My husband has wanted a Bowflex for so long and I kept argueing that they were so expensive and there was always something else we needed more. Well this year I said go ahead and treat yourself for your birthday. It is the best thing we have ever bought!! I have never done any weight training before and I was skeptical as to what results, if any, I would see. So far I have lost 40lbs in weight but I've gone from a size 22/24 to a 16. I still weigh 225 and last time I was a 16 I was around 195.
I do 25 minutes every other day and the treadmill for 30 minutes every other day. The only place I'm not seeing great results is in the below belly button area. After pregnancy and c-section I think this area is beyond help!!

Those are inspiring results, Lynn--thanks for posting. I've started a weight training class twice a week--I want to get back into it slowly. I have had good results in the past with my arms and legs, which tend not to be the heavier parts of my body. Maybe this time I can do something for the midsection!

yes..I want a total gym! someday someday someday for now my step was my big splurge...lol

Great job!! I think you will look back on this decision later as one of the most important things you've learned.

I have been thinking about this post Liz. I have not ever lost enough to experience this but I hope to experience it someday even with the frustrations.

I was watching Oprah the other day and this woman had lost so much weight so quickly that her skin was just hanging off of her everywhere. The poor woman was having plastic surgery to correct it...

It occurred to me that perhaps she would not have had this problem if she had slowed down the loss and at some point, just stayed the same for awhile. It takes our skin, muscles and organs awhile to adjust to such dramatic changes I would believe.

Our bodies do have their own wisdom. I absolutely believe that. After such a dramatic weight loss of 100 pounds maybe your body just wants to settle there for awhile. I would think that being on maintenence for awhile would be good.........and let your body just maintain your great lower weight for awhile! Even a very slow weight loss is significant after a year, and at your lower weight, you will notice smaller losses!

There does seem to be some wisdom in "shaking things up" a bit for people who have lost a lot of weight. Adding some additional foods and carbs might be just what your body needs before it wants to move downward again. I hope someday I have this problem I really respect all you have accomplished . Orchid

Hi Liz, I too never lifted weights. My dream is to one day own a bow-flex. 3 years ago my doctor said I should add weights to help with bone density. I walk at least 4 kms per day, and am pretty fit. Too start out you do not have to go to curves or a gym. Any store like Sears sells hand weights. Start with 2 lbs and go to 5, then 10 etc.

I started at 5 minutes a day, can you believe but now I have incorporated alot more, about 3 times a week. Aerobic activity such as walking and swimming cannot replace the benefits of weights. Start off really easy, one set of 10 etc. You'll come to love it. I esp. feel the improvement in the strenth of my back. Lots of good beginner info on the web. Good luck

Amen! And Amen!

Liz, I was in the same boat - after 80 pounds, I STOPPED losing - nothing worked, absoloutely nothing for 6 months. Then I decided that I was going to just go with it for the month of December, I loosened up and did more maintanence style, and then went back to strict induction in January. It is working. I also changed my excersize routine slightly - I eat after I excersize this time, instead of before. As well, I started eating breakfast as my biggest meal, lunch the same, adn a light supper....

all I can say, is dont' get too worried, just try new things

It was interesting to see this old thread revived (I started it in January last year). I guess my weight loss is still creeping slowly along, but over the past year that added up to 25 pounds, so I am now down 125 pounds.

I'm in te same exact boat, I've lost around 85lbs and have been stalled for months, it's so discouraging because I'm so close to goal and can't wait to reach it, but the thing is I'm not gaining (thank God), alas I guess this is what maintenance must feel like.

Wow...

Liz your original post was made about a year ago, when I was about 40 lbs. down and losing 1-2 pounds a week, thinking it would go on forever. It did, until about May 2004, when I stopped losing. Since then, I've lost about thirteen total pounds -- I used to do that in a month.

I knew it would happen, but my understanding of thermodynamics led me to think that if I kept at it, I'd eventually lose the same amount of weight over time, if I kept a caloric deficit in place. That hasn't happened. After some soul searching, I realized that there has to be something more happening.

