Whats your Success Story?

There are a few of us here that have finally reached that goal of Maintaining, so we come to the forum sometimes to see whats going on, if there is anyone that we can over advice to, or just see how friends are doing with their weight loss. I was thinking tonight about what is the best way to help someone get motivated, know that they can do it if they take the time and effort- They WILL Reach their goal!!!

There are soooooo many success stories on this site that are amazing to hear and see the results. Some of these are at maintenance level and some aren't.

To be a success at something doesnt mean you have to already "BEEN THERE, DONE THAT" type of person. To me it means you have AMAZED yourself in what you have accomplished.

The success stories that are shared on here are a way for each of us to support, motivate, encourage and meet each other. Everytime someone comes to the forum and says they broke a 2 week plateau- we cheer! Or 1lb lost!!! we cheer! AND WE SHOULD!!! it is awesome! We came to this site for the support and we are getting it! We should continue to give our support to one another and know that we too will be where that person is when it is the right time for us. We all started at different times, different heights, different weights,....you get my drift.

The stories aren't here for us to compare ourselves to someone else, noone shares their success to "rub it in others faces" they do it because this is a place where they know they can be honestly excited about their loss, jump up and down for it and not have to be quiet about it- they are among friends!! The stories are shared to help motivate each other so don't compare yourself to any of the stories told, use it to motivate you. Find one that you can relate to...maybe you dont have 100lbs to lose but only those last 15lbs to get rid of- wouldn't it feel great to hear someone say they did it! See how they did it! Wouldn't it motivate you, give you hope that you can reach your goal?

So with All of that said, yes I had coffee late at night and can't go to sleep, I would love to hear what your success in YOUR journey so far has been.

Did you go a full day without a soda?

did you stick to your goals for last week or last month?

Did you lose 1lb or 100lbsso far??

They are all wonderful success stories, those are what motivate us, the person sharing gets motivated and the person reading will get motivated.

There are alot of us here that are Maintaining, Almost there, some that are half way, and some that are just starting or even starting over, thing is we all have a story of Some type of success, maybe yours will help someone else? :)

So what is everyones story????

-slappy(nope, not going first :P)

Slappy! why wouldn't you go first?! lol you're too funny (haha i was wondering why you were up so late lol!)

Um so me? Um I started out here in January weighing at least 195, and at 17 on a 5'4" small frame... that just wasn't working for me.... sooooo I found this site *thankfully*and thanks to the wonderful features and wonderful people (waaay too many to mention :) lol) I have lost just over 50lbs :)

*hides back in corner* hehe

k slappy, your turn! lol!

take care

I am going to try and keep my story short.  I joined cc back in June of 2005 but it wasn't until January 2006 that I actually got serious with my weight loss efforts.  I was about to turn 33 years old and smoked a pack of cigarettes a day.  I was also on high blood pressure medication. I weighed 379 lbs and my son was the motivation I needed to get on board with this.  If I continued the way I was, I'd be one of those people that have a heart attack or a stroke in there mid 30s.

I have lost 53.6 lbs so far and I have a long way to go.  Since the weight loss and not smoking for about 8 months, my doctor has taken me off my blood pressure medication. 

I have some tough days like everyone here.  Losing the weight is not as easy as it is to gain.  I do try to drink at least 2 qts of plain water each day in addition to my other liquids.  I try to keep my daily caloric intake between 1800-2000 calories.  I am not a gym rat or a fitness buff but I have learned that a little activity has helped move the weight.  I try to get in at least 3 (45 minute) walks each week. 

i started in january with a goal of reaching a healthy weight by my 60th birthday in august, starting at 182, hoping to go to 162.

i did that by the end of may, and have been maintaining/losing a little more since then, and on my birthday weighed 150.  i have not been this thin since 1968!   i feel mahvelous, dahlings.

(i suppose i could give "curves" a little credit for the 8 lb i lost prior to joining calorie count, but that took 2 years!)

40 lb total lost.  gone forever.  my cat AND my dog!

(i think my husband is a little jealous that i am going to vegas to meet erik and igor, and my daughter is coming along as a chaperone! just to make sure i don't go wild and crazy.)

Wow!  Thanks guys for sharing!

I also started in January.  I was thin growing up, too thin but never realized it.  When I got married I was 136 and after having 2 kids I had worked up to 173lbs and a size 12.  Now I know its not that bad but for me it was. I ate healthy, I was active but I ate way too much.  January 2005,I was having bad stomach pains, my stomach was so swollen I looked 6 months preg., even had people ask me if I was!  I was so depressed and worried about things and went to the dr only to find out I had a gluten allergy!  After 1 week of cutting those foods out- I felt great!  Dropped down to 163lbs and STAYED there....for another year.  I would go back and forth between 154 and 163 until this Jan.  I decidedto make a changed in my life- no more wearing a tight size 12- I wasnt comfortable, I wasnt happy and noone around me was either!  So I found Calorie Count and have been here since!  I am now a size 8 and weigh 131lbs. and feel great!  I am able to run 3 miles now and was never a runner before! 

