Women: Looking for More Success Stories
Hi Everybody,
Our PR agency is looking for more success stories that meet these criteria:
(Any amount of weight loss is fine.)
1. Weight loss maintained for 5 years: This is for a story about weight maintenance. They're looking for women who lost weight at least five years ago and have kept it off ever since. They want your secrets about how you have done it.
2. Women whose weights were affected by their jobs and overcame those job hurdles They are looking for the cooks, waitresses, and cafeteria ladies who sudden found themselves fat or the nurses getting off at 12 am and scarfing down a huge plate of cheese fries for dinner, and therefore gained weight. Other examples could be women in law enforcement (on the road, lots of fast food, you know how it is), women who got laid off and found themselves working from home (making a beeline for the fridge every two seconds, putting on munchie weight as a result), or women whose desk jobs were simply SO boring that ALL they could do to pass the time was bust open a bag of Cheetos and snack, snack, snack! How did you adjust your lifestyles to shed the pounds.
3. Women who lost weight WITH someone (mothers, sisters, best friends, husbands, cousins, whoever). This story is a profile of “weight loss couples” who teamed up together to help inspire and motivate each other to slim down.
(And this last one specifies a minimum weight loss.)
4. Women who have lost either 100 pounds or more, OR who have lost HALF THEIR SIZE in weight.
If interested, please submit your story asap. I will then contact you. Thank you!
Mary
You are AMAZING! from death's door to workout weight losing queen! truly an inspiration.
hi im here to say iv lost over 130 lbs im down to 176 size 28 to size 11 took a year and half, to do it, but im not done id like to get to 140 i know its asking alot but maybe than i wont see myself as a fat cow, that is the hard part not buying the large cloths, i cant get use to it but hopefully time will change
Good morning!
I hope everyone is having a wonderful day. My name is Laura Sgambati. I was a single mom who had recently had a bad break-up. I started noticing when I lost my job that I was having a hard time going up and down the stairs without having difficulty breathing, and my heart beating really fast. I noticed that and shrugged it off. But when I started noticing that simply trying to keep up with my daughter!
I had recently seen a couple shows where there were people who let themselves go diet wise, and got to the point where they needed to be cut out of the room. One story depicted a man who got weight loss surgery, and with the support of a very loving family succeeded finally in sitting up, then standing up, and eventually moving around successfully.
I hate to say it, but seeing that show made me realize that if I kept ignoring the fact that I couldn't move around very well, I might wind up like him - where I can't walk on my own. I looked at my daughter in that moment and started crying. I wanted her to have a mom who could not only take care of her, but a mom that she could look up to. I told myself, "That's it! Something has to be done. I am the one who puts the food in my mouth - not anyone else."
After a few weeks of trying to diet on my own, and being dissatisfied with said diet, I decided that I needed help. I did NOT want to count calories, though. So I joined Weight Watchers. Weight Watchers let's you eat anything you want - to a point. With any diet, if all you do is sit there and eat high fat foods you're less likely to be as satisfied as you would be were you to eat natural fruits and veggies and get all your water.
15 months later, and about 124.6 lbs lighter - I am a happier and healthier person. The difference is amazing! When you let your diet go your body has a difficult time producing the hormones your body needs to lead a healthy, happy lifestyle. Which leads to sleep difficulties, attention difficulties when awake...and can even go so far as to affect your outlook on life. Best of luck to you all!
Laura.
P.S. Weight Watchers is a lifestyle - not a diet. Once you successfully lose the weight needed to become a Lifetime Member with Weight Watchers, you get meetings free. Good luck!
Hello Mary,
I would be curious to see how many people you find who have kept the weight off for five years. This number sticks in my head as it was once mentioned as "the real test of maintenance" moreso than the two years we normally require, on a blog I read.
Would you be willing to share with this thread how many people have maintained a substantial loss (say, over 50 lbs) for five years? Not naming names but just giving the number of responses...
