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  #31   ^
Old Fri, Apr-25-14, 02:38
Just Jo's Avatar
Just Jo Just Jo is offline
A'72 Lifer Hard Core
Posts: 15,566
 
Plan: A'72 Induction Lifer + IF
Stats: 265/114/130 Female 5'4"
BF:Not so much now!
Progress: 112%
Location: South Central New Mexico
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Enomarb
hi Jo-
first, congrats on your hard work and the results. Now just hang in for the long haul! This site is AMAZING for support. There are lots of long timers here who are so inspiring.

I know I'm not fat, but I can't think of myself as 'thin'. I think of myself as 'normal'. I am very uncomfortable in form fitting clothes.I got a new dress last week to wear to a wedding this summer and got a size XL. I know I should be in a M, but that is too tight /form fitting for me. The areas I am very self conscious about are my stomach and my breasts. Even after loosing all the weight I am a DDD. One of my close friends works at Chicos and is always on my case to wear "clothes that FIT YOU"- she was not happy with the XL dress but said she knows I don't like to show off my curves. I do wear tight jeans now- but only boot cut and I never ever tuck a shirt in. I wear boot cut yoga pants- again with a shirt over- for exercise. I wear pretty baggy shirts too! So while I say I am comfortable with my body and even like it, I am not comfortable exposing my shape. DH would love me in tighter low cut clothes but not happening.
I don't really want to change - and I do think I look good in clothes and do buy the right size other than tops.
anyway...
E

Thanks Enomarb!!
It's weird wearing the tighter fitting clothes, something I am going to have to get used to. I am not a "tucker" either -- I don't think I will ever be able to do that. As for hanging in there for the long HAUL -- you betcha! I'm in this for LIFE.

I came here for the support and I've gotten so much (and a few DEBBIE DOWNERS...ugh!! ).

Huge thanks to all of you for the help and support!!!

Wishing all of us continued success on our personal LC WOE journeys!!
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I've lost 1/2 myself (125 lbs) in 41 weeks!!


“Success is not Final. Failure is not Fatal.
It’s the Courage to Continue that Counts.” Winston Churchill
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  #32   ^
Old Fri, Apr-25-14, 02:45
Just Jo's Avatar
Just Jo Just Jo is offline
A'72 Lifer Hard Core
Posts: 15,566
 
Plan: A'72 Induction Lifer + IF
Stats: 265/114/130 Female 5'4"
BF:Not so much now!
Progress: 112%
Location: South Central New Mexico
Default

Quote:
Originally Posted by Bonnie OFS
My daughter did that to me! Which is why I now have a couple of nice blouses and a skirt that actually fit. When she visits in July I think we'll go shopping.


You are going to have so much fun, Bonnie! My DD and I are doing a "Girls Get Away to Florida" in late June to visit my youngest DD, we're leaving the DHs at home

I know we are going to go do more shopping LOL, I can hear my credit card crying already!!


Wishing all of us continued success on our personal LC WOE journeys!!
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I've lost 1/2 myself (125 lbs) in 41 weeks!!


“Success is not Final. Failure is not Fatal.
It’s the Courage to Continue that Counts.” Winston Churchill
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  #33   ^
Old Mon, Nov-06-17, 04:29
kathleen24 kathleen24 is offline
Monday came.
Posts: 4,418
 
Plan: my own
Stats: 275/228.6/155 Female 5'4"
BF:ummm . . . ?
Progress: 39%
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Awake in the night with a nasty cold. Read some internet research that agreed with me that expired Ibuprofen was fine to take. Now I'm on here and in a thread that's almost as old as the medicine, but like it, still has a lot of good stuff in it.

It's nice to see others have been struggling with some of the same questions I do.

I took bags of too-big clothes to the thrift shop, and sent a box of my nice Holy Clothing to TX when I friend drove there last month with a big van. Figured that there are plus-size women there for whom it's a bigger struggle to find clothing than for their smaller sisters, and am hoping they helped, a little bit.

