Dropping A Diaper Size...

[dl_ashlee]

I don't see weight watchers as a fad diet. They actually teach you to eat the right way and the right amount of food.

At one point I was all the way down to 212, but life and stress go to me and I got up to 233, but that was no where near my starting of 280. I knew I was eating the wrong things a long with way to much food.

In the beginning I did use weight watchers points system, but after a month or two I started to learn how much I could eat and how much was to much. So along with rigorous exercise I dropped 60 pounds in about a year. I got up to 225 several times, then getting down to 217-218, and going back up again to 225, then last summer I decided to try to get down to 204 which is my doctors recommended weight, got down to 211 with making sure to only eat around 1500 calories and vigorous exercise. Then I went back to school and the stress of it and commuting left no time for exercise and really no good places to eat near school had me eating pasta, pizza, burritos, prefab chinese food (I'm sure high in calories and bad for you) and that was pretty much my diet for school. Going to have to figure out a better food plan this time around, oh and along with candy, chips, and cookies for snacks. Sucks living 40 mins from school and I just don't have it in me to make stuff and bring it, leaving at like 6:30am and getting home around 8-10pm really takes everything out of you and at least by that time I just don't have it in me to do much of anything.

[squashNstretch]

I am down to a pretty stable 190-195, down from my max 215 a little over a year ago. I'll see if I can keep this weight steady. My girlfriend hit the "I've lost 100 pounds" mark this passed weekend, and is still losing. I'm super proud of her, and have to laugh at how long it took me to drop 20... And yes, she looks cute in a diaper

[BabyLex]

sNs,

Congrats to you and your beautiful GF! Now if only you were decent at scheduling, so we could finally meet.

Keep up the good work.

--Lex

[Dougie]

Kudos to everyone that is working at getting healthier,

I got up to 220 lbs by late Feb. this year. I was way too lathargic last winter due to injuries and depression. I stepped on the scale this morning to find that I currently weigh in at 201.3 lbs. My goal is 175-180. I'm 5'9" tall. I at one time got down to 168 lbs so I know 175 is attainable. I have been drinking more water lately, and I bought a stationary bike adapter so I can get cardio exercise no matter what the weather is. It can be painful to walk, and running is currently out of the question. I had the bike in the garage doing nothing. Now it has a very healthy purpose. I put on music and ride for 10-20 minutes at a good pace everyday. I will increase the time as my body allows.

I have found that when I eat out I have been eating much smaller portions. I love Qdoba. They make fresh burritos that taste great, but are very large. I can eat about half now. I used to eat a whole one and a couple of cookies. I'll probably do a chicken and rice burrito tonight. I'll bring half of it home and it will be lunch tomorrow. That's not as healthy as cooking at home, but it's better than pigging out the way I used to.

[sarah_ab]

Sucks living 40 mins from school and I just don't have it in me to make stuff and bring it, leaving at like 6:30am and getting home around 8-10pm

pick your day off each week and make a bunch of diners that you can freeze, caseroles, chicken meals etc... then when you get home all you have to do is stick it in the over, then the next day, put the left overs in a tupperware container and voila... lunch for at school.

i go to school and work full time, so i know about the whole not wanting to spend the time making lunch in the morning thing, so what i do is that, make caseroles, stews, whole meals one day a week, and then when i get home i can stick em in the over, crock pot etc.. to heat up for dinner, then when i put the left overs in the fridge, i take the time then to pack my lunch so in hte morning i just grab my lunch bag and go.

[Codymoogle]

I've been having a hard time with everything lately, including eating right and exercising. It's due to low self confidence and stress, I'm sure of that. Daddy and I were working on it earlier, and I feel better. My surroundings are affecting my mood, too, so I'm cleaning my room (although taking a break at the moment to type this). I'm going to be working on the rest of the house later....bonus is that it's exercise. Now I just gotta remember to eat (and eat right) and drink a lot of water today...Today and the next few days will be hard, because my body's gotten used to falling back on junk again...To be honest, I'm surprised that I haven't gained weight, just stayed in the plateau of 150-160 lbs where I've been. Well, I'm tired of the plateau. I have 40 more pounds to go to get to the middle of my healthy weight range, and I'm going to do it...I lost 50 lbs already, so I can lose 40 more. I can, and I am...I don't want low self confidence, and I don't want stress to bring me down.

~ moogle

[beallucanb]

When I was loosing weight years ago I would get stuck at different weights, you have to keep eating right altough your not looseing, you will find after you at that one particular weight one day you will just start looseing again, and you will drop to another number and stop again.

