Where I'm At

porcelain_doll

I just want to say that this site has been instrumental in helping me stay in the game and focused on my goal. I have failed at weight loss many times, and while it is happening slowly now, at least it is happening period. I wanted to share progress pics but I did not want to post in the main forums again until I hit my goal.

While I don't have my old body back yet, the one I have at the moment isn't too bad, in my opinion. I can't wait to live in the body again that I used to have (around 145-150 lbs). That is my goal and I am fairly certain I can attain it, granted I do have more muscle tone now so it may not end up being that low. Right now the scale is dancing around 183-184ish. I am 5'6". Sorry that the quality of some of the photos aren't better. Thank you for looking and have a nice weekend! (And feel free to share progress pics of your own, if you would like)

Edited to add: I don't think it hurts to talk about weight a little bit in the Singles forum and show pics of where we are at, do you? After all, we are always discussing attraction and how we feel about ourselves and what attracts us to others. Every day I daydream of having back the body that fit into most anything I wanted it to. Boy, did I take those days for granted.

Now for the pics.

First, a memory of the size I used to be. I'm not banking on being carried around again, but hey - you never know! I was 16 here and around 140 lbs., I think. This is actually one of my all-time favorite pics because it is a snapshot of a very happy time of my life. (I don't talk to the dude anymore in case you were curious.... haha)




Fast forward to age 30. I took a trip to Taiwan to celebrate. Here I am at my highest weight in 2010 (200 lbs):



And here I am today. These were taken almost two months ago, but I look about the same because my losses have stalled. 16.4 lbs down.

Carl01

You look stunning Jill!

porcelain_doll

You look stunning Jill!

Thank you, Carl

AnnaPixie

You've come a long way, those 20 -30lbs make a big difference. That's what I need to lose too!!

Keep smiling and enjoy the ride!! I remember the days when I could sit on a man's shoulders too!! That's a good goal!! :bigsmile:


ETA: just realised your finger is up the guys nose!!! :laugh: great pic!!

porcelain_doll

You've come a long way, those 20 -30lbs make a big difference. That's what I need to lose too!!

Keep smiling and enjoy the ride!! I remember the days when I could sit on a man's shoulders too!! That's a good goal!! :bigsmile:


ETA: just realised your finger is up the guys nose!!! :laugh: great pic!!

Thank you! The journey is a long one, but worth it, right?

It was a lot of fun riding up there. We used to walk around the fair that way. :happy:

Yes, that is me picking Buddha's nose! :laugh:

Mellie289

I think it's definitely good to talk about weight a little bit in the Singles forum since this is still MFP!

Congratulations on what you've done so far, Jill. It's a little discouraging to stall, I'm sure, but you can reach your goal.

I'm also 5'6" and I committed myself to losing weight this year when I weighed myself in at 194 while at my parents for the Christmas holidays, so I was pretty close to the same high weight as you. I was horrified to find out that put me in the obesity range on the BMI scale. As of today, I am finally back in the normal range.

If you're at all interested - I really got things going by cutting out anything with flour from my diet (bread, pastries, pizza, etc.), potatoes and dairy (especially cheese, which I ate daily) and I gave up drinking calories (alcohol, milk, soda and juice). I just ate meat, vegetables and fruits how much that I wanted.

I've gained weight and lost it before but never with putting on the muscle tone like now, thanks to finding MFP, especially learning about the 30 Day Shred. I was just doing cardio on my treadmill before. This site has been instrumental in me getting some nice muscle definition back and I can't wait to get to goal since I think now I will be able to get back to more of my high school body again, which I never dreamed of before joining here.

I'm glad you are comfortable with your body right now at least. Being happy with yourself and just wanting to improve upon that is a good place to work from, IMO.

BTW- feel free to add me if you want another 5' 6" friend with a similar starting weight (my goal weight is probably going to be in the range of 135-140).

MikeM53082

Great job Jill. Keep up the awesome work:drinker:

TheKitsune6

You look great! I love your hair too!!