I made the decision to err on the side of purging; if I gave something away and later missed it, I would give myself amnesty. No regrets. So far, that's been helpful.

As I lose weight, it seems that the loss of size is accelerating. That makes sense. In going from 275 to 265, I didn't have to switch to a smaller size, I just had a little more ease. In going from 175 to 165, that's a whole size down.

I have occasionally written down my weights and measurements at different times, but I didn't include the sizes I was wearing at the time--that might have been of interest.

However, sizing changes so much that the numbers don't really mean a lot. I have a love of vintage clothing, the sizes of which are different depending on when they were made. I have some Pendleton skirts that are tight as size 12's and others that fit comfortably loose. Yet according the size chart currently on their website, an M/8 would have some ease for me. So the only thing I have to go by is how each piece fits.

I've made the call to get rid of stuff as it becomes baggy on me. Someone once advised me to "bless somebody else' life with it," and so I do.

I think this question really taps into the underlying fear that I suspect we share, at least at the beginning: will I put this weight back on? We can say, "No way," but the track record says otherwise. Still. I choose to act in good faith here.

One of the things I'm noticing as I get smaller is how much better clothing fits. I have small-ish shoulders, and being able to wear things that fit from there, that hang from my frame instead of just covering my body is enjoyable.

I also walk that line of when to wear tight-fitting clothing and when to `cover' in loose-fitting clothing or layers. I'm glad I have both options.
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  #34   ^
Old Tue, Nov-07-17, 04:28
Enomarb Enomarb is offline
MAINTAINING ON CALP
Posts: 4,838
 
Plan: CALP/CAHHP
Stats: 180/125/150 Female 65 in
BF:
Progress: 183%
Location: usa
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Hi Kathleen-
I like what you posted about "acting in good faith"- planning on being successful makes more sense to me than planning on failing. It was scary giving away my clothes as I lost- I had such a struggle finding clothes that fit and that I liked and thought I looked good in- but it was part of my commitment to being different. I had some brand new (and pricy) clothes that I had 'saved'- gave them away too.

There is so little written about maintaining weight loss. I think planning to maintain - and all the ways to try and do that- is important and positive.

It was interesting to me to read what I wrote more than 3 years ago. I'm at the same weight- btw- and feel pretty much the same way. I am making an effort to wear clothes that fit a bit closer to my body, and am actively working on accepting my belly as ok and normal. I am not interested in more weight loss at this point. I want to maintain and I am very interested in the health gain I experience with LC.

I'm very impressed with your ability to explore clothing and fit and sizes- thanks for what you posted.

E
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  #35   ^
Old Tue, Nov-07-17, 09:05
Bonnie OFS Bonnie OFS is offline
Senior Member
Posts: 2,573
 
Plan: Dr. Bernstein
Stats: 188/150/135 Female 5 ft 4 inches
BF:
Progress: 72%
Location: NE WA
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It was interesting reading my own post from over 3 years ago. I was still taking Metformin back then & losing weight as much from chronic diarrhea as from eating correctly. Later I stopped the Metformin & had to really learn how to eat. I was also dealing with SAD in the winter but didn't realize it. So every winter I'd gain weight along with the depression.

Last year I started taking Vitamin D3 - which helped - & this year I have a therapy light that I sit in front of every morning - it helps, too.

I'm now almost down to the weight I was in early 2014. It's been a struggle, but "every day, in every way I'm getting better and better!"

Interesting tho - in spite of gaining weight, I bought only a couple of blouses that were bigger. Earlier this year I bought new bras that were a size smaller than I've worn in years. And I can now fit back into a blouse I couldn't wear last year.