I weighed 260 and I droped to 190 for the longest time and then I dropped to 160 after a few months, I spent most of my life at 140 and I just did not feel right or look right at that weight.

So I took another stab at it a while back this time I droped to where I extreemly happy at 105, so far this year I range from 105 to about 110, I can live with that.

If you want it bad enough you can get there.....easyer said than done!

[Codymoogle]

Ahh. I've been back on track since the night before yesterday, and I feel SO much better already. I slept incredibly well last night, and I haven't had one craving (like I did when I was eating junk).

I did an abdominal workout today - I'm trying a new system of exercise so I start to lose weight again (already dropped the water weight I accumulated when I was eating poorly), and so I don't plateau again...Switching between walking, stretching (I don't really want to call it yoga because it's not really that as I can't do many yoga positions, so I make up my own), all over cardio, and exercises that target specific body parts...Not all on the same day of course, I mean one type one day, one type the next, etc, so each muscle group has time to rest/recuperate and also so that my body will never know what exactly I'll throw at it next.

Oh, I also got a steamer basket yesterday, which is a big thing for me. I love steamed food - so much flavor and it's all still packed with nutrients. Last night for example, I had a piece of salmon (I rarely get salmon so this was special), fresh green beans (which I don't get often, usually I only get the frozen or canned kind because they're cheaper - but the fresh ones were 99 cents a lb ), baby carrots, and a sliced peach. Yeah, I even steamed the peach along with the salmon, green beans, and carrots! May sound weird, but the peach actually gave the other food a sweet tang and the peach itself was very nice to eat steamed, too. I didn't need any seasoning at all. Although, being a garlic lover, I could of put a garlic clove in there too! Call me weird if you like, but hey, experimenting with food is fun!

And one more thing...I made bread today! Whole Wheat Molasses Bread. Here's the recipe I made, if anyone is interested...NOTE: I didn't use measuring cups, so this is just an estimate of amounts...

5 cups whole wheat flour

2 cups 1% milk

3/4 cups molasses (any kind, but blackstrap is slightly better nutritionally)

2 tablespoons untoasted wheat germ (you could use more, less, or omit this)

1/2 teaspoon yeast

Combine all ingredients in a large bowl to form a dough. Make sure it's not sticky. Add more flour if needed.

Add dough to a greased bread pan (I use cooking spray for this). Let rise until desired puffiness is reached - I usually do this in the refrigerator.

Bake at 350*F until done. For me, this took about a half an hour.

EDIT: Oh, and this recipe makes about 8 thick pieces, more if you slice it thinner.

~ moogle

[sarah_ab]

thats awesome you are back on track....

just wanted to let you know, flash frozen vegitables loose none of the nutritional value of fresh vegitables, and are much cheaper then fresh ones... for those winter months when the price of fresh produce goes up, just look for 'flash frozen' on the veggie bag

[Codymoogle]

Overweight or not, this is worth a look

http://thisiswhyyourefat.com

~ moogle

[Codymoogle]

Okie, I'm still in the stupid plateau (weighed in at 154 lbs this morning, but I know it'll take time on my correct diet and with exercise to break it)...BUT:

Weight when first making the decision to be healthier: 202 lbs

Weight now: 154 lbs

Difference of: 48 lbs

Measurments:

Waist then: 45"

Waist now: 35"

Hips then: 44-46"

Hips now: 38.5"

There are others but I don't feel like posting them all.

~ moogle

[Codymoogle]

Emotional eating. Anyone else do it?

I end up emotional eating sometimes. It bothers me cause i know it's unhealthy, i know I'll hurt from it (constipation for example, from comfort foods made with white flour and/or red meat), I know I'll gain or at least maintain my weight from it when I want to lose, but I still do it under stress. Why? I really don't know. *Sigh*. It comes around especially when I can't sleep. I have other coping skills, but without Daddy here, nothing is quite as effective to take my mind off of stress as stuffing my face is, at least while I'm eating. Afterward, I just feel annoyed that I did it, AGAIN. It's a problem.

Then, there's another issue...It was easier to resist emotional eating when I was losing weight (when I lost the first almost 50 lbs)...But, even if I eat healthily and exercise every day, I don't see one pound shed out of the plateau range that I've been in for months. I know it takes time, but the no weight loss progress stresses me out, which causes me to stress eat, which is counter productive, which stresses me out more, etc - the cycle continues...

Does anyone have any advice to stop emotional eating and get my body losing weight again? Because going back on a healthy diet and exercise hasn't stopped the emotional eating here and there when I'm very stressed, since I haven't been losing weight anymore to keep me from running to the fridge when stressed. This is really distressing and my willpower at this point is slim to none... I really don't want to re-gain all the weight back that I've worked to lose...

