Beautiful Amazon's over 200

Hello & Happy New Year!
After having read many posts written by women with similar body types and weight goals as mine I thought it might be fun to start a thread of communication dedicated to women over 5'5" and over 200 pounds.
I am 5'7" & as of last Sunday currently weighing in at 212lbs. My goal is to reach 175lbs by September and would love to share this journey with other gals who are committed to healthy weight loss. Who's game?

The Name is Tam.

I am 6ft tall and 269lbs. I have gotten the 'but your so tall, it doesnt show...." BS! It may not SHOW but I bloody well FEEL it.

I have been called every thing from Amazon to big boned (which I am not, I actually have a small frame) to Junoesque (?).

My target weight it higher than the 'Dr.' wants but to hell with that.... I dont want to be blown over when the wind comes up. Dr. = 155-165. Me = 170-180. 

I just found this site with the help of m long time best friend and diet partner Catsy22. I am amazed at the bald honest I read every where on this site. I am so glad that I decided to join. Cheers!

Hi Everyone :)   I'm jules, one of the volunteer moderators who was invited to help keep the forums a supportive community atomosphere where people feel comfortable and welcome to post without inflammatory comments or posts, or foul language. 

Wanted to take a minute to get back to you about changing the Title of the Thread the other day when a member objected to it.  I really didn't do it hastily, but took a bit of time to doublecheck the thread, the guidelines, etc... We all try to use real restraint when changing Titles or Posts.  We only want to make changes when necessary to meet minimum posting guidelines and to make the forums better for all members. 

Although Websters definition of "Amazon" is: "Noun: a member of a legendary race of female warriors believed by the ancient Greeks to exist in Scythia or elsewhere on the edge of the known  world" and also "Noun: a tall and strong, athletic woman."

Amazon also has a very real history of being used as a gender based derogatory against larger women.  Sad, but true.  There are a number of ways to research slang use but I found a number of references just googling the 3 word phrase (including quotes):  "amazon woman" derogatory. 

Also, if you check the examples given in the urbandictionary, even a number of the examples are less than respectful depictions of women.   Here's a link:

http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?ter m=amazon

I hope this helps clarify why I edited the title.  It was done with thoughtful consideration of the slang usage of word and how seeing it may make some of the members here uncomfortable.  Much as we no longer really use certain words to describe people of various races, physical or mental disabilities or characteristics, gender, religious choices, etc... 

jules

psst...  thanks for asking and sharing your opinions!  I think that discussion of ideas and sharing ideas, knowledge and our opionions empowers all of us :)  I know that the {{{friends}}} i've met here, sharing support and information has changed my life for the better :)   Cheers,

Avesha ~ I was thinking more about this today.  I am not the most creative title maker in the world :::snort:::

and, I realize that you can't modify your original post or title (i don't think... anyway) because I changed it.

If you come up with a title that you &/or the group prefer, I would be happy to change the title for you.  Just let me know here. 

I don't work for calorie-count so I don't have an email through them, but will check the thread here for the next few days in case you would like it changed :)

also, I really appreciated your comment that you weren't using the term in a derogatory manner ~ it's very clear that there was a lot of positive response to your thread and I think you've found a gr8 group of people who now feel represented.

If we can find a title that will not exclude anyone because of the negative connotation out there in the real world...

Hope this helps :)  jules

Very cool thread! I would love to join.

Hear is my story I am 25 years and 5'7" and I started out at my top 270 lbs. incidently the very weight I was when I was 9 months pregnant with my first daughter,talk about depressing.At that time my husband and I were trying very hard to have another baby without luck we had been trying for almost a year at that point.Anyhow I got mad and decieded to do something i could control Lose Weight.So I did I started in Nov. of 2004 and by Feb 2005 I was down to 234 lbs. Then the first time since losing wieght we tryed to get pregnant and surprise got pregnant the very first time I really think that I didnt get preggers because my body was too unhealthy to get pregnant.Anyways since I was already eating healthy and working out before I got pregnant I managed to gain only 16 lbs while pregnant,i lost that about 2 weeks after madison was born.I nursed Madison for a year and in Nov. 2006 when I was done nursing her I decided to start up my weight loss were i left off were I start before I got pregnant. Now as of today I am 211 lbs. so all together I have lost 59 lbs.  My next goal is to get under 200 I really want to be in the 100's again! My ultimate goal is 175 lbs.

Man I am long winded!Haha.