In 1999, I was tired of going out to shop for clothes only to find myself buying something for the house or someone else because nothing would fit and I refused to go to the big girl's store. I was pushing 200 lbs and pushing a size 18. I have a friend who recommended Weight Watchers, so I thought I would try it. Stepping on that scale for the first time for an official weigh-in was a complete eye-opener. Weight Watchers taught me a lot about portion control. (You mean this packed Ziploc bag of pretzels is MORE than one serving??) 6 months later and 52 lbs. less, I found I was pregnant with my second child. I was not able to get pregnant for years or more and I attribute this to my being overweight. I had the best pregnancy because I was taking what I learned from WW and using it throughout my pregnancy - eating healthier that is, not counting points! After he was born, I had to lose about 20 lbs. I did it and have been at goal ever since. I have come to a point though, where I started to creep too close to that goal range and it wasn't getting lower. I was bored with counting points and need something 'different'. I was looking for that 'Ah-Ha!" article that was going to tell me something that I didn't know. Unfortunately, everything I read was everything I was already doing. I was blaming it on peri-menopause or anything else I could think of. THEN, I came across this site! I found that if I counted my calories and didn't go over, but still counted points, I was losing weight! Albeit, only .6 lbs a week or so, but it's a loss, nonetheless. This site has also opened my eyes to the things I am not getting enough of (calcium, iron) or too much (sodium!). I have learned to be a better label reader because of Calorie Counter and I have learned to REALLY like low or no-sodium foods. They really do taste better.
So, basically, I still count my points, I still go to my WW meetings every week, I still weigh in every week. When using this site, I count points for everything, but if the food item is 0 points, I don't include them in my calorie count. If I did, I would be reduced to almost nothing to eat for the day! I am not an avid exerciser. I try to go to the gym 2x a week. I sit at a desk all day, but try to get up and walk around a few times. (It's a BIG building.)
There is so much more to say, since I have been doing this for 11 years, but I don't want to bore you!
Hi, I'm Shelly and my start weight was 188 in 2009. I have quit and started back off and on, but my current weight is now 158. My goal weight is 135. I have changed my eating habits dramatically. I hope to keep going and reach my goal by April 30th for my birthday gift to me!!!!!!!!! I work at Subway which helps me out a lot giving me healthy choices.
My name is Teegan. My starting weight in March of 2009 was 333lbs. Over the course of the next year I changed my diet completely and started counting my calories. I hadn't had health insurance at the time so I relied on the internet to come up with a good number to limit my calories to. I shed forty pounds in the first four months and lost 60 by the new year. One my 25th birthday I weighed myself and came in at 233lbs. What a birthday present! I have since August basically kept the weight off. I teeter between 230 and 240 and I consider that maintaining for now. I will continue my weightloss journey until I reach my next goal of being 200lbs then after that I would like to reach 180lbs.
Hi Mary -
I have lost 134 lbs since January. I have done this by eating well and have now started walking on the treadmill. I am a little more than 1/2 way to my goal weight, and feel great! I try to eat small low call well balanced meals. Its been working great! I am a little stressed by the amount of skin left over, but with excercise I am hoping it tones back up. :)
I'm not a success story yet, but I will be.
Hi Mary,
I'm relatively new to Calorie Count, but not new to calorie counting. The traditional journals and logs were always so time consuming and cumbersome. I always got tired of it and otherwise consumed by life that I didn't have time to continue them for long. This is the easiest method that I happened to stumble across, and the results are incredible!
I'm a restaurant manager. I work hectic, long hours, and I would find myself "grazing" on all matter of convenient food available in lieu of meals. I didn't think I was eating a lot, but I "suddenly" (in about 1 1/2 years) found myself 50 pounds heavier and miserable. It was a struggle to move at the pace required in my field, and just bending over to pick up a piece of trash off of the floor would take my breath away. My body just hurt, from my ankles to my elbows! I started actively trying to lose weight in June of this year and I was doing Ok, but once I found Calorie Count the pounds really started coming off. I'm no angel and I do "cheat" from time to time, but Calorie Count enables me to hold myself accountable and maintain the goals I have set...and it's so easy! I analyze everything I eat, and I make better decisions (most of the time). I use the analysis tool to gauge the nutritional impact of the food choices I make, and I can adjust throughout the day to improve my diet. I haven't fully explored all the benefits of the site, but I am pleased so far, and I love the forums. I've lost 42 pounds since June, and my husband has lost 50, so even if we are not considered for the PR pieces, we are still winners (or losers depending on how you look at it!)!
i've lost half my body weight. i started at 320 and am now solidly 160 (though i'm fighting my way to 160. check out my gallery for pix! it's been a little over 4 years of diet and exercise.
edit: fighting my way to 145!