~ moogle

[sarah_ab]

i think this is an issue a lot of people have, whether they realize it or not. comfort foods are... just that comforting! and when we are stressed, upset, tired, or just worn out we turn to things that comfort us.

i've found for me the trick is to turn to other activities i also find comforting, that would distract me from eating. For me i love to read and i have 'comfort books' books that i've read so many times, but no matter how many times i've read them, they still pull me in and total envelop me in the story. for you it might be movies, or coloring, or crafts... but i'm sure there are other activities you find comforting, so instead of eating, try that.

as for the whole 'feel' of the food, the actual feeling of having something in your mouth, or chewing, of tasting, that sort of thing, i would suggest maybe sugar free hard candies, or frozen fruit. Peaches, strawberries and banana's are all fruits that when frozen actually bring out the natural sugars even more, and because they are frozen you can suck on them, and one piece will last longer than if it were not frozen.

or for a 'chocolately' alternative, if thats your poison so to speak, try frozen strawberries, cut up banana and chocolate rice cream or chocolate soy in a blender. Its super delicious, pretty friggin healthy, and chocolately!!!! you can actually use any fruit you want, just freeze some of it first, then you dont have to add any ice to make a frozen drink, or if you dont want it frozen, just put the soy or rice milk in the fridge first to make it cold.

and remember, even if you are exercising and eating healthy, there is absolutely NO reason why you cannot spoil yourself once in a while. Even people who are at a healthy weight, work out, etc... will still sometimes spoil themselves with a not so health treat.

[dlinmsp]

No matter which diet or program we choose, the important thing to do is to stay on it. It is so easy to "fall off the wagon" and return to all the bad habits we used to have.

It has been long said that it take three weeks to form a habit, good or bad. The frustrating thing for me is that I can spend a weekend being bad and it takes a week to recover and if I spend a week being good it doesn't show.

I was at my doctor's office yesterday and he made the comment that I had managed to keep so much weight off for over a year and how remarkable that was. I'm sure he sees everyday how people lose large amounts of weight only to gain it all, and more, back over time. I know this has happened to me many times. My mind set is that I won't allow this to happen again.

As I get older there are other complications that can come with being obese. I love wearing medium sized diapers and the good feeling I have wearing pants with a waist size in the 30s. Would I like to lose more, yes, but as I approach 60 will that be possible? Yes, if I really want it. I just need to maintain my want to do it.

Again, congrats to all who are succeeding. Keep up the good work. Your goals are attainable but not easy. Remember, you didn't gain it all at once so don't expect to lose it all at once. We all hit plateaus, keep on going. Don't get discouraged and do what works for you.

[Codymoogle]

Okie! After over a month of no replies, I figure this needs to be updated!

No clue what my measurements are at the moment, I'm FINALLY off of the plateau I've been on since May - MAY, for Pete's sake!

Starting weight: 202 lbs/about 91.8 kg/about 14.4 stone

Goal Weight (can change depending on how I look and feel once I get there): 115 lbs/about 52.3 kg/about 8.2 stone

Total weight to be lost: 87 lbs/about 39.55 kg/about 6.2 stone

Current weight: 148 lbs/about 67.3 kg/about 10.6 stone

Weight lost so far: 54 lbs/about 24.5 kg/about 3.85 stone

Weight left to lose: 33 lbs/about 15 kg/about 2.35 stone

Oh, and for anyone that's interested, I've been doing this in addition to calorie counting on Livestrong's The Daily Plate, and exercise. It actually does work, I've been doing it for a lil over a week and canned whipped cream for example, tastes chemical-y now, and I've been finding the natural tastes in even "bland" things like cabbage without enhancers. It's still a bit bland for some things, but things are definitely changing.

That's my plan for Thanksgiving, actually. My family says stuff like "Oh come on, it's Thanksgiving, you're supposed to eat a lot!" or "Oh cmon, you LOVE ___!" or guilt tripping me for not eating a lot...But now I can say basically "Look, I've been busting my butt working at losing weight. I've lost almost 55 lbs, I have about 35 to go. My self esteem has skyrocketed just from this, and I need and needed help and support to get where I am. I'm still fragile on eating well, and if I give in once, it's really hard to break that cycle. I've lost a lot of weight and I can't let anything ruin that."

How's everyone else doing, and what's your plans for Thanksgiving?

