<p>Controlling sodium is very difficult if you use processed foods. There’s stuff that I buy with 1/2 to 2/3rds of RDA on sodium - if I prepared it myself, the sodium would be negligible. Canned soup is generally pretty bad on sodium.</p>
<p>Ellenemope! PackMom! That is so wonderful. Congratulations to you both. I look forward to hearing all the stories of how it goes from here.</p>
<p>The big 5-0! Congrats, Packmom!</p>
<p>Congrats PackMom!</p>
<p>Thanks so much y’all. When I started out last winter, I didn’t reeaally think I would stick with it long enough to lose a lot. I was kind of inspired by watching Biggest Loser. I’ve always been the one with good intentions but poor follow through so never really had great expectations. Seeing how much difference the change in diet/added exercise made really got me going. Just in case your’re curious what 50 pounds gets you… I’ve gone from size 16 jeans to size 6. This thread has really been so helpful for information and especially inspiration. Thanks everyone.<br>
Now to get through the treacherous holiday season :eek:</p>
<p>WOW, Congrats on all the great weight loss. Yeah to finding clothes that now fit hidden in our closets.
My hope is to get through the holiday season with a couple of pounds of weight gain or even better to just maintain the weight I am today. I think I have reached the stage where I don’t deny myself something I like but I find I am happy with a much smaller amount. I also can pass on the things that I don’t love. Things that in the past I would have eaten just because they were there.
EPTR- I have always been sensitive to sodium but notice it much more now that I weigh myself. A meal out can easily add a few pds but if I go back to my “new” way of eating the weight goes right back down in a few days.</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>PackMom - CONGRATS!!! (As I discovered, 25 lb can bring one from size 10 down to size 4. :)) Keep working on the abs by doing planks and pushups, and the flab will be gone.</p>
<p>For me, the little recent weight loss was brought about by cutting wine consumption down from 2 glasses/night to mostly just 1 and occasionally none. Of course, I lost only 3 pounds or so, but amazing how it shows. From a 6 down to a 4 and occasionally a 2, if the pants sit at the hip rather than the waist. Oh, wait, guess I better get started on those planks:).</p>
<p>That’s great, Alumother!
I would love to see a size 4 again. </p>
<p>As far as the holiday season goes…let’s stick together for inspiration and support. When I tried WW the last time they had a method for getting through the holidays. We were advised to pile one plate HIGH with food…whatever we wanted as long as it stayed on the plate without falling off. That was all we could eat for a holiday meal. Same method for dessert. I remember trying it and I was surprised that I did not have any weight gain that season. I guess the idea is that the munching and grazing of appetizers, etc add up to pounds gained so if you contain your calories to one binge, it will be better.</p>
<p>EPTR, hang in there. I will cheer you all along the way:).</p>
<p>I can see one downside of getting down to a size 2 or 4–it makes clothes shopping harder. Have you found that to be true?</p>
<p>ellemenope - That’s a good question. I know from my blog that plus size women, in sizes 18 and above, have the hardest time finding well-designed, interesting clothes. Designers don’t produce much in that range. But at this end of the size spectrum, on the other hand, it’s hard to find low cost clothing. For example, I don’t shop much at Macy’s etc., since most of their stuff is too large. Target only works for tops. I find myself at places for younger women mostly, J. Crew, Banana Republic, etc. And, then, to the great dismay of my wallet, I can find Prada and Chanel to fit me easily. Actually, in those stores I’m kind of on the larger side. I assume it’s the THIN people who shop there, the models, the trophy wives, the women who can afford personal trainers and cooks. But maybe that’s not fair, and you hear me grumbling when I should not:). </p>
<p>I was thinner, when I was young, and have been struggling with a sense that I should get back to that weight. But I recently saw some photos of myself on my honeymoon 26 years ago and thought, “That woman was too thin.” It was quite liberating. Well, of course, I’m not married to that man any more either. Another story.</p>
<p>ellemenope, I do not have any troubles finding reasonably priced clothes in my size(s). Nordstrom Rack is my number one shopping destination, and I also do a lot of web shopping on sites like Yoox and Outnet. I generally avoid Macy’s because most of the clothes sold at their stores are cheaply made and regularly fall apart after a couple of washes, with the only exceptions being their Ralph Lauren and Nike workout clothes. Even with my current experiment, I find that there are a lot of non-Prada priced options available that are not made in China. 