JanieJack

Wow Jill!! I'm only 2 inches shorter than you but looked NOTHING like that when I was in the 180s!! If I did, I probably wouldn't have bothered trying to lose weight, lol!

Keep up the good work!!

porcelain_doll

I think it's definitely good to talk about weight a little bit in the Singles forum since this is still MFP!

Congratulations on what you've done so far, Jill. It's a little discouraging to stall, I'm sure, but you can reach your goal.

I'm also 5'6" and I committed myself to losing weight this year when I weighed myself in at 194 while at my parents for the Christmas holidays, so I was pretty close to the same high weight as you. I was horrified to find out that put me in the obesity range on the BMI scale. As of today, I am finally back in the normal range.

If you're at all interested - I really got things going by cutting out anything with flour from my diet (bread, pastries, pizza, etc.), potatoes and dairy (especially cheese, which I ate daily) and I gave up drinking calories (alcohol, milk, soda and juice). I just ate meat, vegetables and fruits how much that I wanted.

I've gained weight and lost it before but never with putting on the muscle tone like now, thanks to finding MFP, especially learning about the 30 Day Shred. I was just doing cardio on my treadmill before. This site has been instrumental in me getting some nice muscle definition back and I can't wait to get to goal since I think now I will be able to get back to more of my high school body again, which I never dreamed of before joining here.

I'm glad you are comfortable with your body right now at least. Being happy with yourself and just wanting to improve upon that is a good place to work from, IMO.

BTW- feel free to add me if you want another 5' 6" friend with a similar starting weight (my goal weight is probably going to be in the range of 135-140).

Thank you, and also thanks for the tips! I will definitely add you!

porcelain_doll

Great job Jill. Keep up the awesome work:drinker:

Thanks, Mike! I'm getting there!!

porcelain_doll

You look great! I love your hair too!!

Thank you and thank you! I'm letting it grow out long again (like the top pic). Men keep saying that they find long, blonde hair sexy, so it can only help, right?! Haha!

porcelain_doll

Wow Jill!! I'm only 2 inches shorter than you but looked NOTHING like that when I was in the 180s!! If I did, I probably wouldn't have bothered trying to lose weight, lol!

Keep up the good work!!

Thanks, Janie, very sweet!

kerrymh

You look AMAZING.
If I could post pictures I would but no idea.

I think our wt effects our self esteem greatly so it is an important topic in single peeps.
You have a beautiful curvy body..be proud and keep working on being healthy..

Prahasaurus

Such a huge difference. You look great! You're also quite attractive, and let's face it: either you have it or you don't, and you have it. So be happy about that...

Sorry your weight loss has stalled, but don't get down. Again, what you've done already is fantastic, so stay focused on the positive.

--P

porcelain_doll

You look AMAZING.
If I could post pictures I would but no idea.

I think our wt effects our self esteem greatly so it is an important topic in single peeps.
You have a beautiful curvy body..be proud and keep working on being healthy..

Thank you so much! :flowerforyou:

If you really would like to post a pic, let me know and I can walk you through it!

porcelain_doll

Such a huge difference. You look great! You're also quite attractive, and let's face it: either you have it or you don't, and you have it. So be happy about that...

Sorry your weight loss has stalled, but don't get down. Again, what you've done already is fantastic, so stay focused on the positive.

--P

I really appreciated reading this. Thank you very much, P!

lacroyx

You look stunning Jill!

Thank you, Carl

Agreed! You look great!

You look AMAZING.
If I could post pictures I would but no idea.

check out this link. it's pretty good walk through
http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/262875-need-help-adding-pictures-look-here-pic-heavy

I think our wt effects our self esteem greatly so it is an important topic in single peeps.
You have a beautiful curvy body..be proud and keep working on being healthy..

Yes, yes it does. Some a ton, *rimshot* :laugh: others probably not so much.

Edited to add: I don't think it hurts to talk about weight a little bit in the Singles forum and show pics of where we are at, do you? After all, we are always discussing attraction and how we feel about ourselves and what attracts us to others. Every day I daydream of having back the body that fit into most anything I wanted it to. Boy, did I take those days for granted.

