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LiterateGr's Avatar
LiterateGr LiterateGr is offline
Senior Member
Posts: 163
What do you mean, I'm not remotely overweight?
Posted by LiterateGr
Posted Wed, Apr-15-20
Female 5 '9"
Plan: Atkins/General LC
Stats: 240.0/167.2/155
BF:36/29.5/25
Progress: 86%
Default What do you mean, I'm not remotely overweight?

I'm 49.

I've been somewhere between overweight and obese since my mid-20s.

And for New Years this year... I hit "normal" weight.

I'm surrounded, now, by people who cannot picture me as fat. (I have a photo, taken at Disney, 2 months before I was diagnosed as diabetic & started back on-plan, that I have saved on my iPad, to whip out and prove it. Many don't believe it's me.)

The picture was September, 2018. That's less than 2 years ago.

Now?

* My "Size XL" unisex T-shirts are unflatteringly baggy. There's room for 2 of me.
* I've had to completely replace my all my underwear, as none of it would stay up, anymore. (There's the time I was alone in the room with a male colegue, at work... I was wearing a dress, because they're more "forgiving" of size changes than pants, and walking across the room when my undies literally hit the floor!!! Fortuantely, the dress was a floor-length one from Amazon, so I just froze in my tracks until he walked out, but... yeah. )
* I've purchased blouses sized "M" from the Misses. section (Not "Women's") and -- while one is a TAD tight through the bust -- they fit and are flattering.

* I have to have to wear a belt or have a drawstring on any pants or shorts I wear. (Pants are a "complicated" fit, and I haven't really bought ones for my new shape, yet.

I'm still flabby. (This is weird. I've never been thin AND out of shape, but I am right now. No biking, no swimming, and it shows. I have no glutes!) I think I want to fix that before I go do something like get pants that fit. (Pants that fit are a challenge, regardless. Typically, if they go over my hips, they're 4-6" too big in the waist, and so fall down.) (No, I'm not pear-shaped. Classic "hour-glass", with a 10" difference between waist & hip. But most women's pants aren't made for that.)

So I need to get in shape. I've had a "sag-belly" since abdominal surgery in 2001, and that fold still hangs down... if I ever strike it rich, I may look at surgery to fix that. (The skin folds over for an area as big as my hand. It's hard to keep dry, and so is prone to irritation.)

And my uppper arms still have "chicken wings".

But my face, waist, legs, and chest? Look great! (OK, I could use some more muscle tone, but whatever.)

My doctor has told me I'm no longer diabetic.
My lipid-panels look fabulous. (Unlike when I started this.)
It's no issue if I "have to" skip a meal... I typically am only hungry enough for one meal a day, anyhow, and try to have it in the evening (with my daughter.) (My co-workers are baffled by this, and think I never eat. Then they see me tear into a plate of wings, leaving no survivors/taking no hostages, and get really confused!)

My facebook photo hasn't changed since 2012. At the time, I'd been on Atkins for almost a year, was down to 180 or so (a new low since children), and we were at Yosemite. For a while, I was realizing that wasn't at all what my obese-self looked like anymore, but I left it because I loved the photo.

Now? Yeah... that isn't what I look like at all.... *chuckles* I'm thinking of trying to get a good picture taken of me now!


I had trouble, at the beginning, finding a "goal weight". As you can see from my stats, I picked "170" for this board... in other places, I had 165, 160, 150, though I always thought that last number might be too low. (I'm 5'9" and genuinely "big framed". Though my ankles and wrists are very small, my hips & shoulders are wide. My naked skeleton would never wear a size 10.)

I hit 165, and was ecstatic. Then, without noticing, I hit 160, and at one point dipped down to 159... quickly.

I've always been a daily-weigher when I'm taking care of myself. Yeah, there's bumps in the graph, but lots of data-points make it clearer that that's ALL they are: bumps. Well, the daily-weighing, at this point, became useful. My new goal is to stay between 160-165. (I feel like any less really won't be healthy for me.) When I hit 159, I was able to correct back above 160. A couple days ago, I cheated horribly (I had a slice of pizza and a couple of thumb-print cookies), and put on 7 lbs of glycogen. No panic -- it's almost all off, again.

(Does that mean I'm making a habit of it? No. (We're dealing with COVID-quarantine *after* several months of basically no income, so most of "my" staple-foods have run out. When my daughter had pizza, I couldn't grab a handful of almonds to counter the urge.) But it does mean that when I fall down, I know how to pick myself back up.)

I officially started back on this path on Nov. 1, 2018. At the time, I thought I'd stall out around 170-180, like I had in the past.

Instead, here I am, working on staying around 160, because I don't want to drop below.

Need to get a couple more paychecks under my belt, and buy myself those custom-jeans I promised me if I ever got to this point!
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  #2  
by thud123 on Wed, Apr-15-20, 09:34
Default

Quote:
My doctor has told me I'm no longer diabetic.
My lipid-panels look fabulous. (Unlike when I started this.)

Terrific ! Great writeup too
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