I guess it's still progress even if I'm winning back the territory I used to have. And this time I'm keeping it.
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  #36   ^
Old Tue, Nov-07-17, 14:11
kathleen24 kathleen24 is offline
Monday came.
Posts: 4,418
 
Plan: my own
Stats: 275/228.6/155 Female 5'4"
BF:ummm . . . ?
Progress: 39%
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Enomarb
Hi Kathleen-
I like what you posted about "acting in good faith"- planning on being successful makes more sense to me than planning on failing. It was scary giving away my clothes as I lost- I had such a struggle finding clothes that fit and that I liked and thought I looked good in- but it was part of my commitment to being different. I had some brand new (and pricy) clothes that I had 'saved'- gave them away too.
There is so little written about maintaining weight loss. I think planning to maintain - and all the ways to try and do that- is important and positive.
E

I love the quote, "faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen." It has always struck me as quite metaphysical, as trying to tell us something that most of us aren't ready to hear, right up with that mustard-seed information. It's as if we are getting ready to step out into air, and can create a bridge under our feet by trusting that it will be there.

I, too, struggled to find clothing that fit, that looked good and suited my style--so grateful to whomever here turned me on to Holy Clothing. But even then, I remember getting orders in and being confronted in the mirror with just how very large I was. And even though that's where I spent the majority of the last decades of my life, it's not who or what I want to be. I feel more as if I've finally become me.

None of those fairy stories we read when we were kids described what it was like after the witch's curse was removed, how the object of the distortion adapted to life again as not-a-toad/-rock/-hideous hag. How do you find your way in the world again? How do you not engage in rock-like behavior after having been one for a hundred years? How do you not expect to be treated as a hag, after having been one for so long? It's new territory to me, and this change has been so quick that I am still feeling my way each day.

I went to the grocery store last night, and realized that I no longer had the freedom to make eye contact and to look at people (male, that is) because now they look back! I am not invisible! Yack!

Quote:
Originally Posted by Enomarb
It was interesting to me to read what I wrote more than 3 years ago. I'm at the same weight- btw- and feel pretty much the same way. I am making an effort to wear clothes that fit a bit closer to my body, and am actively working on accepting my belly as ok and normal. I am not interested in more weight loss at this point. I want to maintain and I am very interested in the health gain I experience with LC.

I'm very impressed with your ability to explore clothing and fit and sizes- thanks for what you posted.

E


After I read your and Bonnie's responses, I thought about this topic and realized that there are more layers to this onion. I have struggled with low income for a good part of my life, and I also grew up in a family that had long memories about growing up in the Depression. The homes that my mother maintained were storehouses for things that might be needed someday, and it was the norm to me to see rooms simply used for storage, to have basements and garages filled with storage units. It took multiple tipsters to get her last house emptied when she died. I don't want to do that, I don't want to be that person, and I don't want to leave my children with those memories. My sister inherited the same hoarderish qualities, or worse, and would weep at the idea of letting things go. Things became imbued with these magical qualities that invoked memories that might not even have ever happened. I don't want to be that person, either.

I remind myself that every bag and box I release sets a bit of myself free.

Thank you for your response!

ETA: and in thinking about it, isn't it possible that this is behind the overeating as well? Must take that extra bite now because it might not be there later. I heard someone describe someone as having a deficiency model of the universe. If we trust that what we need will be available when we need it, we don't have to eat it all now, or buy it, or keep it for someday.

My fat self, if you will, had to choose to step aside, to release, to die, in a sense, so that my fit, slender, active self could live. And I feel as if that part of me wishes this part of me well. It GETS VERY CONFUSING thinking about this.

Last edited by kathleen24 : Tue, Nov-07-17 at 14:25.
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  #37   ^
Old Tue, Nov-07-17, 14:19
kathleen24 kathleen24 is offline
Monday came.
Posts: 4,418
 
Plan: my own
Stats: 275/228.6/155 Female 5'4"
BF:ummm . . . ?
Progress: 39%
Default

Quote:
Originally Posted by Bonnie OFS
It was interesting reading my own post from over 3 years ago. I was still taking Metformin back then & losing weight as much from chronic diarrhea as from eating correctly. Later I stopped the Metformin & had to really learn how to eat. I was also dealing with SAD in the winter but didn't realize it. So every winter I'd gain weight along with the depression.

