Who has LOST 100 lbs or more...and how are you doing now?
 

In light of the "Where is the TDC going?" thread, I thought that it'd be a good idea to take roll call on those who have already lost 100 or more pounds.

So....I'll go first and say..ME!!! I've lost 118 lbs and have been maintaining below my goal weight for 3 months nows. Needless to say that I'm very happy!! :hyper:

I still eat according to my plan and have joined a maintenance weighin with others in maintenance. :agree: Its a good thing to be around others with similar concerns as yours.

Judy, I haven't lost 100 yet, but I just had to say congrats to you and way to go girl!! We need more of these types of threads because they are an inspiration to those of us who haven't hit the 100 mark yet.

I've lost over 130 lbs! I lost the bulk of that (100 lbs) in the first 10 months or so, and have spent the last 18 months maintaining, losing a little more, regaining a couple once in a while, and then losing & maintaining some more.

I still have a few pounds I'd like to lose, but for the most part, I'm doing great.

Life as a normal sized person is amazing. Absolutely amazing. I still deal with food everyday, it's still a challenge sometimes, life isn't perfect, but it is amazing. It's worth all the work and sacrifice, and it is possible. I was certain I couldn't do it, absolutely certain. I literally used to go to bed at night depressed, almost crying, thinking I'd never be able to lose the weight and be normal sized. Low-carb (Atkins) has been a miracle for me.

Val

WOW! congrats ladies on your losses! that is terrific!
Back in 2003 i lost 81 lbs on atkins, but then found out i was pregnant before getting all the way to goal. i went off, went through pregnancy and 14 mos of breastfeeding, gained most of it back..sigh...and here i am again...this time i aint stopping till i get to goal!

Judy, thanks for starting this thread. People like you and Valerie are a great inspiration to those of us still trying to make it to goal. Reading that others have made it to goal and are maintaining lets us all know that this is doable. I've loss 97 of the 145 lbs. to reach my goal, but self doubt still creeps in from time to time.

Betsy :D

152 pounds down. I feel much better than I did but half as well as I will when I lose the last 150. :-)

Today is my six months at goal Atkinsversary, after losing 120+ pounds. I am just now starting to feel comfortable negotiating my way through the world in a smaller body. Actually maintaining my goal weight has not been very difficult, so far. I think that is because I had some amount of focus on working my plan is such a way that going from the active losing part of this to maintenance was more a matter of tweaking, than making big changes.

The psychological aspect has proved more challenging. I had a really tough time with body image for a number of months, and still have problems with it from time to time. Initially, I hated my thinner body far more than I ever hated what I looked like when I was morbidly obese. I was in big time denial about my weight at 235, and honestly (or dishonestly) didn't really see myself as fat unless I had to buy clothes or I ran into size related barriers like airplane seat belts.

Initially, all I saw when I looked in the mirror at my thinner self was the flaws left behind by all those pounds and years. I also had this Alice in Wonderland thing going on where sometimes I felt teeny tiny, and other times I felt really huge. That took months to get through, and I still have some of that going on from time to time.

I don't weigh myself every day, and although I do Fitday often enough to know what my maintenance carb and calorie count is, I don't use that tool everyday either. Instead, I concentrate on having what I consider to be "good" days, and on being careful, if I eat a bit too much one day, to watch my eating for a few days afterwards. I do weigh myself if my clothes feel too big or too small, or if I have tried a new food, or made some other change in diet or activity level. I also get weighed at the doctor's office, periodically, so between my wandering on the scale at home, and that, I probably weigh myself every couple of weeks.

I feel good about myself and my accomplishment. I like how I look, at least most of the time. I like that it doesn't feel as strange as it did when I first lost the weight, and I anticipate it will feel even better a year from now.

vicki

Congradulations all you 97+ lb losers!!!! Weigh to go :D You are all such inspiration. Every time I see someones stats and they show a huge weight loss I say to myself "see it can be done and is being done by hundreds of people" and I get a little teary because then I think "maybe I can do it too".