So for me it all started with a girl. :blushing: ...... In my early 20's a girl I was into wanted me to go on a hike with her. I wasn't super heavy then. I'd estimate around the upper 200 lbs. range however, I was definitely out of shape. I just had gotten off work, tired, I foolishly agreed to tag along. I lost my footing and fell off a cliff from about 15 feet in height.

^
It was pretty much like that minus the dramatic pose at the beginning and landing on a guy at the end.:laugh: The roots from a huge tree broke my fall. I was able to get up and painfully limp away on my own but I majorly effed up my back. X-rays from the doctor showed I had broken a tiny pinkie nail sized piece of bone in my lower part of my spine. My back hurt all the time. Walking, stairs, anything remotely physical, so I avoided it all. When I wasn't working or sleeping, I was sitting on my *kitten* playing computer games eating fast food for all meals with tons of soda. This went on from the age of 22 to 29.



I could barely walk a block without being heavily winded and I had difficulty sleeping at night. I was tired all the time, day and night. One day I got caught sleeping at work and was warned. I needed to change or be fired. I went to see a doctor Dec. 2009. I assumed I had sleep apnea however it wasn't that, it was diabetes type II among other stuff. High blood pressure, high cholesterol, I even was put on a beta blocker for a little while. The doctor's office needed to use counter weights to weigh me. I was estimated to be around 470-485 lbs. Friends and family were pretty shocked. They all guessed 400 lbs. tops. Apparently with my height, 6'3 and size I've been told I carry it well.

I went cold turkey on soda pop, slowly weaned myself off fast food and began walking. It hurt my back but my doctor assured me over time it would improve and it did. My health aimproved and my doctor started weaning me off the medications.
Jan. 2011 I had dropped a little over 100 lbs. and all of my medical issues were gone. Diabetes, high blood pressure, etc etc. all gone. I didn't need to take any more meds for anything! However I did find out some slightly depressing news. :frown:

Over time as I got more and more active and my right ankle started bugging me. I thought I had sprained it. I saw a foot doctor and the x-rays showed I had broken bones in both ankles, bit of osteoarthritis, with the right one being the worse of the 2. Over the years of being almost 500 lbs for so long I wasn't doing any favors to my ankles. Strangely, I never felt pain until I got more active. The tiny broken bits and pieces floating about inside was causing irritation and pain. I lift weights, swim, and do cardio. I love to go out jogging for cardio but because of this I had to scale it back from jogging 4x-5x a week to 1-2x now.

I was sad for a while. Though they are low impact, I hate elliptical and treadmills. About a year ago I decided to try Zumba and found it was great way to get my cardio in. Easy on my ankles, get my heart rate up, burn tons calories, and though I suck at it, I enjoy it. Friends give me **** all the time. I have the balls to go in a room with a bunch of beautiful women and do Zumba yet I don't have the balls to ask one out. I tried to understand it myself but I can't. I think my attitude of not giving 2 flying balls of monkey poo what others think over powers the shyness of doing Zumba with a bunch of ladies. If I could somehow translate that attitude to asking a girl out, dealing with rejection, and dating it would be GREAT! :laugh:


This is my most recent pic. I'm 316 here. I am shooting for the 200-220 range. It's slowed down but I am patient. Plus losing weight was never my main goal. Getting healthy and staying healthy is. The weight loss is just a added bonus.
I've been going at this for almost 3 years now. The most important thing I can say is never give up.

Ok let's hear others! Don't be shy!

NCTravellingGirl

Jill, you look amazing and deserve and @ss smack for that :bigsmile: I weigh about 20-25 lbs more than you and have no chance of looking that amazing when I get there. Wow, I would never have guessed your weight at all... you should get lots of prizes at a carnival, hee hee.... (OK, my apologies for the cheese).