What I find annoying is the vanity sizing and the huge variablity in sizes (e.g., size 6 can be either too tight or fall right off me!). </p>
<p>As for the plus sized ladies not being able to find designer clothes… Very true. For example, Gucci’s largest size is 48 (for reference, I wear 42 or what they call a “medium”). :eek:</p>
<p>
LOL. I had an interesting chat with a Neiman SA the other day. She worked at Neiman for many years (got transferred from another state to bring up the quality of the service here), yet she was very puzzed as to who would shop in those departments here, “I see unkempt looking ladies in sweats coming into the store and buying $25K worth of glittery Chanel clothes, scooping up the largest sizes available… This is Seattle, not Beverly Hills! WHERE are they going to wear that stuff? I hope they regularly travel to Vegas, because there are no places around here to wear that kind of clothes!” It was very reassuring to know that I was not missing much by not being able to afford Chanel. ;)</p>
<p>I guess my clothing issues are pretty small compared to some of these problems.</p>
<p>I’m wondering how much vanity sizing affects the drop in sizes. When I was young, Misses went from 6 to 16; now it’s 0 to 18. At my best and finest adult weight - 135 lbs at 5’7" - I wore a size 10. But I think that would now be a 6 or 8 - right? My norm was size 12 in the pre-baby days. I was never skinny (hourglass figure) but no extra fat. So now I’m down from 20W to 16 regular after 30 pounds gone; I never thought I’d see size 10 again but maybe in another 6 months? Would that be the old size 14? </p>
<p>On a related note DH finds it hard to believe that I can try on three different sizes from three different manufacturers and they all fit the same. Men’s sizes are so much easier but we have more dimensions to fit!</p>
<p>And I’m getting the feeling this thread has a lot of petite ladies! How tall are all of you?</p>
<p>At 5’ 6", I’m a bit too tall to be considered petite by department store standards, but I’m definitely petite by designer standards (their average model is 5’ 10’’).</p>
<p>5’5 3/4". With pants I find regular sized pants too long and petite sometimes too short. In jeans I like to buy the petite since they are usually long enough to wear with flat shoes.
I agree about sizing. I am a different size in every brand. Also in my early 20’s when I weighed 100 lbs I wore a 3 or a 5 in juniors and a 2 or 4 or sometimes even a 6 in womens. I also remember buying mens Levi 501’s in a 28 waist. Now at 140 I can wear a 6 in many brands and even a 4 in some.
I am thrilled to be at 140 but now think I would like to get down to 130. When I see pictures of myself even at 115 I look anorexic. Until I had children I was one of those annoying people who ate tons of food and quite a bit of it junk food and never gained a lb. Post kids my body totally changed. My Mom was the same way. Stick skinny till kids. Weight gain primarily in the middle.
Loving the plank. Hated old fashion sit ups. I am still doing the simple plank with all my limbs still on the floor.</p>
<p>Marilyn, I’m a tad over 5 foot 5 and a half. I am sure vanity sizes have had an impact. I weigh about 5 pounds more now than I did in college. I was always a Medium in that sort of sizing, I’m now Small or even Extra Small sometimes. I used to wear an 8, now I’m a 4. So size 10 then would be a 6 now, here and there even a 4, and an old school 14 would be a 10 or now and then an 8. Let me take this opportunity again to congratulate you on the 30 pounds lost. What an amazing achievement…</p>
<p>Thanks Alumother - I’m inspired now by PackMom’s 50 pounds. It is fun going down through the middle digits in weight - it’s like a spinning price wheel on The Price is Right. Is the middle digit 9? 8? 7? Bob, stop it at 7! Wish I could win a new car!</p>
<p>I’m thinking once I get into my old size 14 clothes I’ll go shopping just to say I’m size 10! But there are portions of my body that will never go back to what they were. I feel like Scarlett O’Hara: </p>
<p>
</p>
<p>Not that I was ever 18 1/2 inches…</p>
<p>^^^^^
Hahaha! Love it! I’ll hear that phrase in my head every time I measure my waist.</p>