a long way to go... but i love what i see so far (pics)

thanks so much everyone, this is exactly why i joined mfp... you all are such a great support system and so encouraging. It was sad to see these old pics but i think i shall put them to good use. Gonna print these out and put them in my wallet, next time I reach in there for cash to buy fast food i want to remember why i've decided to eat healther and change my lifestyle

WTG!!!!! I am trying so hard to lose weight and my scale doesn't budge. Grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr
My trainer says I'm not taking in enough calories for all the exercise I do??? Now how can this be?

There's always been alot of discussion on this site regarding calorie deficits or "eating back" whatever calories you burn working out. I think the general concensus is that you you should eat them but here is my little secret... I don't! Somebody posted a great link with lots of info: http://shouldieatmyexercisecalories.com/
Check it out. Here is an excerpt from the article that explains why I do choose to not eat them:

"If you have a high initial body fat percentage, then you are going to lose more fat relative to lean, so you will need a larger deficit to lose the same amount of weight as compared to a lean person. That means that eating at a lower calorie level will work better for you than for a relatively lean individual.

Creating a calorie deficit once at the beginning of a diet (e.g., a 750 calorie deficit per day) and maintaining that same caloric intake for the duration of the diet and after major weight loss fails to account for how your body decreases energy expenditure with reduced body weight. Your dietary needs will change as you lose weight. As you get lighter, your daily caloric need will diminish as will your body's ability to tolerate a too low calorie intake (consequence? you'll begin to lose more lean and hang onto the fat, thereby getting lighter but "fatter")."


so basically I take it to mean that while I am obese (which I still am) I can getting away with creating a deficit and still lose alot of weight. Once you become leaner though you run the risk of losing muscle instead of fat when you burn much more calories than you eat. But when it all comes down to it... to each his own