Forensikchic

My husband and I have been going to the gym on and off for about a year... mostly off...lol. We started the 5k training together last week. Its going great. On days we dont walk\run, we do the weight training on the machines. He likes to take turns on the machine so he can compete with me. He is 6'2" tall and about 210. He is not muscular really so we lift pretty close the each other. Anyway, we were on this thigh machine that works your outer thighs. The two pads are against your outer thighs and your legs are together when you start. You swing your thighs apart to lift the weight. He started first and his inner thighs were touching and his knees very nearly. Then it was my turn to do a set. I started and there was this huge gap when my legs were together, he said, hey! your cheating... you dont have it set where your legs are all the way together! I said, yes I did! We checked it and sure enough, and to my great surprise, it was as close at the machine allows and there was at least 5 inches of room between my legs! LOL.. it was the greatest feeling to know my thighs have shrunk that much! They look little now! So much smaller then our earlier visits to the gym this year that he thought I was cheating! Woohooo! Just thought I would share in my excitement. My hubby couldnt stop talking about it at the gym... I love my sleeve

SN: Forensikchic SW: 179 GW: 164 CW: 176 pounds to lose: 12 I am down three pounds this week! I was stalled at 179 for two weeks straight but finally the scale is moving again. I just hope I dont stall again for weeks. I am working on my running program and its going better than I expected. Yay me! Come on peeps! Lets get to our Valentines goals!

This sounds like fun so here goes.... I am 43, mother to an almost 21 year old son, an 18 year old son and a almost 14 year old daughter. I am happily married to my husband Dave. We have been married for almost 5 years now. My first husband was abusive and it took me 10 years to leave that codepenant relationship. I have yo-yo dieted for 20 years. Loosing up to 40 pounds two and three times, but always gaining it back and almost never getting under 170. Once, on weight watchers, I got to 163 but it was very short lived. I was back over 170 in short order. I reached my all time high of 236 about two years ago. After i got remarried we wanted a child together. After all the fertility treatments and hormones, my weight was at this all time high. I knew I had to try something new. We never got pregnant either. I hosted 10 exchange students over the years and went to see one of them get married in Brazil last spring. I have not hosted since being remarried though it is something I want to continue to do as soon as I can. I am a forensic scientist in firearms and toolmarks and have been for 12 years. My first career was cytotechnology (we diagnose cancer on the cellular level) so I have a pretty good medical knowledge, but i only use it as a little hobby now. My husband calls me "Dr. My Wife" because family members are always calling me for advice and to diagnose their health issues. I am not a doctor, however. I love forensic science. I am about halfway through my Masters program in forensic science administration right now. I am still in disbelief most of the time that I have lost almost 60 pounds already and only have 40 to go! I know I can loose 40, I have done that before but this time I feel confident I will not be gaining it back again! I am 5 months out next week. HAPPY NEW YEAR!

I have lost 3.1 pounds since Christmas day for a total loss the month of December of 10.6!!!! I have never lost this much weight in December before!Yay! I count my month surgiversary on the 8th so I wont be updating my signature for December until the 8th of January. As it stands, I have lost 8 pounds since the 8th of December so we will see next week what that total is. I am pushing for being at 174 so it can be a total of 60 pounds in 5 months. It was my Xmas goal that I didnt make it to. I started a c25k program and its going well! So excited about the new year and the new me!

Some of my highlights have been: March 2011- went on vacation to Sao Paulo Brazil- saw one of my exchange students get married there and visited with a second one! So awesome... Got the pics back to realize that I was morbidly obese and didnt look anything like I thought I did! I knew then I had to do something more drastic. Wasted the summer in self pity over my weight and gained the 20 pounds I had lost for the Brazil trip back in quick order. My husband landed his first teaching job and that changed our insurance which led me to check on wls again. I had already been to a siminar in April but didnt like the surgeon or his staff. So here it is late July and I discovered our new insurance covered wls. I went to seminar the next day with my hubby. CHANGED MY LIFE! I loved the surgeon and staff but my insurance only covered vsg of bmi 5o or higher and i was 40.2. A really nice man said to me... just self pay and get it over with.. screw the insurance.. they have payment plans with no interest! Thats exactly what we did! I was sleeved the following Monday August 8th. I have lost 56 pounds since then. I went from a size 20 (tight) to a size 12-14 depending on brand. I went from 1x shirts to M-L. I went from size 9 panties to a 7. I went from a size 40C to a 38C in bra's. I am in the 170's which I havent seen in 5 years. I feel so much better already! ALL THIS IN LESS THAN 5 MONTHS!!! 2012 is my year reach goal and become a runner! My sister told me once that I would never be as thin as I was in college and I am out to prove her wrong! 135 or less, here I come! I am planning to go back to Brazil in 2013 and visit my family and friends there so I can make new and better pictures that I can be proud of! I also graduate from grad school then too.