Amanda

Hello All! First day here and flipping through the posts....I think this is the one for me. I am 5'6 (almost 5'7) and 280lbs. This is the first time I have ever made a concious effort to lose weight and I think its because im terrified of failing. You know if you dont try you cant fail....im only fat cause i havent ever tried to lose weight...that mentality is not working anymore. I am 22 just had a beautiful baby boy last year in July. Gained 60lbs while prego!! Yikes. I used to live in Cali where i tended to blend in a bit....but now I live in the tiniest town in Ky where I tower over the average person. Not to mention my husband is 5'4 185.... I look HUGE next to him. Well i am huge, but i look unnaturally huge. So I am here looking for support, hopefully I wont fail. I have been doing good...about 1500 cals a day...where the site says I should eat 2200 cals, i think thats nutts. I dont pig out as much as I dont do anything. I sit...thats about it. I dont work, i dont exercise, my son cant get around on his own yet so no chasing him. My goal is to be able to chase him. I want to be healthy not only for me but for him. I want to go on his first roller coaster with him...be there for him...I dont want my weight to limit me anymore. So all the support I can get will be very very appriciated and if anyone needs a shoulder to lean on or cry on for that matter, im here. Hopefully not as much as I usually am cause I'll be exercising!!!!!!!

 Im still not upset about being an amazon. I dont really agree that the title should have been changed but what the heck. We are still here, still moving forward and enjoying our journey. I think those ladies who get offended by such titles are those that arent in touch with who they are and maybe they arent loving themselves quite enough. But oh well, just my thoughts.

Now to share my happy news. This morning I weighed in at 100 kilos or 220.5 lbs. I know its going to go up a little by this evening but I am excited. I dont record weight until Monday morning so please everyone, keep your fingers crossed for me that I can record 100 kilos this Monday.

Love the thread and thanks to everyone for sharing.

Jules,
Thank you for your update on the title change, I appreciate your time in doing so.  I also appreciate your willingness to adjust the title, I have been curious to know whether or not we could spice it up a bit.

My first instinct is to use "Goddesses" in the title, (I can't imagine how that could be taken poorly) but I'm going to throw it out to the members here to see what they'd like to call it.

Ladies? Any suggestions on a new title?

Again, thank you Jules for your update.

-Avesha

WTG Tina on the weight loss so far. I think I want to weigh myself in kilos tho because I like that 100 thing. Not to mention I weigh exactly the same as you and so losing just a tiny bit of weight will have me less than 100. :) Avesha, I am not very creative but I cant think of a better fitting title that specifies the tall...we can still call ourselves Amazons cant we? It might not be in the title but I have to think its not offensive if we choose to call ourselves that outside the title? This amazon...yesterday's calorie intake, 1500 and my caloric expenditure, 2500. If I can keep this up I just might make my 'as close to 200 as possible' by mid-March.

Lauren

Me again, I think amazon women is fine I dont find it offensive.

I like vulupsous goddesses or curvatous goddesses something like that.I like to think I am a goddess atleast to my hubby!Haha!

Lauren, I like the way you think! :o)

You are absolutely right, we can call ourselves whatever want and I am a proud member of this Amazon team so with that said how about we change the title of the thread to "Goddesses over 200" (thank you for your feedback on that idea Amanda :o) ) and within it we can call ourselves whatever we want. As long as it's with love and positive energy of course. ;o)

How does that work for you, Jules?

Hi everyone. I'm Meg, been around here since July 06. I'm 5'9" and currently way about 248lbs. I started at a whopping 293! I've heard all of the "big boned, tall, and hefty" excuses people can produce for MY obesity lol. and yea i am tall. yes i have big bones (im built somewhat like a football player only more femine lol). and yea...i can knock most people over so i guess im hefty lol. but i'm also fat lol. and that's ok. because im doin' something about it. and it's nice to see there are other people in my situation here. im a big girl...i will be a big girl once i drop the rest of my weight lol. there's no way around it. im structured differently that petite women and it's ok. my gf happens to be 5'3" and 135lbs lol and she loves me just the way i am :). its good to stand out i think. and considering a lot of us here probably stand a head above the rest haha we do stand out ;)

Thanks avesha! "Goddesses over 200" sounds great!

Hi and welcome Meg!

What about something simple?  BBM.... Big Beautiful Women over 200.

Your welcome Amanda, I think it sounds great too :o)

Amanda, Meg, niftytink, illiteratescholar, monalisa, amarnatt, kazie15, Marylin, aveneg, kzog92,  welcome to the thread!

It's so wonderful to see so many new women joining this conversation, it does a heart good to know there are so many of us out there and that we can help each other through our similar battles.

A small turn in my battle happened this morning when I cautiously got on the scale to weigh myself for the first time since Jan. 7th and found that I've lost 2 pounds! Happy News! Woot! Woot! :o)

Enjoy your Saturdays everyone!

