Ladies: Were u once 200+, now at/close to UGW(w/o surgery)?

xSirensSong

Thank you everyone for your stories & suggestions!! It helps so much & means a lot! :flowerforyou:

awise19

SOOOOOO I started at 260... I started by doing weight watchers for 3 months honestly. Lowering my portions, stopped drinking soda, stopped eating fast food. Really just got my nutrition on track! That is the first huge step that I made and I would drink like 7-8 32 oz bottles of water a day. I dropped like 25 pounds in a month. Just water weight and extra weight from the fast food and soda. It felt amazing. I then did a detox, the acia berry one, got it at walmart. It helps me really get all the crap outta my body so I stopped craving junk. My body didn't want it anymore. I would walk my dog, and walk on the tread mill, the eleptical and ride the bike at the gym. Nothing serious at all. I started dropping weight and then I felt more comfortable at the the gym, started doing intervals running, started walking on the treadmill with incline. Still of course eating well and after the 3 months on weight watchers I just started using MFP. I stay between 1200-1500 depending on the exercise level that day. I am now down to 190!!! It feels amazing and I feel the best I ever have. I swear it is all about nutrition. I prep my lunches every week. I do a meal replacement shake for breakfast, the lean shakes from GNC and fruit. I make great healthy dinners! It feels so good to eat healthy! I don't just eat lame salads. haha When I eat a salad though, it is filled with Kale and argula and baby spinach and it tastes soooo amazing. I want to get to 160 so i still have weight to lose but I am gaining muscle now because I do kettlebell training, I lift and squat and do crossfit. Once you drop some weight you will love getting in the gym and see people watching you because they are amazed at what you can do and how hard you are working. Keep working hard! Feel free to add me always here!

gobonas99

I've never been a "skinny mini". I'm 5'5", and I do NOT have genetics on my side (I take after my dad's side of the family and almost all of my relatives on that side have weight issues - some very severe). When I turned 18 my senior year of high school (Jan 95), I weighed 149 pounds (I actually had my gyno pull it up a few years ago)....I think I wore a size 10? When I first started my fitness journey in Feb 2005, I weighed 185 and was wearing VERY tight size 14s (some 16s). I started with The Firm at home and working with a personal trainer at the gym twice a week. I only lost about 15 pounds that first year and a half, but my diet was crap - complete and utter crap, so I'm lucky that I lost as much as I did strictly through exercise. In the fall of 2006, I discovered Beachbody workouts and started Turbo Jam (which I loved)....then P90X in the beginning of 2007 (which I didn't finish). I had met someone after I left my ex-husband. New boyfriend = eating out more and working out less = gain weight). I gained back almost 10 pounds (was just under 180) by Jan 2009. My sister was getting married that July and I needed to do something. So, I started Chalean Extreme. I did the first round (12 weeks) as written, and sort of watched what I ate (but didn't count calories, just tried to make healthier choices and not eat out as much) but only lost about 10 pounds and was down to 170. I started round 2 of CLX in April, but added on some extra cardio (about 30 minutes on CLX days and an hour on one of the two rest days - used TJ in the beginning, then biking once it was warm enough outside). I lost 21 pounds and was down to 154 and wearing a size 10.

I maintained that (within 3-4 pounds) for nearly two years (doing various workout videos like Insanity and other BB workouts in the winter, and biking and running in the summer - I did my first Iron Girl sprint triathlon in August 2010). Then in early-mid 2011, I was doing Insanity and then Asylum (before I started tri trianing), eating properly (and counting calories), but I started gaining and nothing seemed to help....by the time I did my second Iron Girl in Aug 2011, I was up to 175 pounds - I had gained 15 pounds in less than 6 months (plus I was always tired and felt like garbage). Discussed my concerns with my gyn at my bi-annual appt that August, and she sent me for blood tests. Turns out my thyroid levels were off the chart. Somewhere along the way, my thyroid had gone all wonky. My doc started me immediately on meds (lowest dose) and sent me to an endocrinologist to get my meds to the correct level (which was an 8 month wait to get in - she actually increases my meds to the next dose up at my next appt in February, since the initial dose had only dropped my thyroid level from scary high to still very high, and my appt with the endo wasn't until May).

Between Sept 2011 and May 2012, my weight gain had slowed, but I weighed in at the endo at 199. The endo increased my dose (as the increase my gyn had done in March had only brought my levels from "still very high" to "higher than it should be"), and when he restested me in August, my thyroid levels were "better, but not where he'd like to see them" (I did my third Iron Girl that month, which, let me tell you, was no picnic at nearly 200 pounds - especially because, even though I'd been working out, I hadn't actually RUN since my last Iron Girl - I was lucky I finished). So he increased my dose one more time.

By next next appointment with the endo in Feb 2013, I was feeling any better and wasn't tired all the time any more, but I hadn't lost any weight (tho I confess, I was a naughty girl over the holidays and WAYYYYY over ate - my highest weight ever was 202.5 on Jan 1 when I started Combat, thanks to Christmas cookies...and but was down to 197-198 by my appt in Feb). At this appt, my levels were "exactly where he wanted them to be", so no med adjustments...and he said that since I was feeling better and not tired, I should start seeing the weight come off soon. Oh...and at this point, I wear wearing 14s - the same size I originally wore at 185 when I first started - even though I was now 15 pounds heavier - so at least that meant my workouts were doing *something* for me

Anyway...my endo was right. Feb through April were a bit bumpy, because my fiance and I were eating out way more than we should have, so I only lost like 6 pounds. But then come May, I became uber diligent with my food choices and logging my calories, and started tri training after I finished my second round of Combat. I did my fourth Iron Girl AND my first Olympic distance tri in August. And I am continuing to run (to get faster for next year's triathlons), and started T25 this week. Between May 1st and Oct 1st, I lost 28 pounds (34 pounds from my high weight of 202.5 on Jan 1st). I am now 168.5 and wearing size 10s (the exact same size 10s that I previously wore when I was maintaining between 154-160)...and they're actually a little loose.

As far as my UGW. I don't really have one. I put one into MFP, but it's kind of arbitrary. I KNOW I can get back down to 154, since I definitely still have fat on me (hips and thighs, ugh), which will likely put me at or near a size 8. And I KNOW that at 154, I will still have fat to lose. But I don't know how much lower I will be able to go scale wise - maybe another 10-15 pounds? Whatever it takes for me to get into a size 6. :laugh: Pretty much once I get to 154-155, I will be paying much more attention to measurements, pictures, clothing size, and body fat % (from caliper or hydrostatic testing, NOT bio-impedance), than to what the scale says (other than attempting to ensure the scale doesn't go UP). :happy:

Feel free to add me.

babyj0

All you ladies are AMAZING! And an insparation to everyone.

DorisInTheDena

My highest weight ever was 337. I am at 208 now. No surgery just "diet" and exercise. Not under goal weight but I'm not really worried about that. I've come too far!