I think ur doin a fantastic job girl!! Keep it up!!

wtg Joanne!!! It is hard when the scale stops moving.. I have been having that issue as well. Clothes fit better, but scale has been teetering at the same place for the last few weeks. Just keep going!! We can do this!!!

Thank you, all of you.

i did this month measurements last night the some of the new new numbers are amazing some are depressing. so far as of a month from last measurements i have lost (this is off each limb, shorter list that way and this time they were all equal):
2mm wrist, 4 mm ankle, 2.5 inches upper(quad?) leg, 2.5" lower(quad?) leg, 2" hips, 3" waist(smallest part lower rib cage), 1.5" upper rib cage under breast, 1" off breast. all together adding up the limbs twice i have lost 18.7 inches. i suck at math so some of my calculations could be wrong.

i have gained in measurements:
upper arm(only one i did)-1.5 "
calves-1"

The calves depress me cause they are fat to begin with and now they seem to be getting bigger. would have been nice if some of the flab went away before they started to grow.
but i got to admit over 18" loss in a month is something.

Nothing in that list should depress you. Over 18 inches? That's awesome! You should be so proud of yourself. I know I'm proud of you.

The small gains are probably from muscle growth. You know from the measurements and scale that you've been gaining muscle, so it has to go somewhere.

Just think of how many more inches you will have lost by this time in August, or December.

Keep it up, you're doing great!

Thanks!

Wow Joanne!!! You are doing so fantastic!!!! 2.5 in off your quad and 3 in off your waiste??? That's amazing!!!! If you keep up the awesome work, soon you will be in that phase where people aren't going to recognize you any more! Just keep going!!

thanks!

try buying a tape measure, and measuring body parts once a week, also, get in your undies and take pictures, then go back and look through them to see progress.
the problem with going by weight, is that alot of times your building muscle to replace the fat, so your weight doesnt change much, but your still looking better, go by what changes you see in yourself, not on the scale!

WOW Joanne!!! thats AMAZING progress!!! GOOD JOB!!! Ur loss is motivational!!!

i will try but right now the number on the scale is going up even if the inches are going down and i was already slipping into a dark depression due to my birthday coming up this is not helping.



i understand what y'all are trying to say it's just i have had "it's the number on the scale that's important" pounded ino my head since i was a young kid that seeing the number stay the same or recently go up a pound, i feel like i am failing even though the number on the measuring tape says i am not.

me and my freakish issues......*sigh*

I think maybe you need to put your scale away. Just focus on eating well, exercising and feeling good about yourself.

Continue to take measurements every once in a while to help keep the motivation up and have another gauge of your progress (not that the clothes starting to fall off isn't an awesome one itself).

Then, if you really want to, maybe in a month or (preferably) more take out the scale, weigh yourself once, and put it away again.

And every time you start to feel depressed about it, come on here and read all the comments. We all think you're doing an amazing, awesome, incredible job and are rooting for you.

I think you have the right idea just staying away from the scale for awhile because all it's doing is making things worse especially right now when i am emotionally sinking.

thanks.

Joanne, you are such a trooper!! =) I really admire you and your determination!

I've been going for a month now (summer started and all..) and the scale # has been pretty stable for a while. I look at the number every morning and go damn it didn't change again. At that point I have a few seconds of "why bother" but then I try to remember that this whole working out thing has been about LOTS of exercise and LESS food, which is really what it's all about! =D I feel that even though the # didn't change, I'm 100% sure that if i continue the workout that day, it can only make me better for the next day's weigh in.

Every night, before you go to sleep, think about all the exercising you've done on that day or throughout the entire week. Know that every step you took or calorie burned has helped you become more in shape for that day. Feel proud that you exercised and ate less on that day. It's damn near hard work to keep it going daily, and you should pat yourself on the back every night for being more healthy than you were in the morning.

Overall, if you have been exercising more and eating less, you're getting healthier everyday. You don't need the approval of the weight scale to tell you that one. I agree with putting that scale away or check the # less frequently.

actually right now i am so emotionally down i think i am going to take a break from all of it. don't get me wrong i am going to still workout when i can(thanks to an chronic illness flare up and lost energy due to depression it's not as often as i planned) but diet wise instead of reducing more then i already have i am going to stick with what i am doing now. tuna salads, lots of veggies, and try to control my portions the best i can but i am going to eat if i feel hungry even if it is more then my allowed calories of the day. i will just make sure that it is healthy as can be and doesn't go way high over the allowed.
come september after the birthday(which is causing some of the emotional breakdown here) i will start a more stricter diet and more intense workout routine.
i've said it before and i'll say it again. i picked the wrong time of year to start this up i should have started in the late summer, early fall anyway.
i'm thinking of what i have done up to now as a good start but i haven't really started yet.



actually i don't feel like it because i am getting a painful flare up in my chronic illness which doesn't happen very often or for very long but this time it's going on over a week.


thank you for the words i wish i could feel them myself. even though i will still be eating healthy and exercising i feel like this break i am taking is still a failure.

thanks for the words y'all.

Looked like the major weight gain was water weight. i weighed myself for the last time for at least a month today and i was down a little.

Great to hear Joanne!! Now hide the scale, and get busy lady!! U can get through this depression and lose this weight!! Just get your mind set on it!!!

So just for the heck of it i went and weighed myself today, i seem to have this weird addiction to that scale and can't stay away for longer than a week. i haven't been exercising for almost a week now and my diet hasn't been as strict as it had been when i started(i keep trying to start up again but life and my spotty health has been getting in the way) so i figured it as probably going to be up there in the even more depressing range. ok to let you know the last time i weight myself i was 255. 8, i know i should put 256 into the weight log but i was sick and tired of looking at 256.
my weight today 255.0. somehow despite the fact that i haven't been doing anything(except standing in an emergency room for about two hours...long story about my mom, she's fine ). i am still dealing with the shock and trying to figure out how it happened so i can keep doing it.

also i just found motivation and it came from an unexpected place. the old friend who had came to the house and noticed(and mentioned) i had lost weight has been talking to her mom about me and says if i can work out and eat healthy and start looking like that then she can too. so it looks like she is going to be doing her own thing because apparently i inspired her. she doesn't need to lose much weight she was already slender but there can be some toning and it never hurts to eat healthy. i am still in a state of shock that i managed to inspire somebody....seriously i never inspired anybody to do anything in my entire life...well until this..
so bluntly put i can't give up now that someone's looking to me to succeed so they know they can too.
looks like it's back to the ole diet and workout routine, although with some changes so it's not so overwhelming like it has been.

That's great Joanne!! I'm so glad to hear that you've had some positives in your life!!

Thanks.

x-posted with my profile comment:

ok now i am laughing hysterically. in the past two weeks i have barely exercised (like maybe three days out of two weeks)my diet has gotten slightly off track(not majorly just a had fries more than i allow myself) and ...i lost another pound.

thus the hysterics i couldn't lose a thing when i was working my butt off and now it's coming off without me doing anything. maybe i should do that more often? workout hard for 6 days a week for 3 weeks and then take a week off?

Sometimes it happens that way. Don't let it deter you from eating right and doing some exercise. I have a very strong feeling that in your case Joanne, that your building muscle and thus why your not noticing the difference on the scale. Sooo try to stick to the healthier choices and the workouts. GOOD LUCK and I'm so happy to hear that you've lost another lb!!! WAY TO GO....