cdcjensen Member

Making peace with cheat meals and ENJOYING meals out with family/friends has been one of the most difficult aspects about my journey. It was true during my 150 lb weight loss, and it has remained true for the year and a half since I met my goal. But, I can tell you that when I give myself permission to enjoy my cheat meal…

Most weeks, I bank some calories during the week so I can loosen up on weekends, just ensuring that my total calories for the week stay where MFP says I should be for 7 days worth of calories. I like this approach because it's not all decided by one day - it's the ebbs and flows over time, which is more realistic to life,…

Not a clothing item, but look what I did today! It's lyrics from a song called "Boston", and I was on the streets of Boston, a few weeks after the marathon bombing, surrounded by the flowers/memorials, when I had my epiphany that I wasn't going to weigh 300+ pounds anymore. These lyrics have so much meaning in my journey,…

Cholesterol went from over 250 to about 185, so I got off of those meds. Also got off of high blood pressure meds. Not to mention the back not hurting, the knees not hurting, I sleep well again, I have energy again, I don't feel mood swings or depression symptoms, and I am completely engaged in life again. All upside! (Oh,…

Thank you, everyone, for kind words and encouragement! I got through the holidays, foot surgery, and now really cold days where I'm not outside exercising or moving around as much but am still holding steady 4.5 months after reaching my goal. No doubt, using the 16 months to create a lifestyle I can sustain (and not just…

Here's how my son dressed me. Not bad!

Both, but feelings of the "old" me are steadily disappearing. You are so right, though, that the emotional side is huge. Not only did I have to tackle the demons that led to my former habits/lifestyle, once I reached my goal, I had sort of an identity crisis -- as great a feeling as it is to not know or recognize the…

Like a million bucks. I like to think if I would had realized how good I would feel that I would have done this years ago, but the truth is, I wasn't mentally or emotionally ready to make the commitment to myself years ago.

I'm mid 40's. And, I had a number of frustrating weeks where the scale didn't budge or went up. I just stuck with it. Quitting was never an option. But, if it got stuck, I'd mix up anything and everything I could think of -- change eating habits a little, change my exercise routine a little, lower my carbs/sodium a little,…

I did start to get dizzy, so my doctor said let's try it without meds. That was January. Never had to go back on the meds!

I had high blood pressure and high cholesterol, both of which have completely been resolved -- haven't been on meds for either in months! I also had bad knees, a bad back, slept like crap, and generally felt like crap and always needed a nap, etc. All that is gone, too. Nothing hurts, I have so much energy and never feel…

And that is a good thing!

I've been doing it for a few weeks now, and I've got to say that it is FAR less stressful to me than weight loss mode was. I think that's because once I reached my goal (which was a somewhat arbitrary number), I stopped stressing over the scale and moved emphasis to how I look and feel. I still step on the scale each week,…

I am always happy to share my story and journey with anyone who feels they might benefit from it -- I know how much it meant to my personal struggle to see from others that it's possible to achieve. But you're right -- it has to be the person's choice. A person has to be mentally and emotionally ready to make whatever…

I confess I'm one of the lucky ones. It's really not that bad. But, like you said, nothing could be as bad as where I was! It was my biggest fear, too, and I'm grateful it didn't really come to fruition.

Thank you all for the support and motivation. It's amazing how much easier we sometimes feel we can tackle our demons simply by knowing we're not alone in our battle.

That is a GREAT idea! I bet it would take the stress out of it. Right now, my 13-year-old son is helping. I figured he couldn't do any worse than me in making a clothing decision! But, I know he'll be honest about the way something looks, and he's actually done a good job so far. But, I do need some adult assistance, and…

Thank you! Honestly, for the first 100 lbs, my exercise was just walking a few miles several days per week. It was only in the last 6 months that I got more serious, which for me, means doing the elliptical a few days per week and then a little strength training a couple days per week. My neighbor is a personal trainer,…

I've only been in maintenance mode for about a month and still have to remind myself that real people who are of normal weight eat real food all the time and don't blow up again by having a cheat meal, an unusually high calorie day, etc. For me personally, I'm finding that as long as I continue to track and record what I'm…

The "normal" range for my height/build is a spread of 30 lbs. Not knowing what anything in that range would like in my 40's (was last in that range when I was in my 20's), I made my goal right in the middle of that 30 lbs range. As I reached the final 5 lbs to the goal, I realized I just needed to hit my goal once so I…

Thanks everyone for good feedback. What I could tie to my own situation based on this thread is that my recent focus on increased protein and reduced carbs may be a contributing factor. Going to make some minor adjustments to account for that and give it a little time. Many thanks again -- couldn't be making this weight…

I feel great! But, I've done the same thing as you -- heavy focus on my protein now that I'm strength training. Maybe I just need to work a little harder to get everything in balance.

Not on a specific diet plan, but now that you say it, I don't eat a whole lot of grains -- I admit I've limited them due to some mild allergies I have with a lot of grains and with carb amounts of others. Maybe I should bump it up a little for those I know don't cause a reaction. Thanks for the feedback.

Yep. Not always, but I have definitely put a focus on that in the last few months as the final pounds become harder to lose. Of course, maybe I have unrealistic expectations of how often I should be going as a result of so much water, etc!

It's very frustrating when "well meaning" people have their opinions about what you need to do, how you need to go about it, etc. I'm down 120 lbs with 30 to go, and I am really tired of people saying, "I don't see where you have 30 lbs left on you". They can't see the fat left on my gut and thighs, nor do they know what…

Just what I needed to hear this morning. I had a great week of eating and even started walking a couple miles each day again (I used to do this everyday until I had surgery 2 months ago and haven't been allowed to walk much since then until this week). I just "assumed" the great week of eating and the walking back into my…

As many others have already said, I step on the scale several times a day, too. It has been tremendous for me to learn my body. I don't starve myself or anything else based on the daily movement of the scale, but I sure have learned valuable things, such as eating a lot of carbs after about 2PM results in no scale movement…

I've lost 100 of my 150 lb goal, and I have not as of yet hit what I would call a real plateau. I've gone for a week without losing anything, but I could tie those to a day or two of excess. When those would happen, I would just stay the course and let the frustration of no scale movement motivate me to stay focused. After…