170's-150's Club Rants & Raves

This is in response to Twocutekids' 160's club... I noticed that it was getting a little confusing at times with some people joining and others responding to previous posts, so maybe adding a new area specifically for rants & raves can help make it easier to communicate. Maybe the original can be more for cheering each other on, making introductions and talking about our goals or something. And, if anyone else has any good ideas for new 160's club topics, start a new thread too!

Edit: due to our fluctuating weights, let's open up the group a little more to match our new achievements! 150's to 170's it is :)

It's really been a great experience for me to start off this time with other people in the same boat. Trying to lose weight is always hard, but it's even harder when you have no one to do it with you.

Well, since this is a rant & rave section, I guess I'll start!

Rant: I live in Seattle. Living in a place with as dreary weather as this is SO not conducive to being active. I went to Texas when my boyfriend was working in Austin on a contract, and even in November everyone was out at night, enjoying street life, and most people looked more fit than in Seattle. While Seattle is a fantastic city with tons to see and do, we focus a little more on indoor entertainment than physical activity (minus the urban bicyclists or many nature-lovers who'll go hiking even when it's pouring rain). It's cloudy and chilly about 9-10 months out of the year here, so winter seems to last forever. It's so hard to get motivated to take a walk when it's 50 degrees and rainy in May! Oh well, it's my home... just have to work around it :)

What rants or raves do you guys have?

Hello all - welcome momof2funnykids - man it feels like it's been forever since I've been on here. I've had some rants and raves over the past few weeks... one of which is that last time I weighed myself, I lost 6 pounds! In 2 weeks! Holy cow! So, I'm doing something right (I think it's my new job, I literally sweat nonstop for 6 hours 5 days a week plus all my regular activities) although I really need to watch what I eat [omg I'm kind of pms-ing and I've eaten like 15 bowls of cereal today! I just can't stop! At least it's Total :)]. So, as long as I can at least exercise enough to keep this going, maybe I can reach my goal of 20 lbs lost by halfway through September! Then we'll see if I'm at my goal. Anyway, I'm glad to see everyone's still on here. Good luck with all of your weight loss!

sped - Congrats on the engagement! Now you have more motivation than ever!

ajde - thanks for the welcome. 15 bowls of cereal!?!?!?!  Holy cow!!!!

Went for a 4 mile walk yesterday and the 4th mile was a killer on my leg! I have nerve damage from a back surgery. I can walk 3 with no problem, but when I ty that 4th mile I really feel it. I almost called my daughter to pick me up that's how bad it hurt. It probably took me 40 minutes to walk that last mile. I just look at it as a cool down mile.

But I had to take a pain pill last night to get to sleep! I try to avoid that pill as much as possile.

Anyways, I feel better today. So I'm going on a 3 mile walk today! Waiting for it to cool off alittle outside b4 I go. I can't wait til the hot weather goes away and fall is here. I could live with fall weather all yr around!

I'll check in later....I'm a late night person!

Hey ajde!  I stumbled across this thread and TOTALLY relate to your efforts. For the past, 6 months, I've been working out regularly and managing a 1500-1700 calorie diet (on average), but I haven't lost a pound!! I am so discouraged that I'm starting to really hate my reflection. How did you get the ball rolling when you got stuck?

Hi Mystik - welcome to the club! Well, I can't say that I've really turned a corner yet - my biggest problem is still overindulging in food (although in regards to my last rant, I didn't *actually* eat 15 bowls of cereal, lol... maybe 3. Still more than I should have, but not totally unreasonable for my activity level for the day). I eat stuff that's good for me, just too much of it, and I'm trying to quit smoking which makes me eat more. :(

However, what has been helping me is forcing myself to change some major activity level things. I decided to get a job close enough to me to bike to, which I'm starting to try out. I also decided to get a physically demanding job, which has kept me in shape in the past. I did a couple rounds of personal training, although I can't afford anymore. I will probably be joining a fun class soon, like bellydancing or kickboxing. Basically, I'd suggest that you might try kicking your activity level up majorly by doing something that forces you to move more. Can you walk to the grocery store? Bike to work, at least part way (drive to a park-&-ride and bike the remainder)? What's your daily/weekly activity schedule look like?

I discovered that even though I was exercising regularly, when I chopped my activity level in half (going from working in a restaurant and taking classes on-campus to working from home/unemployment and online classes) I gained rapidly. Now I seem to be losing rapidly, which is closely correlated to the job I started just over 2 weeks ago (when I started losing weight). I just hope it keeps going so I can at least hit the 150 I maintained all of last year, and from there my goal is 140.

Actually, I bike back and forth to work everyday (4 miles). I live in Philadelphia so all of my errands are by foot. I work with children and therefore play some of the day. I take martial arts class twice a week. During the spring semester, I was in the gym for an hour 3-5 days a week for circuit training. I also maintain a very healthy diet. I just don't get it. You can see how I am frustrated. In October, I was a size 4 and 140 lbs. By January ( and to this day), I am a size 10 and 150 lbs. However, the size 4 took a year to achieve and was the result of being broke and depressed. I would love to be a healthy size 6. I think I can pull that off.  ALL OF THAT is why I am so frustrated.

Hi Mystik - well, jeez. I'm lost then too. Sounds like you're really on the right track, as far as activity goes. I've had a similar experience, although with a much higher weight gain. That is strange though that you'd only gain 10 lbs and but 6 sizes. Do you feel like what you've gained is muscle mass or fat? Have you been checked for any medical stuff that could have caused it? Maybe you could talk to a personal trainer or a nutritionist to work out your diet plan, since it sounds like your activity level is really high. Maybe they could help you figure out if there's something you're missing or if it could be a medical thing of some sort.

