Thanks Ladies! It really DOES feel good when I see those pictures together! What's weird is that I never saw myself as being that heavy! Looked in the mirror and KNEW I was heavy, but not THAT heavy! Those jeans in the Christmas and bike pictures are size 28W. I was laying on the bed to zip them up!
The jeans in the pictures taken yesterday are a size 14, and they're not only comfortable, if I pull on them, they'll come off without unsnapping or zipping!
I can shop now at regular stores. I don't have to go to Lane Bryant's or Catherine's....it still amazes me!
The thing is....it's taken me less than a year. I am 5'9" tall, started at 290, and now as of yesterday, weigh 188. I still want to lose another 10-15 pounds. Am still losing, but it's much slower now.
I have faith that anyone who wants to do it, can, and I'll be your biggest cheerleader! When that picture from Christmas of 2008 was taken, I couldn't walk a city block without huffing and puffing, and it was painful. I started this in March...qubby bought me the bike in April after I asked for it, thinking it would be so much easier than walking. Uhmmmm....not so much as I thought, but still fun!
I guess where I'm going with this is that while it's taken me 10 and a half months to get to where I am now...(remember that in the beginning, there was a LOT of edema (water weight)) your weight loss journey might be faster or slower than mine. Doesn't matter. What matters is that you get healthier for both you and your families! One of my incentives was the fact that I have a younger husband that is handsome...that man loves me unconditionally, a good thing, but I was thinking one day that with my weight the way it was, and the history of heart problems in my family (and I have a murmer myself) that I might not be able to be with him as long as I liked. I tried to imagine his life without me...did NOT like that picture, "she" was gorgeous!! :lol: :lol: :lol: Decided at that point that Yep! I'm a bit of a jealous type, and "she" whoever "she" was, is going to have to wait a LONGGGGGGGGGGGGGG time before I'm gone so "she" can have him!! ~grin~ (of course there is no real life "she"...)
There is no quick fix. This last 10 or 15 pounds is going to take me much longer to lose. For one reason, 1% of total body weight only lets me lose a pound and a half a week safely. My allowed calories won't let me lose it that fast. (Remember not to go below 1200!) I won't do anything to lose it that I'm not willing to do the rest of my life. But I figure that in six months time, I can still weigh what I do now, and be unhappy and still want to lose it...or I can keep at the slow but sure way and weigh what I want to weigh.
Oh! And one of the best calorie burners? (I hope your husbands don't hate me for this) SHOPPING! You're on your feet and walking! You're reaching and bending! Probably my favorite form of exersize!! :lol: