Haloooo Margaret!!!
Ahh how I have missed you.
Knowing that you are busy with your mum and the possible move I don't expect that we will be seeing you very regularly.
Just glad to know that things are continuing to go well for you and Rod.
I agree with Kimberly that it sucks that your prices on fuel haven't come down at all. Here in Indiana we have been floating at about $1.84 a gallon for quite some time now.
The cheapest I got it was before Christmas for $1.33!!!!
Soooo happy to see your back.
Chat at you again soon.
Dawn

Margaret I'm so glad to hear you are okay and sorry to hear your mum hasn't been too well.
Good to know that your weight has been keeping steady even though you have had so much going on.
Take care x

Hi Gang

Petrol came down a bit - but is certainly not low and if anything heading upwards. A receipt which comes to hand from this month has us paying 90.9 pence per litre which is far from being a reasonable price. This is from a supermarket garage so should be about as cheap as is available.

I have to admit that I am suffering from a level of apathy regarding my weight at the minute. I seem to be having greater difficulty persuading myself to get out walking. I had been trying for 11 miles a day - but that is currently not happening. I am continuing to manage at least 7 miles a day which will not get those last few pounds off and me to a goal weight. My food control is not as tight as it was a while back either. I had a sore throat yesterday and had 4 huge spoonfuls of honey. Now you can say that it is medicinal - but I enjoy honey too and know that part of the reason that I went back for more was that I was enjoying it. Some days I eat far too much of the healthy stuff. I am not good at portion control. Stress does not help.

Part of me - call it the bad voice inside me - keeps saying things like - as long as I can get into my UK size 10 jeans I am ok.

Are you on facebook? I have noticed that some of the others are. If you are let me know or link to me there. The status should let me know of major events for people - I am counting on it letting me know if Kimberly's baby arrives and I havent popped in here.

Kimberly - I tried to make a posting in your diary yesterday about your weight - but have just checked and it seems to have disappeared. I saw what Wishes put - and I think that it is important to bear in mind that her experiences of pregnancy were as a big person who had not made major positive changes to her nutrition and fitness levels before she became pregnant. You have a great understanding of nutrition and have been exercising throughout. You are still walking - which is still great exercise. I am sure that her experiences would have been different if she had been well into her weight loss project when she became pregnant as was the case for you. It is natural that you have gained weight - there is a whole extra little person there (plus fluid cushioning) getting onto the scales with you. Dont get upset about the scale - it is just a number. You will know only too soon how much it will drop in the couple of weeks after you deliver. You are nearly there. I know you and have every confidence that you will be just fine. Take my advice and start a challenge with the start date just before you are due. Make sure you remember to weigh in before you head for the hospital!!!! Your weight loss will be fantastic and you will win for sure.

Margaret, you have a right to enjoy food sometimes. That's why we have taste buds so dont beat yourself about a natural urge! A UK size 10 is equivalent to a US size 6. That is a beautiful size on most anyone. Is it possible that THIS really IS the perfect weight for you and that its a weight you can maintain on a reasonable amount of exercise and some treats now and then? A strict diet as the one you were/are on is not necessarily meant to be on forever. Who can and wants to keep that up with no leeway ever? So question really is, is the goal weight as important as the ability to do reasonable (rather than extreme) amounts of exercise and getting to eat more? I personally have always found the latter worth the extra pounds (I used to be a size 6 and never aspired lower as I knew it would take A LOT of exercise and dieting). And frankly, the really truly thin look with no meat anywhere isn't always the most attractive either. Not sure about your man's tastes or whether you care or not. But its something to be considered. Anyway, I'm sure whatever you decide will make you happy. Luv, C

I wish I could say that I have only eaten healthy foods during this pregnancy..lol. But I splurge nearly everyday--be it chocolate, peanut butter or last night it was crepes with lingonberry jam and low-cal syrup..lol. Sometimes I eat fast food, although I have been avoiding that lately. So I have been no saint. What's saved me is the exercise, but for about 2 or 3 weeks I didn't do any. This is the first week in ages where I have been consistant.

I agree with what Claudia said. Honestly, when I saw you in June, I thought you looked great, and if you never lost another lb from that weight, you look just fine. And I know that your weight is actually lower now than it was then. I wouldn't worry. You have enough going on in your life atm, enjoy your food within reason, and do a reasonable amount of exercise to stay healthy. But I see no reason why you need to worry about walking 11 miles a day and eating like a saint.

I believe we were paying 1 pound, 10p per litre in June/July, so it looks like it's gone down about 20p per litre--which is at least something..lol. Here it ranges between 32p-.35p per litre. The GBP has weakened a lot against the US dollar. Of course, that's my luck, right? We would've saved tons of money on our trip had it been the current exchange rate..lol.

Claudia - You ask what Rod thinks of a woman's weight. I know that he does not like anything too skinny. He often uses the term "more meat on a butcher's apron" regarding the "too skinny". Having said that - I asked him. He says that I look great as I am. He did however say that he loves me (and would always find me attractive) and would love me if I was 50 stone and he would love me if I was 8 stone. He would however think that these were both unhealthy weights for me.

He sounds like he is making sure that he stays in my good books whatever weight I end up being......

I guess that I will have to wait and see what happens with my weight.....

At the minute it is certainly increasing a little.