I do subscribe to the inevitable truth that, if over time, I establish a 500+ caloric deficit a day, I'll lose. And I have been. But the body isn't a diesel engine and it can't really be treated as such; algebra might not quite apply to its operation.

My skid hit at about 70 pounds lost, in the middle of the range you described. I found something else odd...

Over the holidays, I ate way more calories and way more carbs than usual. Fudge, even nachos and sugary treats at Christmas parties. My weight shot up from 260 to 265...for about a week.

I got back on the diet, and the 5 pounds vanished as easily as the first 70 did! when I hit 260 again, without variance to my diet, I stayed there. It was as if there were a "glass floor" that I can't easily pass beyond. Does this prove the set point theory? I don't know. It sure helps me to believe in it more. Why would that particular five pounds drop so effortlessly -- but not the next five pounds?!

I also look back to the fall, when I dropped from 272 to 260, all in about 8 weeks. I changed nothing, yet I had a 1.5 lb. drop per week on average. It was as if the body finally understood it could let go of that fat/water, on the same calories and output as before.

I have stuck to the same eating patterns since then, with the variances of the holidays and a Chicago trip that did lead me to cheat some.

Is set point real? Maybe.

I don't see myself adjusting my 1600-2000 calorie diet down much. I know myself and know I wouldn't be able to sustain it.

So, I'm staying the course and hoping for a very modest weightloss of maybe 15-20 pounds for ALL of 2005. Anyone else?

Hi everyone I am so glad I found this thread! I am at the low range I have only lost 50 pounds but for almost a whole year now I have lost nothing. I started gouing back to the gym on the 2 nd of january and do the eliptical and treadmill and have tried to count cal along with of course carbs. I was very scared to start weiht because I usually pump up very quickly but after reading this thread I think I might try some after awhile. I will do anything to get the scale to move after not movng in so long. has any one reading ever had an ED? just wondering if this to might have something to do with the stals even after lowering calories? I have thought this might be why I haven't lost, Starvation mode! but I am going to try the weight anything to burn more calories, I will start off slow and see what happens!

That's about what I'm hoping for. Actually, I'm hoping for more, but that's about what I'm expecting.

However, I'm no longer desperate to lose weight like I was 125 pounds ago. Yes, I need to lose more weight, but I've solved all my health and mobility problems, so if it takes me a while to lose the remaining 50 pounds, so be it. I have a feeling I might feel differently if I were younger and single, but I'm not, and I have a lot more patience than I did when I was young and single.

I may change my mind at some point and decide to really try to push the weight down faster, but that would require cutting calories to the point where I am hungry a lot of the time and right now it just doesn't seem worth it. Also, I have experiences of going on low calorie diets in the past and having it backfire on me because eventually I gave in to the hunger and ate too much, gaining back all that I lost and more. Protecting what I have lost already, and continuing to lose more slowly, seems like a better plan to me right now than stressing my body by trying to lose more quickly.

A good way to add some weight training to your workouts is to buy a Firm video. I love The Firm-Tough Tape 2. It is about 45 minutes long and is mostly exercises using hand weights and some stretching. I always feel really good after I do this tape and I try to do it at least twice a week.
It is a lot cheaper than joining a gym and you are in the privacy of your own home!
Lynne

I'm not a long term LCer, so I have been hesitant to speak up.

I really like the Kathy Smith Lift Weights to Lose Weight II tape. That said, just as having a community here as we make changes to our WOE helps, the person-to-person support you can find at a gym can be a big part of success in getting stronger and building that calorie burning muscle.

It pays to look around and find a gym that meets your needs both financially and in terms of an environment that feels good to you. Most gyms will give you a free week (sometimes a month) to try them out before asking for a financial commitment.

I lucked out and found one associated with our local college that is affordable, close to my house, and that doesn't charge extra for working with a personal trainer or classes like yoga. It took some hunting though and visits to several different places.

One of the things that surprised me is how accepting folks there have been. I guess I thought that fit young things would laugh at me, but nothing could be further from the truth.