Who said compact....I love that!! You know I set my goal of 170 because its exactly one half and it seems reasonable now. I have always thought that at 170 though I would work on maintance and very very slow loss to get to what feels and looks right. I got to think about the bulk of it before I can go there though!

"The only thing that stops 180 from sounding perfect is that my fiancee's goal weight at 6'2 is 200 pounds...and it would be nice for the weight differential to be larger given that he's 10 inches taller than me. But perhaps he will end up at 225 and I will end up at 180. Who knows. I'm just going to keep making progress in the right direction and let my body dictate where it wants to be. "

It's funny how this influences us. My husband weighs around 135 - we're the same height but I definitely feel this silly pressure to at least weigh the same as him, if not smaller, just because he's a guy. He's definitely not a string bean, lots of muscles and some pudge. It's revised what I think of as "thin".

I don't know what to set my ultimate goal weight at. Initially I set my goal weight at 257, the weight I wanted to get to in a years time. But, then I lowered it to 217 to join the 100lb a year challenge. I will be happy enough with my origianl goal for the yeat though. I haven't seen the 250's for about 10 years now.

Yeah it does sound kinda shallow. His new thing is picking me up, and it will be easier for him to do that and me to enjoy it if I weigh significantly less than him. Who knows though, I may end up being 160.

--Melissa

Thanks Janine. This wasn't always the case. When I was in college, I believe that I was around 250 and a size 26. I started working out in college and got down to a size 22, even though my weight was about the same. Then I continued to work out on and off for about 5 years until I went to grad school. I was a size 20 and probably around 245 when I started grad school about 2.5 years ago. When I graduated, I had gained back about 25 pounds and back to a size 22, partially due to not going to the gym regularly and not eating well. I started this WOE about 3.5 months after graduating.

Were you weight training when you lost muscle mass?

--Melissa

I think it is very possible for you to get lower than the 250s this year. You only just started a month ago and have already come a long way. Just try to focus on 10 pounds at a time--that's what I do.

--Melissa

So many interesting concepts and ideas. I have learned a lot from this thread and gonna have to come back to it when I am close to goal!!!!

I was doing weight bearing exercises (like trapeze work last summer - climbing ropes, situps on the bar, assisted pullups etc.). I am really prone to injury if I lift weights and I run which keeps my legs muscley so I don't bother much with weights. If I were more consistent about doing pullups, situps, that sort of thing (I try to work in squats once a week), I would probably do better now. But there was a time when none of that mattered. I don't have a muscle-bound frame at all and I really have to work at it.

Have you ever tried doing Slow Burn or another low impact weight training program? You lift and lower weights very slowly, which helps to reduce the risk of injury. The method was originally designed for women with osteoporosis. I've been doing it for about almost 3 months now and I have gained noticeable muscle in my arms, which were formerly pretty wimpy. You might benefit from focusing on the amrms/shoulders/back/abs exercises. If you're interested, there's a thread in the exercise forums and another in the buddies/challenges area.

--Melissa

I've noticed the Slow Burn threads and it's pretty interesting. I was always pretty safe and slow when I lifted - I just have really lax shoulders from losing so much weight. I have to be very careful. I've been trying to be good about not stretching at all and that seems to help a lot. I do do back strength exercises and running does a surprising amount for the back and arms and chest. I would rather do bodyweight exercises rather than any weights, I think. I find they are more effective and safer for me. With running and swimming, I only have time for bodyweight exercises anyway because weights require going to the gym. One of the problems with modern gyms is that they have done away with bodyweight appratus, like ropes for climbing. It's very hard to find a chin up bar - at my gym, you have to stand on a box to reach the chin up bar. We have one of those "Iron Gyms" but because our house is in a state of contstruction, none of the doors have molding to attach it to! When we put up molding (soon) I'll start doing those.

Janine

Thanks Melissa. I am actually trying not to think about losing at all. This is impossible of course. But, I am focusing on the other improvements more, to keep me on track. If I was just going by the scale, I would be really disappointed even though realistically like you said, I have come a long way. I will be really happy with 10 lbs a month or every other month. I never ever had this problem before, thinking it was going so fast. That is probably because I have never had a WOE where I didn't feel like I was starving.

This sounds like an even better focus for you. If you focus on continuing to improve your health and the positive changes that you've already experienced, then the weight loss will follow naturally. This will prevent you from stressing too much about it, which I am definitely in favor of.

--Melissa

My goal isnt so much a weight either its more a size. Im in a 12-14 now and my ultime goal is a size 8-9. I like my curves and would have to lose them, I just want them to be smaller
I remember in high school I weighed about 130 and fit nicely into a size 8-9. Im not too far off the goal seeing as I started as a size 18!!