I can identify with you. I need to lose about 100 pounds. I've been on diets and had the rebound effect three times. You can read my journal I just started and wrote an entry in there for myself to look back on to keep me keeping on! I also have some health problems that make it difficult to exercise but I'm going to start slow so that i don't injure myself and then that cause a setback and discouragement. hang in there, Mary! I'm proud of you for keeping on trying.
This is so encouraging to me!!!!! Thank you for sharing and congratulations!
Am 29 and I used to be overweight during my high school years. Now am a changed man through diet and physical activity. Sharing stories about people's greatest victories against their personal weight problems really means a lot to other people trying to succeed. That also includes me and am happy people are opening them selves u p and being proud for completing their hard to earn goals. Things like this really makes the world go round.
I'm in the second category, office job, both boring and stressful, found some comfort in food and sodas, went from 120lb (2004) to 177lb slowly (2006) and somehow managed to mildly deteriorate my teeth and leg tendons. I only went up to 177 because I was still working out seasonally - rollerblading and swimming during the warm and hot months.
In 2006 I couldn't stand that job anymore and I quit, took some time off to take care of myself, undid the damage done to my body and went back to 121-123lb, and then got a part time job (2007) that I am very pleased with.
Three years later I'm at the same weight, I feel great about myself, like my job, I rarely get sick, I'm stronger and since I took up yoga in 2009 I'm more flexible then I ever was and I move quick and easy.
There is a disadvantage to not having some extra weight though, you need to eat during long strenuous exercise, now I need to have food in my backpack when hiking for hours and long swims make me empty the fridge afterward (it's a small fridge :) ).
Original Post by dkn:
I need to have food in my backpack when hiking for hours and long swims make me empty the fridge afterward (it's a small fridge :) ).
I know what you mean! I NEED to keep food with me if I am out for a few hours, and don't want to be forced to grab something while out. I NEED to have my snack between breakfast and lunch. And that's just an ordinary day, nevermind out for a hike! Swimming also makes me ravenous.
I am just beginning my journey with weight-loss (4 weeks, 16.5 lbs) but I can related to item number 2. Every single job I had ever had in my life had been a physical one from plowing fields and training horses to hauling rock and lugging around cases of wine and the liquor store. Then one day I got my dream job ... a desk job working on computers ... the field I had always wanted to be in and without any formal training or education it was a real blessing.
But there was a down-side. As it turns out my bosses like to run a new-age company where they spoil their employees because they think it makes for harder more loyal workers. Well they're right but the office-kitchen full of free soda's, snacks, treats, and weekly company lunches had a very bad side-effect for me. From an active lifestyle to a sedentary one and from rarely snacking to nibbling on something all-day long I gained a crap-load of weight.
To make matters worse I decided to move too far away from the corporate office to work in-house and my boss approved me to work from home. I had already developed a "munch at my desk" habit in the office but now, with my own kitchen at my full disposal, it became a nightmare.
For the past month, however, I am turning it around. Part of what has helped me kick the nibbled is knowing that I'm counting my calories so if I nibble at my desk all day long I know I'll be "out of calories" by dinner time and will spend the rest of the evening with hunger pains. I treat calories like a money system, every day I get 1,600 to spend on whatever I want but I have to make them last throughout the entire day so I must choose wisely.
I've also started stocking up on more fruit and less cheeto's and candy bars. A pear might still be a "snack" at 10 a.m. but it's a MUCH healthier option and it "spends" a lot less of my daily calories.
Finally, I've kicked my soda habit. Completely. I've been 100% off soda for a month now and was 80%-90% off soda for about 6 months before that (I was having the occasional Sprite but even those are gone now). Quitting soda alone dropped an easy 10 lbs off my hips. Water, water, and more water. Believe it or not (and trust me, I didn't believe it myself) I have actually acquired the taste and now drink 6 glasses of water per day, on average, without even thinking twice about it.
I just signed up(tonite) with calorie counter and plan to use it daily to commit to regaining a healthy lifestyle. I have been laid off for just over a year and have gained nearly 20 lbs since being laid off(home with kids) doing side work.
I would be willing to allow you to document(or I would document), possibly allow you to 'follow' me on this journey. Are you looking to pay for a spokeswoman? I majored in Corporate/Organizational Communication. PR is right up my field. I am positive this 'documentary' if you will, would give me added incentive and give you the success story you have been looking for.
E-mail me once you have discussed this with your PR agency.
Edit: Removed quote. Congrats to all for your weight loss.