Kimberly - The truth is that exercise saves many of us with generous healthy appetites. Look for the positives where you can - at least you were using low calorie syrup. Also a consistent good week is a bonus at any time. When your life is being turned upside down and your hormones are playing tricks it is a major achievement. Even if some of the gain needs to be addressed again - you have done it before and can do it again. Many people on this forum would kill to be in your shoes - weight gain included (and magnified).

Your holiday to England / Scotland was destined to be when it was. The pound seems to be performing badly against a load of currencies. It is currently not worth having any money in savings here.

So wonderful to see you back, Margaret! Do take care of yourself in the midst of all of your caretaking of others.

((hugs))
Janice

Wow, I have just read loads of your posts and I must say, you are quite the inspiration. I am just starting out on my journey, and it is reading threads like yours that give me the motivation to keep on keeping on. And you do so much for other people. Nice! Good karma is no doubt coming your way!

Nice seeing you Janice too. It is hard to say how often I can get in here these days.

Nice meeting you Fatbird. Remember - everyone that has lost a lot of weight here has been just where you are and knows exactly what it is like. The feelings that they are trying to do something that feels impossible. On the "dont do as I do but do as I say" basis - I would say that it is really important to keep coming to the forum and get as much information and inspiration as you can get. I am not here so much now - but that is what I did when I was losing weight. Also join in on challenges. They can really help to keep things on track.

I've just checked page 122 of my diary and note that on 13th - Monday - it will be exactly a year since I halved my weight...

My weight has wiggled up a little since February (when my mother was taken ill) - I have only just changed my ticker to reflect this and I spent some weeks being stressed and away from my scales. I am currently around nine stone 10 (136) which was the weight that I was last June.

I must admit to being less than happy with my weight - but things could be a lot worse. There is a big positive in the fact that I have maintained that major weight loss for approximately a year. I might not have finished the project as quickly as I would have liked - but have put in some solid groundwork on the maintenance side through some difficult times.

You have indeed managed that most difficult feat. You have maintained your BMI in the normal range, and despite other difficulties.

The idea that the weight is creeping up a bit and that your control is a bit less is a difficult area. It seems to be normal for people who lose a lot of weight to regain some before they stabilize at a weight a bit higher than their lowest. But of course the people who are going to regain it all probably start out from a smallish regain too!! I imagine knowing that you have managed a normal weight for a whole year would help you see yourself as belonging to the first group, despite your misgivings about those issues that still take effort. I suppose maintaining a change like this will be effortful, at least at times, for some time to come. I barely hear reports from long term weight loss maintainers - so I think it's special for us to hear from you - but I hear from people who've quite smoking or other addictions that the urge to return to old habits takes a long time to damp down. I know that other people here do still find it hard at times even after maintaining a big loss for a year or more.

Regardless of the spot you think is right for you to sit at, I'm wishing for you that you'll see the enormity of what you've done already and that this will make you confident of continuing to stay at a normal healthy weight.

It's such a special thing you have achieved. There are so many people who need to be able to do this, before they can get the most from their lives and who look to people like you.

It's great that you do still post here, and let us see that long term success is achievable.


Congratulations, Margaret. I wish you many happy returns of this special anniversary.

Having seen you in the flesh last June, I wouldn't be too concerned about your current weight. I thought you looked fantastic then. Regardless, taking off a few pounds to get back to your lowest is not much at all when you consider how far you've come, and how much you lost as a whole. You'll get back to that low in no time if you make the effort, and if not, you still look great as you are.

Happy Easter

Thanks for visiting.

Felici
I dont think that maintenance will be something that happens without hard work for me. I continue to walk every day - at least 7 miles. When at home I go to an aerobics class and a dance class every week. I try to be good with my food. Having said that I have a big appetite and therefore eat a lot of fruit. I also am too fond of cereal and find it to be a major weakness. I can easily increase my daily calories dramatically (not that I count them) by eating far too much cereal.

Kimberly
I have to say that I prefer myself at the slightly lower weight - but in many ways am not as hungry for weightloss as I once was. I can wear my UK size 10 jeans (the size that I just got into as we met up) and I am wearing my wedding ring every day. I know that I need to be doing 11 miles a day to get the job finished - but just cannot seem to bring myself to do that. I was doing it in February until my mother became ill - but havent got back to doing it since then. In the meantime I try to be fairly controlled with my food. It is nearly 9pm on my 3rd Easter Sunday on the project - and I havent had any chocolate today. I did however have a couple of square inches of chicken skin on my roast chicken dinner (no roast potatoes or pudding though) - not perfect control but pretty good all things considered. No cereal - not even my weetabix as I am trying to cut out all cereal in order to try and help things along.

H Margaret
I have just read the first 20 pages of your journey and I am completely blown away by your motivation.
I started my journey in aug 2008 weighing 101.6kg and am currently at 73.4kg.
I seem to have slowed down a bit with my losses and I think this is due to the fact that I am not writing down my foods lately.
I see you have a spreadsheet and was wondering if you could e-mail a sample to me as l have tried logging into fitday and sometimes forget.
The spreadsheet idea seems to be a good one, I am unfortunately not too good in setting it out.
I would really appreciate your help.
Now I have to get back to your journey (page 21 onwards)
Regards
Lisa

Hi Lisa

I am pleased that my diary has been of interest to you. I visit it comparitively rarely these days - but feel sure that we will get to know each other as you have just joined the challenge that I have just posted this afternoon.

I have asked that the moderators delete your email address as I do not want you to be troubled with every spam organisation possible. I have sent you the information that you require.

Best wishes
Margaret.