What nobody tells you about losing weight
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@sargemarcori i feel like viewing myself as more vulnerable at a smaller weight has kept me from losing at some points. What do you find terrifying about it?
oof...there's some history there. I think it plays with what a lot of people have said, feeling like they are more noticed when they are smaller? And the old survival brain tells me that "visible is vulnerable." So someone compliments me, or i see a new low number on my scale, and my inner five year old wants to eat All The Things to go back the other way.
@coblujay same! I find myself doing balance exercises while I brush my teeth because I can.11 -
I've lost a lot of weight and gained some back - what people don't tell you is that, no matter how much you've lost, it is always possible to gain the weight back if you stop trying to make healthy choices. I've lost so much weight that people didn't recognize me. That I was like the 'freak of the week' at work because people couldn't believe how different I looked. I've felt jealousy from others and admiration from others. I was feeling so good about myself but my unhealthy relationship with food continued - and I've regained weight. I only have today with which to make healthy food and life decisions - and now honor my weight loss with a daily focus. I just don't take a "cheat meal", holiday "treat" or food excuse as rationale for derailing my focus.27
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How hot I’d be. I mean, I was pretty irresistible before because of my charming and sweet personality. But these days, I can’t seem to keep the ladies from falling all over themselves for me!
I think it’s the 🍑 😏
Is it, @MelG7777?8 -
PaperDoll_ wrote: »How hot I’d be. I mean, I was pretty irresistible before because of my charming and sweet personality. But these days, I can’t seem to keep the ladies from falling all over themselves for me!
I think it’s the 🍑 😏
Is it, @MelG7777?
Oh it’s the 🍑 amongst other things.🥵😏
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sargemarcori wrote: »And the old survival brain tells me that "visible is vulnerable"
What happened with me is when I got smaller, I got less noticeable! Yep, it does happen. (Not sure that I have seen others mention it as a possibility) I call it the ghost syndrome. As in when I was really large, I presented a large target. Now that I am smaller, much smaller target. So, maybe you can tell the old survival brain when it goes all "visible is vulnerable" that smaller is less visible. That way you won't have to fight it so much.
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springlering62 wrote: »Either that or the chlorine is desiccating me so bad I’ll wind up looking like an old school dried apple doll.
Hmm, it will be interesting to track this. How many years have you been small now? I think I have heard others say that it was a few years and they had some skin shrinkage. I have heard that sometimes, after a year the turkey neck is less pronounced. I have heard speculation that it is just that you get used to it..
IDK, I am just trying to ignore it and (except for my arms, which of all the things! Hated them before I lost weight and they are still horrible!! lols). Bottom line, there is nothing I can really do about it except live with it, enjoy the perks of losing weight - incredibly worth it - and consider it a reminder of what I am capable of: gaining large amounts of unhealthy weight that make me really suffer. If I remember that, and I keep it in mind, I am hoping to not gain the weight back. That has always been a goal, not just losing the weight, but keeping it off.
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Just putting this out there in case it helps someone. No one told me that lowering my carbs (not even doing keto or low-carb, just sticking to set macros) would require me to be extra conscious about water-soluble fiber intake. "The Dietary Guidelines for Americans, 2020–2025 recommends that adults eat 22 to 34 grams of fiber." I see a lot of people talking about how weight loss helped their bathroom issues, for me, it was the opposite! Avocado and black beans are now my go to.10
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@justanotherloser007 I’ve been around goal since late 2020.
The loose skin still continues to lessen, although the pace now seems glacially slow.
There’s a definite pattern. I’ll go through several weeks of real floppy belly skin and cascading muffin top, and then it’ll look better for a few weeks, rinse and repeat. But each time it happens, there’s a wee bit less. I’m in an unusually floppy period at the moment. I’m wearing my tightest pants, and they are quite comfortable now, but there’s a couple of marked swags on my belly and some cascade at the waistline.
I caught a glimpse of myself doing dumbbells yesterday morning and started laughing. Everything looks like a much younger woman- up to the neck. It’s all wrinkles and crows feet from the neck up. It looked like Barbie’s head on Skipper’s body, if you know what I mean lol.
I do think the aquafit is helping tighten, though, plus there’s unexpected benefits.
I dropped a 45 pound weight on a finger yesterday morning and it was throbbing and turning rainbow colors all day. But after an aquafit class, it was markedly improved.10 -
PS turkey neck definitely decreases.
However, you then get sort of corded neck muscles that flex when your doing stuff.