~ moogle

[Codymoogle]

Duckie - Congrats on the 10 lbs! Don't fret too much (I know that's easier said than done), and you'll be fine! Keep the good habits up, and you'll feel better soon. I'm in that same boat, too...Need to exercise a bit more!

Abrera - You're not failing hun! Weight loss is no easy thing, I've yo-yo'ed before too, trust me! Just keep at it, and it'll come off again!

Also, thank you both for the congrats *hugs*

~ moogle

[Codymoogle]

Yeah, don't call Abera a yo-yo.

Seriously, the amount of copycat rivals. I don't know . We've had Abrena, Aburera, Abrar, Brera and now Abera.

And all of them together, although weighing less, do not equal in any form the one true Abrera... Me!

I'm bad sometimes...(that's why I yo-yo in weight loss)

This is why I always doublecheck your SN to make sure I'm spelling it right! I think the funniest thing I've been called was "moonglove"...LOL!

~ moogle, not moonglove

[Codymoogle]

Hi again!

I'm now down to 145/146 lbs (didn't have my glasses on when I weighed this morning so I couldn't tell which) OR 65.90/66.36 kg OR 10.35/10.42 stone - not much lower, but it's a 2/3 lb loss in a week so I'm on track. Any more than that in a week and it'd be dangerous.

Oh, and! I ordered a sample pack of small Abenas, so we'll see soon how those fit!

Going to get some exercise after dinner, but first I have a wondering for you all that are also trying to lose weight.

Forgive me if I hurt any feelings (and no disrespect intended to those who have had this procedure), but do any other people here think weight loss surgery (WLS)/"stomach stapling" is sort of "cheating"?

My biodad had WLS because he was morbidly obese, and this helped him lose 160 lbs or so. More power to him and all, but anytime he sees obese or even overweight people now, he gets an "Ugh, look at that!" attitude about him (which is rude no matter how much you weigh)...Meanwhile, I know for a fact that if he hadn't had WLS, he would still be 350+ lbs and on his old unhealthy diet.

He says WLS is hard, and I don't doubt him...But it seems unfair that he (and others that have had WLS) had the physical eating restriction of a small "a few bites" stomach until it stretched out to a normal size, as well as the threat of if he strayed from the (at first) liquid only diet he could have life-threatening complications - because it seems that while the restriction wouldn't make it mentally easier, it seems that it'd make it physically easier to reduce portions. Biodad after the surgery, for example, physically could not eat half a family sized jar of JIF peanut butter (true example) in one sitting, even if he wanted to...But for those of us that are going it without physical medical intervention like surgery, we still can, until our stomachs shrink from changing our diets, down as much food as we could before we decided to make a change (for me, that was say a quart or two of Chinese food). Those of us that are going it alone don't have the physical restriction - the only things stopping overeating for us are mental.

Do I think doing it on your own is superior to WLS? No, absolutely not, because I know losing weight by any means is hard. But sometimes, to me, it feels like WLS is an "easy way out" of obesity.

What do you think?

~ moogle

[dlinmsp]

I seem to have settled in the 80+ lb loss. I've gained a couple of pounds (8) from my low point but I'm very comfortable with my weight now. Like a previous poster I'm approaching 60 yo so how much more I can lose I don't know.

I wear size medium diapers and I'll never get to size small. I look good (at least I think so) in just diapers and plastic pants (no noticeable love handles) and wear clothing that allows me to wear most of the time.

I congratulate all who have stuck with it and continued their quest to lose weight. It's not easy and can be very disappointing along the way. It's so easy to fall back into the old routine and put the pounds (or stones) back on. Keep it up!! Remember that we didn't gain all the weight at one time nor should we expect it to all disappear at once.

Wearing diapers 24/7 is a lifestyle change, so is losing weight.

Continued success to all.

[OMFG]

{Edited out to stop this from being a monster post}

Do I think doing it on your own is superior to WLS? No, absolutely not, because I know losing weight by any means is hard. But sometimes, to me, it feels like WLS is an "easy way out" of obesity.

What do you think?

~ moogle

I am now down 110 lbs. Without surgery.

I can understand why someone would choose to go the WLS route vs the "au natural" route, and I briefly considered it. However, after further research and reflection, I decided not to. My biggest qualm is that weight loss surgery is done on the stomach, not the brain. I didn't have a stomach that was in any way abnormal, other than it was stretched out from a history of overeating. It was my brain that needed retraining. I needed to learn how to eat properly - what a correct portion size was, and what my body needed in order to function. No surgery was going to do that for me. It was a long process of researching and reading and experimenting to find out what worked for me. I am still learning on a regular basis.