Anything is possible!

hey there.. you guys all know my success story.. but i'm saying it again for those newbies who don't know me.. :)

in january 2006 on the 17th to be exact.. i found out i weighed 324 pounds!  OMG.. i cried in the doctors office.. i CRIED!  i asked my doctor if there was anything i could take to give me a head start (i know.. i started with looking for a mirical pill.. ugh) and he wouldn't put me on meridia because my blood pressure was elevated.. but he said that i could try xenical.. which blocks fat that you consume from being absorbed in your system.. to me this sounded great because it would cure me of my deep fried pan fried addiction..  we made a diet plan and he told me he wanted me to drop my cals to 1200 a day becasue my weight was more dangerous to me than losing fast.

January 18th i started my "diet".. yes i started this as a diet.. and had some initial success.. but the first week was horrible.. i was miserable.. i was restricting my calories a lot.. so i decided that i had to write down what i was eating and after about a week i found CC.. you guys here helped me through the first 3 weeks that, to me, were horrible.  i was starving all the time, didn't think i could do this, anything

after the first 3 weeks i noticed that my stomach must have shrunk because i wasn't starving all the time.. just once in a while.. so i started in full force working on my self esteem.. which needed more work than anything else in my life.. and i've been working on that ever since

cut to today.. i'm still working on my self esteem and it has gotten SO MUCH BETTER!  :)  i have lost 96 pounds (come on 4 more pounds!  i want to hit a century!), i'm happier, i feel better, i think i'm friendlier, and i'm amazed with all i've done! 

here's to the next 90 pounds!  i can do this! 

Well, y'all know my story too.

In May of 2006, after an all-hands meeting when I sat and watched a coworker make a total pig of himself, saw where he was now and saw my future.

I took immediate action. We ran out, bought a low-fat cookbook (Moosewood low-fat whatever), started watching what I eat, and started logging calories.

About two weeks later, I came onto the board, looking for support.

I started at 306 lbs. and yesterday I was down to 261.4, which is a whopping 44.6 lbs.

You all know how I've done it: watch my caloriex, exercising (JOGGING! BIKING! DDR'ING!) and lifting weights.

You can do it too. I'm proof. Everything I've done, you can do!

way to go!!!!! yippee!!!

Wow, how exciting to hear everyone's success stories! I started using CC in March this year. A friend of mine found the site and had started using it. I was so excited because I had no idea how to lose weight or eat healthy. I was about to turn 30 and was bound and determined to be healthier and more fit in my 30's than in my 20's.

Since March I've lost 30 lbs. and gone from a size 16/18 to a 10/12! I'm not all the way there yet. I'd like to tone up some more and lose another 10 lbs. But I am so thrilled with how far I've come. Yeah!

This Wednesday I bought my first size 10 pair of jeans in years. I did a lot of yelling and dancing in the Old Navy dressing room!

wow beck!  I did the same thing when I got my first 8's- I was trying 10's on and started screaming for my hubby, he thought something was wrong!  I came running out screaming that the 10s were too big! I think people thought I was crazy!

WAY TO GO!

My journey on cc started in mid March 06 after I saw me on photos from a birthday party and was absolutely horrified. 199 lbs at 5'5"!!

I first blamed my job as management consultant, crazy work schedules, frequent business trips and the convenient American junk food for gaining steady 10 pounds every year.

I didn't realize that my real problem for years was BED. Food was my reward for everything, "helped" me through lonely years, through stress, through bored weekends. I was completely out of control and freaked out since I always thought I'm a rational, intelligent and self-disciplined woman. I just didn't have the right tools to fight it.

CC came to my rescue, writing my food diary was an eyeopening experience so was reading the posts about BED, understanding the deeper reasons for my struggle and learn ways how to get back in control.

I've lost 35 lbs so far, down to a size 10, had only 2 little binge attacks in the past 5 months (one was a whole bag of sour gummi bears worth 1,500 calories...;o) oh well). I'm trying to lose 25 more lbs but I'd be more than happy with 15 - 20 more gone.

I feel like I've been reborn or just woke up from a nightmare which lasted at least 5 years. I finally can look in the mirror again and like what I see - and there's someone new, who likes that too....;o)

come on more stories!!!!!

where is Finewine?? Neeners?? ChrisWain???  United?? 

you guys have some awesome stories worthy of sharing!

My journey started long before I discovered CC, but I credit CC and the community here for my success and attainment of my goal. 

About a year and a half ago, January 2004, I saw a picture taken of me at Christmas and was shocked into reality.  I knew I had 'a few' pounds of extra weight that I wanted to lose 'someday'.  What I didn't realize was that those few pounds were actually 30 pounds. 

