don’t ever do something to impress someone (man).

I’m 20 years old South African Queen, wearing size 32 (8) en I love my curves.

I’ll never forget talking to this older woman in weight room one day. She was close to 70 but didn’t look it — she did her exercise routine 3-4 times a week, and looked fabulous. Not like a swimsuit model or anything, but just fit and normal looking.

She told me that she looks back on pictures of herself in her 20s, 30s, and 40s — when she thought she looked fat — and is now stunned at how beautiful she was! She says women don’t realize who great they look, even if they do weight a few pounds more than they think they should.

What struck me was how sad she was that she wasted so much time thinking about her weight and hating her body…when she could’ve been just enjoying life and chasing her dreams!

She wasted alot of time and energy on her weight…and we don’t get that time and energy back, my friends.

Thanks for reminding me of her, Teresa! It’s a really good life lesson.

Laurie
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Congrats on losing 30 pounds, that’s great.

I’m really interested in the discipline thing….because to be a writer (freelance or otherwise), you need to be disciplined. And to lose weight, you need to be disciplined. I guess to accomplish any goal, you have to be disciplined!

For weight loss — or writing, or achieving any goal in life — different things work for different people. Weight loss groups work for some, diets work for others, and food journals work for still others!

I’ve lost 20 pounds, and am happy with my weight. What worked for me was Pilates (10 Minute Solutions!), and getting a handle on my emotional eating. When I remember what I used to eat, I’m horrified — no WONDER I was always chubby. “Butter in the middle and on top, please” when I ordered popcorn at the movie theatre. Egg McMuffins every day. Gawd.

Anyway — thanks for your comment and I hope to see you around See Jane Soar again!

Laurie

I don’t agree with much of this post. I recently gained 30 pounds establishing my business, and I’ve since lost it, in about 6 months.

I got my butt to the gym, or out for a three mile walk EVERY DAY, or, failing that, every other day. My walks turned into slow jogs, and then into runs–over 6 months. I went to a cross training class with 110 pounds 20 year olds, and THEN I came back the next day! I weighed myself EVERY MORNING to see if the day before worked. I wrote EVERY SINGLE CALORIE in a notebook for 6 months, straight. I didn’t read about losing weight, I didn’t attend lectures about losing weight, I didn’t go to groups about losing weight. Instead, I ACTUALLY LOST WEIGHT. All 30 pounds, gone, 6 months. Even thru the holidays.

When people ask me how I lost 30 pounds, I always tell them its about discipline and doing. If you slash your calories to 1200, and get up in the morning and move for an hour, you’re NOT going to keep that weight on. Bodies just don’t work that way. 1200 calories, an hour a day of REAL exercise- fast walk. Seriously.

Did you know that exercise only accounts for about 30% of effective weight loss? I was shocked to learn that exercise isn’t as important for weight loss as I believed. It’s crucial for overall health and fitness, but you have to work out a long time to burn off potato chips and chocolate bars.

I’m loving a book called The Skinny on Losing Weight Without Being Hungry by Dr Louis Aronne.

Here’s what I’ve learned – it may not be new to you, but it’s working for me:

- eat your veggies, fruit, soup, salad, etc first — don’t touch the meat or potatos or rice until you’ve eaten lots of heavy, high-volume foods that fill you up and contain few calories.

- when you’re tempted to eat, rate your hunger on a scale of 1 to 10, with 10 being so full you can barely breath (like after Thanksgiving or Christmas dinner!) and 1 being famished. Don’t eat unless you’re at a 5 or less. I’ve found this stops me from munching mindlessly in front of the TV.

- eat 3 bites of dessert. Save the rest to savor tomorrow — it WILL still be there. And if it’s not, there’s more where it came from!

Those are the 3 most important ones, for me anyway.

Some women really like joining groups like Weight Watchers or Tops. Have you tried losing weight that way?

Hey — maybe I’ll write up the most important points Dr Aronne makes in his book. Would that interest you?

Laurie

*sigh*

No, nothing new here at all except, perhaps, the “write instead of eat” part. And even that isn’t new as I’ve seen many a diet book that wants you to journal, often as a way to distract yourself from wanting something to eat.

I need to loose weight. I’m 180-185lbs and only 5′1″. I used to weigh close to 220. It took me three years to loose that 35-40lbs, but then it stopped and I’ve been where I’m at for nearly another three years. My Dad’s side of my family were (are) all obese. My Mom’s side were (are) all thin. My brother and I are both heavy. My husband can, and does, eat all sorts of sweets and junk and he is finally, at 58, getting slightly over-weight. Both my children are over weight – even though like me they were thin until they were out of high school. I really do think genetics is a major factor in the issue of being over-weight.

If loosing was nearly as much fun as gaining it would be fantastic, unfortunately it is not. It is hard work and having to give up many things that make life enjoyable. I guess it’s fun when you actually get thin, more if you can then keep it off. I’ve lost weight several times and this has been the first time I haven’t gained it all back within a year. I am pleased with that, but not with the fact that I don’t seem to be able to lose any more.

I do like the fact that she did say we need to learn to be pretty and that not every man likes skinny women, but she still tied that to it giving us that extra boost to keep losing. That is still saying we have to be thin to be acceptable.

I want to get to at least 160lbs. Still way over weight for my height and build, but at least it would be below 170, which seems to be the “magic number” to avoid many of the weight related illnesses. No, I won’t be “pretty”. I’ll still look fat, but at least I should be healthier.

Sorry to rant.
Sandra