Im nearly 5 months out and you can count me in!

Im 44 pounds from goal. I am a little over half way there at almost 5 months. I started doing circuit training and walking end of October but have slacked the last two weeks because of Christmas. I stalled for a couple of weeks when starting the exercise and only lost 6 pounds in November. I just began training for a 5k and back to circuit training again yesterday, now that I am not so busy with holiday crap. I eat Protein first always, I have very good restriction--can only eat about 2oz of fish or meat at a sitting-- and only snack on high protein things. I dont eat starch like rice or bread. I do eat an occassional cracker with my cheddar cheese but its minimal. I average about 650 to 800 calories a day. I have problems drinking enough fluids but i am working on that. I was told to add a few carbs like a bagel thin with Peanut Butter before exercising so I would have enough calories to burn and that did help get me out of that initial stall. I didnt eat that when I wasnt exercising though. I can only hold a fourth of a bagel thin with a tablespoon of pb which equates to about three small bites anyway, so its not that high in carbs or calories. The bagel thins are those really thin bagels that are 100 calories for a whole one and I eat a 4th of it. Anyways, I try to get at least 50 grams of protein. I dont worry about the rest of it. I track it occassionally so I can know my calories but I was obsessing about it, so I laid off tracking so much. It was pretty much the same every day anyway. I dont want to obsess about dieting! I just want to eat my protein, exercise and watch the magic happen! lol. Now, If I could just get more liquids in!

After the initial loss (first month or two) what was your average loss per month? I have been sleeved for almost 5 months and If I count from the last 3 months, I am averaging about 8 pounds a month or 2 pounds a week. That includes the stalls and drops. I was just wondering if this is average for most people or am I on the slow end of the spectrum?

I know how you feel. I am from the deep south and we are all friendly folks generally. I moved to south Texas two and a half YEARS ago, and I am yet to make a friend that is really a friend and not just a coworker or aquaintance. I miss having friends that I socialize with, shop with, have coffee with, etc., chat on the phone with. I have no one either. I met a nice lady at my support group and we email each other occassionaly and talk when we are at the meeting, but nothing beyond that. She did invite me to join her gym but I havent worked out the logistics for that yet. I have soooo much going on right now with family, etc.. I cant seem to get my schedule to coincide with hers for that. Anyway, she is the closest thing I can call a friend her in San Antonio. I wish I had all my buddies from Alabama here with me. I miss that close friendship I had with them. I use this board for my major support and it has been great! I really appreciate all the feedback I get and everyone knows what you are going through!

I am late posting this but I stayed the same this week. The important thing to remember is that I didnt gain over the holidays! I am in fact down 5 this month so far for a total of 55 pounds down since my Aug. 8th surgery. Wooohooo!

My lab director came in my office and made a comment to me "Why are you wearing your husbands shirt to work?"... I laughed. I am wearing my shirt that used to be snug and now it just falls off! It is thick and warm and its cold here today so I just inadvertantly put it on. I guess i will have to retire it now... The second one was what he said after that. We continued to chat and I said I had lost over 40 inches, 10 in my hips alone! He said, "Thats great but dont loose too much weight. You know you can loose too much!" It was the first time someone has said for me not to lose too much.. I am still considered obese and have 45 more pounds to loose to get in the middle of my normal range!!!! I took the comment as a positive though... I told him I still had 45 more pounds to go and he just shook his head and walked off. LMAO! Yay for getting healthy and thin and feeling great about bagging clothes and people saying not to lose to much... I want that problem!

