Unutterably Silly So what are you doing RIGHT NOW?

[SneakySnake]

OK Sorry


*fatter than ever and jealous of montsnmags success*

[montsnmags]

Originally Posted by SneakySnake

OK Sorry

Ha! Just joshin'. As if you need to apologise. I'm equal parts foody, gourmet, gourmand and glutton, and even love photos of food (See awesome Aussie food-photo blog "What Katie Ate": http://www.whatkatieate.blogspot.com/).

*fatter than ever and jealous of montsnmags success*

I tell people that though I've lost the weight in the last seven months, it's taken me 23 years to lose it. It's not easy, and there are shedloads of factors that interfere and distract and obstruct (still, now, for me). But that 23 years is real, and that's because I've the will-power of a cabbage, and the personal security and self-esteem of a...well, another cabbage. This is the first time out of numerous efforts that I've had some success at returning to "normality" (at least in BMI).

You have always come across to me as positive and strong, emotionally, intellectually, experientially and go-get-'em!-ly, and I have much humbled respect and confidence in that. So, your jealousy is misplaced - you can do it, and better than I.

Also, I had a pistachio macaron at Peregian today.

Cheers,
Marc

[wyndslash]

@monts: i've been moody over my weight for the last few years and have just taken steps to actually get off my butt and do something about it :P i'm rather impatient too but i'm just trying to take it slow and easy. fast will make the fat come back stronger than ever

but at the moment i am standing in front of my laptop and letting myself sweat from the heat :P

[montsnmags]

Originally Posted by wyndslash

@monts: i've been moody over my weight for the last few years and have just taken steps to actually get off my butt and do something about it :P i'm rather impatient too but i'm just trying to take it slow and easy. fast will make the fat come back stronger than ever

but at the moment i am standing in front of my laptop and letting myself sweat from the heat :P

For me it was less about taking it slow and more about finding habits of eating (eliminating my flawed habits, and getting into a pattern of good standard ones), and ways to exercise that didn't feel like exercise (I don't mind pushing hard, but it should be riding or walking hard up a scenic hill, not on a spin bike or treadmill). I think all plans have to be personal though, so I don't apply what works for me to others.

I've now lost 29kg/64lbs in the last 7 months, coming up to 33% of my former weight, and I've about 3.5kg/8lbs to go to a steady weight to hover around. My blood pressure has dropped a fair bit (though it wasn't that high to begin with), and I haven't had a migraine in about 6 months, which is very not normal (I'd go from periods of one a month to two a week normally). I was the heaviest of my family (sibs and parent, who all didn't mind that vulnerability in me), but now I am the lightest. At my goal I'll weigh slightly less than what I weighed when I first started work at 17.5yo (23.5 years ago).

And best of all, it's expanded my taste in food - I find my taste less driven by cravings for sugar and fat, and just more interested in variety. I've still my sweet tooth, but I ration and concentrate it into specialness. Thus the pistachio macaron (my first ever macaron, for some reason that perplexes me).

Physically, I feel good, trim, fit, and that my general health is no longer a burden that can contribute to and conflate with other issues. But it is costing me a fortune in new clothes (everything's gone from XL to S).

Cheers,
Marc

[WT Sharpe]

Originally Posted by montsnmags

...XL to S...

That's a lot of weight, Marc. Has anyone suggested you might be overdoing it? I'm not saying you are, but I lost a lot of weight in the mid-80s, and people started asking me if I had cancer.

Wish I'd kept some of that weight off, but I really did go to the other extreme.

[WT Sharpe]

Signing off. The sink is full of dishes, and the wife is complaining that I've been neglecting my "womanly duties."

See you all later!

[beppe]

Originally Posted by WT Sharpe

That's a lot of weight, Marc. Has anyone suggested you might be overdoing it? I'm not saying you are, but I lost a lot of weight in the mid-80s, and people started asking me if I had cancer.

Wish I'd kept some of that weight off, but I really did go to the other extreme.

A premature mummification ?
Maybe just to be one step ahead.

[badgoodDeb]

Originally Posted by montsnmags

For me it was less about taking it slow and more about finding habits of eating (eliminating my flawed habits, and getting into a pattern of good standard ones), and ways to exercise that didn't feel like exercise (I don't mind pushing hard, but it should be riding or walking hard up a scenic hill, not on a spin bike or treadmill). I think all plans have to be personal though, so I don't apply what works for me to others.

I've now lost 29kg/64lbs in the last 7 months, coming up to 33% of my former weight, and I've about 3.5kg/8lbs to go to a steady weight to hover around. My blood pressure has dropped a fair bit (though it wasn't that high to begin with), and I haven't had a migraine in about 6 months, which is very not normal (I'd go from periods of one a month to two a week normally). I was the heaviest of my family (sibs and parent, who all didn't mind that vulnerability in me), but now I am the lightest. At my goal I'll weigh slightly less than what I weighed when I first started work at 17.5yo (23.5 years ago).

And best of all, it's expanded my taste in food - I find my taste less driven by cravings for sugar and fat, and just more interested in variety. I've still my sweet tooth, but I ration and concentrate it into specialness. Thus the pistachio macaron (my first ever macaron, for some reason that perplexes me).

Physically, I feel good, trim, fit, and that my general health is no longer a burden that can contribute to and conflate with other issues. But it is costing me a fortune in new clothes (everything's gone from XL to S).

