something pre-kid of me that I can maybe match up to some of the old clothes I have to see what size I was when I was thinner. It's been kind of fun walking down memory lane. Maybe I'll post some of them....

Some of them I need to lock away so my kids never find them though!
 
Started out today pretty stiff and sore, but I've just finished a nice easy 3 mile run and feeling pretty good. Pleasantly sore and tired. I should sleep REALLY good tonight!

I've gotten back on track today with drinking water and my calories are in check. Hopefully tomorrow morning I'll see a dip in the scales again. (fingers crossed)

I have to work in the city tomorrow. Some of my co-workers want to take me out to lunch for my birthday, but I told them today I'd rather just skip the whole thing. Especially since hubby is going to be catching a ride up with a friend to meet me after work, so I'm sure we'll be going out to supper (again). I'm actually getting a bit tired of celebrating already. I've never thought my birthday was that big of a deal. Just another day really. I've had some good birthdays, but I've also had some REALLY lousy ones. I feel like a horrible mother for saying this, but my kids are driving me nuts with them trying so hard to make my birthday 'special'. My birthday isn't even till tomorrow, but they keep asking what they can do for me, drawing me hundreds of pictures, putting on these lame skits that never make any sense. I think this year I'm just too chock full of PMS to be patient with them. I'm having a hard time just smiling and telling them yes, I LOVE the picture you drew me (that's exactly the same as the last three you drew me) and I LOVE sitting forever watching you sing off key or act out something that doesn't make sense to me.

Honestly, right now the best birthday present for mommy would be to just be left alone! So if I get birthday candles to blow out tomorrow I'm probably going to wish for some time to myself - even it it's only long enough to go to the bathroom without an audience.
 
Oh Tigs! I know exactly how you feel!! Grumpy mum syndrome!! Heh. Yep, you feel like the worse mum in the world, but really can't be bothered with it all!! hehehe. I always go and have a soak in the bath and some "time to think" or go for a long run. That usually recharges the smiley face and enthusiastic "wow that drawing is so beautiful and you did it just for me?!"!

Happy Birthday!!!! Hope you have a restful and slightly selfishly endulgent day! Lots of hugs!

The whole cattle thing - wow - I'm really impressed, real "frontier" stuff from your husband's family. What a history to have behind you and your home. I can imagine that its a hard life - even if you love it.
 
Thanks for the birthday wishes Jay!

The day ended up being pretty good (even though they have a blizzard forcasted for us for tonight). Hubby took me out to Applebees after work for supper and I had their yummy Asiago peppercorn steak dinner (under 550 cals!) and it was SO yummy! But I see my goal of 135 lbs by Halloween slowly slipping away. Not by much, but I don't know if I'm going to hit that exact number by then. Maybe by the week after. I was 139.6 this morning when I stepped on the scale.

I got lots of lovely gifts from everyone, but the best one is always from my mother. Every year she takes the kids for an entire weekend!!! The girls have 4-H stuff going on this weekend so we decided to schedule it for next weekend. I CAN'T WAIT!!! She picks them up on her way home from work on Friday, and brings them back after church on Sunday. That's 2 glorious nights of completely child free, adult only time. And 2 mornings of sleeping in without kids jumping on me at the butt crack of dawn demanding to be fed breakfast! We can watch kid inappropriate movies all weekend and stay out late at the local bar if we want to! And entire clothing optional weekend all to ourselves!

This year I'm going to remember to lock the doors though so my MIL doesn't interrup us like she did last year! :blush5: SO embarrassing!
 
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