It might help to use lotions and potions, but I can’t abide them, especially on my face.5 -
@justanotherloser007 - I can attest that the Turkey neck does get better. I had it so bad. Now there's only 1 visible fold when I smile wide - there used to be 7 or 8! It took at least a year and lots of retinol cream but even at 56, things did tighten up without surgery.
Same with the bat wings - only that took much less time and no expensive cream.
Still have wrinkly pockets on my cheeks where fat pads used to be, and don't get me started about the side boobs and deflated belly. But it's all so much better than it used to be. And a Turkey Neck is 100% better than a double or triple chin - or worse a no neck!14 -
Today I dropped down a size in jeans. Now that alone is great, but the way I feel about myself? PRICELESS!! I had gained due to being in heart failure and the water weight does pour itself on, but I've gotten so much better with my eating habits, etc etc. so DOWN a SIZE in pants and I am smiling even more than my normal which is a lot. It's a great feeling. Self confidence always goes up when this happens.14
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@lantana411 - I totally get what you mean. I have lost over 100 pounds twice. What I mean by that is I lost 100 pounds, gained 115 over the course of 4 years, and then lost 125. I had to start all over again. I have concluded that I will always have the condition medically known as obesity. Right now I am in remission. But if I do not treat is daily (or at least 80% of the time) it will return. By treatment I mean, measuring, monitoring and making adjustments. Not unlike Type 1 diabetes. Treatable, manageable with some effort, but there is no permanent cure at this time.
I took my eye off the ball this winter and gained 15 pounds. On my way to losing that back. You want to know what happened? My smart scale ran out of batteries. So instead of changing them, I just stopped weighing myself. Yeah, I know pretty logical, right? I'd already stopped tracking my food after getting pretty comfortable with maintenance. But I broke my own rule - that I have to track something - either my food, my weight or my body measurements. I stopped all 3. Thankfully, this time, I caught myself a little earlier. 15 pounds is a cakewalk compared to the 125.36 -
I have concluded that I will always have the condition medically known as obesity. Right now I am in remission. But if I do not treat is daily (or at least 80% of the time) it will return. By treatment I mean, measuring, monitoring and making adjustments. Not unlike Type 1 diabetes. Treatable, manageable with some effort, but there is no permanent cure at this time.
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This really resonated for me this morning. I think this might be how I have to look at it. If I eat how I want I will hover around a weight that’s obese, so I too will have to focus on what I eat and making sure I exercise for the rest of my life.12 -
I never considered how much I had been relying on my body weight for moving things around. I was at Home Depot today and found the lumber carriers harder to manage than they used to be because I couldn't just lean on them to get them to go where I wanted. They kept wanting to push me around so I had to rely more on arm and leg strength and the tread on my sandals to keep from slipping. It was interesting.18
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My feet don't hurt so much. Maybe because there is less weight pressing down on them, but they also seem smaller. I don't need wide shoes anymore and they just seem to fit better in general.15
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Sand_TIger wrote: »I never considered how much I had been relying on my body weight for moving things around.
When I started gardening for this year, I felt so ineffective at digging in the clay! It is usually a difficult endeavor, but if I put my whole body weight on the shovel I could whittle it down to be able to work it. Not this year, total bummer! I had to work even smaller bits than usual, easily doubling my time in the clay. Oof!
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justanotherloser007 wrote: »Sand_TIger wrote: »I never considered how much I had been relying on my body weight for moving things around.
When I started gardening for this year, I felt so ineffective at digging in the clay! It is usually a difficult endeavor, but if I put my whole body weight on the shovel I could whittle it down to be able to work it. Not this year, total bummer! I had to work even smaller bits than usual, easily doubling my time in the clay. Oof!
But possibly also doubling your calorie burn!7 -
That you lose weight in strange places not evenly on your body. I had this pair of shorts from over 10 years ago and decided to try them on just for fun. Surprisingly they fit but when I looked in the mirror there were these two twigs sticking out of the leg holes! What happened to my legs? I swear my thighs filled them out back when I last fit into them. So it seems I've lost alot of weight in my legs, unfortunately I think I look rather strange with these bird legs, can't wait until the rest of me catches up. Hopefully it will.13
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I have never been one to get cold, but oh my I feel like my wife I freeze now.
Also I can handle spicy foods way more now, that is one I can't understand. ( anyone know why?)7 -
thomastatro wrote: »I have never been one to get cold, but oh my I feel like my wife I freeze now.
Also I can handle spicy foods way more now, that is one I can't understand. ( anyone know why?)
Same. Almost everything I eat has to have pepper, or salsa or hot pepper spread - I welcome it because I feel like it stops my cravings for sweets --who knows? I could have just made that up but it works for me.6
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