Cheers,
Marc

I need to do exactly what you've managed. Even the numbers are pretty much dead on. Maybe I can tell myself "if Marc can do it, you jolly well can too" and see if that works.
deb

[WT Sharpe]

Originally Posted by badgoodDeb

I need to do exactly what you've managed. Even the numbers are pretty much dead on. Maybe I can tell myself "if Marc can do it, you jolly well can too" and see if that works.
deb

So that's the way it works. Maybe that's my problem. I've been telling myself, "If I were Marc, I could do it."

[montsnmags]

Originally Posted by WT Sharpe

That's a lot of weight, Marc. Has anyone suggested you might be overdoing it? I'm not saying you are, but I lost a lot of weight in the mid-80s, and people started asking me if I had cancer.

Wish I'd kept some of that weight off, but I really did go to the other extreme.

Of course they do. The number of people willing to tell you you're "too thin" (even when I was still technically "overweight") I could number by the pounds lost. Where I started though, I was technically "obese" (not by much, and not too obviously so, but enough that a doctor would concur). So, there was a lot to lose.

Interesting about the cancer thing...one thing Mother was "concerned about" when my brother lost a lot of weight about 10 years ago was that he was sick, or, more specifically, had AIDS (because he had not long come "out", and naturally if you do that any illness you have is AIDS). Some family members have questioned whether I'm "too thin" on the premise that they're concerned for my health. They're not (trust me, they're trying to convince themselves), and I point out that when there were far more and greater risks when I was obese, their "concern" didn't raise a peep from them (except for the occasional mockery, of course).

Some authoritative guides suggest that it's not generally healthy losing more than, I think, a kilogram a week without exercise. We have been rather strongly exercising, even if we don't call it that, riding about 25-35km every couple of days most weeks. We often walk 8-10km or so every other day. Sometimes we have slow weeks, and the rain or visitors can drastically interfere, but we try to keep to this habit as much as possible.

We also have scales that measure "body fat". They're not entirely accurate, but their inaccuracies are a known quantity, based on consumer tests against accurate hospital measure. So, I know my weight is okay...that my goal is a good, reasonable goal that is still a good 8kg away from underweight, and 10kg away from overweight.

And there's also visual identity. While I do have things about me that might be associated with body dismorphic disorder, OCD, and such, I am conscious of those compulsions and do occasionally meet and deal with aspects of them during the dieting process. I can start to understand the compulsion to not eat, and being driven by scales and perception of appearance. I see it, but I know I see it, and I watch myself. So I know that another 3kg will be about right, and remove some lingering areas of excess weight on certain parts of my body (bits people don't see when they look at me and say "too thin"), but that more will be engaging obsession.

Originally Posted by badgoodDeb

I need to do exactly what you've managed. Even the numbers are pretty much dead on. Maybe I can tell myself "if Marc can do it, you jolly well can too" and see if that works.
deb

Why, thank you. Wait, what?

Originally Posted by WT Sharpe

So that's the way it works. Maybe that's my problem. I've been telling myself, "If I were Marc, I could do it."

If you were me, then who would I be? GET OUT OF MY HEAD, TOM! AND YOU TOO, INVISIBLE GIBBON!

Cheers,
Marc

[vivaldirules]

Originally Posted by montsnmags

Ha! Just joshin'. As if you need to apologise. I'm equal parts foody, gourmet, gourmand and glutton, and even love photos of food (See awesome Aussie food-photo blog "What Katie Ate": http://www.whatkatieate.blogspot.com/).

Curse you! Did you see that mushroom and bacon spaghetti?! I'm still struggling to lose the last 10 pounds (have been for almost 4 months). And am very happy for you and envious of your success, Marc. By the way, everybody who sees me now asks if I'm "okay" (I've lost 58 pounds) and when I say I need to lose more they all think I'm overdoing it even though I tell them I have obvious belly fat still.

[SneakySnake]

My scales died the other day, and they went in the bin for Monday pickup. I have been quite well coping with weighing myself withdrawal. Before the scales died, I was down to (mostly) once a day.

I am trying not to be paranoid about how much weight I am putting on and now don't know it. I can see the lazy floppy fat on my belly now (where did that come from?), that I never had until post age 40.

[Stitchawl]

I'm working on dropping another 5 kilo before August. I've taken off 8 kilo in the past four months, changing my eating habits. That also reduce my cholesterol levels a bit, but they weren't too high to begin with. Now that the weather is warmer, I'll feel more like taking evening walks, and that should do the trick. Fact is, I'm just too lazy these days, and my usual sports don't work well for reducing fat.

Stitchawl

[bjones6416]

I've lost 24 pounds since mid-December, and am planning to lose 8 or 9 more because even though my BMI is normal now, the fat that I DO have is right around my midsection. Since my sister had a heart attack at age 47 I'm considered a bit higher risk than average for heart disease, so I don't need to have the extra risk factor of belly fat. I've noticed that the family members who are "concerned" that I'm losing too much or not eating enough at meals tend to be unhappy with their own weight right now. I've got a couple of friends who have been on this weight loss journey with me, though, and they think I look just fine. And last week my doctor told me I was doing great. He knows that I'm not really eating that much less, I'm just eating better, less processed, food.

[Stitchawl]

Originally Posted by bjones6416

And last week my doctor told me I was doing great. He knows that I'm not really eating that much less, I'm just eating better, less processed, food.

I think that really is a key factor. I've gone from being almost a carnivore to a semi-vegetarian. I used to eat meat (chicken, pork, beef,) twice a day, as the main component of my meals. Now I eat it about twice a week, although there are some shreds of it in the soups I have. Vegetables have become my main food, just using meats as a flavoring in the dishes, and I'm amazed at how many really delicious recipes there are for them. I eat no packaged foods at all these days. Everything is prepared fresh by me, with full control of what is going into the pot.

Stitchawl