<p>Great job, Marilyn! Your story is a testament to slow and steady. It’s amazing how much shopping opens up to you as you become a smaller size. You’ll be a size 10 before you know it!</p>
<p>I’m impressed, too, Marilyn … or should I say Marilyn 2.0? So fun to hear news of great results with a focus on health.</p>
<p>Marilyn, good for you! I’ve been bemoaning the fact that it’s June 16 and I haven’t met my goal of 20 lbs since Jan (14 though) and I just have to look at you and see that slow and steady IS the way to go. And also congrats for making such a great husband choice!!! He appreciates you! Happy anniversary!</p>
<p>Marilyn, it’s been almost as delightful for us to share the journey with you as it must be for you to live in the results. So much fun. Congratulations.</p>
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<p>I agree. I’ve never liked those self-denigrating “…for dummies” titles, and especially on this thread.</p>
<p>Well compared to the Diet/Exercise thread, we’re pretty low tech…</p>
<p>Marilyn, congratulations!</p>
<p>I actually do enjoy the “Dummies” title started by EPTR and yes, it was in response to the intensive thread. I admit that my eyes start to cross when this thread gets too scientific or in-depth on the chemical reaction of foods or how many repetitions to use on what machines at the gym, etc. This thread has been very encouraging and supportive and had great tips. </p>
<p>I’ll bet we’d get a lot more stars than this book:</p>
<p>[Amazon.com:</a> Weight Loss Kit for Dummies (0785555054561): Carol Ann Rinzler: Books](<a href=“http://www.amazon.com/Weight-Loss-Dummies-Carol-Rinzler/dp/0764553348]Amazon.com:”>http://www.amazon.com/Weight-Loss-Dummies-Carol-Rinzler/dp/0764553348)</p>
<p>I’ve been lurking for a long time, since I’m in awe of how well everyone is doing. Mega kudos to each of you!! Marilyn and Ellemenope especially - what an incredible journey for you. </p>
<p>I’ve learned one major new thing. I never realized that courer and ellemenope were husband and wife. I’ve been on CC a long time, and I never realized that. Really knocked me for a loop.</p>
<p>I feel, however, that maybe there should be a thread for “weight loss for dummies who really are dummies”. I joined a gym on Feb 1st and have been watching what I eat since then. I’m down 7-8 inches around my waist, which is nice. But I’ve only lost 11 pounds in the same time you folks have been losing twice that. </p>
<p>Oh, well. At least I haven’t gained 11 pounds. . . . Anyway, good job, you folks have achieved a wonderful, healthy accomplishment.</p>
<p>Hayden, welcome to the late club… Please continue to contribute and help me not feel behind the curve.</p>
<p>If you guys want to loose weight move to southern California it’s way competitor around here</p>
<p>*competive</p>
<p>I went as a complete Vegan for 8 months, not for weight loss but an experiment for heart health, blood pressure went too low (boy does it lower BP and mine is normally o.k.) and it wasn’t good for me, so I have added back an egg a week, fish if I want it and red meat two times a month. I am fine now. The big deal is how easy it is to keep weight off. I eat mostly vegetables and don’t use oils in salads or when I cook of any kind and no dairy including cheese. Listen, I am not radical on this. If I go out to someone’s house, I eat a salad that has oil. But, I put on my sundresses last week and all fit better than they did a year ago. I lost 50 pounds that I gained at menopause about 5 years ago and have kept it pretty much off; being a breast cancer survivor, I can’t afford to be overweight; but now it is so easy to maintain my weight. I love it! I love it because I am not on a “diet;” I just eat this way. Just a heads up for those of you on the weight loss path.</p>
<p>Welcome hayden - back a few months ago, we had a great discussion of the weight difference between muscle and fat. If you’ve gone down that many inches, you’ve probably lost a lot of fat but put on muscle so the weight change doesn’t reflect your progress. That’s our theory, anyway! And here’s the video to prove it:</p>
<p>[5</a> lbs of Fat vs. 5 lbs of Muscle - YouTube](<a href=“5 lbs of Fat vs. 5 lbs of Muscle - YouTube”>5 lbs of Fat vs. 5 lbs of Muscle - YouTube)</p>
<p>I like the part where she says weight is an optical illusion.</p>
<p>Welcome, Hayden! You are doing great!!</p>
<p>Yup.
I hurt my back about 8 weeks ago. Other than Physical Therapy I wasn’t getting any exercise while I recovered. During the entire 8 week period I refused to weigh myself out of fear. I did notice that my waist was expanding though and dreaded getting back on the scale. I finally weighed in last week and my weight never changed! So… I am the same weight that I was before the back injury and the 8 weeks of inactivity. But my clothes are telling me that the muscle disappeared and was replaced by the same weight in fat. Ughh!</p>
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<p>You haven’t noticed that we rarely disagree with each other, lol?</p>
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<p>Sounds like you’re redistributing weight and turning fat into muscle, Hayden! I’m jealous!! Keep up the good work.</p>
<p>ellemenope, one could say the fact that you and coureur rarely disagree is actually evidence that you’re not married to each other!! My H and I disagree on a huge range of things. I want the wedding pictures to back up your claim . . . . . . :)</p>
<p>Oh, I would be celebrating if I lost 7-8" off my waist! That is the bane of my weight loss efforts – my waist is 2-3 sizes larger than the rest of me. Bad for the heart, too.</p>
<p>Am trying to suss out what changes I am going to have to make to be more heart-healthy, keep up the weight loss progress I’ve made, calibrate exercise I can do w/a damaged heart, and figure out which of my three chemo options is the lesser of various evils (the tradeoff being heart arrythmias vs. 20-30 lb weight gain on the other, less cardiotoxic option).</p>
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<p>This is the holy grail of weight loss…a life change that becomes the new normal!</p>