Thank you all for your hard work, perseverence(sp?), dedication and POSITIVE ATTITUDE !!! :clap: :dazzle: :cheer:

:dazzle: :clap: CONGRATS :dazzle: :clap:
To all you wonderful people that have made that goal of -100 lbs.

I can't wait to add my name to list, and have the honor to say I have met that first -100 lb goal myself.

You inspire me to keep going. That and I want what you have. Mine has been an amazing journey so far. I can't wait until I have the right to say I've joined the -100 lb club.

I'm down 100 from my all time high, but 92 from my start date on Atkins. I am doing well, but struggling at times not to graze on carby stuff. Sometimes, I just want it. It's odd that I want it more now than I did a year or two ago.

Other changes...

I get cold. I mean really cold. This winter I could barely keep my hands warm. I drank coffee and sugar free hot chocolate; I bought those deer hunting hand warmers. Nothing really helped much. Is it my age? The weightloss?

I will say that I've hardly ever felt so good. I weigh less than I did in high school. It has been a terrific ride.

I'm mainly in lurk mode on the list now, still maintaining.

Lynda

I've lost just exactly 100lbs since I started Atkins.

On the one hand, it's fantastic. I've gone off all my meds except those for asthma. I can move easily, I can fit into regular spaces and chairs. I can buy 'regular' plus sizes, no more 'extended' sizes.

On the other hand, I'm still bigger than most people who start out here, and I've been stalled for about 6 mos.

Intellectually I know why. I've hit a set point, a physical size I've actually been twice before, so my body is resting.

But my inner 5 year old is throwing a serious temper tantrum.

This is a way of life, and I'm in it for the long haul because I feel so much better. Even if I never lose another ounce, it will have been worth the change.

But I admit I haven't been posting much lately because I'm frustrated and don't want to be a downer for others.

I hear you Bat Spit!! :agree: I hit 2 stalls but none that lasted 6 months!! I'd be going buggers too!!

If you don't mind my saying, now is when you need the support!!
I'm sure that you've tried all the stall buster tips, right? I will tell you that I did try doing a carb up cycle for a few days and that did break me out of one of my stalls.

Actually, I do better in autopilot mode for this. The more I think about it, the more frustrated I get. So I just put my head down, kept doing what I was doing, and kept my mind mostly busy on other things.

I really am good for the long haul. My DH and I are COMPLETELY different people while low carbing, and I like the new us much better than the old ones. Plus as a hypoglycemic, I become a nutcase if I stray too far, so no danger of falling off the path. ;)

I gave my eating patterns a serious look, and I think I figured out what happened. After I stopped being in a carb coma, I discovered that I have a few food allergies, and I gave up snack nuts and cheese at the same time. I think this dropped my calories too low, so I'm making a concerted effort to eat more fats, plus I have to make sure my carbs are in the 30-40 range.

The new program seems to be helping because while the scale is still not speaking to me, I've finally lost a shirt size since I adjusted things. Hopefully this will continue.

Here is a curious question I have for you 100 pound or more *losers*...............

Besides diet, what was the one major thing that helped contribute to your weight loss and helps in maintaining that loss?

(Btw thanks for starting this thread)

2 connected things. The first is support at home. My DH and I do this together. The second is that our house is a 'safe space'. There are no contraband foods in my house. Since I work from home too, that means my exposure to temptation is pretty limited. That makes a HUGE difference.

Staying on plan and doing all the walking I do (which is 4-5 hours a day, 5 days a week for my work with dogs).

Staying on plan is and was really big for me because I realized that when I ate off plan, it'd have the effect of stopping my weight loss and then I'd have to make up for it and that sometimes would cost me many days of spinning my wheels. It was just not worth it as I really really wanted to get to my goal. So it was a conscious decision on my part to make my goal more important than any food I may have wanted. :agree: :D

Exercise.