Last year I started taking Vitamin D3 - which helped - & this year I have a therapy light that I sit in front of every morning - it helps, too.

I'm now almost down to the weight I was in early 2014. It's been a struggle, but "every day, in every way I'm getting better and better!"

Interesting tho - in spite of gaining weight, I bought only a couple of blouses that were bigger. Earlier this year I bought new bras that were a size smaller than I've worn in years. And I can now fit back into a blouse I couldn't wear last year.

I guess it's still progress even if I'm winning back the territory I used to have. And this time I'm keeping it.


I think it's probably a good thing that we don't know how the next chapter of our lives unfold. The not-knowing energizes us to struggle on. It must feel so good to reclaim that territory.

I have had the peculiar sensation of feeling as if I reached through time to give myself hope and encouragement--both when I needed that, and later when I realized that was the moment I reached out to myself. I know how wack-a-doo that sounds, but I think sometimes time is a little more fluid and allows us those glimpses. That's how I'm feeling now. And what's funny is that I looked like I imagined myself looking, right down to the silver hair and the shirt-jacket I have now. And that's how I feel towards myself when I was trapped in the fat body: "Hang in there! You can do this! It gets better!"
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  #38   ^
Old Tue, Nov-07-17, 18:05
Enomarb Enomarb is offline
MAINTAINING ON CALP
Posts: 4,838
 
Plan: CALP/CAHHP
Stats: 180/125/150 Female 65 in
BF:
Progress: 183%
Location: usa
Default

wow-
It's clear that you have given this a lot of thought, and are really being honest with yourself (and bravely with others!) in trying to figure it all out. It is very scary to be in the world, and be authentic, and to trust. We are always risking rejection and hurt- whether we are invisible or seen. I think we all have to take the risks, to live our own truths. I don't want to live my life in fear.
Love the quote about trust, too.

ok- here is a risk : I'm going tell you what I think. I think hoarding and massive overeating are probably biological and emotional and environmental. I do think they are related in that both can be responses to fear and stress and anxiety and pain- but the solution becomes part of the problem. No one sets out to become a hoarder or to be too fat to live the life they want to live, but it happens. It takes tremendous courage to decide to be different/do different. You are doing that.
E
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  #39   ^
Old Tue, Nov-07-17, 19:07
bluesinger's Avatar
bluesinger bluesinger is offline
Doing My Best
Posts: 4,924
 
Plan: LC/CancerRecovery
Stats: 170/135/130 Female 62 inches
BF:24%
Progress: 88%
Location: Nevada Desert, USA
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I'm pretty sure that a few months ago I posted somewhere here that I got rid of all my old (read "big") underwear. That's a first for me. I mean, underpants take up so little room, so I always hedged my bets.

I have an entire basket filled with over-sized clothes now which I need to give away. I'd rather they go to my family's church, but don't want to spend the money to mail old clothes.

Agree that sizes are not dependable any more.

I'm buying tight tops. I feel so vulnerable wearing them.
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  #40   ^
Old Tue, Nov-07-17, 20:06
kathleen24 kathleen24 is offline
Monday came.
Posts: 4,418
 
Plan: my own
Stats: 275/228.6/155 Female 5'4"
BF:ummm . . . ?
Progress: 39%
Default

Okay, while we're just putting everything out there, does anyone else glance in the mirror when they first get up in the morning to see if they're still slim?

ETA: and then feel a little bit surprised and relieved after it's been confirmed?
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  #41   ^
Old Wed, Nov-08-17, 06:33
Enomarb Enomarb is offline
MAINTAINING ON CALP
Posts: 4,838
 
Plan: CALP/CAHHP
Stats: 180/125/150 Female 65 in
BF:
Progress: 183%
Location: usa
Default

hi-
have to laugh! I still do a double take if I see myself in a store window or big mirror unexpectedly. My first response is "who's that?" then "that's ME!" then "wow I look good!". I don't know why I don't see myself that way all the time!