Lacroyx, you've come such a LONG way. Again, I wouldn't have put you over 300 still. That's awesome! Zumba is a ton of fun and that fact that you are in there doing it speaks volumes. I know very few men who can or are even willing to. Any single girls in those classes worth talking with? They'll see your effort and be impressed... practice is a good thing even if it goes no where!!

porcelain_doll

Lacroyx, that is an incredible story. Thank you for posting your pics and sharing with us. I have had a hard enough time losing the little amount that I have; I cannot imagine losing the amount that you have. That is truly an effort that few can top. I also think it is very cute how "it all started with a girl."

NC - thank you (lol @ *kitten* smack - oh, and I loved the cheese)! I have won prizes at the carnival when they try to guess my age. :laugh: (I think those things are rigged.)

SouthernSweetie74

Jill, you look GREAT! Why you been hidin'?

Congratulations on your success in weight loss. You look very pretty, and I love your hair.

SouthernSweetie74

Lacroyx, thank you for sharing your story! Congratulations on your weight loss and your successes. I think you're a handsome fellow and I am sure that there is a woman near you somewhere that would love for you to get over being shy and just ask her out already. Keep up the great work! You're amazing!

porcelain_doll

Jill, you look GREAT! Why you been hidin'?

Congratulations on your success in weight loss. You look very pretty, and I love your hair.

Thanks, Darla! I'm trying not to hide anymore.

lacroyx

Lacroyx, you've come such a LONG way. Again, I wouldn't have put you over 300 still. That's awesome! Zumba is a ton of fun and that fact that you are in there doing it speaks volumes. I know very few men who can or are even willing to. Any single girls in those classes worth talking with? They'll see your effort and be impressed... practice is a good thing even if it goes no where!!

Lacroyx, thank you for sharing your story! Congratulations on your weight loss and your successes. I think you're a handsome fellow and I am sure that there is a woman near you somewhere that would love for you to get over being shy and just ask her out already. Keep up the great work! You're amazing!

Lacroyx, thank you for sharing your story! Congratulations on your weight loss and your successes. I think you're a handsome fellow and I am sure that there is a woman near you somewhere that would love for you to get over being shy and just ask her out already. Keep up the great work! You're amazing!

Thank you all! As I keep improving and dropping the excess weight, I know the confidence will grow.
@NCTravellingGirl yes there are quite a few girls in my Zumba class that from what I can tell are single.

AnnaPixie

@lacroyx - OMG!! You've done (and are doing) such an amazing job!! Kudos on losing the meds!! :bigsmile: You don't LOOK like you need to lose another 100lbs!! :noway:

Is there nothing the Docs can do about your ankles?

So proud of you honey, I can definitely see a Zumba queen in your life very soon!! :flowerforyou:

lacroyx

@lacroyx - OMG!! You've done (and are doing) such an amazing job!! Kudos on losing the meds!! :bigsmile: You don't LOOK like you need to lose another 100lbs!! :noway:

Is there nothing the Docs can do about your ankles?

So proud of you honey, I can definitely see a Zumba queen in your life very soon!! :flowerforyou:

I could get surgery to help clean up the tiny broken bits. The special xray they used, cat scan I think? I suck at medical terms :laugh: it needed to be zoomed in to even display the bits inside of the ankle. However surgery is always tricky and prefered as a last alternative. I have gotten a steroid shot to help with the pain when it does flare up. I got it back in early May and haven't needed to get another yet. As for the osteoarthritis, age can affect it but it's hard to predict.

pa_jorg

@Jill & Lacroyx ... You two both look amazing and are great inspirations! Keep up the good work!! :flowerforyou:

JanieJack

Wow Lacroyx!! Great job.

Jill, I still think you look amazing. You do NOT look as heavy as you weigh! Keep it up!!

porcelain_doll

@pa_jorg - Thank you so much! :flowerforyou:

@Janie - Thank you, others have told me the same about not looking like my weight and it never gets old. LOL

lacroyx

@pa_jorg and JanieJack

Thank you!

Jennifer2387

You both look AMAZING!!!!! That is very impressive!!!!