 That picture was my wake up call and I started portion control and Winsor Pilates.  (I knew that I couldn't follow a diet because everytime I started a diet I would feel deprived and could only stay committed for a couple of days before binging on something.)  Portion control worked as well as talking to myself in my head, things like:  "I'm a small person, I don't eat much": "Nothing tastes as good as skinny feels": "There will be more good food next meal, I don't want seconds", etc.   I lost 15 pounds that way over a year and dropped from a very tight size 10 to a size 8. 

But, I got stuck on a plateau for a few months.  After talking to my doctor and being told that counting calories would be a good idea, I found this website in March of 2006.  I thought I was fairly knowledgeable about nutrition before I found this site, but I have learned so much more with the information on this site and from all of you.  Because of that, I have lost 13 more pounds.  I cried when I got under 130 pounds and have 2 pounds to go to get to 120.  I am working more on toning right now and know the last 2 pounds will come off even if it's not quickly.  I feel so much better now.  I wear size 4 to 6 and even though I am active and outdoorsy I feel more feminine now than I ever have.  The best part is knowing that this is my lifestyle and I can do this.

awesome!  awesome! 

my real story happened 16 years ago, but I'll share anyway.

I was 28 and got my first job in a big company.  I was surrounded by lots of women.  I was carrying an extra 30 pounds (is it still baby weight 5 years later?) and was completely sedentary, always had been.

The women in the office who worked out all looked great, no matter their age.  The ones that didn't got gradually W-I-D-E-R as they got older. There was my future, right in front of me. 

Mike was a high school athlete and wanted to get back to working out more regularly and he'd always been interested in nutrition, so we started to gradually change our lives.  I soon went to work for him and we would hit the gym on the way home from work.  It just became part of the routine.  And we began our long journey into learning about nutrition.  I read a great book called "Getting Thin: all about fat - how you get it, how you lose it, how you keep it off for good".  For the first time I understood that what we eat is fuel for our bodies.  Here I am a college graduate and that concept had never really occurred to me.  So we started eating real food.  I was a REALLY picky eater, meat and potatoes, no fish, nothing spicy, no veggies, so it was a struggle, but at least I got off junk food.  My palate gradually expanded.  Now I love seafood, LOVE spicy food, am still learning to love veggies, and I finally started to really cook only about 5 years ago.

I wasn't on a "diet", so I don't even know how long it took me to lose those 30 pounds, I'd guess 6-9 months?  The important part is they've stayed off, within 5 pounds now and then, for 16 years. 

If I can learn to add exercise to my life, to learn to cook, to learn to savor healthy food, anybody can!

Well I don't have much of a success story.  I accidentally lost 10 lbs in a week.  I think that it was from not drinking pop in 1 month and it finnally just caught up with me.  Anyway when I saw it drop i figured I should start dieting again.  I have been doing this since July 10th and have only lost 5 more lbs.  The good new is that yesterday I went to the store.  My friend said what size do you where and I told her well I wear 18 but all my pants seem to big. Anyway she brought me in several pairs of 16's that fit nicely and are you ready for this???? Two pairs of 14's that fit.  Now I am not living in a fantasy world I know size varies by brand but before there was no brand of 14's I good squeeze my fat but into.....lol....so there you have it 15 lbs total....down two sizes.

well, i just lost my first pound after starting calorie count! even though it doesn't seem like a lot...it's certainly a big step for me!

On August 11th, 2003, I weighed in at 347lb.  I was pre-diabetic.  Over the course of 5 months I lost 50lb, and I maintained in the 300lb area for a couple years.

Last year I started gaining again.  I got tired easily and had no energy.  In January we decided to get healthy once and for all.  I weighed in at 327.

At my largest, I was wearing a 3XL t-shirt and a size 48 pants.  We worked hard, cutting our calories to 1200/day (under doctors orders), exercise.  It wasn't easy.   The first few weeks made me want to gnaw my own arm off.

Now, exactly three years from when I started, I have lost 93lb, wear an XL t-shirt and size 38 pants (that are getting saggy on me).  I have much more energy.  I no longer have problems with diabetes.

I still have 54lb to go until I reach my goal.  Even when I hit that goal and move to maintenence, I will forever be aware of what I eat, how I eat, and how much I eat.  What this has taught me is that being healthy and losing weight is not something that you just do once.  It's something that you have to continually be aware of. 

yippee!!! Stonetable posted!!!  Congrats! What an accomplishment you and Ob have made together!

jag- congrats on the beginning!!!  That first pound is an awesome one to see disappear!  Can't wait to hear about the rest coming off too!

shanna- moving from a size 18 to a 14 is AWESOME!  keep it up!

Tracy-well, you know you keep me on my toes!  Way to go!  Keeping a healthy lifestyle is hard and you have done it for 16 years!  Awesome!!!

Wow, thanks Slappy for suggesting this thread! To the ones of us who have just begun the journey these stories are so inspiring! I just started three weeks ago, and have lost 12 lbs. so far - a long way to go (79 more to my goal) but a better beginning than I could have ever expected. Thanks so much everyone for sharing - you are helping others more than you know.