I worry that one day this will just "stop working"-
crazy!
E
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  #42   ^
Old Wed, Nov-08-17, 08:05
Bonnie OFS Bonnie OFS is offline
Senior Member
Posts: 2,573
 
Plan: Dr. Bernstein
Stats: 188/150/135 Female 5 ft 4 inches
BF:
Progress: 72%
Location: NE WA
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Thank you, ladies, for mentioning Holy Clothing! Those are the kind of skirts I love but have a hard time finding. And a plus - the prices are reasonable. I'll be saving up for a couple of those.
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  #43   ^
Old Wed, Nov-08-17, 09:40
kathleen24 kathleen24 is offline
Monday came.
Posts: 4,418
 
Plan: my own
Stats: 275/228.6/155 Female 5'4"
BF:ummm . . . ?
Progress: 39%
Default

Quote:
Originally Posted by bluesinger
I'm pretty sure that a few months ago I posted somewhere here that I got rid of all my old (read "big") underwear. That's a first for me. I mean, underpants take up so little room, so I always hedged my bets.

I have an entire basket filled with over-sized clothes now which I need to give away. I'd rather they go to my family's church, but don't want to spend the money to mail old clothes.

Agree that sizes are not dependable any more.

I'm buying tight tops. I feel so vulnerable wearing them.


Good on you for pitching the old drawers! I'm pretty confident that nobody wanted my formerly-fat panties. OTOH, I have lost sizes so fast this summer that I had never-worn or almost so bras, nice ones, and those I donated. I've seen worse in the thrift store.

I bravely wore tight clothes to the grocery store a few days ago. However, I saw myself in the store window and had to laugh--bag lady climate here, so I had on a long coat, scarf, knit hat, and wristlets. I was very brave!

Quote:
Originally Posted by Enomarb
hi-
have to laugh! I still do a double take if I see myself in a store window or big mirror unexpectedly. My first response is "who's that?" then "that's ME!" then "wow I look good!". I don't know why I don't see myself that way all the time!

I worry that one day this will just "stop working"-
crazy!
E


Thank you! If I have to be nuts, it's nice to know I'll be in good company!

Quote:
Originally Posted by Bonnie OFS
Thank you, ladies, for mentioning Holy Clothing! Those are the kind of skirts I love but have a hard time finding. And a plus - the prices are reasonable. I'll be saving up for a couple of those.


Enjoy! Tips I've learned for care: machine (or hand) wash cold, with like colors, hang dry. Once bone dry, toss in the dryer for ten minutes and they come out looking freshly ironed. There's a handkerchief-hemmed skirt they make that I really like. Lost it in my closet until I'd lost so much weight it no longer fit--such a disappointment. Whoop! out she goes!

Last edited by kathleen24 : Wed, Nov-08-17 at 09:46.
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  #44   ^
Old Tue, Jun-26-18, 20:32
Ms Arielle's Avatar
Ms Arielle Ms Arielle is online now
Senior Member
Posts: 19,177
 
Plan: atkins, carnivore 2023
Stats: 200/211/163 Female 5'8"
BF:
Progress: -30%
Location: Massachusetts
Default

Read thru thiss thread in hopes of preparing myself for meeting my goal---still months away, but all sizes of clothes are cluttering up my closet.
In the past I got rid of too big clothes, then a traumatic event caused a huge leap in weight, leaving me no clothes that fit and no money to buy more clothes.

Given the latter event, boxing up my clothes will give me financial comfort....
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  #45   ^
Old Tue, Jun-26-18, 22:22
BillyHW's Avatar
BillyHW BillyHW is offline
Registered Member
Posts: 378
 
Plan: Keto + IF
Stats: 260/300/165 Male 5' 6"
BF:
Progress: -42%
Location: Alberta, Canada
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If you have the storage room to spare, I would get some totes and pack up those big clothes.

If you don't have any room to store them, I would get rid of them.
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