On that note, I'm going to get checked for a thyroid problem. I just figured out that my one aunt has and my thyroid cancer, my other aunt has a thyroid condition (Cushing's), and my dad had surgery for a thyroid disorder and is currently medicated for it, as is my mom. I had a ridiculous weight gain, am losing hair like crazy/dry hair when my hair is never dry, hoarse voice/swollen neck, have had depression and fatigue. I'm not sure what I'll do when I find out the results - if I do have a problem, I'd be relieved to know I could treat it, I guess, but not happy to have something to take care of. If I don't have a problem, this will all just be my own fault and maybe hormone changes and I'll have to see if working harder can help me do it. Either way, I'm still going to work out hard and eat right.

Hello! This is my first post on about.com.

Since last year, I went from 150 to 175 lbs. I am now at 160, but have been stuck here for a while, so I joined this website to start my quest to 135. 135 has always been my ideal weight since highschool.

145 would make me happy at the least.

I hope to achieve this through cardio, drinking water, and counting my calories.

I think exercise is the thing I need most improvement on. I feel like an alien going outside into the sun. I also love to play DDR (a dancing game) and I'm hoping to find more cardio activities that I really ENJOY instead of boring jogging and such. So there's my introduction. ^_^

Hey all, Just checking in, wanted to let everyone know that I have lost another lb!! It makes a total of 9 lbs in 5 weeks!!

Now for a rant, this week has been hard, I having been working hard on clearing my husbands name and do not have time to work out. I do not know how I lost that pound, cause I only done my workout 3 times this week instead of 6. I hate dealing with dmv and trying to prove that the man they say comitted these crimes is not my husband. And he can't even help cause he is overseas. I am affraid that when he finally does come home, they will send him to jail. So next week I will be going to two different courts trying to get ammendments and then sitting at dmv trying to prove that he does not own certain cars. What a pain in the you know what!

ajde - Best of luck with the thyroid diagnosis. One of my best friends has a thyroid problem and her weight goes back and forth, but more importantly, it's great that you're looking into it considering your family history.

sevekuh - Welcome and good luck!!

Welcome Sevekuh! It sounds like you're on the right track. I'm not sure there's much else we can do but to be very careful with our calories and activity level, but finding the balance is the key, I guess. Also, jogging is like my worst nightmare. I can still remember gym teachers reminding me (as if I didn't already know) that I was coming in last in the 2-mile run. Thanks, guys. Well, turns out that I'm not just terrible at life, I just am not good at running. I'm great at doing the elliptical (burns TONS of calories), which is easier on your knees. How come you feel like an alien outside? Just don't go there much? Well, being outside feels pretty good on a nice day and besides, you need the vitamin D from the sun. Try rollerblading (yes I know, so 90's, but I'm not joking, it's so much fun), biking, indoor/outdoor swimming, and DDR is apparently really good exercise, if you do it with enough enthusiasm. Maybe if video games are your style, you could try Wii Fit? I hear that you have to stick with it but you can get a good workout.

Myshell - jeez, could you have any more stress going on? Your husband's deployed, right? And you have to clear his name, without him, for something he didn't even do? I'm sorry to hear that - that's just an awful spot to be in. I hope it all works out as easily as possible for you. But congrats on the lb. lost :)

Thank you ajde, and yes he is deployed, which is going to make it even harder. But if I have to I will hire a lawyer. But anyways, yes the wii fit is a good workout if you stick to it. My mom has that and we all get on it. It is pretty cool. My daughter is 8 and was weighing at 80 lbs. Which for her it is considered overweight. And although we do not tell her that, we get her on and she has a ball. With in the past serveral weeks she has dropped down to 74 lbs.

That sounds like a good idea. I'll have to check out some youtube videos of Wii fit.. Thanks for the suggestions. I didn't know ellipticals worked that well. I also remembered that music really motivates me to move, so I'm going to upload some fast-tempo songs into my mp3 player tomorrow morning.

The only thing that worries me is I'm one of those "all or nothing" people. So I'll get extremely motivated to exercise for 2 weeks, then miss only 1 day and the entire routine stops completely. But that's not gonna happen this time!

myshell, I hope that law thing doesn't discourage you. Try not to worry, and remember he is innocent until <u>proven</u> guilty. I imagine that's pretty stressful to go through though. It's sad that people stoop to that level just for money.

sevekuh- That's just it. It shows that the courts already proved him quitly. It all went to court. I have to prove that it was never him that went to court. half of the court dates that past  he was out to sea last year. But I did catch a little break, I got ahold of the dealership of the car that was under his name. and they are goning to give me a certitifed letter stating that my husband never bought that car. So one task down, now I have to prove that he did not commit the charges with that vehicle. But anyway, I know what you mean with the motivation, I would go 2 weeks strong and someone would happen and I would quit. so now with all of this going on, I am trying really hard not to quit. So far I have slacked a little but I havent quit and I am not going to.

Oh I see. Wow that really is a mess. I didn't know such a mistake was possible. What a headache.

Good that you haven't quit. I know when I have a problem to work out, whenever I go for a walk (or jog on occasion) I think about things I'm going through, and the exercise helps me clear my head. Maybe it's the endorphins that are released that helps.

Yeah exercising does clear my head too. my problem is when problems occur in my life I try to fix it all in one day, running out of time to exercise. But I am getting better at that too.

I'm still going up in my weight. 179.8 today. But last weeks average was 178.8. Which means I actually lost a little over a pound for the week. So waiting to see what the scale does all this week. Stopped going up in .4 increments and it's now going up in .2's!  This is crazy! :(

Let me just say 178.2 today!!! YAY!!!!