Hey all,
I have 100+ lbs to lose overall and haven't seen a healthy weight since toddlerhood. So I ask you 1oo+ folks, what's it like being so much thinner?

How has it affected your mobility, energy, healthy, etc?

I'm still so overweight perhaps I'm not 'normal' enough to be a good measure here. But of course, it's easier to do anything when you're lighter. I think more to the point is that eating enough protein and drinking more water, and laying off the food intolerances that made me internally inflamed and a little bloated, and laying off carbs which are also bloating, these probably had as much or more effect on my desire and ability to move as anything else. Oh, and 'hip flexor' exercises (even just lift a leg up and hold it as long as you can), went a long way. Honestly it's hard to say that the improvement was all about the weight loss. But that definitely helps!!

The first 100 lbs made such a huge improvement in my quality of life I can hardly describe it. I fit into 'regular' fat clothes. I fit into all chairs and seat belts. I could move more easily.

I can't say how dramatic the change will be for you, because I started so very big, but I just know you'll feel amazing and suddenly be able to do things you couldn't do before.

Its very surreal.
It takes a really long time for the mind to catch up with the body; however.

Like Samantha22 said, it takes time for your mind to catch up with your body, but at some point it does and it feels very liberating. But you don't even have to get to 100lbs lost to feel amazing changes, I noticed even at 40lbs such a difference in my quality of life, the way I moved, etc.

Pick up one of those office cooler bottles of water, I think they are around 50lbs. Carry it around and just see how heavy it is. I do this to reinforce to myself how much weight I had on my frame before and how insane that was for my body.

Some quick things I notice:
1 - doing anything active isn't exhausting (like walking up stairs I often even 'bound' up them now whereas before I was hauling myself up)
2 - energy, energy, energy. I wake up refreshed and ready to tackle the day and my energy lasts all day until I get sleepy but never physically tired at night.
3 - I never worry about sitting in a chair with arms anymore (if I will fit without having my body hang out or over the arms).
4 - I'm happier, more confident and more outgoing in everything I do.
5 - Shop wherever I want for clothing
6 - I feel strong and lean (at least in some parts of my body!)

There are so many many other things as well that I can't even remember, but someone wrote something on the boards that I posted in my journal and it was something about life before being a life of "can't". I don't have that life anymore.

And maybe the biggest change for me wasn't directly tied to the weight loss but the major reset on my body that Atkins did for me -- I am no longer controlled by food and eating....I am free from that. I am still carb addicted and will always be, but this WOE freed me from the rollercoaster ride and I have control over what I eat and how much I eat now, and food doesn't rule my mind. I look at food now primarily as a fuel for my body not for my addiction.

Thanks for all the replies so far
I just realized something I would like to do but don't feel confident to do: ride the slides at the waterpark with my son. Between the exertion of climbing those stairs and the warning about the ride "not being suitable for our larger guests" I don't try.

We have season passes to the local amusement and waterpark for our summer "vacation". I hope we do the same next year, and I'll be comfortable doing the water slides.

Omigosh - how *hasn't* it affected everything? There aren't words.

In a way, I feel like I was lied to for many years. You know that lie, the one they tell overweight people that "losing weight won't change your life, you still have a dead-end job, screaming kids and oblivious husband to deal with"? The lie they tell to try to not expect losing weight to change your life.

I guess this is one of those places where everyone is different, and maybe there have been people that truly expected weight loss to make their life perfect and then when it wasn't used it as an excuse when they regained, but for me, I wish someone had emphasized more how losing weight makes the rest of my life *so much* easier.

Being obese was a life-sucking, draining, horrible experience for me. I was depressed, hated my body, despaired of ever being happy, couldn't figure out why I couldn't solve my weight issues, and though I actually did have a fairly healthy self-esteem, it was constantly tested and worn down by my own inability to understand why I couldn't lose weight. With that kind of life-force sucking background going on all day, everyday, everything I did in real life was harder.