Sorry gals,  I made a typo.. I was meaning to type  BBW..." Big Beautiful Women over 200"  Even tho I am over weight I still can look and feel attractive and have self-confidence...  I'm a women of size..   Wanting to be a healthier mother and wife...

WTG Avesha. So does that put you at 210? So close to 2-0-something. That has got to be motivating. Awesome. I hate weekends when it comes to eating...I always consume more on weekends and move less. I am going to hit the gym today tho, my daughter has a basketball game cloes to the gym and the family agreed to go after the game. Supposed to get some snow here too and I am always good to go out and shovel. I already had 2 lunches and it is not even 1. My typical lunch is fat free yogurt, berries and some all bran...I had that and got hungry again so I fixed a big salad. My only hope is if I am going to eat I can stay with low calorie things. I think part of my problem today too is I woke up earlier than normal...more awake hours today.

Lauren

Hi Everyone :)

I'd like to throw out an idea here for all of you to consider before you think about continuing to use the term Amazon even within the thread.

When I was growing up... there were all sorts of names that were commonly used.  Some were outright derogatory in nature and some weren't but were used cruelly by people as a derogatory.

For race, derogatory in nature:  the "n" word for African Americans, the "s" word or mule for Hispanic Americans (European or American continenents), WOP for Italians?  And there were plenty of others...

But there have been words that were commonly used that bothered some people but were not clearly derogatory but used all too often as a derogatory.  I'm thinking of words like midgets and colored are the 1st ones that come to mind.  Because of the way they were negatively used, both the negative and the positive have gone away.

I think Amazon is more like midgets.  It has postitive use that describes tall athletic women but has been used cruelly as a derogatory against larger women irrespective of height, even within the urban dictionary examples...  It also has a promiscuous derogatory connotation like the "b" word for women too. 

It is in the awareness of the bad use of the word and people speaking out like need2lose did, that helps people to understand and change...  for words to be dropped from everyday use...  People may come along now and say... well, what's wrong with XXXX word... because they never really experienced the bad use.

So, if you continue to use the word within the group, what about the people who lurk or don't post or worse yet, don't join the group because of the word you are using as a group name?

just because we personally have not experienced something does not diminish the pain or experience of people who have experienced the negative side of that word...

so, best case... would be to find another identifier for the group.

your thoughts and comments are welcome :)

Howdy!

I would like to remind myself to pop into this thread from time to time. I am somewhere between 5'8 and 5'9, and I just currently got under the 200 mark, but you never know next week I may be above- heee!  Well, I hope to keep staying on course to get below.  My first goal is 180 -- I started here December a year ago at 280 and lost down to my current 196.  I have always been the biggest (not always tallest, but certainly one of the taller girls) growing up.  I originally wanted to be under 200 by my 35th birthday (last August), but was happy to be there by the turn of the New Year. 

I have a difficulty with the goal weights they give sometimes.  My second goal would be to get to my non-"overweight" weight of 165 or thereabouts.  I think I could do it but, honestly, I don't think I was even 165 in high school!  I  may have been 165 in 7th grade -hee!

And I have had many similar experiences to the ones you all have described.  My own personal issue has been that I can't figure out why I could not get motivated to lose weight before this time in my life -- I would have loved to have been just under 200 10 years ago - sigh!  So that is a "word to the wise" for you younger ladies!!  No time like the present!

Cece

I would like to touch on what united2gether has to say.  I am in favour of using the word Amazon. And better yet I think that as Avesha said as long as we continue to use it with love and positive energy then I see nothing wrong with it. I can see taking the work out of the title but in no way should we not use it in our personal threads in refering to ourselfes if that is the way we feel. I think that any person who takes the time to read this thread can only be overwhelmed by the amount of positive energy, support, compansion and love for each other.

Ok, here is my thought on the topic of 'Amazon'.

You can NEVER do everything right...someone is always going to be offended no matter how politically correct you think you are being. I think we all know this to be the truth. As we have clearly stated in our thread our definition of 'Amazon', you would be hard pressed to find offense with that title. So, if someone lurks and sees me call myself an Amazon and finds offense to it, I would have to think to myself that anyone who finds a 'tall, strong, athletic woman" offensive, the definition we have made clear we are using, well, I guess I would have no idea how to not offend said person...those are all compliments in my book. Besides, wouldn't now be the time to change the definition of the word for people who associate it with negative meanings? Instead of hiding the 'dirty' things, let's clean them up and make them positive! If we never use it as negative, it will lose that meaning. And, I dont want this to turn into a debate about "Amazon" so I promise not to say another word about that part (although I have full intention of being a proud "Amazon" because I can type that much faster than "tall, strong, athletic woman").

Lauren not to mention a 'female warrior' sounds pretty cool too