Now I am not gonna bore everybody (Who is that shouting, "Too late!" in the distance?) with more stuff on my gimp leg. I cannot do much exercise. Period. But TRUTHFULLY my loss is best, most, regular when I do what exercise I can.

There are those who can sit on the couch and lose weight. I am not among those lucky few. I have known people who lost weight on exercise alone (Think basic training military service - food intake is high and generally weight loss is higher.) but I think a combination of food program and exercise is the key to regular and dependable weight loss. For me. Your mileage may vary.

RIGHT ON, PEOPLE! I'd like to add my congratulations and thanks for the inspiration, too! Way to go!!! :clap: :clap: :clap:

Congratulations to all of you! It is such an inspiration to KNOW that so many have done it and even more, are keeping it off. I have isolate myself so much from society because of my weight and it seems like such a HUGE amount and knowing that there are great success stories out there is keeping me going. I'm so glad I found the forum.

This is going to sound corny, but this forum. I belong here now, I've got friends, it's home. I have such good friends, I would post here even if I was off plan. The thing is, it's tougher to stay off plan when you are here everyday talking with people that are working their plan. It keeps me focused. I can't forget how important it is to lose weight or maintain my loss when I read about the pain others are going through or read about the joy someone feels in exercising or fitting into a new size pant.

There is something to be said for being in the right place at the right time to create the opportunity for success. I've really found this for myself. I've had times this past year where I was making bad food choices and could easily have returned to my old ways. However, I kept posting here because of the community of friends I have, and being here, I couldn't ignore what damage I was doing to myself. It made it much easier to get back on track.

Val

I gotta agree with that wise woman Val, although for slightly different reasons. When I returned to low carbing it was with a dieter's mindset; in other words, I thought about the diet as a weight loss tool and nothing more. When I stumbled on this place and started reading, I saw people, over and over again, who were failing. They were no dumber, had no weaker wills that I was/did, but they weren't hacking it, just as I hadn't hacked it in the past. And after reading probably thousands of posts, and doing some soul searching, I came to the conclusion that I really had to accept that if I was going to do this, I had to change the way I thought about it -- it can't be a diet, it has to be a commitment, a fundamental change in the way I looked at myself and the world. Eating junk food is not a treat, but the first step on the road to self abuse; I'm not "sacrificing" or "missing out on" anything to do this; rather, I would be sacrificing my health and well being if I didn't do it, and so on. The road has its ups and downs, but really it's much smoother than the one I travelled on before. All the fat in the world couldn't cushion the bumps on that road.

Anyway, this place helps me to stay focused on this as an eating plan, not a diet. I've also learned a few tricks here about cooking and so on. The stuff on the science of low carbing helps a lot, too; it took what I instinctively knew to be true, that I had terrible eating habits, and explained to me why that was so, and once you know why, you've taken the first step in figuring out how to change things.

Well, kwik is a wise man (I typed wise guy, and thought better of it ;) ) too. It seems everyone talks about how this has to be a WOL (way of life) not just a diet. It's true, a permanent change does have to be just that, a permanent change.

Mind you, getting and living that, rather than just saying it, isn't easy.

Hmm, So much has changed. Still not where I want to be, but it's a process.

Fitting in to booths at restaruants

Sitting on wicker furniture (Not kidding I broke a chair once at my top weight.)

Not having to use a seatbelt extender on planes.

Sleeping through the night. Sleep apnea and frequent potty calls have disappeared.

Being able to sit on the floor (And to get up from the floor without help)

Having to try clothes on for size (Rather than grabbing the largest size of whatever, buying it and hoping for the best)

Having my husband get his arms ALL the way around me.

Not being terrified to see my doctor.

And the biggest, getting my diabetes under control. Low carb helped that for sure but so did everything I learned about supplements right here.

There's a lot more.

The next mini goal is to get on the doctors scale and not have to push the big weight to 250.