Mine is to be nicer to my husband and to RUN a 5k. I am signing up for one February 25th. I dont know if I can run the whole thing on the first try but I damn sure going to give it a go! Training starts today!

I had a similar experience with Popeyes and KFC. In the past few weeks with hectic Christmas shopping, we stopped for chicken. (my husband thought it would be good protein for me). I got a chicken leg at both places... it was so greasy, it made me sick and I couldnt eat it. I just do not like greasy things anymore... I was instantly queasy and had no appetite for it! I guess that is one of the many blessings in disguise!

In about seven short weeks, Valentine's Day will be here! Who's up for a challenge? With the holidays behind us and some of us making our goals and some of us falling a little short, I thought I might motivate us a little more by starting a new challenge. The New Year is at hand and we will all want to start off with a bang! This challenge is shorter than the previous two I have been involved with, so set your goals accordingly... I seem to set mine a little too high every time but it makes me work harder trying to reach it. My stats for this challenge are: SN: Forensikchic SW: 179 GW: 164 CW: 179 pounds to lose: 15 Upon reaching my goal I will be down 70 pounds overall!!!!! and only 30 more to goal! Its time to kick that exercise in gear and get this show on the road! We want to be looking fly come summer time! Who's with me?

SN--- Forensikchic SW--194 GW---174 CW--179 lbs to goal--- 5 Well, I didnt quite make it this challenge either. I did loose 15 pounds however and I am proud of that! You never know when you might stall and mess up your challenge. I will take any loss at this stage of my life.. before surgery, I would have already been on the "gain" by now and I didnt gain any weight over the holidays, in fact lost at least 5 pounds since thanksgiving! Now, on to the New Challenge and the New Year! Its my year this time! Merry Christmas Everyone!

I hope its just the stress too. I will be praying for you to feel better soon and the weight loss to level off. Think positive thoughts!

HOORAY!!!!! So happy for you!

So, so happy for you and proud of you! I knew you would do amazing! Its gets easier every day. You will see. There are little bumps in the road but you can handle it! Life is going to be so much different for you now... Welcome to the loser's bench!

Yay Tina! I had to learn how to sip too.. I was a gulper... The time will literally fly by and you will have a hard time remembering this part! Its only a few short weeks and you will be able to eat food in small amounts slowly, but real food. You are doing great!

I like the premade Muscle Milk banana cream flavor.. tastes like a banana laffy taffy candy. its pretty good and the only one I can drink. I dont like bananas either! lol.

This is a topic I havent really thought about and should. I have not been rewarding myself. I have missed my halloween goal by a few pounds and now I am going to miss my Xmas one by a few pounds too so there has not been a real reward system. I am happy with my results but I didnt think to reward myself for how well I am doing. I set these arbitrary goals for myself, not knowing where to start.. they have been too high each time. I am going to set rewards right now for different milestones I want to reach and follow through with it! Thanks for the idea! I think things like new makeup, a pedicure, jewelry, a massage, a new purse, etc would be good rewards. I have to buy new clothes every few weeks anyway and I get them at thift stores. I plan to buy a whole new wardrobe when I reach goal and level off anyway. I do see the need to get smaller rewards along the way though.

I am going to sign up for my first 5k, its February 25th here in San Antonio. Thats 8 1/2 weeks away or so. I think I can do it if I dont give up after the first three weeks, like I have in the past. It just always seemed like stuff came up and I didnt get to be consistent with my running and then I just fell off the wagon after missing one or two training sessions. I am trying a new running program that is a little easier than couch to 5k- meaning it is less complicated in the amounts of time you run/walk. Maybe that will do the trick. PLUS... this time I weigh 55 pounds less!!!!!!

Well, last time I started the Xmas one the week before Halloween because it was the 25 and exactly two months away... Not too many people joined at first because they werent done with halloween. I want to be sure people are ready for a new one so I was thinking of starting the day after the xmas one is over with..even though we are just days away! If others think we should start it now instead of waiting...please chime in!

Yes. I wanted to try to gauge how much interest there would be in it. When do you think we should start it? December 26th? Im just tossing out ideas..

Thanks Irene! I will search for one now!