I sometimes get frustrated because if I had gone for WLS, I'd be DONE by now. As it stands, I still have 20-30 lbs to lose, and it's coming off slowly at a max of 5 lbs per month.

I feel I am much healthier now than I would be if I'd had surgery. I can run. I can eat the volume of fruits and vegetables and lean protein and dairy and complex carbs that my body needs. I would not be able to do that with a WLS stomach. I would be forever dependant on vitamins to be properly nourished. I can run and do push ups and walk as many kilometers as I feel like every day. I don't think I would be able to get an adequate number of calories to support these activities with a post WLS stomach. Eventually, I will be able to nourish a baby from conception to birth. Again, I think that would be a real problem with a post WLS stomach. Finally, I feel that all the steps I've taken to change my body have extended my life span, and I'm not convinced WLS would have done the same for me.

I think weight loss surgery would have saved me from obesity and related complications, but I would have been swapping it for a whole bunch of new issues related to malabsorption of nutrients. Although there are many people who have it and have few complications and have a fantastic quality of life after, the risks were too high for me to personally undergo it.

I don't think it's the "easy way" out, but I am very glad I didn't go that way.

[Codymoogle]

Hm...

Bad day yesterday, but I think I ate at about maintenance calories (2200-2300). Gained a few lbs, but I'm sure those are water weight only instead of actual fat (dang sodium).

Bad day today (went to Ruby Tuesday for fox's birthday - one of the worst restaurants for weight loss) - surprising thing is, I made it out of THERE without too much damage...not bad at all, really, for a place that serves appetizers at 1000+ calories!

Before I got to the restaurant, I ate a small apple to stave off hunger, and at the restaurant I had two large plates of salad...mostly a bed of spinach and romaine lettuce topped with some carrot, broccoli, red onion, and a very minimal amount of cheddar cheese (about half an ounce total), chickpeas (maybe a 1/4 cup total), beets (maybe 1 beet worth of slices) and honey mustard dressing (about a half tablespoon total)...as well as a large glass of water before my entree came. I also had three forkfuls worth of linguine salad. By then, I was pretty full, and ate only 1/4 of my Avocado Turkey Burger (I told them to hold the bacon), and the whole burger is about 1050-ish calories, so 1/4 puts me at about 260-ish for the burger. I also ate a few (five) french fries, and three tortilla chips, one with a small taste of the artichoke spinach dip my table-mates had. All in all, I roughly estimated about 500-700 calories for the apple and the restaurant.

The trouble started AFTER the restaurant, where a friend of mine and fox's made this dessert...It was a too-thin, no alcohol added, chocolate ganache which he then served as hot chocolate. It was delicious and SO rich, but I added up the total calories of the whole mixture and divided it by the 6 servings it provided, which turned out to be 545 calories (OUCH! But it was soooooo good...)

Even so, I'm about on track for my calorie consumption goal. I would of liked to eat better, but at least I made do.

I've put the scale away and I will not take it out for a few weeks, until Thanksgiving has passed and any accumulated water weight has been lost, as I don't want to freak out over it.

~ moogle

[Codymoogle]

The sample pack of small diapers arrived today. I couldn't wait, so I unfolded one.

My first thought was "Oh no, they're tiny! They won't fit!".

Well, they fit. Just BARELY, but I was able to get them taped on and the diaper hasn't popped.

I still don't know my weight (see above post of mine), and I won't switch to smalls anytime soon, but it feels so amazing to go from having to use a large to being able to fit into a small.

~ moogle

[loopy]

Congrates moog, 2 nappy sizes smaller . And you seem to be doing it the right way .

I've started swimming in a bid to lose some of my excess.... hard to get motivated at time through. And I still eat way too much crap :X

[BabyLex]

Congrats Moogs & OMFG!

You are both awesome! Congrats for sticking to your own self-improvement programs and dropping a diaper size the right way. I really admire your hard work and dedication. You both have strong strengths of will, courage and commitment to stick with it like that. I'm so glad it's paying off!

I'm currently reinventing my exercise program (since the weather here in Beautiful British Columbia "The Best Place on Earth" (according to the BC government) has turned terrible (as it always does this time of year)) I've taken to pushing the living room furniture against the walls and cranking psy-trance and dancing like a fiend for awhile. It's not only great cardio, it's awesome music and a ton of fun!

Hang in there everyone :-)

--Lex

[Codymoogle]

So I totally blew it when I was away, mostly because of lack of water. Now that I'm back I can get back on track...I refuse to go on the scale so I don't get upset if I've gained anything.

~ moogle