Ok - I am a little late here. :-)

I hit my goal about 1.5 months ago. I have actually gone down about another 2 lbs since. In all I have lost 108 lbs.

What has helped me was consistency. (I actually had a cheat day on Sat..the first one in a VERY long time.) The other trick for me has been to always have food ready in the fridge. I cook in bulk and always have leftovers. Then when I need something it is there. The other key for me has been this forum. While I am more of a lurker...I visit here almost everyday. While in the beginning and up to goal it was everyday...lately I have been too busy...we are selling our home and I had to get it ready. :-) One other thing that helped me was Dr. Phil's diet book. I used it more for the psychological issues of weight loss. I came to think that I loved myself enough to do this...and I would not allow people to sabotage me.

Anyway, it CAN be done.

Janel

I have lost over 100 pounds and I feel like I got my life back. Before I started low carbing I had problems with hygiene (anyone who has been morbidly obese knows what I am talking about) and I got out of breath trying to walk to the corner. I couldn't participate in my children's lives the way I wanted to; I just couldn't keep up with them even when doing something as simple as going shopping. I couldn't sit in a booth in a restaurant, I couldn't fit in a seat on an airplane, and my blood pressure was shooting up to the range where I should have been on medication. I couldn't even buy clothes in a plus-size store because most of them stop at size 24 or 26 and I was bigger than that.

Now, I can walk miles, I can sightsee or shop all day with my daughter, I can cross my legs, and I can buckle my sandals without going through contortions. My blood pressure is normal without medication and my cholesterol profile is very good. I no longer feel like I am headed for an early grave. I still wear plus sizes (although I can often wear a regular XL in tops), but at least I can find my size in a store. When I see people complaining about having to shop in the plus size department, I realize that they have no idea how lucky they are. I know how lucky I am.

I am still fat, but now I can blend in with the normal, overweight middle-aged American women. I don't look like a freak.

How did I do it? Carefully watching carbs and portion size and regularly exercising, which for me means walking or swimming.

I lost 7 or 8 pounds a month at the beginning. My weight lost gradually slowed down and I stopped losing weight about a year ago. Right now, I'm fighting not to gain weight back. I know that to lose more weight I need to go on a strict low calorie diet, but I can't get up the motivation to do so. My carb levels have been slowly creeping up and I keep finding myself having minor cheats -- a bite of this or a taste of that. I'm somewhat discouraged, but I am also extremely grateful for how far I have come. I just wish I could get back that drive that sustained me through losing the first 120 pounds or so.

I've been on the boards around 4 years, and that's about the time I learnt about low carb for the first time in my life.
But I only manages, after years of struggling to get started properly last July. I have now lost 104 pounds.

I am in a little bit of a stall, but still dropping.
I haven't started exercising yet.

I know this is one of the next steps, especially regaining muscle lost through years of low fat dieting.

About a week ago I bought an exercise bike. I gotta start using it though! It's pretty hard having no fitness!

I'm still quite large so I haven't really gotten the rewards most have. Although all most Super Obesity symptoms have almost dissapeared.

This is a great thread. It is such an inspiration to see lc's meet their goals and beyond. I always find inspiration in the fact that other people are doing this and struggling with it as well. Thanks for starting this thread I will come back here whenever I am having trouble with inspiration and know I will be motivated here.

Jodi

Back when this forum started, there were not that many members who had dropped 100 pounds or more.

I am inspired by all the people still knocking around that have!

Also, there is a staggering amount of people who are maintaining. If you look at any other dietary WOL and you won't see the same long term numbers as these.

Stories like these are the sole reason why I came back time and time again and tried to start low carb.

I have yet to hit my 100lbs marker, but I wanted to say, I am extremely motivated reading all your responces!! That's what keeps me on track, seeing you lovely people having been there and done it before me keeps me on track, I know that if you can do it, I can do it too!
Congratulations on all who have lost 100lbs or more!!