Losing weight lifted that for me. Sure, I still have a dead end job, money concerns, family worries, etc, etc. Life isn't perfect by any stretch of the imagination, but dealing with real life without the overpowering cloud of obesity is so much easier.

Yes, physically losing weight has been wonderful, too, but emotionally & mentally, it has lifted me up to a place where life is much more enjoyable everyday.

I had gastric bypass, but I understand what you're talking about when you say you haven't been thin since you were a toddler. I have pictures of myself as a toddler and I wonder how I got around. I was a pretty chunky baby. But after gastric bypass I lost 175 lbs. and I have to say it was completely liberating. I am still considered a fat girl as I have gained about 35lbs back, and I'm just over the 300 mark. And even though it's been 4 years since I lost that weight I will never forget the impact it had on my life. The ability to sit in a lawn chair and not worry about not fitting. The ability to sit in a dentist chair comfortably. The ability to walk straight through a door way without turning side ways. The ability to jog or run if I desire to. It is amazing and I look forward to losing my next 100lbs. Good luck to you. You can do it, and it is worth it!!!!

when people talk about "rewards" like shopping sprees, etc., they miss the point. NOTHING is like losing significant amounts of weight.

I'd never felt connected to the world like I did once the 80th or so pound came off. I felt different - amazing. I am still not thin, have never been thin, but the effect was that I felt so at ease in my own mind and body.

I realized at one point that it was impossible to be comfortable when I weighed 350.

This fight is 1000000% worth it.

I haven't lost 100 yet, so I can only imagine what that must feel like, but I can tell you that even losing the 50 that I have has made a tremendous difference in my life. It has taken me to a place where I actually feel *normal* in the world. I walk around and don't feel like I stand out anymore. This has been huge in my life as I haven't felt like this in a long, long time.

Its now been 4 years since I hit the 100 lbs lost mark on my journey. It was actually last week 4 years ago, so a milestone for me. I was 174 lbs when I hit that mark and had already been feeling thin when I made it into Onederland. But I was not thin, I only felt it!

It is a liberating feeling to not be lugging all that extra weight around. I could go up stairs without hauling myself up using the bannister....getting up out of a chair became easy and not this huge effort. My work with dogs each day, as in lots of walking....was no longer killing my legs. Just turning my body in bed wasn't the chore that it had been prior. Not to mention my energy levels!!

Yes, the shopping part is way cool....buying clothes in regular size stores and depts....not feeling as if I am invisible to the world any longer. Knowing that there are no more sniggers behind my back....also another plus.

It is worth every ounce of effort I put into making it happen. I work hard to not regain my weight...I do not want to have to go through it again as it took me 15 years living that way, to get it off my body. A very painful 15 years.

I cannot underestimate the power in being able to walk into any store (read "a non plus-sized store") and purchase something that actually doesn't suck and looks good on me. It is completely liberating.

I don't use clothing as "rewards" per se (except for my $160 Brooks Glycerin 7 running shoes I bought after completing my learn-to-run training), the physical benefits of this weight loss are reward enough, but I love being able to find clothes that fit my style and look good, and not have to settle for something from 1 store that doesn't look bad. No matter what I wore before I lost my weight, I looked shlumpy and frumpy and never felt confident....complete 180 now.

What a great thread!

Tagging for inspirational reading.

Interesting thread. I have not made the 100+ mark yet but I am pretty close. I enjoy reading all your responses because *I don't feel any different*. I don't "see" any difference in the way I look when I look in the mirror. I do feel more energetic and healthy, but I began to feel that with only a couple weeks of low carbing, before I had lost any significant weight. As the weight has dropped I have not come to feel any *more* energetic or healthy.

About the only real tangible thing I have noticed is that now it's less of a struggle to fasten car seatbelts. But when the occasional person says to me, "wow, you've lost a lot of weight" I truly have no idea what they are seeing, based on my own viewpoint in the mirror.

Just what I needed to read today. Thanks!