ColleenPosley

Here's my reaction: FINALLY! As an official fat chick, I am SICK TO DEATH of walking into the gym and being stared at by skinnies who only see the fat. They don't see the back injury that kept me from moving for five months solid. They don't see the car accident that caused a hemotoma (spelling?) on my knee, preventing it…

Let me preface this by saying I LIKE TO EAT. I really do. I don't eat to live, I live to eat. However, keeping active it never seemed to matter. I was diagnosed with a college-graduate-level case of chronic depression and my doctor gave me Paxil. Turns out, that drug makes you lethargic, apathetic and helps you gain…

My favorite "bad knee" exercise is water walking. Get in the pool and just start walking. Try to walk in a steady rhythm, but not too fast or too slow. The water both takes the pressure off your joints and offers resistance to help strengthen muscles. I work up a sweat when I do this, but I never feel...battered? like I do…

Good for you! I miss water exercises. I live so far out in the country that the cows are astonished, you know? Keep at the water stuff - you'll feel way better. One thing: I noticed that my weight loss was not dramatic - a pound or two per week. So don't get discouraged!

When I get like that, I try to fight it off for a while. "ooooh...I really want that piece of cake, but I shouldn't because there's no nutritional value and I've been doing so well...but I still want it..." blah, blah, blah. If I can fight the craving off for ONE DAY, then I'm ok. But if I have the same craving for three…

Yes, make sure you have clothing that fits you even if you're planning to lose weight. It doesn't all have to be haute couture, but you should like the way it feels to wear, the way it looks on you, and the way you feel wearing it - being comfortable actually makes an enormous difference in the way you feel day-to-day. I'm…

I buy bras from JMS.com (Just My Size). If you have a Catherine's near you, they'll do a free bra fitting for you, and they sell way many styles of bras. Underpants and panties are also at Catherine's, but The Avenue has cuter patterns if you're interested. I buy men's shirts. Hear me out: at Catherine's and Lane Bryant,…

Catherine's and The Avenue usually have a tall length of shorts. And if push comes to shove, buy the capris and hem them.

My favorite is "Wow, you're so tall! Do you play basketball?" No. No, I bloody do not. Don't even like the sport. {rolling my eyes} My standard reply has become "You're so short! Do you play mini golf?" I usually follow that up with "Putz." Then, happily, the conversation moves to other topics. The other day, I sat down on…

I'm 6'1". The charts tell me that I should weigh 160. Firstly, I don't know if that's realistic since I'm starting from over 500 lbs (gasp!), and secondly, won't that take away any of the curves I have left when I get down there? 160 lbs at 6'1"? I'd be a toothpick! I'm shooting for 215 right now and when I get there, I'll…

I have osteoarthritis in my lumbar area. At best, I have stiffness from my ribs to my thighs. At worst, I have sciatic pain from my left shoulder clear down to the toes on my left foot. One of my best methods for pain management, when I can't take medications for whatever reason, is a visualization. I quickly and…

I'm Colleen. Let me just get this out: working out with chronic pain SUCKS. Ok, I feel better, and I hope you do, too. I'm 35 and I've had chronic pain for a really long time. When I was 13, I had a growth spurt during which I grew a full 12" in 9 months. Every joint in my body ached for a sold year. When I finally got to…

My name is Colleen. I'm trying to lose weight by eating more fruit (because I would actually trade chocolate for fruit on most days), but I'm allergic to coconut and pineapple. Coconut is easy enough to avoid normally, but... Turns out that a lot of manufacturers use pineapple juice as a natural preservative in their fruit…

My name is Colleen and I'm 6'1" in my bare feet. Standard walking shoes put me just over 6'2" The last time I wore heels was for a job interview at which the 5'6" interviewer got a neck crick from looking up at me. No one believes I'm as heavy as I am because I'm so tall. Which I guess is nice, but I still have a 36"…

I'm Colleen. Sadly, I don't work right now. I live in a town that's about 35 miles from the closest gym and, being unemployed, I can't afford to drive 70 miles a day for a gym membership. That means that I sit around a lot. And when I was working, I did mostly call center or administrative support. So it's not like this is…

I'm Colleen. I'm 35 and weigh in at a HEFTY 525 today. Frankly, it's not the fat that bugs me. It's the lack of cute clothes that gets to me. I'm 35, not 105, right? I'm also 6'1" tall, and I don't want to be 110lbs...I'm shooting for a nice 185lbs. I get to be in better shape and keep all my curves. I've dieted before…